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Noticed my wife has a couple of these, The Enemy and Past Tense. Do Lee Childs books need to be read in order or are they stand alone stories? Don't want to start one and it keeps referring to people and events I haven't got a clue about. She doesn't know because she hasn't got round to reading them 🙄
Nope - stand alone stories. Just dip in anywhere.
As long s you know who Jack Reacher* is then you'll be fine. They're all pretty stand alone after that.
*not a dark haired, 5 foot 7 midget.
*not a dark haired, 5 foot 7 midget.
LOL! 🙂
I've read them all. There is a chronology to them, but it's not completely linear and you can read them in any order. However, there are at least a couple of books that refer to events in previous stories that help with context.
A couple of books follow straight on from where the last one finished, but it doesn't affect the story overly. I picked one up the FIL had and that was mid series. Picked others up in no order as and when at airports- good way to pass time travelling for work. Only read the last 7 or 8 in order as have caught up with the series and read them as published.
They are absolute pulp fiction!
They are like extremely violent Dan Brown novels.
They are absolute pulp fiction!
Is true
They are like extremely violent Dan Brown novels.
Not sure they are that violent tbh. Maybe I've become de-sensitised to the the fights.
Not sure they are that violent tbh.
The one I read, can't remember what is was called, involved torture, murder and dismemberment.
Not sure they are that violent
Robert Langdon never exploded someones head with a Barrett rifle from 1000 yards out.
I suppose there is some. I guess I just wouldn't put them in the same league as Bret Easton Ellis et al.
Not sure about extreme violence - I've read a dozen of them and if they were a film I'd tag them as moderate violence and sexual scenes - he always gets his end away with the leading female character! 🙂
I’d tag them as moderate violence
I found this quote from one of his novels on the interweb.
"It was a through-and-through, obviously, given the short range and the power of the Magnum round. Twenty feet behind the guy’s head the wall instantly cratered, the size of a punch bowl, and a ghastly split second later the contents of the guy’s brain pan arrived to fill it, with a wet slap, all red and gray and purple."
Is that moderate?
I do like Malcom Gladwell's view:
The pleasure is in Reacher’s moment of introspection in the millisecond before the action occurs: his silent consideration of the variables of physics, geometry, and psychology that comprise a violent encounter.
I think it's this analysis ahead of the gore that maybe makes me think of it differently.
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-lawless-pleasures-of-lee-childs-jack-reacher-novels
I suppose there is some. I guess I just wouldn’t put them in the same league as Bret Easton Ellis et al.
Or the same genre, BEE is just pure sadism as far as I’m aware, never worked up enough interest to bother reading any of his books.
Joe Abercrombie’s books are extremely violent, but entirely in context, a sort of fantasy version of Jack Reacher in a way, I guess.
Is that moderate?
Compared to a lot I've read, yes. And the bulk of the novels are about detective work.
He does like to describe an action in great detail though that a lot of authors would just write as "he took aim and shot the guy in the head".
Pulpy definitely but Lee Child can actually write a good sentence or paragraph so in a different league to Dan Brown. Yeah Reacher books are cheesy and throw away, but they are well written and the very definition of page turner, the earlier ones especially so.
I’ve read the whole series to date, a nice brains out, you know what to expect reading experience. I love how Reacher seems to develop hitherto unknown powers out of the blue. In one book (about 15 in to the series) he suddenly develops amazing mathematical skills out of nowhere.
They’re kind of super hero in your face versions of James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux books. Now there’s a good series by a great writer.
Only Jack reacher knows anything about anything in those books. All the other characters are just dumb two dimensional support for Jack reacher's superiority.
The visitor is still my favourite Reacher novel
There are a couple that flash back to his MP days but I think all books can be read on their own
I like them. I read them out of order to start with and then again in the correct order (including the short stories of when he was young).
2nd time round enjoyed them more as there are a few links between certain books.
To me they are like a film you don't really need to concentrate on to follow. Basic fun which you don't have to think about.
Not sure about the new ones his brother is writing. And he made his brother change his name to Lee.
I might risk one as I have read all of them before he decided to stop writing.
Claim to fame - my dad worked with Jim Grant at Granada TV in the 70’s (from where he was made redundant before becoming an author). Grant’s wife visited my mum in hospital once.
As above - I like the novels, brain off enjoyable entertainment. It doesn’t really matter what order you read them in
@perchypanther thank you, finally someone who echos my thoughts! Absolutely worst casting ever!!! 6ft something, rugged ex army, no that's not Tom flipping Cruise. Hugh Jackman would have been my best call.
As others have said, you don't need to read in order at all and they're extremely easy reading. Predictable but really easy reading and enjoyable.
Will be interesting to see who they cast for the tv series ?
Absolutely worst casting ever!!!
Yep.
"We need a huge, blond, 6 foot 5, heavily muscled actor who looks like he's been carved out of granite, a bit like Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV"
"Tom Cruise?"
"Nailed it"
When a slim athletic confident woman enters the story you know exactly where it's going too. Funny how it's never on day three or four of his same pants clothing routine though.
They need to cast an unknown actor for the TV series I think. As long as he’s massive and a bit scruffy looking it’ll be good. On a separate, but kind of related literary note I’ve only just found out that Hap & Leonard got cancelled. James Purefoy and Michael Kenneth Williams completely nailed the characters and I was looking forward to more of the books being converted. Why is it that the good things always get canned?
but they are well written
No, they are simply written. So even the dumbest redneck can follow the action.
No Child definitely has good prose and a great writing style. Well written and simply written aren’t mutually exclusive things though I’ll give you that. Red necks don’t tend to read good. I’m taking it you only read Shakespeare or something? I get it though, you’re better than us plebs that read some things for fun 🙄
you’re better than us plebs that read some things for fun 🙄
Read what you want, it doesn't bother me (although it clearly bothers you). Lee Child knows his audience was all I was suggesting. His work is the same as Dan Brown...popcorn. Nowt wrong with it, everyone likes it, it's just a bit samey. and after a while you need something a bit more satisfying.
Doesn’t bother me, it’s just me obviously taking “written for red necks” the wrong way. I’m in a shit mood so my apologies. I read a lot, possibly too much, but he’s in a different league to Dan Brown in my opinion. Child has a very tight, snappy style to his writing. Suppose it could be described as simple. I wish he’d write something else tbh, just to see what he can do.
I wish he’d write something else
No worries dude, I wouldn't hold your hopes up, He's found his golden goose, Jack Reacher novels have a massive following, Have you tried the Rivers of London stuff by Ben Aaronovitch? They're like Jack Reacher, bunch of fun that just rolls along...popcorn.. 🙂
Anyone listened to the audio book / Audible versions?
The narrator is really, really good. More Jack Reacher than Tom Cruise will ever be.
But the same (raspy) guy reads all the female dialogue, which sort of sounds ok until you realise... Then, forever after, it sounds like tough guy Reacher is making out with some drag queen...
Yep, read the first six I think. Just read book eight of The Expanse and finally got around to the third book in the Wool trilogy. Have a couple of James Lee Burke and Joe R Lansdale books lined up next. The Spider Shepherd books by Stephen Leather are similar to Reacher I find.
But the same (raspy) guy reads all the female dialogue, which sort of sounds ok until you realise… Then, forever after, it sounds like tough guy Reacher is making out with some drag queen…
That sounds like comedy gold 😀
That sounds like comedy gold 😀
Oh it is 😉!
I quite like them, have read them all.
I probably prefer the earlier ones but they are quiet dated now! Interesting to see how the context e.g. internet and mobile phones has moved with the series.
I don't think you need to read them in order especially, but once I had read a few and got into them ,I went back and did them all in order.
The Spider Shepherd books by Stephen Leather are similar to Reacher I find.
Oh yes, very. Love those. Although there was kinda a period where there was a lot of not-very-thinly-veiled racism I thought but it seems to be over that now.
Also never loved the fact he had a live in slave that worked 24/7 looking after his kid after his wife died. Too convenient, too exploitative and too unrealistic.
Yeah I get the feeling the author has some pretty far right leaning views and that comes across in some of the books. Think I skipped a few due to it at one point. The nanny just appears to be a plot device to enable the baddies to occasionally threaten the kid in the earlier books.
I still think James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux novels are the proper writers Reacher. He’s a great author and I honestly feel like I’ve been to New Orleans due to his brilliant descriptions. Slightly more believable and plausible than most other books in the one man army thriller niche too. Helps that the character is very well drawn and sympathetic.
I read one. I’m afraid I’m in agreement with nickc. It came across to me like it was just the author’s **** fantasy -he wished he was Reacher.
Do yourself a favour and read all Elmore Leonard books first.
Then James Crumley, then Charles Williford (or Burke), then, if you have the time or inclination read a Childs one 😆
I have about 18 Reacher books on Kindle if anyone wants to try one.
Do yourself a favour and read all Elmore Leonard books first.
Then James Crumley, then Charles Williford (or Burke), then
Joe R Lansdale and James Lee Burke 😉
James Lee Burke can write a proper story. So well written with a deeply fkawed main set of characters.
Never been a big fan of the Jack Reacher series. For me they lack a bit of depth in the storytelling.
For a whole separate genre I really enjoyed John Connolly with his Charlie Parker series. Unputdownable
I'm afraid Lee Child goes in the same pot as Dan Brown, John Grisham and (going back a bit) Geoffrey Archer for me. Sort of the male version of chic lit. Lad lit? Nothing specifically against them but I'm not the fastest reader on the planet (my dyslexia shines through in most of my posts here) which means a book is quite a time investment. There's simply not enough depth to it to justify the commitment.
Joe R Lansdale
Hmm, not read him. Will (private) investigate 🙂
I’ve just discovered a British pulpy type, John Connor. Only read one, so not too sure yet, but worth checking.
Will check Connor and Connolly out. Lansdale is in a similar vein to Elmore Leonard I find. Some good stand alone novels and the Hap & Leonard series is far fetched nonsense, but in a good way and the interplay between the characters is great.
I like the Reacher books, and I like the Charlie Parker books. Would suggest you might care to try Mick Herron's Jackson Lamb series, aka the Slow Horses - about to be made into a TV series starring Gary Oldman
and re Tom Cruise as Reacher - TC was a fan and bought the rights hence casting himself. Lee Child has since said that he is looking forward to the TV series whe they are indeed plannig to cast an unknown in the role
I think I've read one Reacher novel. It was fine, pulpy fun but I wouldn't put it on the same level as Joe Abercrombie. As mentioned the Reacher novels are pretty one dimensional - there's a mystery, he solves it and kills or hurts some people. There's little depth to any of the characters (in the one I read, at least).
Abercrombies novels feature much more complex, nuanced characters, caught up in events way beyond their control and places a lot of emphasis on the psychological effects of their experiences - The Heroes is a good example of this.
I don't think I'd read another Reacher, I prefer something with a bit more meat, but that's not to say it doesn't have its place, and for what it's worth I reckon Child's prose is substantially better formed than someone like Dan Brown, even if the core of the novels is broadly similar.
Yep they are a fun way to pass some hours... but very predictable in terms of plot.... if you read a couple back to back you really notice the similarities.... and Tom Cruise FFS Reacher wears size 13 Churches or Loakes🙄