Jack Reacher

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jack Reacher, commonly known simply as "Reacher," is a fictional character created by author Lee Child.

Contents

[edit] Biographical information

Jack Reacher is a former United States Army Military Police Major (United States). He was born on a military base in Berlin on October 29, 1960. Aged 24, he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

He graduated and served 13 years as a Military Policeman, during which he was asked to lead a fictional unit, the 110th Special Investigations Unit, formed to handle exceptionally tough cases, especially those involving members of the United States Army Special Forces.

Though he was demoted from Major to Captain in 1990 (see The Enemy by Lee Child), he had regained the rank of Major by the time he mustered out in 1997. He was the recipient of many military awards during his career: the Silver Star, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Soldier's Medal, the Bronze Star , and a Purple Heart. He is also the only non-marine to win the Wimbledon Cup, a sniper competition held at the Marine Sniper Academy (see Die Trying and One Shot by Lee Child).

Since mustering out, Reacher has been a drifter.

Reacher has the uncanny ability to know what time it is, at any time of the day, without referring to a timepiece. In most of Lee Child's books, when Reacher is questioned about this uncanny ability a variation of "I used to have a watch, but it broke" usually comes up. The only time Reacher actually does have a watch is in "Killing Floor". In Bad Luck and Trouble he is revealed to have a fascination with mathematics.

In Killing Floor it is revealed that he has a love for music, especially blues music. It was this love of, and fascination with, the blues that inspired him to get off the bus at the start of Killing Floor and catapulted him into the resulting adventure.

Throughout the series it is shown that he has an addiction to coffee, and most probably the caffeine in it. With this he quotes in Killing Floor "I could drink coffee like an alcoholic drinks vodka".

Has a propensity for saying "that's for damn sure". Additionally he uses the technique of not answering when people make statements or ask questions preferring the other party to fill the silence. A recurring line in the books is "Reacher said nothing."

[edit] Physical appearance

Reacher has blue eyes and fair hair.

He is a giant of a man, standing at 6'5" (1.96m) tall with a 50-inch chest, and weighing between 220 and 250 pounds (100-115kg).

He is shown in the various novels to be exceptionally strong as well but is not a good runner.

[edit] Family

Reacher's mother Josephine Moutier Reacher was born in 1930 in France, was 30 when Reacher was born. She was widowed in 1988, and died in 1990 at the age of 60. When she was only 13, she joined the French Resistance and under the alias "Beatrice" worked with Le Chemin de Fer Humain (the Human Railroad), saving 80 men. She garroted a schoolmate, a boy who threatened to give her up to the Nazis. Josephine Moutier was awarded the Médaille de la Résistance (the Resistance Medal) for her heroism.

Reacher's father was a Marine captain, who served in Korea and Vietnam. His service in the United States Marine Corps kept his family continually moving all around the world to various military bases. He died in 1988. When describing his father, Jack is quoted as saying, "He was a stone killer. Made me look like Liberace." After military service, "there was no place left for people like him."

Jack had only one sibling, brother Joe Reacher. Two years older than Jack, Joe was born on a military base in the Philippines. Jack used to help Joe beat up the kids who gave him trouble in school, and vice versa. Joe was also a West Point graduate, and spent five years in Military Intelligence before joining the Treasury Department. He never won any of the "good medals", only the junk awards. Joe died at the age of 38, having arranged a meeting with a potential investigation subject (see Killing Floor). Because he was killed in the line of duty, he can be found on the Treasury's Roll of Honour.

 The remainder of this article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can.

[edit] Acquaintances

  • Officer Roscoe, (30), is a police officer, appearing in Killing Floor.
  • Holly Johnson, (27), is a newly inducted FBI Special Agent and former Wall Street stock analyst. She is dark, attractive, self-assured and a knee ligament injury sustained whilst playing soccer requires her to use a cane. She appeared in Die Trying.
  • Jodie Garber Jacob, (30), is the daughter of General Leon Garber (The Enemy). She met and fell in love with Reacher when she was 15 and was totally off-limits to him. In Tripwire, she is divorced, using her maiden name and working as a corporate attorney. She appeared in Tripwire and Running Blind.
  • General Leon Garber, (retired), is the father of Jodie, a General who knew Reacher, helped him in Die Trying, and willed him his house. He appeared in Die Trying and The Enemy.
  • Lisa Harper, (29), is an FBI Agent, stationed at Quantico. She appeared in Running Blind (The Visitor in the United Kingdom and Australia).
  • Alice Amanda Aaron, (25), graduated from Harvard Law School, practicing law at a legal mission in Pecos, Texas, as penance for coming from a wealthy family. She appeared in Echo Burning.
  • Carmen Greer, (30), is a housewife, short, slim, dark-skinned, fine-boned, "maybe 100 pounds". She is married with one child and an abusive husband. She appeared in Echo Burning.
  • Frances Neagley, (late thirties), is a Security consultant, and former Army Master Sergeant and Military Policeman. She is of medium height, is slim, and has dark hair and eyes. She spends large amounts of time in the gym and has a purely platonic relationship with Reacher, not liking to be touched. She appeared in Without Fail and Bad Luck & Trouble.
  • Mary Ellen Froelich, (35), is a Secret Service Agent, charged with protecting the Vice President. She has short fair hair, and is quietly confident. She dated Joe Reacher, but was killed by a sniper. She appeared in Without Fail.
  • Susan Duffy, (early thirties), is a rogue agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration. She is pale, slim and attractive, and appeared in Persuader.
  • Lieutenant Summer, (25), is a Lieutenant in the Army Military Police. She is Afro American, petite and slender, and appeared in The Enemy.
  • Eileen Ann Hutton, (age unknown), is a Brigadier General in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the US Army. She and Reacher had a relationship prior to, and featured in, One Shot.
  • Vaughan, (exact age unknown), is a police officer in Hope, Colorado. She is "[p]robably less than five feet six, probably less than a hundred and twenty pounds, probably less than thirty-five years old" according to Reacher's estimate. Married to a totally incapacitated casualty of the war in Iraq (husband's name is David Roger Vaughan). She befriends Reacher in Nothing to Lose.

[edit] Travels

His travels around the United States of America, exploring the one country he never got to see in his childhood, are the subject of all 12 Lee Child novels so far, with the exception of one prequel ("The Enemy") which centres around a case he undertook as an investigator in the Military Police.

[edit] Appearances

Jack Reacher can be found in the following books by Lee Child:

He can also be seen in the short story "James Penney's New Identity" from Fresh Blood 3, a compilation of short mystery stories edited by Mike Ripley and Maxim Jakubowski, although Reacher is not the main protagonist in the story and appears only briefly.

[edit] Killing Floor

plot
After hoping off a greyhound to pursue a whim (finding out what happened to Blind Blake the musician)Reacher is arrested and charged with murder. After an attempt on his life while being held over the weekend in a state prison, Reacher is determined to figure out what happened. Later he finds out that the person he was framed for murdering was Joe Reacher, his brother. Unknowingly Jack Reacher had stumbled into one of the biggest counterfeiting schemes in the United States. This novel is set in Margrave, Georgia.

[edit] The Hard Way

Plot
After witnessing an exchange of $1,000,000. Jack Reacher is hired by the underhanded director of a private military firm to rescue his wife and stepchild, who have been kidnapped. While Reacher uncovers clues that might lead to a rescue, he learns about the director's dubious past which involves a murderous complot against two ex-associates.He meets a beautiful ex-FBI agent converted to private investigator who assists him in the investigation to unveil the shocking truth, and ultimately engages in a showdown on a farm in England. The novel is set primarily in New York City.

[edit] Bad Luck and Trouble

Plot
When one of his old army crew turns up dead outside Los Angeles, Reacher gets his old investigations unit back together to get to the bottom of what's going on.

[edit] Nothing to Lose

Plot
Based in Colorado, travelling from the town of Hope to the town of Despair, it soon becomes clear that Reacher is an unwelcome visitor in a town with a lot of secrets to hide. Reacher cannot resist the opportunity to explore the town's secrets further, especially the peculiar town owner who has employed the majority of the population to work within his recycling factory.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child
Novel series