Lee Child

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In search of the real Jack Reacher

A confession. I was prepared to dismiss, sight unseen, Tom Cruise as the celluloid Jack Reacher and had loudly lamented the casting to friends. It’s not that I particularly dislike Tom Cruise, it’s just that he always plays, well, Tom Cruise. The persona he has given himself as a superstar actor always outplays the character. So, to cast him as Jack Reacher, the peripatetic hero of Lee Child’s bestselling series, seemed cruel and unusual punishment to many of his fans.

 No doubt, a multitude of others won’t give a hoot. The movie Jack Reacher, based on Child’s ninth novel, One Shot released in 2005, is a classic shoot-em-up thriller that fans of the Mission Impossible franchise will no doubt love.

 Reacher, is a retired US military policeman who operates “off the map”. He has no fixed address, no phone, no car (although he is adept at “borrowing” other people’s), no luggage and no visible means of support. When he needs new clothes he buys them in low budget stores although in the movie that means a well-fitting, trendy jacket that even the elderly check-out-chicken admires with a twinkly smile.  

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