In the sense that there's a very very bad man who you can't wait for Reacher to pulverize, this book fulfills the promise of any good Reacher tale. Child even manages putting 6'5" Reacher up against a 4'11" opponent and making the odds a bit more even than you'd expect.

But there are a few deal-breakers here in terms of plausibility, giving rise to some disbelief I could not suspend. First one: There's a key witness who can potentially take out a criminal cartel in a small Colorado town. She's under police protection. Unfortunately, the local cops are under a contract with a federal prison that says in the event of a prison emergency, EVERY cop must high-tail it to the prison immediately. This results in the cops leaving their witness unprotected, even though they have an inkling that the prison riot is a distraction intended to let an assassin off the witness. "But, the contract says we have to!" Sorry, but I don't believe that cops are that dumb or irresponsible. Second thing: there's a huge cache of government methamphetamine left over from WWII that apparently is still as potent as ever. Really? 60 plus years shelf life? I doubt it. Third thing: the area where the final set-piece takes place could only exist in a made up story.

None of this means that the book isn't entertaining. It's just not believable. Read it and see if you agree.