I’d have to say my favorite author of the past decade is Lee Child.
Some of you have probably flipped the pages of one of his 22 mystery novels. More of you have likely seen one of the “Jack Reacher” movies starring Tom Cruise (totally miscast, but entertaining movies nonetheless).
My mom introduced me to Lee Child’s books in 2005. His novel “One Shot” was released that year. I picked up a copy at a big box store. Read it. Loved it. That novel went on to be the basis for the 2012 movie “Jack Reacher” — one of the truest book adaptations I’ve seen put to screen.
Child’s protagonist is the aforementioned Jack Reacher — a loner... drifter. He is tough as nails — a hard man who can do hard things. His previous life was that of a military policeman. Now he wanders the globe like Caine in Kung Fu.
As such, Lee Child (a pen name for British-born writer Jim Grant) has created a near-perfect fictional protagonist—a character who can go anywhere and do anything.
Child has referred to Reacher in interviews as a “knight errant.” He’s one part vigilante, and one part Sherlock Holmes (or “Sherlock Homeless” as he was referred to in one of the novels).
Reacher buys new clothes every few days (disposing of the used ones in trash receptacles), and his only possession is a toothbrush he carries in his pocket.
In more recent novels, Reacher acquired a debit card (a more 21st-century way to get money from his bank account than having it “wired”). But Reacher still eschews most modern-day trappings (such as cell phones), content to live a simpler, nomadic existence.
He’s reminiscent of western archetypes — the peculiar stranger who rides into town, gets embroiled in a local controversy, and uses brain and brawn to right a wrong.
Because Lee Child is going to be at the University of Nebraska at Omaha Baxter Arena on April 11 — for a free lecture that you should consider attending — I am “catching up” on the Jack Reacher novels I have yet to read.
This weekend I read “Echo Burning” — the fifth novel in the series, released in 2001.
The novel finds Reacher wandering around west Texas. The temps are swelling like a primed pressure cooker, and our laconic hero is looking to hitch a ride — to take him somewhere, anywhere.
A woman named Carmen Greer is tooling down that same stretch of road. She picks up Reacher.
Carmen is looking for a man to do some dirty work for her. She is the wife of Sloop Greer — whose family owns a ranch in Echo County — south of Pecos, TX. Sloop abuses his wife. Treats her like dirt. She feels like a prisoner in the family, doesn’t have a dime to her name, and worries about losing 6-year-old daughter Ellie were she to leave.
Her husband has been in prison for tax evasion — but is set for an early release... heading home in a matter of days. Carmen tells Reacher that she ratted her husband out to the feds — and imagines the abuse will reach a fever pitch once Sloop returns to the family homestead.
What Carmen Greer wants is a man to kill her husband.
Reacher isn’t warm to the concept, but eventually agrees to get a lay of the land back at the ranch (painted red because it was the cheapest paint available during the “Red Scare”), and is hired on as a ranch hand (claiming horse and blacksmithing skills he doesn’t possess).
Reacher soon finds himself embroiled in an intriguing mystery that is a mix of familial drama, greed, racism, a treatise on illegal immigration, and Texas politics.
All is not as it seems. Is Carmen Greer on the level? Or is she merely a “femme fatale” in cowboy country?
The unflappable Reacher is up to the task — much like the old west gunfighter Clay Allison (who died in Pecos, TX, and is mentioned several times in “Echo Burning”).
“...you’ve got a gunfighter’s eyes. Maybe like Clay Allison had. You should let him see them. Let him see what’s coming.”
Child knows how to thoughtfully construct his dramatic narrative. He's said in a number of interviews that he doesn’t outline his stories. He tends to avoid empty thrills, and instead builds tension in a methodical manner.
While some thriller writers serve up the equivalent of “junk food,” Lee Child serves up what I consider to be “comfort food.”
A Jack Reacher story is the mystery novel equivalent of heaping plate of chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes, and buttermilk biscuits with a boat-load of gravy — hearty food that goes down nice and easy.
While thriller writers are often dismissed in the literary lexicon, Child’s writing style is sparse yet refined. He knows how to create a sense of place with his prose.
Take this passage in “Echo Burning,” as an example of his descriptive prowess:
“There were clouds of moths everywhere, big papery insects crowding the bulbs above the porch like tiny individual snowstorms, forming and re-forming as they fluttered from one to the next. Behind them the chant of night insects was already rhythmic and insistent.”
The advantage Lee Child has with Jack Reacher is that he rarely writes the same story twice. Some of his novels take place in big cities and involve vast conspiracies. Others are ensconced in small dots on the map — intimate mysteries located off the beaten path.
This clip of Lee Child (from his publisher) talks about how he designed the Jack Reacher character, and the unique origin of the “Reacher” name:
Child avoids genre cliches, and doesn’t seem overly concerned about crafting convoluted plot twists to keep reader interest.
Child instead builds a character who is confident and authentic — Reacher has taken on near-mythic proportions in the collective mind of fans — and drops that character in difficult situations.
Child makes the innocuous act of Reacher downing breakfast at a diner oddly compelling.
In 2014, Forbes magazine called Jack Reacher “The Strongest Brand In Publishing.” Much of that honor had to do with his brand’s loyalty — as opposed to platform or outright sales.
If you like mysteries and thrillers, Lee Child’s novels are worth sampling. I’d start with his first novel “Killing Floor” — even though I started with with his ninth — because it is fun to see the progression of the character through the books.
Two of his books — “Worth Dying For” and “A Wanted Man” — take place in Nebraska. Those two novels are part of a four-book arc (that starts with “61 Hours” and concludes with “Never Go Back”) and that might also be a good place for new readers to start — especially those in my neck of the woods.
As I mentioned earlier, if you are in the Omaha area, be sure to check out Lee Child’s free appearance (part of UNO’s Marion Marsh Brown Writers Lecture Series) at Baxter Arena.
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