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My Top 3 Jack Reacher Novels (And One I Hate)
March 02, 2023

I used to say after every Jack Reacher novel that I wouldn’t read another one. That may not sound like a ringing endorsement of the series, but noticed the qualifier. I “used” to say that. The fact is, I’d finish one novel, say I was done, and after a few months I’d see another at a used bookstore, pick it up, and inevitably read it. Now that I have more than half the series on my shelf, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m probably going to read them all.

There are worse things.

Author Lee Child doesn’t plan his stories, and it shows. Some of the books are drastically better than others. Some have tight plots. Some spend too much in search of a plot. And as the last of the blockbuster novelists, he can get away with it. So his clear refusal to plan too far ahead is a problem. What he does do, which I admire, is agonize over his word choices. Since he got his start in TV writing, it makes sense that he wants his books to sound good. 

So who is Jack Reacher?

Jack Reacher is a one-man A-Team, except that instead of running from the Military Police he was one. In many ways he’s also a modern day Conan the Barbarian, an impossibly huge man (in one book, he builds up his pecs so much he’s basically bulletproof) who travels the countryside providing aid through the most violent means imaginable. He sometimes beds beautiful women, but never stays in one place long enough to have a real relationship. 

Reacher is a red-blooded man’s fantasy.

With nearly 30 books and short stories out there, I’m not sure how many I have read. When I worked in a library I used to listen to Reacher novels while shelving books, and after a certain point they all started to blend together (though I still remember where I was working when I heard certain things). You don’t need to go through them order, either, and that scattershot approach has my memory muddled.

As I said, some are better than others. So here are three that I’ve read more than once.

Killing Floor

The first is often the best, and this one was written when Lee Child was hungry. It’s probably the most carefully plotted of the series, taking Reacher on his first out-of-the-Army adventure in a small town when he's arrested for muder and stumbles into a counterfiting operation. And it gets personal. It's also unique in that it’s the only novel I’m aware of that’s written in first person. If the Amazon TV series adaptation (you can read my review here) was too gruesome for you, the book is even bloodier, so be forewarned. 

One Shot

You don’t need to completely put the Tom Cruise movie out of your head to enjoy this one, as it follows the book pretty closely. Well, except for the Tom Cruise part. This was the first Reacher novel I read and it clearly made a good impression. Reacher has to prove that the man confessing to an assassination isn't guilty. There’s a reason why it was picked as the first screen adaptation, as it provides an engaging introduction to the character and isn’t as horribly, horribly, violent as the first book.

61 Hours

This is a fun ticking clock adventure that puts Reacher in a cold environment. Actually, it’s more of a running out the clock, as Reacher needs to protect a woman for (you guessed it) 61 hours. It’s been awhile since I read this one, so my memory is a little hazy on the content. But the unique setting makes this a good one for snowy days.

Dishonorable mention: Without Fail

Book six reminds us that no author is without fails, and this book is a disaster. Reacher is pulled in to protect the Vice President from a Thanksgiving Day assassination. Maybe if I’m feeling like a completist I’ll read it again. But if you’re interested in the series and see this one at a yard sale, wait until you find something better.

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Content warning: language and sexual situations.

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Star Wars is dead and the more apathy you show the faster it will be allowed to rest in peace.

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If you'd like to buy the story and read ahead, it's available in the Fall 2020 issue of Cirsova, available here: https://amzn.to/3yRRywY

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Yesterday two trailers were released for upcoming superhero projects. First, we had Marvel's Ironheart, which Disney has been sitting on for years at this point. Apparently it follows Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), a young black woman at MIT who is (was?) intended to take over for Tony Stark as Ironwhathaveyou. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, take a look.

I stopped paying too much attention to the MCU a long time ago, but apparently Riri was introduced in Wakanda Forever, and her fans have been clamoring for a standalone show ever since (/sarcasm). Watching the trailer, I can't help but notice how many times we're told she's smart and capable. Any suggestion that she can't do something is shot down immediately. We're supposed to believe that The System is against is her because she's poor, I guess, and doesn't have Tony Stark's advantages.

Remember Tony Stark? Sure, he was rich. But he was also a self-absorbed man-child who found himself in a cave in Afghanistan who had to engineer his own escape with scrap parts. Tony Stark, who had to learn about self-sacrifice and the consequences of his actions. Robert Downey Jr. make us like the guy, with his easy charm, even though we wanted to see him grow up. There was room for a character arc. No offence to Dominique, but she doesn't have the charm, and her character clearly has nowhere to go.

A few hours later, Warner Bros./DC released the trailer for James Gunn's Superman, the latest reboot of the iconic superhero. We've been waiting for a good Superman for a long time. Something to reunite the fans, the casually interested, and possibly the entire country. And to be honest, I don't think this is gonna do it. Take a look.

Before I go any further, I want to spin my theory on the interview scene, which is a little different from what I'm hearing from most anyone else. Notice how David Corenswet pitches his voice really high when he says, "Sure!" At this point in the movie, I don't think Lois (Rachel Brasnahan) knows that Clark is Superman, and thinks he's just playacting. But when Clark drops his voice, he's showing his cards a little bit. Then, when he completely loses his cool, he's just acting how Lois thinks Superman would respond. In context (the scene is reportedly ten minutes long!), it might be interesting. Out of context, in a trailer, it's a stupid decision.

Throughout the entire trailer we see Superman smacked around, knocked out, screaming out in self-defense, and made fun of for having a dog. There are some super-heroics, to be sure, but they're mitigated by the overwhelming amount of thrashing he takes. Unlike Riri, I guess he's got some room for growth. But it doesn't inspire me to see the movie. Some are defending this approach, suggesting that someone with such a clear cut understanding of right and wrong would be frustrated and confused by our complex, political climate. And I agree. But his moral compass and grace towards an unfair world should have been set before leaving Smallville and going out into the world.

So on the one hand, we've got a flawless female character. And on the other, we've got an immature Superman. Neither character is attractive, warts and all. Neither character is relatable or inspiring in the ways the filmmakers intended, as presented. Maybe the show and movie will be good. But someone else will have to let me know. Because right now, I'm not inspired to see either one.

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I say, both!

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Even if you aren’t a student of scriptwriting, you know the flow.

Engaging with a story is sometimes like singing a song. Sometimes you want to sit back and listen to a master perform, but other times you want to join in. And if the tune is simple and familiar, you can learn new words that much more easily. If the melody is complex, with tempo and key changes, it demands attention. That’s when you just sit back and appreciate someone else’s artistry. 

More often than not, we’re drawn to the familiar. 

We go to the movies to be entertained more than we go to be challenged.

But Hollywood seems determined to challenge us. They challenge our ideas of who are familiar are. They challenge our core beliefs about right and wrong. When they do make something that isn’t from a well established intellectual property, they challenge us to accept an unfamiliar actor, who likely isn’t attractive or charming. Why should we want to get to know this person and the character he or she is playing?

We don’t. 

Mass appeal isn’t difficult. Our mainstream entertainment providers are making it difficult, probably in large part because they don’t know or understand what we want. And unless they do, people just like us will move to replace them. 

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Book Review - The Revenant and the Cult - Book Two: The Terror in the Wychwood

In the forward to The Revenant and the Cult - Book Two: The Terror in the Wychwood, author Herman P. Hunter mentions that his influences are J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, C.S. Lewis, and H.P. Lovecraft. While it may seem odd to intersperse deeply religious writers with those antagonistic to the idea of a benevolent God, from a writer’s perspective it makes sense.

For a fantasy writer, particularly one of faith, they are essential.

It’s also worth remembering that all four men were producing their greatest works around the same time on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Theirs was the golden age of worldbuilding, and it’s practically impossible for today’s writer of the fantastic not be influenced by their work, consciously or through osmosis. But to fully appreciate modern genre fiction, it’s to our advantage to drink deeply from their bibliographies.

Because genre fiction doesn’t always mean science fiction and fantasy.

As I noted in my review of The Revenant and the Cult - Book One: The Missing Spy, that story draws heavily from western tropes. Howard, always one to blaze his own trails, also dabbled in Lovecraft’s mythos, but before taking his own life seemed to be moving into writing cowboy stories. He was a Texan, after all. Unlike many authors, he was never satisfied staying in category for too long. 

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Two words: Moonlight Hunters.

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