I'll admit it. I was slow to hop on to the Jack Reacher train. I saw the movie (which I might've seen sooner had I realized that David Oyelowo was in it). I'd heard readers talk about the charm which is Lee Child and his famous character. I'd heard fans complain about the movie (particularly the casting of the famous main character). And yet I balked.

Silly me.

I finally jumped in with both feet to the latest, The Midnight Line, the 22nd Jack Reacher book. And I see how wrong I was to have waited. Lee Child is a masterful writer, and Jack Reacher is just as amazing a character as everyone said. I should have listened long ago.

On a stroll through a Midwestern pawn shop, Reacher stumbles on a class ring from West Point. Knowing it would have taken a lot to get a West Point grad to sell a ring, he buys it and decides it's his mission to return it to its owner. The ring is tiny, the former owner clearly a woman, and it has initials inside. A quick call to the school gets him a name, and a (ahem) discussion with the man who sold the ring to the pawn store owner gets him a direction; and with that, he's off like a dog hot on the trail of the scent.

His journey takes him throughout the Midwest, to the back rooms and seedy underbelly of the American drug trade. With a cast of interesting and varied characters and a compelling story, The Midnight Line is a gem for Reacher fans as well as for those of us who have held out. It's a fantastic page-turner and the perfect excuse to spend several hours on the sofa.

Galleys for The Midnight Line were provided by Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine through NetGalley.com, with many thanks.