Here's a funny thing…

In my copy of Bad Luck and Trouble, it gives Jack Reacher's birth date as 1960 in the profile data at the front of the book. But in my copy of 61 Hours, published three years later, we just get 29 Oct – no year.

It seems that the publishers fear the mighty action hero – here on very good form – might be showing his age at 51 years old. He certainly looks past his best going by appearances – terrible old clothes, shaggy hair (in Bad Luck…) and here he spends most of his time with his teeth chattering as he freezes half to death.

But despite the blub writer's sudden coyness about Reacher's advancing years, Lee Child is still showing his hero in a glorious light. The former military cop is stranded in a frozen Dakotan town, soon to be the focus of Mexican drug lords and bent cops. A tad implausible at times, the novel will still delight Reacher fans. The setting is great, and we learn more of the hero's character, his insecurities and loneliness.

Well, what would you expect from a lone wanderer still on the road in his 50s?