Nothing to Lose——by Lee Child

Jack Reacher is a former Marine M.P who is a drifter, traveling from Maine to California for no particular reason, in no particular hurry. He finds himself at the outskirts of Despair, Colorado, having passed through Hope, which is 17 miles behind him. He travels light, with only a toothbrush and an ATM card, buying clothing from thrift shops when his become soiled, occasionally staying in cheap motels, but often washing in gas station restrooms and sleeping under the stars. He seeks out a restaurant for a cup of coffee. The waitress ignores him. He waits. For quite awhile as other patrons eat. Nobody seems to notice him. Finally a car pulls up outside the restaurant and four men emerge, moving into the restaurant and to his side. He speaks to them, stating he needs no company with his breakfast. They tell him that he’s not going to get any breakfast. He’s not welcome here. They don’t like strangers in this town. Reacher could have just returned to the highway and walked the 17 miles back to Hope, eaten there and taken another route west, but he didn’t like being pushed around so he refused to leave. This led to his arrest and subsequent conviction for vagrancy. He was escorted to the edge of town and told not to return or he would be incarcerated.

As Reacher walked on the highway away from town, he was picked up by a police officer from Hope, who gave him a ride and some advice. She explained that she’d come this way to save him another long walk and to warn him that strangers were not welcome in Despair. He should take another route. Questions posed to her regarding the reasons for such treatment met with unsatisfactory responses and his curiosity was piqued.

It seemed that Despair was a company town. Everybody who lived there worked for the same man, who owned a recycling plant and most of the real estate and the businesses in the town. It was a closed society; visitors were unwelcome, but why? What was so interesting about recycling? Being Reacher, he decided not to go the other way, but to investigate what was going on. The sheriff from Hope let herself get more involved than she should have as he attempted to solve the mystery.

It’s easy to get involved. I did. I found the book to be well written and a good mystery.