Reacher is hitchhiking in Colorado. He crosses the line – literally – between Hope and Despair. He stops at a coffee shop in Despair where he can’t get so much as a cup of coffee when a bunch of thugs go at him. He ends up in jail and in front of a judge where constitutional rights and due process are unknown concepts. He’s deemed a vagrant and dumped back in Hope. Back where he came from. This is not the Reacher way. He does not go back.

Vaughan, a cop with the Hope Police Department, meets him. She tells him that Despair is a one-industry town pretty much run by one man. Reacher looks like someone who might be looking for work, and there’s not enough work to go around.

Reacher can’t buy into that explanation. He has to go back to Despair to see for himself what’s going on.

It’s hard to believe I’m giving a Jack Reacher thriller only three stars, but to be honest, this book is not Lee Child at the top of his game. Yes, there’s more going on in Despair than just a bunch of hicks worrying about someone grabbing one of the scarce jobs in town – after all, he only wanted a cup of coffee – but the plot is thinner than usual, the villain isn’t all that intriguing, and the strong religious and political overtones seem off-pitch. When the question of what’s up with Vaughan’s husband starts to overshadow what’s crooked in Despair, that’s not a good sign. Moreover, the one great scene where Reacher’s gotta do what Reacher’s gotta do is in response to this subplot.

Another problem is that the plot is driven more by Reacher’s cranky attitude than any perceived threat. If Reacher’s involvement is going to result in multiple square miles of scorched earth – and that’s the usual result when Reacher gets involved – then I want a Cause. Some friend or damsel in need, some conspicuous miscarriage of justice, some obvious threat to western civilization. Being pissed off because he couldn’t get a cup of coffee or beat a trumped-up charge in a small-town court doesn’t rise to the level of a Cause.

Every Lee Child novel is destined for the best-seller lists. Nothing to Lose is no exception, but fans should be prepared: this one’s Nothing to Keep.

--Lesley Dunlap