Another month. Another Jack Reacher novel.

“Worth Dying For” is the 16th book in Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. The 16th Jack Reacher book I’ve read in about the same number of months since early 2022.

Reacher is a former Army military police officer who left the service roughly a decade-plus earlier at the time of “Worth Dying For.” He’s spent those years, and every book, wandering from place to place and adventure to adventure across the United States.

Each book is set in a different place. Each book has a different supporting cast. Each book has a different bad guy or set of bad guys. Each book has a different style of adventure/mystery/crime,etc.

Reacher is the dominating constant.

He’s a big, powerful guy, trained to kill and harder to kill. He’s smart and impervious to most social structures and most human discomforts.

At times, he seems like a modern Conan the Barbarian without the ambition to one day be rich or a king.

Reacher usually happens into the adventures in each book by stumbling into a situation or because of a strict code of honor he cannot ignore, even if he’s often thinking he should be heading out of town. But his code will not let him walk away until he’s administered his sense of justice.

In “Worth Dying For,” he stumbles into a situation because of his code.

Set in Nebraska, he drives a drunk and reluctant doctor to answer a call from a woman who’s obviously been abused. Reacher then seeks out the abusive husband and breaks his nose.

Reacher soon discovers the husband is the youngest member of a family that is bullying an entire farming town. The family wrongly believes it can bully Reacher. A move that leads to Reacher stubbornly staying in the town.

He learns the entire town is terrorized by the family of three brothers and the one son/nephew. He also finds out the family may have been involved with the disappearance of an 8-year-old girl a quarter of a century earlier.

Meanwhile, three pairs of gangsters are in town to see why the family is late with a mysterious shipment.

“Worth Dying For” is prime Reacher. More action than usual, plenty of suspense and supporting characters who quickly gain readers’ empathy.

Worth reaching for.