Reacher Reaches Nineteen, a Personal Milestone but Still Mediocre

Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel - Lee Childs

Considering the fact that I read dozens of novels every year, lots of them of the “no socially-redeeming qualities” variety, you might think that I had already devoured all eighteen of the Jack Reacher novels penned by Lee Childs. You’d be wrong: before Personal, the nineteenth in the series, my only exposure to Childs’ protagonist had been the Tom Cruise movie from 2012 which I’ve (accidentally) seen twice. Be that as it may, people have always sad that the novels in the series aren’t so interrelated that you have to read them in order, so I bit on Personal. I gotta say, the immense popularity of the series is a little puzzling to me…

Jack Reacher is, as usual, riding a bus somewhere when he spots the advertisement asking him to phone an old buddy. He makes the call, and within hours is whisked to a supersecret CIA billet on the opposite coast headed by an old acquaintance. There he learns that someone has hired a freelance sniper to put a bullet in the brain of one (or more) of the G-8 attendees, and the meeting in London is mere days away. Reacher’s needed because, at least in theory, he knows the mind of one of the four probably sniper candidates, having put him in jail fifteen years ago. John Kott is now free, and in the wind.

Reacher and his CIA minder, a tasty morsel named Casey Nice, head to Paris and then London in search of Kott. People die, Reacher does whatever it is that Reacher always does, and the evil plot underneath it all is exposed.

Par for the course for Reacher, I’m told.



I’m not certain what people see in the Reacher novels, but the series seems to have developed a near-fanatic following.  Perhaps it’s because the character is designed to be so understated, a vagabond who owns nothing except a toothbrush and has no address except a seat on a Greyhound somewhere. Since my exposure to the character consists only of the movie and this novel, I have to wonder if every Reacher installment features snipers. Probably not…

Childs has Reacher tell his stories in a linear fashion, first person. To say that Reacher demonstrates astonishing physical and deductive capabilities is an understatement; particularly given that the man appears to do nothing to maintain his physical conditioning. Guess that’s where the “willing suspension of disbelief” comes in – many thriller heroes don’t seem to train or practice.

What I find a little hard to take is that Reacher doesn’t even own a change of clothing – when what he’s wearing gets dirty, he buys all new clothes and leaves the old ones in the trash at the store. First, where does he get the money? He has no source of income, carries no credit cards. Second, how long does he wear those socks and that underwear before buying new stuff? Small wonder that, unlike most thriller heroes, he doesn’t seem to ever get laid: he’s gotta smell pretty gamey after a few days: willing suspension of olfactory sense, maybe? Quibbles aside, this particular novel just isn’t very interesting: it moves slowly and the characters aren’t particularly compelling. Reacher’s tiny clue that unravels the true evil plot isn’t even very realistic. So I have to say, I wasn’t impressed: I’ll probably wait another eighteen Reacher novels before I read another one…