Book Reviews and More: Reacher The Stories Behind the Stories

Reacher: The Stories Behind The Stories

Lee Child

Mysterious Press

Penzler Publishers

ISBN 9781613167069

eISBN 9781613167076

ASIN B0DY2X84Z6

Reacher The Stories Behind the Stories - Lee Child

I read my first Reacher story in 2019, I had picked up the most recent as a gift for my dad, this time I read the back and thought it looked interesting, and picked up the eBook for myself. I read about a book or published short story a week until I was caught up, thought I jumped around a lot, picking titles at random. I have since stayed up to date on the series. I have also read the Hunt for Reacher Series by Diane Capri and also the Jack Reacher Experiment book 1 by Jude Hardin. I even have a tag on my blog for all Reacher Stories no matter the author. I really enjoy the character, and have loved almost all of the books. SO I was pretty excited to give this a read.

The description of this volume is:

“Lee Child tells the stories behind the stories from the bestselling Jack Reacher novels.

After making his debut in 1997’s The Killing Floor, Jack Reacher has quickly become one of the most popular—and most enduring—fictional heroes to emerge in the past half century. Now, his creator tells the stories behind the stories.

These are the origin tales of all of the Reacher novels written solely by Lee Child, chock full of colorful anecdotes and intriguing inspirations. One by one, they expand upon each novel and place it in the context not only of the author’s life, but of the world outside the books. And taken together, they chart the rise of an action icon, from 1999’s The Killing Floor to 2019’s Blue Moon. An afterword by crime fiction expert and bookseller Otto Penzler considers the importance of the character and novels in the canon of contemporary crime fiction.

In addition to the essays, this collection also includes an original Reacher short story—the first new Reacher appearance entirely written by Lee Child since 2019. Entertaining and enlightening, The Stories Behind the Stories is a must-read for fans of the Jack Reacher series and a capstone to any collection of this excellent author.”

This was an excellent volume to give a read. I really enjoyed working through it. I picked it up randomly over a few days and typically only read one or 2 of the pieces. We are informed a few times that these stories were originally written for a limited edition reprint of the books in custom hardcover matching editions. And each is signed by the author. I am glad those of us who could not afford those editions, or lay our hands on them get the change to read these stories that were written as introductions.

Some of the stories are more fascinating than others, I enjoyed learning about the plots and how they came to be. About the naming of certain characters, especially those that were made available through auctions for charity. I especially enjoyed finding out about the source of Neagley’s character’s name:

“There’s an auction at each of our annual genre conventions, usually benefiting a literacy project in the locality, and an idea took hold in the late 1990s whereby instead of donating a signed first edition or other item of physical memorabilia, authors would offer the high bidder the chance to have his or her name in an upcoming book as a character. Accordingly I offered such a prize, and two women bid the lot up to dizzying heights, until I said both could be in the book. The other woman was Frances Neagley, then a nurse from San Francisco, now retired. Her character, Reacher’s old colleague from his army days—shadowy, mysterious, unexplained—seemed to work so well I brought her back in two later installments, which ran counter to my general decision to avoid soap-opera structures, with their repertory casts of supporting characters.”

And I found it odd someone would want a character with their wife’s name to ‘sleep with Reacher:

“The third auction was won by a guy named John Turner, and he nominated his wife’s name—Susan Turner—with the added wrinkle that he requested Susan should have sex with Jack Reacher. I wasn’t sure I would or could comply, but again subliminally, I started thinking of Susan Turner in a love-interest kind of way.”

Overall this was a fascinating read, and a volume I am certain Reacher fans will love. It might also be interesting for aspiring authors or even newer authors to see how Child’s has successfully written so many best sellers.

A great read one I can easily recommend.