I know I have spoken admiringly here before about the fiction writer Lee Child. Bonnie is also a fan. I am reading his latest book, "A Wanted Man," and wanted to say it again.

Child's main character is Jack Reacher. Reacher is a former Army MP. He has no fixed residence. No car. He buys cheap clothes and throws them away and gets new ones when they need laundering. During his travels he keeps running into people in trouble and setting it straight. He is a righteous man.

Lee Child favors short words and short sentences. The prototypical paragraph in a Reacher book is "Reacher said nothing." He is way past laconic.

Recommended. Which is probably at least one more syllable than Reacher would use.

Here is an example from the beginning of "A Wanted Man."

Reacher had money in his pocket. If he could get to Lincoln or Omaha he could get a bus. But he couldn't get to Lincoln or Omaha. Not without a ride. He took to tucking his right hand under his left arm between cars, to keep it from freezing. He stamped his feet. His breath pooled around his head like a cloud. A highway patrol cruiser blew by with lights but no siren. Two cops inside. They didn't even glance Reacher's way. Their focus was up ahead. Some kind of an incident, maybe."