Without Fail - Tapa dura

Over the course of five books in just five years, this former (British) TV exec has won a devoted following - readers who warm to his PI, former US military cop Jack Reacher, good-looking and a loner by choice who has none of the hang-ups displayed in abundance by his dysfunctional confr res. This one finds him called in by the Secret Service over a series of threats they've received against the Vice President-elect. Each contains a single line of type, 'signed' with an untraceable thumbprint. There's no DNA either - all of which leaves the glamorous M E Froelich, in charge of the Veep's security detail, with one hell of a problem. Maybe someone wants to discredit her, show that women aren't up to such jobs? Enter Reacher, whose late brother had an affair with Froelich. Taut, tense and so authentic even Bill Clinton's a fan.

Jack Reacher walks alone. No job, no ID, no last known address. But he never turns down a plea for help. Now a woman tracks him down, someone who was once close to his brother, becaue she needs help in her new job. Her task? Protecting the Vice President of the United States from someone threatening to kill him. And so Reacher, with nothing but his toothbrush and the clothes he stands up in, enters a very exclusive club at the very heart of Washington power- the offices of the United States Secret Service. Here he must literally put himself in the line of fire, pitting his native cunning, surly charm and instinctive but contrlled violence against the williness of bureaucrats and the ghosts from his own past - as well as the brutal ruthlessness of the mystery assassin. WITHOUT FAIL is Lee Child's sixth thriller to feature Jack Reacher. A hero whose toughness, coolness and sheer animal magnetism just grows more irresistable with every book.