Top 16 Best Jack Reacher Books Updated 04 /2024

There are a lot of books in Lee Child's series about Jack Reacher, a former military investigator who now lives on the streets. He asked Christopher McQuarrie to write and direct Jack Reacher, based on the ninth book in the series by Child, One Shot, in 2012. Before handing over the keys to the Mission: Impossible franchise to McQuarrie, Cruise asked him to write and direct the movie. People have no idea what Reacher is supposed to look like. Cruise and McQuarrie made a good action-thriller that was very close to the book's tone, though. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, a follow-up to 2015's Jack Reacher, was slammed by critics and audiences, effectively ending another Cruise movie series.

Tripwire

This is the third book in the series by Lee Child, and it has a complicated plot. In the day, Jack Reacher is digging pools with a shovel, and at night, he works as a bouncer. Then a private eye comes to him on behalf of someone he hasn't met and is shot dead soon after. Reacher finds himself in the middle of a dangerous black market moneylender. The daughter of his former mentor asks him to help find a helicopter pilot who was thought to have died in Vietnam. This leads to a ruthless, hook-handed villain and a bullet in Reacher's chest. Tripwire makes it to the edge of the top ten thanks to Child's portrayal of Reacher. Usually, Reacher stays the same from the start to the end of a story. In general, he doesn't change much, if at all. However, when he is hurt or vulnerable, his facade breaks down a little, making him more human and interesting to look at.

Die Trying

He stops to help an unknown person with her drycleaning in the beginning of Die Trying, which is what happens. They're both held at gunpoint, thrown into a van, and driven across the country by the police. That woman is an FBI agent named Holly Johnson, and he learns that she is her father, the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his goddaughter. The third book in Child's series pulls Reacher into a situation that could have a big impact on his life. Most of Reacher's books deal with smaller crimes and conspiracy theories, but Die Trying is an exception because it deals with crimes and conspiracy theories on a national level. The story isn't very realistic, but it's still fun to read because of some big action scenes. In addition, Reacher's unrequited love for Holly adds a little more to who he is.

Make Me

In many of the Reacher books, there are simple coincidences that quickly turn into a lot of trouble. Take a bus to the small Midwestern town of Mother's Rest and get off because he likes the name. It turns out Michelle Chang is a private detective. He joins her in looking for Michelle's former partner, who hasn't been seen for two years. Make Me talks about another conspiracy in a small town, but it also shows how the main character has grown. Child doesn't go too long without having a crush on Reacher. Michelle Chang isn't just for one night. Toward the end of the book, they form a strong friendship. Make Me's main storyline isn't as interesting as some other stories, but it helps Reacher grow a lot. As far as everyone is concerned, he will not be able to settle down any time soon.

The Enemy

He is six months out of the Army and very angry at that place. This is how the first Jack Reacher book starts. When Lee Child starts a new series, he switches back and forth between first and third person narrations. The Enemy is a prequel in the first person. When Reacher was a military investigator, The Enemy shows him looking into the scandalous death of a major general from back when he was a soldier. He finds out about a bigger plan to stop the modernization of the American military by killing top military officials. This look at Reacher on the job is very different from the rest of the series, where he is a drifter who likes to stay out of the public eye. He dies in Paris during The Enemy. In between that loss and Reacher's discovery that the military will hide anything that might be embarrassing like any other bureaucracy, we can figure out why the man is so angry.

Without Fail

In the past, Reacher's brother's former Secret Service agent colleague and old flame, M.E. Froelich, wants him to help her kill the Vice President. She wants him to help her plan. There are some very personal stakes for Reacher in Without Fail, which makes the thriller even better. He gets into bed with Froelich. At the end, he and the reader learn how much she still loves Reacher's older brother in a heartbreaking scene. In Without Fail, the plot is more interesting and complex than in many other Reacher books. Child again pulls Reacher into a plot that could affect the whole country. This is what we've come to expect from the book, and it fits in well with the stakes that become personal for Reacher at the end.

61 Hours

The 14th book in the series sees Child change a lot of what worked in the previous books. This time, Reacher is in a small town in South Dakota that is covered in snow. Reacher is usually found in the Southern and Midwestern parts of the United States. If there is an emergency at a huge local prison, the local police have to go. They are trying to protect the only person who saw the methamphetamine operation, but they have a contract that says they have to go. They want Reacher to help them when they find out about his past. Things aren't what they appear to be, as Reacher finds out about a conspiracy in the police department that deals with old World War II equipment, including certain stimulants meant for bomber pilots. Plato is a Latin American drug lord who is also very small. The cops have linked the meth operation to him. The last part of the movie takes place in small tunnels beneath an old Air Force base. Plato's size gives him a rare advantage over Reacher. Through 61 Hours, Reacher is a long way from his usual hyper-competent place of safety and comfort. It turns out that he makes mistakes, is too late to save a key person, and needs help. A character called Major Susan Turner is introduced in the first book. They have a flirtatious relationship in the next few books, and it shows up again in 61 Hours.

Gone Tomorrow

Gone Tomorrow starts with one of Child's best ideas. He thinks a person on the New York City subway might be a suicide bomber, and he wants to know who it is. It is told from Reacher's point of view. He talks about the signs and tells you what they are. When he tries to help her, she shoots herself in front of him. Reacher investigates because he wants to know what happened and because he feels bad about her suicide. He soon finds himself in a very dark rabbit hole. In a bigger plan, the bomber, Susan Mark, was just a piece. She was used to hide the dark secrets of a crooked congressman, undercover terrorists, and federal agents willing to kill Reacher to keep things secret. Gone Tomorrow, a book written in 2009, looks at a post-9/11 world that isn't clear on morals. In different hands, Reacher's clear moral arc could be seen as jingoistic or not sincere. Child helps us stay in touch with Reacher's calm fury as he peels back layer after layer of lies and betrayal with ease. Reacher usually kills the people who are bad and hide in the shadowy plot, but the ambiguous ending of Gone Tomorrow shows how morally complicated the world around him is.

Worth Dying For

As in many American Westerns, a skilled stranger comes into town, finds trouble, and wipes the floor with the bad guys at last. This is how the Jack Reacher books work. In Worth Dying For, Lee Child doesn't try to steer his stories away from obvious Western territory. Instead, he goes all in. Most of the time, Reacher doesn't want to get into trouble until he can't. This time, he goes looking for it. Reacher hears a drunk doctor in a bar in a remote part of Nebraska not answer a phone call from a patient because he is too drunk. he drives the doctor to the home of a man named Seth Duncan, whose father and uncles run the county. Seth Duncan clearly beats his wife, and he has a lot of power. Reacher gives Duncan a piece of his mind (and his fist) and gets into a fight with the entire Duncan family. Child has written some of the best prose and most well-drawn supporting characters in Worth Dying For, which is about a hero named Reacher. It could get boring without Child's help, but Reacher is very good at getting rid of all the would-be hitmen. In Worth Dying For, the Duncans are so bad that keeping Reacher in charge makes for a great book.

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