Ranking: The Jack Reacher Books
This post has been some time in the writing as it was going to be a ranking of all 22 Jack Reacher
books but that proved to be way too difficult , so here’s a more reasonable top 5:
1: Bad Luck and trouble
Bad Luck And Trouble sees Reacher reunited with his old army
buddies to get revenge after one of their old unit was thrown out of a helicopter.
From start to finish its classic Reacher, small wonder it’s the world’s second
favourite Reacher book and is , apparently the next in line to be made for the
big screen. Bring it on.
2.Worth Dying For
Worth dying for follows 61 hours in a sort of series within
the series with Reacher, trying to get back to his old military unit in
Virginia to meet up with his successor Major Susan Turner. He does get there
but not in worth dying for or the book after that. Worth dying for is a
completely stand alone story apart from the Turner connection.
Like all good Reacher books this one starts with Jack
minding his own business when he stumbles across trouble ,a small farming
village is being terrorised and blackmailed by the Duncan family who use
violence and intimidation to keep people in line . naturally Reacher is pissed
off by this and sets about busting the rich family and their thugs heads one by
one , but it’s the 20 year old case of a missing young girl that Reacher can’t
let go .
3. Personal
When a sniper attempts to assassinate the president if France
from an impossibly long distance Reacher knows there are only 4 men who could
possibly have done it, 3 are accounted for . 1 isn’t. The main suspect is a man
who Reacher put away any years ago and only Reacher can find him. Personal is
bit different form the other books in the series as Reacher finds himself in
Paris where amongst some almost spy like action there’s a rather sweet scene where
Reacher visits his mother’s grave. Afterwards its a hop over the channel for
Reacher’s second visit to England for a grand finale in the glamourous English holiday
resort of erm, Romford, where Reacher faces down a gang imaginatively named The
Romford boys. And his biggest enemy yet . literally.
Its classic Reacher and feels almost like a James Bond novel
4.The Midnight Line
The Midnight Line starts with Reacher stumbling across a
tiny westpoint class ring in a pawn shop, Reacher immediately realises it
belongs to a woman . he buys the ring and sets about getting it back to its
rightful owner . Naturally , being a
Reacher novel it gets more complicated
than that , the result being one of the
best Reacher books In years.
5. Gone Tomorrow
Gone Tomorrow starts in an unusual fashion Reacher is one a
subway train and spots one of his fellow passengers displaying all the signs of
a potential suicide bomber , who refuses Reacher’s encouragement to give
herself in and decides to explode instead. And that’s just the first chapter. The
rest ? its classic reacher and in a refreshing change the main villain is a
woman , the fabulously deranged and deadly Lila Hoth.
