The Jack Reacher Thread

[Monkeyboy]

I'm about 65% through the second Jack Reacher book on my Kindle. He's basically a psychopath whose sheer masculinity, and prowess at eye gouging and thousand yard sniper shots, turns women's knickers moist with anticipation at the moonlit/stormlit/sunlit rogering they're going to receive.

 

People are always shrugging. And nodding their heads. On one page, some form of nodding and shrugging seemed to happen every other line. The second book is full of professional FBI types going about their business. Unfortunately, they spend so much time shrugging, that they seem uninterested, like stoners who'd rather be rooting through a cupboard for a tube of Pringles, than nailing the bad guys.

 

This is my favourite paragraph so far from the second book, to describe some holes in a roof...

 

Quote

Each hole was a bright point of light. Not blue, just a point of light so bright it had no colour at all. Just a bright point in the dark. Like a mathematical proposition. Total light against the total dark of the surrounding sheet metal. Light, the opposite of dark. Dark, the absence of light. Positive and negative. Both propositions were contrasted vividly up there on the metal roof.

 

What makes the books so good, is the underlying feeling that Lee Child takes these stories very seriously. If there's a sense of irony, I haven't found it yet. In a way, I hope it stays that way. Reacher is a like Bond/Bauer hybrid, who could probably kick the shit out of both those guys, and it's great fun seeing him get the best of the baddies in a ridiculously over confident manner.

 

Seventeen of the bloody things so far as well! I'm trying to read them in order.

 

Anyone else a Reacher fan? Anything spoilery, spoiler tag it with the book it's from as a warning. The full list of books and their order can be found here: http://en.wikipedia....er_novel_series

[Mercury]

Good to have a dedicated Reacher thread - the books have been discussed in a number of other threads. I am not ashamed to admit I love the books and if you are only on the second, you are in for a treat as they get a lot better, probably peaking around Bad Luck and Trouble / Nothing to Lose / Gone Tomorrow.

[keineboom]

I'm also steadily working my way through the series. Read the first five in order and then, after reading a recommendation in the film thread, just finished Gone Tomorrow.

Love them. I also love that Reacher is basically a cross between Sherlock Holmes and The Hulk. Very keen on the extraneous details that the author puts in to describing the trajectory of a bullet through the air, or some deductive process that Reacher goes through. Also thought the film was pretty good too!

[mindgames]

I nearly started this thread a few days ago!

I've not long finished book 3 and am really enjoying them so far. Is there much continuity between stories at all?

[keineboom]

From what I've picked up, a little bit of character continuity in a couple of the early books, but nothing that would stop you reading them out of order.

I also like the fact that each of the ones I've read so far have been a different type of story, small town thriller here, Die Hard film there, murder mystery over here etc.

Great stuff!

[Mercury]

Without wishing to state the obvious, continuity becomes more of an issue it the later books, particularly with something like Bad Luck and Trouble. Having said that, it ain't Game of Thrones or anything so I am pretty sure you could read any one of them in isolation without much of an issue.

[mindgames]

Cool, just wondered. I'll probably read them in order anyway but I like the self contained nature so far.

[mindgames]

Also, I know it's not the fim thread (I've not seen it by the way) but this is who I picture Reacher as...

(It's Ray Stevenson)

[Glasgowchivas]

I love the Reacher books, read them all. Don't have time to post up my thoughts now, will get into it tomorrow.

[Wickedkitten]

I don’t know if its just because I watched a lot of wrestling at the time when the first book came out, but in my head at least Jack Reacher is ex wrestler Adam Copeland aka Edge.

[peeveen]

Bought the first one to take on my hols in September, and loved it. Bizarrely, the clean, deserted small town and fairly straightforward characters really drew me in, as it felt like an Infocom game in book form.

I've been reading them in order, and I've currently just started Persuader. Without Fail is pretty much the only one I haven't enjoyed.

I picture Reacher as David Puddy from Seinfeld. His voice just fits perfectly.

[csuzw]

Read them all and love them despite them all being pretty much the same. Regarding continuity, to complicate matters, the orders the books were released in is not the same order that events in different books happen in. Some of the more recent books have revisited his army days for example.

[Glasgowchivas]

The best thing about Reacher is that he is, essentially, a brawny Sherlock Holmes.

All his muscles, sharpshooting and head-butting all comes second to his powers of deduction and analysis. I love the way that Child sets up massively complex and elaborate schemes for his villains and then introduces Reacher, who simply takes a long hard look at them and then starts to demolish them, logically and clinically.

Of course, they often stray into some serious fantasy but by and large, as escapist reads, I love them. I mentioned them in the film thread but the books I have enjoyed the most are "Gone Tomorrow" and "Nothing To Lose", the second of which has an absolutely brilliant mystery, setting and payoff. I'd love to see that adapted for the next Reacher film but sadly I don't think we'll get another despite it making good, if not spectacular, money at the Box Office.

[poppa_f]

Jack Reacher drinking game:

- You are told how much Reacher weighs, or how tall he is (1 sip, if he weighs more than 229 pounds, down your drink)

- Reacher kills someone with his bare hands (1 sip)

- Reacher guesses what time it is and gets it completely right, to the nearest milliscecond (2 sips)

- Reacher says that he likes drinking coffee (1 sip)

- Reacher drives for more than 10 hours non-stop (2 sips)

- Main bad guy is disfigured somehow (drink half of your drink)

- Reacher does not have sex with the main female character (down your drink)

[Looper]

Are these worth sticking with then? I described the first one as 'rugged projectable fantasy man solves crime thanks to dazzling series of coincidences' and didn't think much of it.

[Uncle Mike]

Are these worth sticking with then? I described the first one as 'rugged projectable fantasy man solves crime thanks to dazzling series of coincidences' and didn't think much of it.

It's just better-written airport pap than Dan Brown and his ilk. I don't imagine anyone's rating it higher than that, are they? I say this only having read the first one.

[K]

Jack Reacher basically seems to be Rain Man, only with murder as his special skill rather than counting toothpicks.

[MotiVater]

I enjoy reading Reacher so much. I've totally rinsed the series in about 3 months.

I started the latest (17th) novel today and I'm a little sad already that I'll soon have no more of these books to read!

Such a light, refreshing change from the last couple of books I read (GoT series and Hyperion)

[Plissken]

Read Nothing to Lose and thought them fantastic, just tore through the rest. They are pulpy, with no real pretension to literature, just basically a series of damned good stories that whistle along at pace and keep you turning the pages.

The only ones I haven't enjoyed were "The Visitor" and "Without Fail".

[Monkeyboy]

Good to have a dedicated Reacher thread - the books have been discussed in a number of other threads. I am not ashamed to admit I love the books and if you are only on the second, you are in for a treat as they get a lot better, probably peaking around Bad Luck and Trouble / Nothing to Lose / Gone Tomorrow.

Good to know. Finished the second one today, which I thought was a bit slow to get going, but it picked up a lot in the last third. I admit, a little cheer went up inside me when...

Reacher had doubled back to save McGrath before he got gutted for the cameras. It was quite cool, because you got two scenes leading up to it... one where Reacher decides to leave McGrath and go after Holly. Then Reacher located where Holly is, but deciding that tactically, he can't win against the superior forces there. Cutting back to McGrath, I was waiting for the "surprise" intervention from Reacher which duly happened.

Onto the third one now.

[Monkeyboy]

Finished the third one which I think has been the weakest so far in terms of story, although the villain was memorable. Very slow, and mostly Reacher and his new squeeze jetting around, fitting in some rudimentary detective work in between hotel room shags.

Some amazing stuff in there though...

Reacher's method of digging swimming pools that gives him a full body work out, building hard knotted muscle that is so tough, he actually becomes bullet proof!!

Still a lot of nodding and shrugging. Kindle's search function is perfect for getting an exact shrug and nod count. The first book doesn't seem to have been indexed, so here's the results for the second two books.

Die Trying

Page count: 560

Nodding of heads: 321

Shrugging of shoulders: 137

Tripwire

Page count: 544

Nodding of heads: 338

Shrugging of shoulders: 98

I've bought the next three in the series, but think I'm going to have a little break.

[Monkeyboy]

Just found out that Child has a brother, Andrew Grant, who is having a crack at writing novels now. Seems to be more thrillers, the main hero being a naval intelligence officer called David Trevellyan. Not sure if the character is related to Alec from GoldenEye.

Two novels so far... Even and Die Twice.

[Trigg]

I've read the first 3 since watching the film and I'm enjoying it for what it is. So easy to read too, which is perfect for the commute. Reacher is a badass.

[flight]

I read the first book a while back and thought it was ok - pretty funny and a nice little palate cleanser between more serious stuff.

I'm almost done with the second now, Die Trying, and it's straight up awesome.

As a setup for the ridiculous events that unfold, Reacher deciding to help a random person with her laundry is hilariously contrived.

The sniper contest followed by Reacher burying the undercover guy and shagging the girl in the space of about 3 pages was also brilliant.

And Reacher convincing his captor that he's a French soldier of the World Army, just...

What makes the books so good, is the underlying feeling that Lee Child takes these stories very seriously.

I really hope that's the case.

[Cheeko]

I love the man's man style of these, the same thing you got from the Bond novels. Recently finished the second one and will definitely continue with the series amongst my others.

[Padlocked]

He's got a really weird style. Like writing in staccato. Someone with ADD. He doesn't believe in the comma. He likes to keep things short. Simple. It's maddening every time I pick up the killing floor. The one with the huge coincidence. But then I get over it. And myself. I realise something. It's like a complex haiku. On repeat. Ever flowing, always forwards. It gives the illusion I momentum. Even when there isn't any. What I have realised is this. It's like the internal fantasy monologue of every teenager and red blooded male. Feel dizzy now. That was a long sentence.

[Mercury]

Gone back to these after a break and really enjoying them - like visiting an old friend. Reading 61 Hours at the moment and have Worth Dying For waiting. Should have those out of the way before the new one comes out at the end of August.

[Glasgowchivas]

Gone back to these after a break and really enjoying them - like visiting an old friend. Reading 61 Hours at the moment and have Worth Dying For waiting. Should have those out of the way before the new one comes out at the end of August.

The new one, 'Never Go Back' sees the end of the (very loose) story arc that started with '61 Hours' and continued into 'Worth Dying For'. I'll be honest, I'm glad it's being wrapped up as it's fucking boring. Having said that, the synopsis of the new one sounds promising.

After an epic and interrupted journey all the way from the snows of South Dakota, Jack Reacher has finally made it to Virginia. His destination: a sturdy stone building a short bus ride from Washington D.C., the headquarters of his old unit, the 110th MP. It was the closest thing to a home he ever had.

Why? He wants to meet the new commanding officer, Major Susan Turner. He liked her voice on the phone. But the officer sitting behind Reacher's old desk isn't a woman. Why is Susan Turner not there?

What Reacher doesn't expect is what comes next. He himself is in big trouble, accused of a sixteen-year-old homicide. And he certainly doesn't expect to hear these words: 'You're back in the army, Major. And your ass is mine.'

Everyone in these books is obsessed with Reacher's ass.

[hughes]

What's the big coincidence in killing floor? I've read it but it was two years ago.

[Glasgowchivas]

What's the big coincidence in killing floor? I've read it but it was two years ago.

That the murder that is randomly pinned on Reacher when he arrives in town is his brother's.