Jack Reacher

After leaving the army, Reacher roamed the United States, taking odd jobs, investigating suspicious and dangerous situations, and resolving them.

Lee Child was unemployed when he wrote Killing Floor after being fired as a presentation director for Granada Television.

Otto Penzler wrote that Reacher's character reflects the chivalrous knight errant of medieval lore, as opposed to an anti-hero tormented by addiction and haunted by past misbehavior.

Ever a frugal sort... Reacher travels mostly by hitchhiking... even though the practice is roughly as current as bellbottoms and even though his appearance is, as previously established, notably simian... (A)lthough he's a loner who seems never so happy—rather like Agent Cooper in "Twin Peaks"—as when sitting quietly in a diner with a cup of black coffee and a piece of pie, he has an uncanny knack for stumbling into the worst kinds of trouble, almost none of it connected to himself.

"[7] Michael Cavacini concurred, saying unlike traditional whodunits, where a detective "simply solves a problem because it's his job", Reacher has no formal reason to be involved in anything and consequently "seems to always wind up in a situation where something goes wrong and he must make right".

Cruise's casting as Jack Reacher was met with criticism from fans of the book series, primarily because the disparity in their heights.

[12] Lee Child said that he drew inspiration from his own life as he developed stories for Jack Reacher's accomplices and family.

Commissioned as an army officer, he was assigned to the military police and, as a major, ultimately led a special unit that was tasked with difficult cases.

[15] Reacher won numerous awards during his military service[16] and his commanding officer, Leon Garber, promoted him twice in 18 months.

[1] After the September 11 attacks, with restrictions on wire transfers in the light of fraud he was obliged to carry an ATM card[7] and photo ID in the form of a (generally expired) American passport.

As a result "every generation and every small band had at least one person who had to wander" leading to "mixing up of gene pools" being "healthier all around."

He also speaks of it to detectives investigating an early-morning suicide on a near-deserted New York subway near a blues club on Bleecker Street.

[23] In Without Fail Agent Froelich searches various databases for Reacher, only to discover he is rendered nearly untraceable because, without a driver's license, he has no photograph or address in government records.

[9][11] In Never Go Back, he is described as having "a six-pack like a cobbled city street, a chest like a suit of NFL armor, biceps like basketballs, and subcutaneous fat like a Kleenex tissue.

[30][31] The 2012 action thriller film Jack Reacher was adapted from the ninth novel, 2005's One Shot, and stars Tom Cruise in the title role.

On 7 November 2023, Amazon Prime Video announced that the first three episodes of Season 2 would be released on 15 December with more to follow in January 2024.