Although most Reacher novels are set in the present day, this is a flashback to 1992, when Reacher is a newly demoted (from Major) MP Captain. He is assigned to a task force with others from the FBI, CIA and Treasury Department to investigate the ongoing murders of scientists who were involved in a project in India in 1969. The task force was formed by the Secretary of Defense, and all of the members are having career problems.
This is pretty standard Reacher fare, although his physical exploits set in 1992 aren’t accompanied by the nagging thought that someone in his late 50s, early 60s, might not be able to beat the shit out of every opponent he encounters.
I also read A Nightmare in Vallisca: Investigating the Haunted Axe Murder House by Richard Estes. This isn’t fiction, per se (or maybe it is), but mostly focuses on the paranormal aspects of the house. For those not familiar with it, Vallisca is a small town in southwest Iowa. On the night of June 9-10, 1912, Josiah Moore, his wife, four young children, and two girls who were having a sleepover, were killed with an axe as they slept. The murders have never been solved.
The house has been restored to its 1912 state (no electric lights, no running water, and is laid out as it was that night) and is a favorite of paranormal investigators, together with sites in three nearby towns of which I wasn’t aware, despite living my entire life in Iowa. Although the discussion of the crime and subsequent investigation is not really the focus, it is discussed, and the paranormal things that supposedly happen in the house are pretty spooky.
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