61 Hours
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''61 Hours'' is the fourteenth book in the
Jack Reacher Jack Reacher is the protagonist of a series of crime thriller novels by British author Lee Child, a 2012 film adaptation, its 2016 sequel, and a television series on Amazon Prime Video. In the stories, Jack Reacher was a major in the U.S. ...
thriller series written by
Lee Child James Dover Grant (born 29 October 1954), primarily known by his pen name Lee Child, is a British author who writes Thriller (genre), thriller novels, and is best known for his ''Jack Reacher (book series), Jack Reacher'' novel series. The boo ...
. It was published on 18 March 2010 both in the United Kingdom and in the USA. It is written in the third person. In the story, former military police officer Jack Reacher agrees to help the police in a small South Dakota town protect an elderly witness to a biker gang methamphetamine deal. As Reacher and the police investigate the gang's compound, the threats to the witness escalate to murder and the involvement of a powerful drug kingpin.


Plot summary

Jack Reacher is hitching a ride on a senior citizens' tour through
South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...
in the middle of winter when the bus skids out on the interstate, disabling it. Together with the bus driver, Jay Knox, and the local deputy chief of police, Andrew Peterson, Reacher helps the elderly tourists get to safety in the nearby town of Bolton. Bolton is home to one of the largest prisons in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. Reacher learns that in the event of an escape or riot in the prison, the entire Bolton Police Department is legally required to abandon whatever they were doing and report there. This is problematic because Bolton is also home to a gang of
methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug use, recreational or Performance-enhancing substance, performance-enhancing drug and less commonly as a secon ...
dealers operating out of a mysterious abandoned U.S. military facility nearby. The local police cannot get probable cause to search the complex without the testimony of a retired librarian, Janet Salter, the only person willing to testify that she saw a drug deal take place in Bolton. Peterson and the chief of police, Tom Holland, know that if the prison siren rings, the officers guarding Mrs. Salter will have to leave, making her easy prey for the drug dealers. Reacher agrees to help the Bolton police, first by determining what was stored in the abandoned military compound. He calls up his old military police unit in
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, and is connected with its newest commanding officer, Major Susan Turner. Reacher and Turner are mutually attracted to each other over the phone, and Turner agrees to help Reacher if he will tell her the story of how the desk in her office, which used to be Reacher's, ended up with a head-size dent in it. Reacher asks whether Turner is married, and she hangs up the phone. Reacher travels to the military compound and finds no evidence of a methamphetamine lab, only a small stone building surrounded by barracks huts whose residents are about to move out. He determines that the long road leading up to the compound is actually a runway, and deduces that it must have been an
U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...
facility. Turner finds out that forty tons of surplus materiel from
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
are being stored in tunnels accessed under the small stone building, but cannot figure out the exact contents. She also finds out that the facility, constructed in the 1950s, was intended to be an orphanage and
fallout shelter A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designated to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War. Durin ...
for kids whose parents were killed in a nuclear war. Based on the complex's pristine condition, Reacher guesses that its owner, a four foot 11 inches tall Latin American drug lord and pawn shop baron named Plato, is getting ready to sell it, but the sale would be compromised by Mrs. Salter being alive to testify. A local lawyer who relayed instructions in and out of the Bolton prison is found shot dead in his car, telling Reacher and the police that Plato's hit man has arrived in town. Reacher stays with Mrs. Salter to guard her, and teaches her how to fire a gun. Holland, Peterson, and Reacher find the key to the tunnel head and venture underground. In a maze of tunnels that are only five feet six inches high, because they were intended for children, Reacher finds tons of methamphetamine in boxes dating to the 1940s. He deduces that it must have been surplus from doses given to World War II bomber pilots. There is also a treasure trove of jewelry, paintings, and other valuables: unredeemed pledges from Plato's pawnshop empire. On his way home from the police station, Peterson is shot dead by the unknown killer, who Reacher now believes to be a police officer. Holland orders the entire department to return to the station, but tells Reacher that he cannot bear to tell the news to Peterson's widow. While Reacher is at Peterson's house, the prison siren goes off. Reacher, lacking a vehicle, desperately runs two miles in the impossibly cold conditions to protect Mrs. Salter. He is too late, and finds her shot dead in her library, her gun in her pocket. Reacher calls Turner and says he is contemplating suicide. He tells Turner that the dent in the desk came from when he nearly killed a one-star general who had stolen food supplies meant for Reacher and other troops stationed in
Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...
during the
1991 Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
. He had used part of the money to buy a
Chevrolet Corvette The Chevrolet Corvette is a line of American two-door, two-seater sports cars manufactured and marketed by General Motors under the Chevrolet marque since 1953. Throughout eight generations, indicated sequentially as C1 to C8, the Corvette is not ...
. The incident cost Reacher his command and his career in the army. Turner tells Reacher to ask her if she is married. He asks, and she says "No." He promises to head towards Virginia the next day. Plato and a crew of henchmen fly to the abandoned airfield on his private
Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...
, intending to pack it full of his loot and methamphetamine before selling the base to a Russian gangster. Reacher and Holland drive out to the base, and Reacher reveals that he knows Holland is the killer working for Plato. Holland deliberately crashes his police car, and Reacher executes Holland after learning of his role in the death of Mrs. Salter. Plato arrives, and Reacher pretends that he is Holland and goes underground with the gangster. Reacher attacks Plato, but his massive frame is at a severe disadvantage in the cramped space. Unbeknownst to Plato, two of his men are actually working for the Russian. They kill Plato's other henchmen, and begin pumping jet fuel from Plato's aircraft into the fallout bunker. Reacher manages to kill Plato, and desperately runs up the stairs as the henchmen drop a
flare A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala, bengalo in several European countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illuminatio ...
down the shaft. In Virginia, Turner watches news reports of a massive explosion at an Air Force facility outside Bolton, South Dakota, giving off fumes containing some kind of stimulant. A month later, she is redeployed to Afghanistan without a call from Reacher.


Characters

*
Jack Reacher Jack Reacher is the protagonist of a series of crime thriller novels by British author Lee Child, a 2012 film adaptation, its 2016 sequel, and a television series on Amazon Prime Video. In the stories, Jack Reacher was a major in the U.S. ...
: The main protagonist, a former military policeman, known for his resourcefulness and capacity for justice. * The Lawyer: Represents a biker charged with drug dealing. * Jay Knox: Driver of bus that runs off the road in snow storm. * Andrew Peterson: Deputy Chief of Police, Bolton Police Department. * Tom Holland: Chief of Police, Bolton Police Department. * Susan Turner: Major, current Commanding Officer of the U.S. Army 110th Military Policeman Special Investigations Unit. * Plato: Leader of a South American drug cartel. * Kim Peterson: Andrew Peterson's wife. * Janet Salter: The only witness to the crime committed by the biker.


Critical reception


References


External links

* — United Kingdom * — United States {{Jack Reacher 2010 British novels English thriller novels Jack Reacher books Novels set in South Dakota Third-person narrative novels Bantam Press books