# Jack Reacher books



## Headhunter (Feb 14, 2018)

For Christmas I was given about 8 of the jack reacher books. It's not a series I'd ever really heard of before. I've seen some of the first Tom cruise movie and that got me wanting to check out the books. I've now read the first 2 (killing floor and die trying) and I think they're great books. Very gripping adventures, not necessarily as action packed as you'd think bit still good stories and the reacher character is very interesting. A cross between Jason Bourne, James Bond and Sherlock Holmes and there's some good fight scene description in them to.  Very realistic fighting as well. I'd definitely recommend them.

Thing is I doubt I can ever watch the cruise movies now though as reacher in books is 6'6 and 260 pounds of muscle....Tom cruise...not so much lol.


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## Buka (Feb 14, 2018)

I've read them every one since the git go, absolutely love them. Some are real corkers.

Lee Child was thinking of killing Reacher off. He said he was going to write a few books on the character, and the next thing he knew, he had written over twenty.
When the word came out, and was foreshadowed in a recent book of Reacher having unexplained terrible head pain, a bunch of folks, myself included, took to writing Lee Child and begging him not to. I said, "You want to kill him?! Just marry him off and stop writing him, same thing. Then if you change your mind years from now, you can bring him back."

From what scuttlebutt I've heard, he has reconsidered.

Yeah, Tom Cruise bought the rights. We were all up in arms over him playing Reacher. I mean a three foot tall Scientologist playing jack Reacher? Nooooooo!
But he did a pretty good job, all things considered.

Then the question came up.....who could have played Reacher? We bandied about names. Maybe Liam Neeson when he was younger. Maybe The Rock now, as the Reacher character doesn't really talk a lot. Any thoughts on who might have played him?

Also, there's a few books of short stories that have Reacher in them. They all sucked. Big time sucked. Remember that should you see one.


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## Headhunter (Feb 14, 2018)

Buka said:


> I've read them every one since the git go, absolutely love them. Some are real corkers.
> 
> Lee Child was thinking of killing Reacher off. He said he was going to write a few books on the character, and the next thing he knew, he had written over twenty.
> When the word came out, and was foreshadowed in a recent book of Reacher having unexplained terrible head pain, a bunch of folks, myself included, took to writing Lee Child and begging him not to. I said, "You want to kill him?! Just marry him off and stop writing him, same thing. Then if you change your mind years from now, you can bring him back."
> ...


Im no expert on the character yet but I think killing him off would be a better ending for that type of character. I don't think a guy like him would settle down peacefully they'd always get back in action. I think getting him married isn't a bad idea but have him having adventures from that. E.g wife gets kidnapped etc or a bigger one gets married rides off into the sunset. Next book wife gets murdefed reacher goes ape **** looking for revenge.

I think killing him would be a good ending and if he did want to write more he could always right prequel stories to that one like what happened with Sherlock Holmes. 

Meh I think Tom cruise just played typical Tom cruise type tough guy. I saw little difference to his jack reacher than his Ethan hunt.

As for who I'd get to play him. Personally I'd say Scott Adkins. Maybe not as big and strong but he's still got a good strong physique. He can fight well on camera and got a good ex army tough look about him. 

I mean this is how I pretty much see reacher in my head. You can give or take the beard.





ard.


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## Martial D (Feb 14, 2018)

Headhunter said:


> For Christmas I was given about 8 of the jack reacher books. It's not a series I'd ever really heard of before. I've seen some of the first Tom cruise movie and that got me wanting to check out the books. I've now read the first 2 (killing floor and die trying) and I think they're great books. Very gripping adventures, not necessarily as action packed as you'd think bit still good stories and the reacher character is very interesting. A cross between Jason Bourne, James Bond and Sherlock Holmes and there's some good fight scene description in them to.  Very realistic fighting as well. I'd definitely recommend them.
> 
> Thing is I doubt I can ever watch the cruise movies now though as reacher in books is 6'6 and 260 pounds of muscle....Tom cruise...not so much lol.


It's a shame the fighting system they used in the movie wasn't equally as realistic.

*Grabs his ears in En guard position*


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## Headhunter (Feb 15, 2018)

Martial D said:


> It's a shame the fighting system they used in the movie wasn't equally as realistic.
> 
> *Grabs his ears in En guard position*


I think the style in the movie worked well for cruise. In the books reacher uses mainly his strength and a few "dirty" moves but obviously cruise doesn't have that size so the keysi style works better for him


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## punisher73 (Feb 15, 2018)

The way he is described, I always pictured more of this type of person.  Aaron Eckart


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## punisher73 (Feb 15, 2018)




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## Headhunter (Feb 15, 2018)

punisher73 said:


> The way he is described, I always pictured more of this type of person.  Aaron Eckart


That's the beauty of books. You can imagine anything you want from the characters


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## Headhunter (Feb 15, 2018)

Thinking about it I reckon jack reacher would make a better tv series than movies. Every episode a new story a new place he visits and maybe put in a over reaching story line that connects all episodes for the finale


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## Buka (Feb 15, 2018)

There was an article in the paper a couple months ago about how the author chose his pen name. Kind of a cool story.

Lee Child


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## Brian King (Feb 15, 2018)

Buka said:


> There was an article in the paper a couple months ago about how the author chose his pen name. Kind of a cool story.
> 
> Lee Child



Good article Buka. Thanks. Love John D. MacDonalds Travis McGee series of books. Still read them now and then or listen on Audible. Lee Child has written the forward on the newest run of Travis McGee books...pretty cool.


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## Tez3 (Feb 15, 2018)

How do people feel Lee Child has captured the American background of his books?

If you  haven't read Alistair MacLean's book, do, they are all very good.


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## Buka (Feb 16, 2018)

Tez3 said:


> How do people feel Lee Child has captured the American background of his books?
> 
> If you  haven't read Alistair MacLean's book, do, they are all very good.



I think he captured the American background pretty well. 

And thanks for the tip on MacLean.


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## Tez3 (Feb 17, 2018)

Buka said:


> I think he captured the American background pretty well.
> 
> And thanks for the tip on MacLean.



Many of his books were made into well known films, Where Eagles Dar, Ice Station Zebra, The Guns of Navarone, Breakheart Pass etc.


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## Headhunter (Mar 1, 2018)

Just finished die trying and have now just started the visitor. Awesome start reacher taking out 2 guys, the first with just 2 elbows to the head. Love how real his fights are and now been arrested a lot more action packed start than the first 2


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## punisher73 (Mar 1, 2018)

Headhunter said:


> Just finished die trying and have now just started the visitor. Awesome start reacher taking out 2 guys, the first with just 2 elbows to the head. Love how real his fights are and now been arrested a lot more action packed start than the first 2



I found that after the first two Reacher books, he kind of hits his stride with writing and they are much better in action and plot flow.


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## Headhunter (Mar 1, 2018)

punisher73 said:


> I found that after the first two Reacher books, he kind of hits his stride with writing and they are much better in action and plot flow.


Yeah I noticed the first 2 didn't have massive action, felt more like detective novels than action. They were still great stories don't get me wrong


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## Steve (Mar 1, 2018)

I've read several, but like many series of this kind, they get a little repetitive.  Similar books that are pretty good are the John Rain series by Barry Eisler.   Author trained in Judo, IIRC, and likes to incorporate some of that into background into his story.


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## Headhunter (Mar 4, 2018)

On the discussion of who to play reacher I've been watching the tv show arrow lately and I think Manu Bennett who plays slade Wilson/ deathstroke would be a good choice


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## Headhunter (Apr 4, 2018)

Just finished the visitor. Really enjoyed it, probably had the least action scenes of all the ones I've read but it was probably the best story. I kind of guessed who the killer was early on but the reasoning and the explanations were clever. Well onto the next one tomorrow


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## Buka (Apr 4, 2018)

I find something interesting about the Reacher novels, which myself and some friends just love. Yes, they're kind of the same - but you can read them again and still be wildly entertained. And maybe that's because they are pretty much the same....I don't know, me and the boys discuss this all the time.

But reading your post made me order one I had read and gave to someone. "Worth Dying For" can't wait to read it again! I think it was my favorite of all of them. I think.


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## Headhunter (Apr 4, 2018)

Buka said:


> I find something interesting about the Reacher novels, which myself and some friends just love. Yes, they're kind of the same - but you can read them again and still be wildly entertained. And maybe that's because they are pretty much the same....I don't know, me and the boys discuss this all the time.
> 
> But reading your post made me order one I had read and gave to someone. "Worth Dying For" can't wait to read it again! I think it was my favorite of all of them. I think.


I think I'm going to read persuader next I've heard a lot of good things about that one


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## Headhunter (Apr 5, 2018)

Buka said:


> I find something interesting about the Reacher novels, which myself and some friends just love. Yes, they're kind of the same - but you can read them again and still be wildly entertained. And maybe that's because they are pretty much the same....I don't know, me and the boys discuss this all the time.
> 
> But reading your post made me order one I had read and gave to someone. "Worth Dying For" can't wait to read it again! I think it was my favorite of all of them. I think.


Yeah I don't mind things being similar but I'm a guy who can movies hundreds of times and not be bored by it. I like reading mystery stuff back because now you know how it ends you can pick up the clever tricks easier and appreciate it more.

One thing I'd like to see is reacher in today's world something similar to skyfall. A reacher who's lost a step and not as good as he was and has to survive in today's climate. Not permanently but just one book


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## Headhunter (Apr 5, 2018)

Decided to purchase echo burning today as it's the one after the visitor liking it so far love reacher breaking some jerks nose with a head butt and breaking his finger then sneaking out his motel when it turns out he's a cop lol then him breaking down everything that could potentially happen if he sticks around lol


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## Headhunter (Apr 10, 2018)

Hey @Buka since you seem to be the biggest fan of the books on here thought I'd ask you what're the prequel books like. The ones like night school, the affair etc set in his army days. Personally I haven't those yet but I like the current modern setting where he's drifting does the prequels still have the ssme feeling to it


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## Buka (Apr 10, 2018)

You know, bro, I constantly get all the Reacher books mixed up. I read a lot, probably too much, and don't remember titles that well. 

The first Reacher book I read - he was still in the army. I liked it a lot. Then, I bought a bunch of them. At first, I was disappointed that he was no longer in the service, but that quickly passed. Man, I loved the character travelling the way he does, just helping everyone he meets.

I looked up The Affair, to see which one it was. I liked that one, a whole lot, but then, I pretty much like anything with Reacher. There have been a couple of clunkers, but I don't remember which ones. But I liked The Affair. I didn't care much for Night School, but I don't remember why.

A couple years ago, in the latest Reacher book at that time - Reacher got a headache, there was something wrong. Then the news comes out that Lee Child was going to kill Reacher off. Child had planned to write a half dozen books with Reacher. Next thing you know, he had written a boot load. He was going to kill him off as he didn't want to write him any more. Man, we were up in arms. We were pissed. So....a dozen of us from around the country wrote Lee Child. We told him not to kill him off, do the closest thing to that.....marry him off and have him settle down. THEN, five years from now if you feel like bringing him back, have his family killed and have Reacher go nuts and get the killers.

Seemed to have worked. He didn't kill Reacher off, thankfully. 

A few years back, a book came out called FaceOff. It was all the current popular fiction heroes teamed up in short stories by the authors who wrote them. Man, it was dreadful. Really bad. Should've been great, but it was just plain awful. I forget who was teamed up with Reacher. And I'm glad I forgot, that's how bad that book was.

Anyway, any time a Reacher book comes out in paperback, I buy it. Like to read them. Even if they aren't great, I don't care. I wish I had every one in the house, I'd reread them all again right now. But I give them away, my house is way too small to keep books.


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## Headhunter (Apr 10, 2018)

Buka said:


> You know, bro, I constantly get all the Reacher books mixed up. I read a lot, probably too much, and don't remember titles that well.
> 
> The first Reacher book I read - he was still in the army. I liked it a lot. Then, I bought a bunch of them. At first, I was disappointed that he was no longer in the service, but that quickly passed. Man, I loved the character travelling the way he does, just helping everyone he meets.
> 
> ...


One thing I noticed from the books. At first I expected them to be basically an action movie with shoot outs and fist fights in every chapter and at first I was a bit disappointed because the action was quite rare but I actually enjoy the books more because of this you know the characters very well and reacher feels more real.

For example I'm reading echo burning now and reacher is refusing to kill a woman's husband who's beating her because he doesn't know her or him. That shows his character most action hero characters wouldn't hesitate to kill when asked


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## Headhunter (Apr 12, 2018)

Here's another add to my book worm notes (due to recent threads I've decided to do a reaction video of me reading jack reacher lol) 

Anyway I'm about 5 chapters into echo burning and this is easily my favourite. It's got good strong characters who are different and feel real and most of the focus is on reacher. I think one of the things I didn't like about the others is sometimes they focused to much on other characters die trying the biggest example it spent to much time with the fbi and not with reacher but this one has the balance right. Plus I feel it's developing his character more showing him interacting with a child etc and it's the first one where he's chosen to help the others he was kind of forced into it.


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## Buka (Apr 12, 2018)

I have to keep googling the titles because I forget which ones are which. No matter, though, I pretty much like all of them.

There's a couple of his books that kind of go together, came out one after the other. Set in a cold part of the country in winter. I'll try to remember which two they are - I think they were my favorites.


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## Headhunter (Apr 21, 2018)

Just out of curiosity just been thinking what book reachers fight style would be. He doesn't seem an expert martial artist but he obviously knows how to fight and he was trained in the army obviously so I'd say if you had to name him a style is say Krav Maga


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## Tez3 (Apr 21, 2018)

Headhunter said:


> Just out of curiosity just been thinking what book reachers fight style would be. He doesn't seem an expert martial artist but he obviously knows how to fight and he was trained in the army obviously so I'd say if you had to name him a style is say Krav Maga




Squaddie style.


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## granfire (Apr 21, 2018)

Mixed martial arts.....
whatever works.


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## Buka (Apr 21, 2018)

Headhunter said:


> Just out of curiosity just been thinking what book reachers fight style would be. He doesn't seem an expert martial artist but he obviously knows how to fight and he was trained in the army obviously so I'd say if you had to name him a style is say Krav Maga



They tag him as an "expert in hand to hand combat" from the military. I forget which books.
And then there's this-

_"In 61 Hours, it is revealed that decades ago, the US Army ran an experiment on Army brats to try to identify children who did not have a typical fear response. A monster movie was screened on military bases with a secret camera hooked up to capture the children in the audience precisely 18 frames after the monster makes its first appearance. The only one they captured without a fear response? 6-year old Reacher. Lunging TOWARDS the screen. With a switchblade. Which he managed to deploy in 3/4 of a second."
_
I found that nifty.


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## Headhunter (Apr 21, 2018)

Buka said:


> They tag him as an "expert in hand to hand combat" from the military. I forget which books.
> And then there's this-
> 
> _"In 61 Hours, it is revealed that decades ago, the US Army ran an experiment on Army brats to try to identify children who did not have a typical fear response. A monster movie was screened on military bases with a secret camera hooked up to capture the children in the audience precisely 18 frames after the monster makes its first appearance. The only one they captured without a fear response? 6-year old Reacher. Lunging TOWARDS the screen. With a switchblade. Which he managed to deploy in 3/4 of a second."
> ...


Interesting in echo burning the one I'm reading now he told a story of watching a horror movie with his brother and an alien creature that terrified him for weeks and he couldn't sleep until he got angry at it for making him scared and that's how he learnt to turn fear into aggression


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## Headhunter (Apr 22, 2018)

Buka said:


> They tag him as an "expert in hand to hand combat" from the military. I forget which books.
> And then there's this-
> 
> _"In 61 Hours, it is revealed that decades ago, the US Army ran an experiment on Army brats to try to identify children who did not have a typical fear response. A monster movie was screened on military bases with a secret camera hooked up to capture the children in the audience precisely 18 frames after the monster makes its first appearance. The only one they captured without a fear response? 6-year old Reacher. Lunging TOWARDS the screen. With a switchblade. Which he managed to deploy in 3/4 of a second."
> ...


Thinking about it reacher has probably trained in pretty much all martial arts. I mean he spent his entire life on different military bases all over the world so he'd probably got some training with soldiers in loads of styles e,g karate in Japan, bjj in Brazil, taekwondo in Korea, sambo in Russia, Krav Maga in Israel. That's what I like to imagine anyway haha hey I'm a book nerd who gets really into the characters I'm reading and I'm loving Jack reacher so much he's my kind of character lol


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## Headhunter (May 1, 2018)

Just finished echo burning, my favourite so far. Lots of good action and a great story with engaging characters. Loved the shoot out at the end with reacher and the female killer trying to outwit each other. Truly felt like a lethal game of chess. Didn't really like how he just walked away at the end though without saying goodbye. But I guess it suits his character.

Moving onto tripwire now. I know that's before the last one I read but only just got that one recently


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## Buka (May 2, 2018)

Thought you might like this...

Lee Child: The Emotional Contract of Jack Reacher


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## Headhunter (May 2, 2018)

Seen about the new one out in November. Looks interesting more about his family past


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## Headhunter (May 4, 2018)

Started on tripwire. Good so far. Personally I'd actually like to hear more about his 3 months as a doorman and pool digger just to see how regular days for him would be but oh well. Anyway an intriguing story so far but it's got the main problem I had with die trying, it goes away from reacher to much. I do understand developing other characters but I'm there for reachers character not some broke cinema guy but the hook guys just come in so that's getting a bit more interesting.


On a side note I remember years ago my late instructor said about these books. Now that I'm reading them I can see why they'd appeal to him. I think he thought himself a bit of a reacher type. He was a policeman, a big guy around 6'4 220 pounds, 7th Dan black belt and did a lot of travelling so I think he liked to think himself as reacher (great guy but he did have a very big ego lol)


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## Headhunter (May 4, 2018)

Well I've had a good day start. My neighbour has a second hand book stall outside her house and donates the money to charity. I found 4 readher books 20p each. I got make me, one shot, never go back and the affair


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## Headhunter (Jun 2, 2018)

Just finished tripwire. A good story not the best but it was good and engaging with a decent main villain. Like how reacher took some damage in this one and didn't just beat them easily. Liked the twist at the end about who the hook guy really was. 

Onto without fail next which sounds like he's protecting the president


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## Headhunter (Jun 23, 2018)

Just finished without fail. Another good story not the best one but a good straight forward one. The mystery wasn't that complex and the villains motivation was pretty lame but I liked the dynamic between reacher and neagley If I'm right I believe she's in a later book set during the army days. Speaking of which my next one is the enemy the first one set during the army days but won't be reading that yet having a reacher break for now because I'm going to be reading ant Middletons book. He's a former SBS veteran who now hosts a TV show showing civilians taking part in SAS selection. He's also been in prison for fighting before. Tbh what it sounds like he's a bit of a thug and has openly said he enjoys killing people. But should be an interesting read


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## arnisador (Jun 29, 2018)

I read the first 5 earlier this year. Good descriptions of the close-quarters combat and overall decent writing, but I found the villains to always be the same caricatures--grossly overweight, cruelly evil for evil's sake, etc.--and the coincidences involved just too much to bear. Lots I liked in them, including some deviations from the expected for the genre, but I just started finding them too similar to one another.

Liked the first movie a lot but found the second one boring. The height difference is indeed considerable!


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## Headhunter (Jul 3, 2018)

Nearly finished persuader. Just read the fight scene between reacher and Paulie the big guy on steroids and dam that's easily the best fight I've read in these books. Reacher struggled for the first time against him and would've lost the fight if he hadn't tried to side kick him.

Personally though I think reachers strategy wasn't the best in that fight he was dodging and trying to tire him out and hit with counter strikes. A good strategy at first but he saw his strikes had no effect so I would've kept kicking his legs every time he attacked then he wouldn't move as fast and his punches wouldn't have as much power.


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## Tez3 (Jul 22, 2018)

Met Lee Child this weekend down the road a bit from me at Harrogate. Seems a decent chap. 
(Theakston's is a local brewery to us, Old Peculier is one of their rather good beers.)
CRIME WRITING FESTIVAL


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## Buka (Aug 28, 2018)

I can't wait!

Lee Child set to adapt Jack Reacher novels for TV (but with a taller star)


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## Headhunter (Oct 5, 2018)

Buka said:


> I can't wait!
> 
> Lee Child set to adapt Jack Reacher novels for TV (but with a taller star)


I don't think reacher translates well on screen. His biggest attribute is his mind and he doesn't have a lot of clever dialogue a lot of the clever thoughts are in his mind so it's hard to translate that on screen and it just makes him like a wannabe James Bond. His strength and his fighting ability isn't as important in the stories as his brain and it's hard for that to come off on screen


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## Headhunter (Oct 5, 2018)

Just started bad luck and trouble. Looking forward to it heard very good things about it. It's the one where an old member of his team is killed and he teams up with the rest of his time to find out what happened


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