I’ve been a fan of the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child for years. Otto Penzler, editor of Mysterious Press, is also a Jack Reacher fan. Otto asked Lee Child if he was interested in a limited, exclusive edition of the Jack Reacher series. Child agreed and the publishing processes began. Otto also asked Child if he would write a short essay for each Jack Reacher volume explaining how the book came about. Child agreed to that, too.
Those short essays have now been collected in Reacher: The Stories Behind the Stories. If you’re a Jack Reacher fan, you’ll be delighted by the detail Child provides about genesis of each Jack Reacher book.
My favorite story in Reacher is how Lee Child wrote Make Me while being observed by an academic who wanted to study Child’s writing process. That is all explained in Andy Martin’s Reacher Said Nothing: Lee Child and the Making of MAKE ME (2015) (you can read my review here).
And, as a bonus, Reacher includes a new Jack Reacher short story: “A Better Place.”
If you have a Jack Reacher fan on your Gift List, Reacher would be perfect! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1INTRODUCTION By Lee Child — ix
2ESSAYS:
2.3Tripwire (1999) — 13
2.7Persuader (2003) — 39
2.8The Enemy (2004) — 45
2.9One Shot (2005) — 51
2.11Bad Luck and Trouble (2007) — 65
2.12Nothing To Lose (2008) — 71
2.1461 Hours (2010) — 87
2.15Worth Dying For (2010) — 95
2.16The Affair (2011) — 101
2.17A Wanted Man (2012) — 109
2.18Never Go Back (2013) — 119
2.19Personal (2014) — 129
2.20Make Me (2015) — 139
2.21Night School (2014) — 151
2.22The Midnight Line (2017) — 163
2.23Past Tense (2018) — 173
2.24Blue Moon (2019) — 183
NEW REACHER SHORT STORY
“A Better Place” — 191
Afterword by Otto Penzler –217
Yes, GMTA. I read this one last week. Great stuff.
Jeff, REACHER answers a lot of questions about the books. Lee Child is brilliant and sharing his thoughts about his books will delight his fans!
Even Tom Cruise could not dispel my appreciation for Reacher. Looking forward to the latest book which comes out this month.
Jerry, I learned a lot from REACHER. I’m a sucker for the story behind the story…
I read one and hated it! You are aware, I trust, that he doesn’t write them anymore, no? He passed the flag to his brother, who also has the honor of being married to Tasha Alexander, perhaps the loveliest female in mysterdom!
Bob, in my humble opinion, the Reacher novels written by Lee Child’s brother are not as good.
If so, George, they went from bad to worse!
Bob, I don’t read the new Reachers.