Lee Child

It's hard to believe Child's bestselling crime series hero Jack Reacher is now 19 adventures' old! After all, the danger Reacher faces in each novel seems individually and collectively overwhelming - to the point where it sometimes pushes readers' ability to suspend disbelief. On the other hand, Child walks that tightrope of plot with such energy and confidence that we read on with delight. Because Reacher is. A. Bad. Ass. This time out, in "Personal," the freewheeling ex-Army policeman is the perfect person to hunt down a sniper who is apparently on a quest to violently disrupt a British political summit that will be attended by all the leaders of the free world. He's being helped by an anti-depressant-popping young CIA operative who reminds Reacher of a girl he used to know and who died violently and in a fashion that has plagued him with guilt. Oh, and the sniper? He's just out of prison after 15 long years and he's particularly bitter because Reacher was the one who put him in jail to begin with.

- RICK KOSTER