Jack Reacher Books In Order

Publication Order of Jack Reacher Books

Chronological Order of Jack Reacher Books

Publication Order of Jack Reacher Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Jack Reacher Collections

Publication Order of Jack Reacher Miscellaneous Books

Jack Reacher Biography:

Jack Reacher is the lead character and the protagonist in the series of books by British author Jim Grant who writes under the pseudonym of Lee Child. The books in the series follow Reacher as he goes through a number of exploits in his world. Reacher has been called one of “this century’s most original, tantalizing pop-fiction heroes” by the Washington Post. While Lee Child himself has been called a master of his craft by publications such as Entertainment Weekly and the series has drawn quite a following.

Killing Floor: This is the first book in the Jack Reacher series. Child was awarded with both the Anthony Award and Barry Award for Best First Novel. The book starts with Jack Reacher getting off of a Greyhound bus in the town of Margrave, Georgia for the simple reason that he heard that a blues musician that he liked had died in that town.

However, to his surprise he is arrested shortly after on the orders of the local sheriff. The sheriff claims that he saw Reacher leave the scene of a murder and arrests him for that crime. What they don’t know is what Reacher is capable of. Reacher meets the detective, Finlay, and a female officer named Roscoe who believes that Reacher is innocent. Jack will work together with them on the case to bring the right killer
to justice.

Die Trying: This book sees Jack Reacher heading to Chicago where he is witness to a woman being kidnapped off of the street. He’s in the wrong place at the wrong time which leads to him being kidnapped with her. The two are chained together and locked in the back of the van as it heads to an unknown destination. The men who kidnapped them are looking for an impossible ransom. The woman is worth a lot of money to someone and they just might get it.

However, the bad luck turns out to belong to the kidnappers. Jack may have been at the wrong place at the wrong time, but they kidnapped the wrong guy. Jack will do what it takes to save them both from this ordeal – or die trying

Tripwire: Jack is in Key West trying to enjoy the weather and the anonymity, far away from his life in the military police. That anonymity is soon dashed when a stranger show up looking for him with a lot of questions. Jack has questions of his own, but he won’t get any answers from him as the man has just turned up dead.

Reacher will leave Key West behind and head on a trail back to New York where the dangerous corners of his own past await him. A merciless killer lurks and Reacher is the only one who can bring him down.

Running Blind / The Visitor: Jack is trying to settle into a house in New York that he recently inherited from an old mentor. He’s never been one for being tied down though and feels like the house may be tying him down.

Meanwhile, a dangerous serial killer is making their way across the country. Everywhere they go women are being murdered with no evidence left behind, no wounds, no clues, and no motive. These are the perfect crimes and the authorities are struggling to stop them. However, there is one thing that links together all of the victims: each of these women knew Jack Reacher.

Reacher is out to find the killer, but he is running blind.

Echo Burning: Reacher is traveling across the scorching Texas desert when he ends up catching a rife from a woman. Her name is Carmen Greer and she has quite the story to tell him. The woman tells him that the only reason that she stopped is because of her problem: her husband. He is getting out of prison soon and she’s afraid of what will happen to her. She’s looking for someone to kill her husband and she thinks that man is Reacher.

Reacher doesn’t agree to those terms and even tries to escape, but eventually decides to at least look into the situation. It’s a decision that could cost him his life.

Without Fail: The story begins in Atlantic City where Jack has just arrived after hitching across the country. Upon his arrival, he meets a Secret Service agent, M.E. Froelich, who once dated Reacher’s brother Joe.

She needs Reacher’s help with a job to assassinate the Vice President of the United States, theoretically. Froelich needs his help to find the holes in her system because there is a covert group who plans to do it for real. The would-be assassins have thought of nearly everything in their plan to kill, but there’s one thing they didn’t plan for: Reacher.

Persuader: Reacher is on a seemingly never ending quest to right wrongs and rewrite his past. He’s working, unofficially, of course, with the DEA when this story begins to bring down a man suspected of smuggling drugs, but he has his own motivations as well. The plan is to stage a kidnapping of Zachary Beck’s son, Richard, to ingratiate Reacher with them. The plan works and Reacher is soon hired as the man’s bodyguard.

The move will send Jack into a dark world of secrecy and violence as he works towards his ultimate goal of finishing some unfinished business form his past.

The Enemy: On New Year’s Day, 1990, a two-star general was found dead in a North Carolina motel. The only thing missing from his room was his briefcase, but nobody seems to know what was in it. Reacher is called in to control the situation. However, hours later the general’s wife is also murdered and it’s only the beginning.

Somewhere in the U.S. Army, someone is trying to set up Reacher as the fall guy in this case. Some men may go down without a fight, but Reacher is not that man. He’ll fight against an enemy he didn’t know he had and a conspiracy darker than he ever could’ve imagined.

One Shot: The book starts with six shots and five people are left dead. A city is thrown into a state of terror and the police need to work fast to apprehend the killer.

They do just that and make a quick arrest, but the man claims to be innocent. Worse the police, he’s asking for help from one man: Jack Reacher. Reacher heads to town and he knows the shooter well, a trained military sniper who would never miss a shot. That extra bullet is telling to him and he knows that something is not right here. Reacher teams up with a beautiful young defense lawyer as they work to clear the name of this man and find the real enemy who is pulling the strings here.

Whoever the enemy is, Reacher knows that the only way to stop him is to match his ruthlessness and cunning, and beat him at his own dangerous game.

The Hard Way: Jack Reacher sits in a Manhattan coffee shop when he notices a man unlock a Mercedes and drive away. Twenty four hours later, he’s in the same coffee shop and is approached by men looking for answers. The men take him to Edward Lane who wants to know Jack’s description of the man and offers him a job: one million dollars to find his wife and daughter.

As Reacher is on the trail of these vicious kidnappers, he’ll learn the dark secrets of his employer and find that he’s in deep, but it’s too late to stop now.

Bad Luck and Trouble: With no phone and no address, Reacher thinks he’s isolated from the world and his former life, but it’s never that far from him. A woman from his old unit has put up a signal that only the eight members of his former team of army investigators would know so he contacts her.

What she has to tell him is a story of a man they served with’s brutal death and the killer isn’t finished. Reacher gets together with the other survivors of his elite team as they try to put together the pieces of this puzzle. Their trail leads them to more missing comrades, the city of Las Vegas, and the dark world of international terrorism.

Nothing to Lose: Like the singer in the classic Suicidal Tendencies song just wanted a Pepsi, Reacher just wants a cup of coffee. Just one cup of coffee, but he ends up finding himself in a world of trouble.

Reacher finds himself between two Colorado towns: Hope and Despair. He arrives in town and within minutes a deputy is in the hospital, sending Reacher back to Hope. Here, he will set up a base of operations against Despair as the town is doing something that nobody is supposed to see. A group of well-trained soldiers guards the facility.

A beautiful cop who runs Hope joins forces with Reacher to break open the secrets of Despair and expose their connection to the war that is killing Americans.

Gone Tomorrow: It’s 2AM in New York City when Reacher is riding a subway car uptown. There are five other passengers on the subway and one of them isn’t okay. If you think Reacher isn’t going to do something about that, you haven’t been paying attention.

The passenger is Susan Mark, an average woman with a big secret. She’s being watched by people in Washington, California, and Afghanistan, and her watchers all have one thing in common: they are lying to Reacher and it could be enough to get him killed. Reacher will end up fighting against soldiers from all sides of this shadow war, but he won’t stop until he comes face-to-face with his worst enemy.

61 Hours: A woman in a small town is standing up for justice in a small town. She is set to testify in a big case, but there are forces that don’t want her to make it to the trial.

Reacher ends up in South Dakota after a bus crash in a snowstorm which leads him to helping her out. It’s a good thing too because there is a proficient assassin making his way to the small town, a killer who never misses. The enemies he faces will be stronger than he imagined, but so is the woman he is risking it all to keep alive.

Worth Dying For: In the corn country of Nebraska, Reacher finds himself in a world of trouble. First, he meets the Duncans who have been terrorizing the entire county which means that they are immediately on Reacher’s bad side. However, there is also a cold case of a missing child, decades old at this point, that captures his attention and puts him into Reacher-mode.

Jack tries to look into the case, but the Duncans want him gone. They are awaiting a shipment that is already late which puts them at risk of angering their more powerful customers. A normal man would leave this town and its troubles behind him, but Jack Reacher is not a normal man.

The Affair: This is the sixteenth entry in the Jack Reacher series. This book is actually a jump back in time to 1997 when Reacher was still in the U.S. Army. The story sees the elite military cop sent to Carter Crossing, Mississippi where he is sent to uncover all that he can after a murder. A young woman died and there was a cover-up.

The evidence points to a soldier from a local military base who has someone powerful friends that could help to cover up something like this. Reacher meets with the local sheriff who is looking for justice in this case, but the two are uncertain if they can trust each other. As Reacher looks to uncover the truth, there are others trying to bury it forever. He’ll end up uncovering a conspiracy that threatens his faith in his mission and turns him into the scary man that readers know well.

A Wanted Man: This book starts with Reacher in the back of a car, hitching his way to Chicago. He’s in the guy with three others, one of which is telling stories that don’t quite add up. Meanwhile, an hour behind them lies the body of a man who was stabbed to death at a gas station. It was no ordinary crime, it was the work of professionals, and now the FBI has descended on the station to claim the victim.

All Reacher was looking for was a ride, but he now finds himself into something much bigger: a massive conspiracy that will make him a threat to both sides. What they don’t know is just how big of a threat he is.

Never Go Back: Reacher returns to northeast Virginia, the headquarters of his old unit, and the closest place he’s ever had to a home. He’s here to meet Major Susan Turner, the new commanding officer, who he has only spoken to on the phone. However, as he heads to her desk he finds someone else in the seat.

He quickly learns that she is in trouble and he is too. He’ll have to fight his way out, find Turner, and clear both of their names as the Army, the FBI, the D.C. Metro police, and some unidentified thugs are hot on his tail.

Personal: Reacher may have left the Army, but it’s never left him and now he’s being called back into action. Someone has taken a shot at the president of France in the City of Light and the shooter was American. The angle that the shot was taken at was so exceptional that there are very few people on the planets who could’ve made the shot.

One of those men is John Kott, an American marksman who went rogue. Kott is out of prison and unaccounted for, likely headed for the G8 Summit to take out other world leaders. Reacher is the man who stopped him before and now he’ll have to do it again.

Make Me: When Reacher heads to a town called Mother’s Rest all he wants to know is why the town is called that, but no one will tell him. Mother’s Rest is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere filled with watchful people. A woman named Michelle Chang mistakes Jack for her missing partner. He doesn’t have much else to do so he sets out to help her find him.

He thinks it won’t be a tough job, but soon finds himself racing through LA, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Francisco, going against thugs and assassins at every stop. The search will ultimately force Reacher to confront one of the worst nightmares that he could possibly imagine.

Night School: This is another flashback book that takes place in 1996 and sees Reacher sent back to school by the army. He’s one of three in the class with the other two being an FBI agent and a CIA analyst. Like Reacher, they are both wondering why they were sent to this school. They all find out when they learn of a Jihadist sleeper cell in Germany that has received an unexpected visitor with a message.

The message is what draws their attention as the courier states that an American wants one hundred million dollars. They don’t know who is asking, who they are asking from, or what they are giving in return; and this group is tasked with finding all that out. Time isn’t on their side and all they know is that they need to find this man before an epic act of terrorism is committed. Their mission will send them from Langley to Hamburg, Jalalabad to Kiev as they try to stop this act of terror.

The Midnight Line: Reacher makes his way to small Wisconsin town where he notices a class ring for West Point in the window. The year on the ring is 2005 which would’ve been a tough year to graduate with Iraq and then Afghanistan. He notices that the ring belonged to a woman and sees her initials on the inside. This leaves his wondering why she would’ve given up something she worked so hard for and decides to find out by finding her and returning the ring.

His journey will take him through small towns, the middle of nowhere, and the Wyoming wilderness. As he digs deeper into his search, things get more dangerous for him. The ring is just a link on a chain that leads Reacher to a vast criminal enterprise.

Past Tense: A trip from Maine to California sounds like a heck of a journey to Reacher, but he doesn’t end up making it very far. He gets as far as New England before he notices a sign to a place that he has never been before: the place where his father was born and he decides to take a detour.

Meanwhile, a couple of young Canadians are stranded at a motel after their car breaks down. The two were on their way to New York City to sell a treasure and now find themselves stuck in this small town. The owners of the motel are friend at least. Maybe a little too friendly.

Reacher decides to head to the city clerk to see his old family home, but is told that no one named Reacher has ever lived in the town. This leaves him with more questions than answers and he starts to look into things. As he explores his father’s life, his investigation and the danger the Canadians face begin to merge.

Blue Moon: Reacher sets out to help the Shevicks, an elderly couple who are down on their luck. The two have made a few mistakes that have left them owing a lot of money to some very bad people. Reacher’s attempts at help end up turning him into a wanted man in the middle of a turf war between rival gangs. In order to stay ahead of the loan sharks, thugs, and assassins, Reacher will team up with a waitress who knows more than she lets on. Reacher has a plan to make the greedy pay, but it’s a long shot and all the odds are against him.

The Sentinel: Reacher ends up in a town near Pleasantville, Tennessee that is anything but pleasant. In the middle of the day, Jack sees a man about to be ambushed four on one so he does what he does and takes care of it with his unique brand of conflict resolution. The man’s name is Rusty Rutherford, an IT manager, who has just lost his job after a cyber attack took down the town’s data. Rusty thinks that he can clear his name, but Reacher knows there is more to the story. What he’ll find is a conspiracy, cover-up, and murder that some people will go very far to keep secret.

Better Off Dead: When Reacher is out for a walk in the hot desert sun when he comes across a Jeep that has crashed into a tree with its driver slumped over the wheel. The woman isn’t dead, thankfully.

Her name is Michaela Fenton and she’s an army veteran turned FBI agent who is out looking for her twin brother who is into some trouble. Her brother is mixed up with some dangerous people who would rather die than betray their leader, the mysterious Dendocker, but he’s the one who would know what happened to him. Reacher is good at finding those that don’t want to be found and offers his help. Jack has been in some tricky situations before, but going against Dendocker will be one of the most dangerous situations of his life.

No Plan B: This is one you will have to pay attention to! It’s one of those books where there are 4 separate storylines essentially going on. They all come together in the end of course, but it can be a little hard to keep track of initially.

The primary storyline of course involves Jack Reacher. He is standing at a street corner when he sees a man push a woman in front of a bus. He chases (as fast as Reacher can go) after the man to stop him. The man has help, and there’s a big kerfluffle. When it all comes to a head, Reacher is told that the woman actually killed herself.

With so many people involved in the murder of one woman, you know Jack has to get to the bottom of things.

Jack Reacher Novellas

Second Son: This novella focuses on Jack Reacher as a 13-year-old in Okinawa, Japan. Even at this age, he knows how to outwit and overpower anyone that stands in his way. Jack and his older brother get a rude welcome from the other Army brats and make plans to get even, but it quickly becomes clear that there is more at stake here. With his family’s future in trouble, young Jack will rise to the occasion to put things back together.

Deep Down: Reacher is called in by Military Intelligence and sent undercover on a mission. Classified talks about a state-of-the-art sniper rifle are being infiltrated and it’s up to Reacher to sniff off the mole. It’s meant to be a zero-danger mission with no weapons involved, but if there’s one thing Reacher knows it’s that things rarely turn out that way.

High Heat: Jack is seventeen-years-old in New York during the Summer of Sam in this one. Reacher meets a young women who needs help and agrees to help her. Soon after, the power grid fails and the city is plunged into a lawless darkness. What can a visiting teenager do in the dark city? A normal teenager might be in trouble, but Jack is no ordinary teenager.

Not a Drill: Back on the road, Reacher hitches a ride with some Canadians on their way to hack in the forests of Maine. Reacher decides to check out the quiet town, but soon after the trail is closed and the military police arrive. It could be just a drill, but Jack finds that is rarely the case when he’s in town.

Too Much Time: This book works as a prequel to the Reacher novel, The Midnight Line. It takes place after Jack’s time in the Army when he witnesses a random bag-snatching in a small Maine town. To some this would be a simple crime, but Reacher sees much more of it.

Good and Valuable Consideration: Jack Reacher vs. Nick Heller: Jack Reacher makes a new acquaintance, Joseph Finder’s Nick Heller, in this short story. The two are sitting in a Boston bar watching a Yankees/Red Sox game when the man sitting between them turns out to be a marked man. We know what this two will do individually in this situation. What will they do together?

Small Wars: Lee Child takes Reacher to the 80s, 1989 to be exact. At this point Reacher is working as an MP who trying to solve the murder of a young officer. The officer was on the fast track to greatness and the hit appears to be a professional one. Reacher will get help from his older brother Joe and Sergeant Frances Neagley to figure out why.

The Christmas Scorpion: Reacher is spending the holidays in the California desert. It’s Christmas Eve and he finds himself in a roadhouse with a bartender, an elderly couple, and two members of the British Royal Military Police. The officers tell Reacher they were escorting a VIP to a top-secret meeting, but have since lost their charge. The threat is coming from a notorious assassin known as the Christmas Scorpion. It will take a Christmas miracle to save their charge and Santa brought Reacher.

Cleaning the Gold: A crossover featuring Jack Reacher coming face-to-face with Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent. Reacher is in Fort Knox looking to bring down a criminal operation while Will Trent is there to bring down a murder suspect: Jack Reacher. What the two don’t know is that there is a much larger conspiracy at play here, one they will have to team up to fight.

Killing Floor details the story of a ex military policeman and a drifter by the name of Jack Reacher. Reacher is just passing through a town by the name of Margrave, Georgia to find out information about a musician by the name of Blind Blake, and finds himself arrested for murder in less than an hour. Reacher is quite aware he did not kill anybody. The detective finds the phone number of a man named Hubble in the shoe of the dead man. Both Reacher and the next defendant Hubble are arrested for murder,and sent to the state prison. While in prison Reacher meets Roscoe a female police offiicer who helps with the two individuals defense.As Reacher alone is not about to convince anyone in Margrave, Georgia of his innocence.

The book details some of the exploits of Reacher as he tries to convince an unwilling populace that he is not guilty of the crime he is accused of committing. The book details Reacher’s interactions with a detective by the name of Findlay one of his main accusers.There are other characters that feature prominently in the novel as well. Some of the other characters of note that are part of the plot in the Kililng Floor include Chief Morrison and his wife who also are murder victims. There is also a multi billion dollar counterfeiting ring that comes in play in the action of this award wining book. There are other sorts of interesting plot twists within this novel that many people will read. Use this story for a great summer read and enjoy the time to delve into this exciting and powerfully written novel.

Some of the acclaim attached to this book includes USA today who stated the “indomitable Reacher burns up the pages. The New York Times called the action “Smart and Breathless.” Newsweek also called the action in he Killing floor “Subtle and nuanced with seductive writing and irresistible plot twists.” This book was followed by a succession of other novels featuring Reacher. All of them have been well regarded and well read. This book is something that you can find and take advantage of when you are looking for classic mysteries. This is one great read, and the Jack Reacher story The Killing Floor is a real page turner as literary critics and readers both agree.

The second Reacher novel to hit the scene was Die Trying. Although, the first novel the Killing Floor was widely acclaimed it did fall party to some critics who stated that the character of Jack Reacher was an unconvincing protagonist.Child attempted to address some of those concerns, in the second novel, lathough he largely paid no heed to the voices of the critics. The second novel may be one of the attempts to get the support of both readers and the voices of the critics.

In the second novel the ex military policeman Reacher is walking by a Chicago dry cleaner when an FBI agent also attractive and young, by the name of Holly comes by carrying some large packages. Holly is also the daughter of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. she is Kidnapped off the street along with Reacher. Only Reacher has the complex finely honed instincts to foil the kidnapping plot, and to see beyond the complex deadly plan of the Montana militia group that has kidnapped him and this young woman. The leader of the military group is a dangerous and charismatic leader who has some brutal action planned for both the kidnapped, and ruthless plans for the United States as a whole. This is a thrilling novel that has numerous plot twists to keep the reader entertained.

This novel is one of the things that you can look forward to when you are looking to find novels that have great stories and the great action that you need to stay involved This novel is one that will thrill the individual. It is one that makes a great summer time read.Readers will be stunned by the action with Die Trying when they decide to read this novel.
Both of these novels follows the larger than life character 6’5 Reacher as he gets very involved in the action and is a hero in his own way. His military training comes in handy within these novels. Read both of these novels as an introduction to the Jack Reacher character, and you may find that you wish to read more. These are some of the amazing novels by Child and can really be interesting and easy to find.

302 Responses to “Jack Reacher”

1. dan: 4 years ago

   If possible (it’s not) the best actor to play Jack would be grafting the face of Liev Shreiber onto the body of Henry Cavill.

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2. Marianne Parker: 4 years ago

   Alexander Skarsgard for sure 6 ft 4 inch blonde, definitely NOT Tom Cruise .

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3. niraneht: 5 years ago

   This is not on the list

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4. Shirley Work: 5 years ago

   Mr. Childs has stated that he would go with a lesser known actor that will not bring any other background to the role and just be Reacher. Jeff Bosley is a trained working actor and a Green Beret who happens to be 6’5″ and 250. He is actively campaigning for the role ,he was born to play, and has actuality spoken to Mr. Child. Jeff continues to work everyday building his Reacher physic while waiting for casting to start Join us, Bosley Believers .and let Jeff convince you himself

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5. Dc Champion: 5 years ago

   I thought Tom Cruise did an excellent job portraying Jack Reacher. Throughout film history Many famous actors were short in stature: Kirk Douglas; Audie Murphy etc.They were portrayed as being big men; Shortened doorways, specific camera angles; all the things Hollywood can do to change our perception of things we see in films. Maybe there is someone more physically in tune with the book character, but I don’t think you’d find a better actor to do the job than tom Cruise+-

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6. Dc Champion: 5 years ago

   How Many Jack Reacher movies are there; and what are their names

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7. Gary Flandro: 6 years ago

   Not only the actor in the Reacher films doesn’t fit, but the handling of the plots and the details of the stories are completely trashed.

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8. Philadelphian: 6 years ago

   It’s obvious that a problem Child is dealing with is Reacher’s age. It’s hard to imagine a man in his mid to upper 50’s being as dominant over others physically.

   I believe this is why there’s little or no reference to Reacher’s age in later novels and why Child decided to write books that took place in Reacher’s past.

   Nevertheless Child proves he is a unique writer by his ability to come up with so many unique plots for one character. To me, who plays Reacher in the movies is insignificant because Reacher readers will never be satisfied.

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9. Muriel Kuri: 6 years ago

   I understand many of your views about how Tom Cruise doesn’t fit the profile of Reacher. I’ve seen that with many of Stephen King’s books made into movies not meeting with my approval of what I thought the hero should look like. I haven’t as yet read any of the Reacher novels, but intend to. I agree that Hugh Jackman would’ve been a great Reacher, also possibly Dwayne Johnson. But Cruise started playing him and seems to do a great job, so I can’t see anyone else playing Reacher now.

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10. Utah Bob: 6 years ago

    Cruise is box office gold. Very simple. But having read the series, his Reacher role did not really ruin anything for me. I still enjoy the Reacher books and view the movies as a separate entity.

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11. Ferd Smurf: 6 years ago

    I will not even watch the movie with Tom Cruise cast as Jack Reacher. I laughed out loud when I heard they had picked him. Tom Cruise was barely acceptable in Top Gun but fighter pilots are supposed to be wiry little self confident jack asses. Tom fit the role well. But Jack Reacher? No way can Tom pull that off. I’ve not even watched him in the Mission Impossible movies but that was mostly because the scripts and special effects were so ridiculous.

    Anyway, I’ve loved the Reacher series since I picked up my first one in an airport departure lounge. So far I’ve read 14 of them and have two more on hand for my next long flight. So far I think Persuader is my favorite. There’s only been one I didn’t really like.

    About my only complaint is I always catch Lee Child’s making a couple of factual errors per book. The one that I remember was Reacher seeing the “gleam of polished walnut” on the stock of an M16. There is no wood of any kind on an M16. Makes me laugh every time I think about it.

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12. mandy rivera: 6 years ago

    I have read every Jack Reacher novel and I have always thought that a younger Clint Eastwood would have made the perfect Reacher. Wishful thinking I know but that is the real beauty of reading, you can put ANY face
    you want on the characters you’re reading about.

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13. Joe: 6 years ago

    Tom Cruise if far to pretty to be Jack Reacher. Nuff said!

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14. Robert Reynolds: 6 years ago

    I think Chris Hemsworth would have been a good choice

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15. T.L. Briggs: 6 years ago

    First, I thoroughly enjoy these novels. Have read 5 so far and intend to read them all.

    However, I wonder why the author never did proper research on the US Army and the Army military police. Having left the Army after 3 years with the rank of Captain, I can say had the author known anyone who had served he could have avoided some painful lack of reality in Reacher’s background.

    Reacher is a West Point graduate and never would have been an investigator. Criminal investigation is handled by Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and while officers supervise CID the highest rank of a military CID investigator is Chief Warrant Officer (CWO4).

    “As the U.S. Army’s primary criminal investigative organization and the Department of Defense’s premier investigative organization, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, commonly known as CID, is responsible for conducting criminal investigations in which the Army is, or may be, a party of interest.”

    Until 1971 the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Agency was under the direction of The Provost Marshal General. On September 17, 1971, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command was established as a major Army command removed from the direction of the Provost Marshal General of the Army.

    In 1971 the CID Command was vested with command and control of all Army criminal investigation activities and resources worldwide. Granting major command status to the CID facilitated CID communications with all levels of the military and civilian governments while providing a centralized controlling authority over the Army’s investigative resources and activities. The Commander of CID is directly responsible to the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Secretary of the Army. The organization of the CID command brought to an end the 50-year-old problem of how to administer the CID. It has been said that the removal for cause of two Provost Marshals between 1964-1970 led the Army to decide to take the CID out from under Provost Marshals.

    CID does not employ commissioned officers as Special Agents (investigators) and CIA battalions and groups are commanded by commissioned officers from the Military Police Corps. CID special agents may be military personnel (NCOs or warrant officers), or appointed civilian personnel (special agents).

    By my calculation, Reacher entered on active duty in the early 1980s and being a West Point graduate would have been a 2nd Lieutenant. At the time of his separation from active service he was a Major. If he had spent his service time in the military police he would not have ever been an investigator. Perhaps, he might have been a military police commissioned officer supervising CID activities, but never an actual investigator.

    In my day, enlisted military policemen were military occupation specialty (MOS) 94B, however that was changed to 31B in today’s Army. Military police (MOS 31B) protect the lives and property on Army installations by enforcing military laws and regulations. They also control traffic, prevent crime and respond to all emergencies. They are supervised by commissioned military police officers.

    MP job duties include: law enforcement patrols; Interview witnesses, victims and suspects in investigations; crime scene security and processing; arrest and charge criminal suspects. The duty of interviewing in investigations is similar to what uniformed beat cops do in civilian police forces, i.e., initial interviewing before the plain clothes detectives take over.

    Reacher could not have spent 12 years as an investigator and reached the rank of Major doing it.

    Military assignments are usually for 2 years, may be for 6 months from time to time, and can be for 3 or 4 years. No one spends 12 years in one short assignment after another. As an officer West Point graduate Reacher would have lived in Bachelor Officer’s Quarters (BOQ) not in barracks.

    Right now, I can’t think of other anomalies in Reacher’s Army background but this seems to be enough to highlight the author’s inadequate research on US Army military police.

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16. Valerie Luscott: 7 years ago

    I have read the Jack Reacher book as they were published and thoroughly enjoyed them.Like many I was disappointed to see Tom Cruise as “ Jack Reacher” I guess the almighty American dollar was the reason .

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17. Kathy: 7 years ago

    I never read a Jack Reacher book until I saw the movie with Tom Cruise. I thought he was great in the movie and being from Pittsburgh where the first movie was filmed, I was thrilled to see Tom Cruise come to the movie theater for the premier of the movie. He went to each theater and spoke. He was so polite and charismatic. I have since started reading the books and even though, the character is described as a big guy, I picture Tom Cruise as I read the books and am thoroughly enjoying them. I guess you are either a Tom Cruise fan or not, I am a fan. Everyone has their favorites.

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18. Psst: 7 years ago

    SInce there are 16/17 books and all have been optioned for films, even if Cruise wanted too, by the time the last one is being done he won’t be around, having died on during the filming of MI9 at the age of 66 trying to prove that he could still do all his own stunts.

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19. Warren Blum: 7 years ago

    Tom cruise is the wrong person to play jack reacher. I’d like to see the guy from grimm, Sasha roiz, who played the captain of the police dept.

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20. Johnny Thorne: 7 years ago

    I just found out today that Jack Reacher is a series of books. I loved Tom Cruise as Reacher. Tomorrow I’m planning to visit my local library to borrow a Jack Reacher novel.

    I love the Joe Picket series by CJ Box. I’ve nearly read all the Clive Cussler adventures. I set aside 3 hours nightly to read and I’ve never fallen asleep at the book yet.

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21. Teresa: 7 years ago

    Chris Hemsworth would make a much better Jack Reacher!! He has the build for him!!

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22. Brandi Marie Court: 7 years ago

    Was very disappointed with the 2nd movie. They didn’t follow the story very well. Tomorrow Cruise is not the right actor for the part. the physical aspect is obvious but he still doesn’t feel like the Jack Reacher I have grown to love over the last 18 books. The first movie at least stayed close to the storyline. The second movie wasn’t even close. If you haven’t read or seen Never Go Back skip the movie. Unless you’re really bored. I very much love the series and am looking forward to Personal. Lee Child you are a brilliant writer. Don’t let them make another movie please.

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23. Brandi Marie Court: 7 years ago

    I have just read Never Go Back and it was phenomimal! I have read all the previous 17 books and have watched the first movie. I haven’t watched the second movie but will be very shortly. I agree with the Tom Cruise thing. He just doesn’t fit the character. Not only physically but how he acts too. I can’t really put it into words but the way Cruise “acts” as Reacher doesn’t feel like the book. It just doesn’t fit. Tom does a great job as always but I don’t feel he was right for the part in many ways. They May have cast him because he is a big name and they thought he might make the movie more profitable. I honestly think that the story would have sold it just as well. that being said I absolutely fell in love with this series. I am looking forward to the next three and any more that may be written. Thank you Lee Child!

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24. I survived the GAY kenyan: 7 years ago

    Great series. Read all 20 books. Reacher gets nastier as the series goes on.
    The two movies did’t match up. Cruise was not REACHER. I would have been better.

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25. borngiantsfan: 7 years ago

    Interesting comments here about Cruise ruining the series. My take – he didn’t ruin the books for me because when I read the books I picture what is described, not Tom Cruise.
    On the other hand, I think he ruins the movies – but for a different reason than just his height. It’s the money. Cruise movies need to hit $200M for them to continue into a series, in part because of his high salary and the production costs of the action sequences his fans want. Jack Reacher hit that mark, but Never Go Back did not (or has not yet). If a third is made, it will probably generate even lower revenues and that will be the end of the series.
    So by making Jack Reacher just another Tom Cruise action flick with the high costs of Cruise productions, it is effectively killing the movie series.

    If on the other hand they had found a more suitable and lesser known actor to play Reacher in terms of looks, size, demeanor, etc AND if they kept the story line closer to that of the book (fewer high costly explosions, etc), the movie would have had lower revenues but a higher likelihood of continuing as a series.

    There is just something about Cruise that is polarizing. Someone else here commented that when they see a Cruise movie they picture the character not Cruise. For me it is the opposite, he seems pretty much the same from movie to movie so all I see is Tom Cruise. And now that he has done the first 2 Reacher movies, it is unlikely another actor would be able to take over the role because he is such a big name. So I just don’t see how the movie series will continue after 1 more Reacher movie (if even that).

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26. Sher: 7 years ago

    I have read all of the Lee Child’s, Jack Reachers series books but the latest one. I am sorry but Tom Cruise is no way a Jack Reacher.

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    • frank o'shea: 7 years ago

      Don’t apologise, Cruise is a huge minus-force in the series. So give him credit for that😱

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27. jack burton: 7 years ago

    The perfect actor to have filled the Reacher movie role was James Arness. Alas, he was about 40 years too early. Chuck Conners could have done a decent job also.

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    • Roguewave1: 7 years ago

      Chuck Conners would have been a prefect visual from my mind and his gayness never leaked through, which Reacher would definitely not understand.

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28. ArgleBjargle: 7 years ago

    I enjoy the books and enjoyed the movies. In my humble opinion, if someone’s mind is incapable of working around or through inconsistencies in life, (especially in fiction) too bad for them.

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29. Simon Cutts: 8 years ago

    I have just watched a interview with Lee Childs on the main news channel in the UK and he said the only reason that Tom Cruise got the part as JR was that Lee and the directors was having a really hard time finding a good looking 6’5 actor for the role and that Tom is a avid Lee Childs follower that really likes the JR books. As to a comment about always watch the film before reading the books is not quite right….more often if you watch the film you wont enjoy the book and like wise if you read the book first you might enjoy it and really hate the film. Its everyone’s choice what order to watch/read. Although Tom Cruise is the total opposite to the JR character he played JR really well and look forward to seeing the new film. On a final note I love watching movies and I really love reading the JR books however I also think that the movies are a lazy way to use your minds compared to reading, the movie tells you everything who the characters are and what they are doing where as with the books you still have to use your minds as well as your eyes. And last of all keep on writing the JR story’s Lee we all love them.

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30. Bynx: 8 years ago

    When doing the Reacher books in chronological order I wish someone would include the 9 or 10 short stories – novellas as well. It says above, the first book to read is The Enemy. I think it should be the short story Second Son since it takes place in 1977 when Reacher was a boy.

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