Thus Child conceived the th MP Special Investigations Unit—a secret, special forces division of the military police. In the early books, Reacher left the army during a force reduction. But such a mundane reason does not befit a budding immortal. The way Batman has always been Batman for around ten years, Reacher might now permanently always be a decade out of the army, forty-five years young forever. Child had passed on the chance to immortalize his creation.
If he had an address, his mailbox would be packed with AARP invitations. I will happily suspend my disbelief if it means reading a Reacher book on my deathbed. But the situation raises an interesting question. We all hope to create a character that outlives us.
Now that the series has changed authors, will Jack Reacher take that step? Once more, we can turn to Spenser. When a character is passed from the creator to a new author, some changes are inevitable thank you, Ace Adkins, for not moving Spenser into an abandoned firehouse.
Now that Jack Reacher has been passed to Andrew Child, we should expect some transformations. Within one book, Reacher has already gotten better looking and more tech savvy.
With an Amazon television series around the corner—whose showrunners have stated each season will cover the contents of a single novel—immortality beckons. Advertisers: Contact Us. Privacy Policy. June 28, By J. Article continues after advertisement.
Parker series fiction Spenser. Crawford Born near Detroit, J. It just happened. It feels like a natural development. My brother is a good writer. They only really care about Reacher. Child has sold more than m books since embarking on a career as a novelist relatively late in life at He doesn't patronize them. There's no hint of sexism.
There are a lot of strong women characters in the books as well. I like women too; I don't see why they should always be the bimbo who twists her ankle and needs rescuing. I write women as strong creatures every bit as competent as Reacher, and sometimes more so.
In The Affair, Reacher is It's set in , which would make him about 50 now. Are you planning, as the series continues, to age him? When he's 60, it's going to be hard for him to go into towns and beat up ruffians. That's one of those double-edged things. When I began the series. I made him 36, which is a peak age physically and intellectually.
And then I aged him, but as the series became a success, I was faced with this problem — he's going to get older and older.
So what I'm doing is throwing in the occasional prequel and slightly de-emphasizing his age. Maybe the stories will be set a month apart rather than a year apart. Yes, I don't see him taking down a bingo cartel in an old age home. Has the success of the novels affected your own life? It's not like being a movie star or an athlete. Writing is anonymous; it's the books, not the writer. I'm very rarely recognized. In New York, where I live, the culture is such that even if you are recognized, you're not hassled.
But the downside is, it's no good trying to get a table in a restaurant. I have to ask: The film version of Jack Reacher will be played by Tom Cruise and I've been bombarded by disbelieving complaints. Reacher is 6 feet 5 inches and pounds; Cruise is, what, 5 foot 7 inches and maybe ?
Reacher is an intimidating physical presence; Cruise is … not. This is an important aspect of the books. Cruise is also about How is this going to be handled? The problem is that these days there are literally no actors approaching Reacher's size. Actors tend to be small; the camera likes them better. So why split the difference between falling far short and slightly less far short?
What I wanted was the actor with the most technical skill. Tom Cruise is a very skilled actor, probably the best of his generation. The film hasn't started shooting and I haven't seen any rushes. My guess is the acting ability will carry the day, but possibly I'm guilty of thinking too far ahead of the books' audience. I do think people are going to be weirded out in the first five minutes, but the test is, will they forget that and get wrapped up in the story. Wouldn't Lee Marvin have been perfect?
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