[Albany]

Originally Posted by MandoMan

I watched all eight episodes the day it came out and thought it was pretty accurate. I taught Detective Fiction at a university for 25 years and published a couple books about it. I taught perhaps six Lee Child novels. I don’t consider him an especially good detective novelist, as the level of clever crime solving isn't high, but my students always liked his novels the best.

In the world of mystery novels, there are all sorts of gimmicks authors have to catch interest. For example, Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky wrote great books with female hard-boiled detectives. One detective was a Rabbi. One was a caterer. There are endless cat detectives and dog detectives. Many detectives are alcoholics who have given up drinking. A number are gay. Ellis Peters wrote a couple dozen novels with a detective who was a monk in the 1130s, and there’s another series with a detective who is a nun in the early 1400s. I love the “Hap and Leonard” novels available on tv on Netflix. They are best friends, but one is a red neck good ol’ boy and the other is black and gay (played by the late Michael Williams from “The Wire”. The shows are excellent.

Jack Reacher is the loner who rides a bus into town, doesn’t talk much, ends injustice, then leaves. He is much more like the archetypal mythic hero than most detectives of the past few decades. He’s taller and stronger than most people. He wins nearly every fight. He’s smart but not complicated. He is “on the side of the angels,” to quote Raymond Chandler. He can’t be bought or sold. He stands for what is right, no matter what. He doesn’t kill unless he has to, but if he does, somehow he gets away with it. When he has done good, solved the problems, rescued the innocent and punished the wicked, he leaves on a bus for anywhere or hitchhikes. He’s all-American, but not jingoistic. He has spent most of his life on Army bases, usually overseas, so his knowledge of real America is somewhat limited, but now that he has retired, he is exploring small town America with its problems (often stemming from greed). He’s a retired Army Major and M.P. who did high level military criminal investigations.

Reacher reminds me a lot of the heroes found in some westerns. Utterly brave, seldom speaks, stands on the side of good and rescues those who are bullied. He reminds me a bit of some Clint Eastwood movies, or Alan Ladd in “Shane,” or sometimes Gary Cooper. I’m also reminded of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer novels (though there are more differences than similarities) and of the Travis McGee novels.

If you are the sort who loves superhero movies where cities get wiped out by comic book villains, you may not like this series. It’s very quiet. There isn’t much talking. There isn’t much music, except old blues songs Reacher likes. This fits in well with who and what Reacher is. I loved the series, though I did notice one plot hole. One dead character has diamond-shaped depressed skull fractures. The mayor carries a walking stick with a diamond-shaped crystal door knob mounted on it. But that was never mentioned again. Oh well. I can forgive that. There are some intense fire fights and fires and explosions—it’s not all quiet. I like it that the good guys tend to manage one shot, one kill even when they are shooting automatic weapons.

I think the actor who plays Reacher is well cast. I’m looking forward to many more seasons.

Excellent analysis. The books make it clear on practically every page that Reacher is an enormous guy. He only carries a folding toothbrush, buys new clothes when the ones he has on are dirty, and I think this is a. riot, wears extremely expensive British walking shoes. They are probably custom made. This series is terrific.