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I Read All 24 Jack Reacher Books This Year
In 2019 I read 40 books, pretty evenly split between biographies/history books and non-fiction. Largely because of our tinpot dictator governors shutting down so much other activity this year (sporting events, concerts, restaurants, dances, etc.), I’ve been reading a lot more, and have gone through 56 books in less than eight months, including all 24 of Lee Childs’ Jack Reacher series.
Several months ago, there was a Ricochet post about favorite books and someone mentioned the Jack Reacher series, none of which had I ever bothered to try. I downloaded one from our library (not the first of the series, it had a bunch of people waiting) and whipped through it in about a day and a half. After that I was hooked; most of them took me no more than two days. I wasn’t able to read them in any particular order because of library availability, but I just finished the last one, which ironically is the first in the series, Killing Floor. It has an interesting prologue from the author outlining how he became a writer and his basis for the character.
Jack Reacher is a retired Army military police major and son of a Marine sergeant, and his adventures often involve military or national security themes. He has no fixed address and roams the country by hitchhiking or riding buses while trying to get a feel for the country and its people that he didn’t get to experience as a kid in his Dad’s overseas Marine postings or his own MP activities. The usual theme is Jack minding his own business on a cross-country bus, eating in a diner, walking through New York City or some podunk town in Nebraska or Maine, and lo and behold, crime and adventure find him. It usually involves him going toe-to-toe with a crew of nasty, evil villains while helping out someone who needs to be rescued from the bad guys. Jack is pretty smart, is a numbers freak, and his background in MP investigations serves him well, but at 6-feet-5 and 250 pounds, when the rubber meets the road he has to use brute strength to get him through the tough spots.
In each book, you know what’s going to happen in the end, but the hook is how Jack manages to pull it off. If you like escapist (usually violent) fiction and enjoy trying to match wits with the protagonist, give the books a try. The latest one in the series, Blue Moon, came out in 2019.
P.S. There are several Jack Reacher short stories, too.
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I also like the Jack Reacher books. They are a break from reading all of the investigative books about “Russian Collusion”
Have you read any of the books by Diane Capri such as “Don’t know Jack: Hunting Lee Child’s Jack Reacher”? They are some sort of cooperative venture using the same hero.
Not yet, but I will.
The guy who does the audiobooks is Reacher, at least in style. Unlike Tom Cruise.
Yeah, after the books, no way I could watch a movie with Cruise as Jack Reacher.
If you liked Jack Reacher, you may enjoy the Longmire series of novels (and TV show, which does an unusually good job of portraying the characters). They’re about a Wyoming based widower detective, who solves mysteries and traverses the terrain with his best friend, a Cheyenne Native American activist come bar owner. Craig Johnson is a skilled writer, and Walt (and Henry’s) fascination with classic literature makes it all the better.
I was surprised, in terms of the attitude, Tom Cruise made a pretty good Reacher. Size wise, not sure anyone but Dave Bautista would be appropriate, and I bet he’d do a good job.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I thought there was a drop in quality in the Reacher books when Child switched publishers. Just my humble opinion…
Great post by OP. Good recommendations and a nice review. It is so much fun to chew through books and see a big multi-novel story unfold.
I wanted to try the Longmire TV show. Had no idea it was a book series. Thanks. I’d say the Dalton Fury Delta Force novels got me into the military suspense novel theme. I had no strong experience with the genre but I really enjoyed them. It’s extra cool because the writer really was an officer in the Unit at Tora Bora. I’ve been meaning to read more Jack Carr’s as well. I read his first (Terminal List) and it was great!
Like most adaptations, they’re kind of different from each other in some ways and not in others. I can definitely recommend the first 4 books (there are 8 or 9 more that I haven’t read) and the tv show, which has some particularly excellent acting from Lou Diamond Phillips. I would guess, both because the show was so popular and the newer novels diverge a good amount from the show, that it may end up with some Jesse Stone style made for TV movies at some point.
Thanks. I’ll make a note. Can’t promise it will be right away but I’ll move it way up on my list!
I have read most of the Reacher books and just finished “Blue Moon”. It was good and has highest body count by far. Not exactly John Wick, but close. I also love the first Reacher movie. I’ve watched it a dozen times. Too bad Dolph Lundgren wasn’t chosen. I did not like the second movie.
Thanks to a generous coworker, I have now listened to nine of the series. They have been scattered through the Reacher timeline and publishing timeline. Five have been read by Dick Hill so he is the primary (and favorite) voice of Reacher to me.
I love following the places he ends up. The first one I listened to took place primarily in Nebraska not far from my long ago home town. (I also love that the story was woven around the Ogallala Aquifer…who would do such a thing?) Much of the surroundings were familiar enough to be realistic but I couldn’t quite locate a real match. And I did chuckle when, during the course of the story, a rain storm came from the East…a small detail but something rare enough to be truly fictional. The one around Mule Crossing, WY similarly covered familiar-ish ground.
The one in OK that delved into the “dark web” did get a bit disturbing. Some topics you just don’t want to hear about in your light entertainment…other than Cormac McCarthy’s “The Counselor,” I haven’t been disturbed that much by a story ever.
And, for the record, while Cruise is completely insufficient physically to be Reacher and I have no reason to defend any of his work (while I do watch Days of Thunder whenever I see it on), I wasn’t at all offended by his performance as Reacher.
The last couple before Blue Moon were fairly pedestrian. Blue Moon is more like the “old” Reacher novels.
Lee Child had no issue with Cruise playing Reacher. IIRC, he said something like, “Everyone in Hollywood is short, so what does it matter?” I think Nick Nolte in his prime would have made a great Reacher.
How about Clint Eastwood 40+ years ago?
Get back to me after you have read all of the Ed McBain (Evan Hunter) novels, the John D McDonald novels, the Leonard Elmore novels, the Lawrence Block novels, T Jefferson Parker, Robert Crais, Deon Myers, Michael Connely, Tony Hillerman and a few thousand other crime fiction writers who have far more insight into life than Child.
I loved Lee Child’s Jack Reacher’s series. Back in January 2018, I had to have a foot of my large intestine removed and was in the hospital for 5 days. I had recently started the Jack Reacher books. I read more than a book a day in the hospital. I would finish one and pick up the next one. It rescued me. I so greatly appreciated the series.
One short and kinda gross experience. After having a catheter removed, I desperately needed to urinate and was told that if I was unsuccessful, they would install a new catheter. No, not that! I needed something to distract my mind as I was efforting to, well, pee. Literally, I was standing before the toilet holding the plastic container for several minutes. I then thought of the Reacher book I was reading and started to wonder who Reacher was going to kill, and how he would kill them. My mind flew away at the different options of killing and escaping from his quandary, and suddenly, with my mind fully engaged, my body relaxed, and I was able to, well, go. Victory!
I did not enjoy the “searching for Jack” series nearly as much. They were okay.
But I highly recommend “Jack Reacher Rules” such as always eat when you get a chance, always drink coffee when you get a chance, and always sleep when you get a chance. Another rule is that the best way to disable someone is to suddenly head butt them in the face, as the crown of your head is made of thick bone which will likely not crack, but which can destroy your opponent’s face, especially his nose, and knock them out cold.
I have several authors who I have literally read all of their books, and have a standing order for their next books. When I was in 5th Grade, I read the “You Were There” series, and could almost finish a book a day. When I was older, it was the C.S. Forester Horatio Hornblower series, followed by the Ayn Rand books, the Tom Clancy series, and the Alexander Kent series. In recent years, I have read all of the books in the C.J. Box series, the Vince Flynn/Kyle Mills series, the Brad Thor series, the Daniel Silva series, the Alex Berenson series, and the Michael Connelly series. While most of his books are not part of a series, I love getting the newest John Grisham books. In the last couple of weeks, I have read three books by Erik Larson, and his “The Splendid and the Vile” was the book of the year. My fellow Ricochetti have made several invaluable suggestions which I greatly appreciate.
I recently read all of the Craig Johnson Walt Longmire series, and am saving that for an OP in the future.
Thank you for the happiness you have brought me in reminding me of the Lee Child Jack Reacher series in specific, and books in general.
Try optimism. It’s better.
Hope for the best but plan for the worst.
I’ve read every Reacher, read each one as soon as I can. But I have some complaints. Reacher/Child has had good words for PETA and other radical lefty causes. And
Another complaint, as someone who has spent a lot of years working in hotels, Reacher is always able to negotiate a cheap price for a room, say $25, for a room. And sometimes works a shady deal with the front desk clerk. Nope.
And I hate how Reacher just throws away clothes. Drop it off at the Salvation Army, man.
Plus his victims waste a lot of blood the Red Cross could really use.
I agree that Child doesn’t do “insight into life” as well as the ones above that I’ve read. but I dispute that’s a prerequisite for good thrillers. Child plots well and draws compelling bad guys, which puts him up there. You forgot Ross MacDonald, BTW.
I think there are a few people who have done the audio books. Dick Hill is my favorite. As you say, he is Reacher. I’d actually recommend listening to the Hill audio versions rather than reading the books. Once you get used to Hill’s voice and cadence, it’s hard to read any Reacher book without hearing him in your head.
I got hooked on the Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva. I started after spotting one at a client’s house, so I bought it. It was really good, so I ordered some, and picked up more at library sales. I didn’t start at the beginning – more like the 7th book in and going forward. The characters are spies, and the stories are based around the world with different foes. An interesting part of each book is the prologue, where the author describes that history, both current and past, that is weaved into the tale. He’s an outstanding writer.
Also a big fan of the Reacher saga. I haven’t read the last one yet, but have read all the others.
I understand that Child has said that he has written his last Reacher book and will be turning the character over to his brother for future books. So we’ll have to see if he can keep up the quality we are used to.
As long as people are recommending other series, might I suggest Mark Greaney’s Gray Man series. He writes, dare I say it, in such a Clancyesque style that he was picked by the Clancy estate as one of the authors to continue the Jack Ryan/Jack Ryan Jr. series. The Gray Man series are espionage thrillers, set all over the world. Worth a look.
(Forgot to mention, Greaney recently collaborated on “Red Metal,” a military thriller in the same vein as “Red Storm Rising”. The story mainly takes place in Poland, Germany and Eastern Europe. Tank warfare, A-10s, and all the rest. I like that sort of thing and liked the book.)
I’ve read all of them, too. They’re excellent.
If you read the forward by Lee Child in many of his Reacher books you will learn that he credits John D McDonald for his style of writing and more specifically his character Reacher taken from McDonald’s Travis Magee. I have read the entire series of both Jack and Travis. McDonald is a much more intellectual writer. His books besides for a few instances are timeless. He also was very prolific. For some reason his heirs have been reluctant to allow his books to be published on Kindle. They have just started to put some out on Kindle. Fortunately I read many from paper back in the past. Physically Jack and Travis could be twins. Travis lives on a houseboat in Florida called the “ Busted Flush”. Like Reacher he is continually running into bad guys. All the Travis Magee series have a color in the title. I also think the plots by McDonald are more realistic. Sometimes you need to really stretch your imagination with the Child’s plots. Also Travis changes Clothes every day.
True, but it’s one of the attractions for me.
Couldn’t help but laugh.
I’ll give them another look! I keep Killing Floor next to my desk and just pick it up every now and then.
I will check it out. Thank you so much.
This is a very, very good series. The only problem is that the first book starts out too slowly. After that it all picks up. My suggestion is that you start with the second book and if you like it, go back to the first book, and read the whole series in order.