JacK rEaChEr 2012

Jack Reacher is a fictional character and the protagonist of a series of books by British author Jim Grant, who writes under the pen name of Lee Child.[1] A feature film, Jack Reacher, was released on 21 December 2012

Fictional biography Jack Reacher is a former Major in the United States Army Military Police Corps. He was born on a military base in Berlin on 29 October 1960. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he served 13 years in the Military Police, during which time he became part of a fictional military police unit, the 110th Special Investigations Unit, formed to handle exceptionally tough cases, especially those involving members of the U.S. Army Special Forces. Though he was demoted from Major to Captain in the prequel novel The Enemy, he regained his rank by the time he mustered out in 1997. He received many military awards during his career, including the Silver Star, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Soldier's Medal, the Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart for wounds sustained in the bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1983.[citation needed] Since leaving the Army, Reacher has been a drifter. He wanders throughout the U.S. because he was accustomed to being told where to go, when to go and what to do for every day of his life from military childhood to military adulthood. He also felt he never got to know his own country, having spent much of his youth living overseas on military bases and at West Point. He usually travels by hitchhiking or bus. As a drifter, the only possessions he carries are money, a foldable toothbrush and, after 9/11, an expired passport and an ATM debit card.

Regular references are made to the fact that Reacher's given name is Jack, that it is not a nickname for John, and that he has no middle name. His military record officially refers to him as Jack (none) Reacher. From the time he was a boy, his family, even his mother, called him simply "Reacher", an affectation that has stayed with him, but was never given to his brother. Demeanor and personality In 61 Hours, it is stated that an Army psychological study of reactions to fear in children showed him as having abnormally fast reflexes and aggression levels at the age of six. Reacher believes that this abnormal level of aggression at that age is due not to genetics (as the Army report suggested) but because he got tired of being frightened, and "trained [him]self out of it". In The Hard Way, Reacher is described as completely lacking "The remorse gene. It just wasn't there." Skills Reacher has the uncanny ability to know what time it is, at any time of the day, without referring to a clock. He often uses his internal clock as an alarm, enabling him to wake up at any time he chooses. He sometimes uses his "human metronome" ability to countdown and calculate during time-related situations. It is revealed throughout most of the books in the series, and in particular Bad Luck and Trouble, that Reacher has a fascination with mathematics. Reacher is highly skilled at fighting, enhanced by in-depth technical and military knowledge. He has experience and skills from various martial arts, although he is not an expert in any particular style. Reacher's favorite techniques include elbow strikes, uppercuts, and headbutts. His experience, skills, knowledge, and strength aid him in fighting as he is sometimes stronger than his opponents but often matched with similar or larger enemies. As revealed in Nothing to Lose, Reacher hates confronting an opponent armed with a knife, believing that he has "no particular talent for it". He mentally plans his fights using physics in a scientific calculating method. He knows how to break a person's neck with one hand[3] and kill someone with a single punch to the head[4][5] or chest.[6] In a fight against a 7 ft (2.1 m), 400 lb (180 kg), steroid-using thug, Reacher lifts his opponent into the air and drops him on his head.[7] Reacher is a skilled marksman. Throughout the novels, Reacher has shown great skill in the use of various types of firearms. In addition to being the only non-Marine to win the U.S. Marine Corps 1000 Yard Invitational rifle competition, he also won the U.S. Army Pistol Championship and served as a pistol instructor. In One Shot, Reacher uses his enhanced intelligence with advanced technical and military knowledge during a long range shooting scene—slowing and counting his heartbeat while calculating wind, humidity, trajectory, speed, energy, and force.

Habits and beliefs In Killing Floor, it is revealed that he has a love for music, especially blues. It was this affinity for the blues that inspired Reacher to get off the bus at the start of Killing Floor and catapulted him into the resulting story. Also in this novel, Reacher's internal monologue reveals that he has a music collection in his head, which he listens to. Reacher had also been to a Blues club on Bleecker Street immediately before the beginning of Gone Tomorrow. As revealed in Nothing to Lose, Reacher holds no religious beliefs and is openly scornful of the fundamentalist Christianity espoused by the novel's antagonist. Reacher also shows his disdain for religion when in Bad Luck and Trouble he is traveling to Los Angeles via airline, and he states that he does not like Alaskan Airlines "because they put scripture cards on the meal trays." In Nothing to Lose, Reacher indicates that he has an antipathy towards what he sees as the corruption of traditional spelling, such as the use of "U" for "you", and "lo" for "low". He wears his clothing for 2–3 days before discarding it, usually purchasing new clothing cheaply from chain outlets.[8] He has no steady income and lives on savings in his bank account and part-time jobs.[9] At various points during the series, his bank account is supplemented by taking money from his enemies[9] (as in Killing Floor and Bad Luck and Trouble). Reacher knows how to drive and enjoys cars, as in Tripwire, Running Blind, Bad Luck and Trouble, and One Shot. Since he has no fixed address, Reacher often eats in diners and other inexpensive restaurants.[10] He drinks coffee constantly: "The Reacher brothers' need for caffeine makes heroin addiction look like an amusing little take-it-or-leave-it sideline".[11] Physical appearance Reacher is 6'5" tall (1.96 m) with a 50-inch chest, and weighing between 220 and 250 pounds (100–115 kg). He has ice-blue eyes and dirty blond hair. He has very little body fat, and his muscular physique is completely natural (he reveals in Persuader, he has never been an exercise enthusiast). He is exceptionally strong, has a high stamina, but is not a good runner.[12] Reacher has various scars, most notably a scar on his abdomen caused by a bombing in Lebanon.[13] He also has a 3–4 inch thin white scar that intersects his shrapnel scar that he received during a knife fight in Gone Tomorrow. Reacher mentions how the rough stitch work from his existing scar helped decrease the severity of his most recent attack. The cut did produce a deep, serious gash that led to Reacher passing out from blood loss.[14] He also has a scar on his chest from a .38 bullet,[15] a tear drop burn scar from close range gunshot that crossed his chest at point blank range,[16] and one on his arm where his brother struck him with a chisel in his youth.[17] Family Reacher's maternal grandfather Laurent Moutier was a furniture restorer in Paris. Thirty years old in 1914, he volunteered for the French Army with the outbreak of World War I and fought at Verdun and The Somme. Between 1919 and 1929 he was commissioned to produce wooden legs for wounded veterans. Josephine Moutier was his only child. He died in 1974 at age 90, in his last days facing unflinchingly the approach of death. The young Reacher met him three times and liked him.[18] Reacher's mother Josephine Moutier Reacher, born in France, was 30 years old when Reacher was born. She met Reacher's father in Korea and married him in Holland.[19] She was widowed in 1988, and died in 1990 at the age of 60 of cancer. When she was only 13, she joined the French Resistance and under the alias "Beatrice" worked with Le Chemin de Fer Humain (the Human Railroad), saving 80 men. She garroted a schoolmate, a boy who threatened to give her up to the Nazis. Josephine Moutier was awarded the Médaille de la Résistance (the Resistance Medal) for her heroism. Reacher's father (Stan Reacher) was a Marine captain, who served in Korea and Vietnam. His military service kept his family continually moving all around the world to various military bases. He died in 1988. When describing his father, Jack is quoted as saying, "(He was) A plain New Hampshire Yankee with an implacable horror of anything fancy...he had no use for wealth and excess. Very compartmentalized guy. Gentle, shy, sweet, loving man, but a stone-cold killer. Next to him I look like Liberace".[20] After military service, "there was no place left for people like him".[21] Jack had only one sibling, brother Joe Reacher. Two years older than Jack, Joe was born on a military base in the Philippines. Jack used to help Joe beat up the kids who gave him trouble in school, and vice versa. Joe was also a West Point graduate, and spent five years in military intelligence before joining the U.S. Treasury Department. He never won any of the "good medals", only the "junk awards." Joe died at age 38, having arranged a meeting with a potential investigation subject.[22] Because he was killed in the line of duty, his name can be found on the Treasury's Roll of Honor.

Acquaintances Family • Stan Reacher, father • Josephine Reacher, mother • Joe Reacher, older brother Military era • Elizabeth Deveraux, late thirties, is a former Marine serving as a county sheriff in Carter Crossing, Mississippi in 1997. She appears in The Affair. • Karla Dixon, age unknown, possibly late 30s is a forensic accountant; formerly a Major in the Army and part of Reacher's 'Special Investigators Unit', which he formed and led in the 90s. They are reunited in Bad Luck & Trouble and secretly rekindle an affair, which they regret not starting back in the Army. She is described as 'dark, very pretty, comparatively small' and slim. She is extremely good with numbers and shares Reacher's fascination with mathematics. • General Leon Garber, retired, was Reacher's former commanding officer, mentor and close friend. His only child is Jodie. He helped Reacher in Die Trying, and willed him his house, as his daughter is wealthy, didn't want it and already owns her own New York City home. He also appeared in The Enemy and The Affair, and (through his funeral) in Tripwire. • Jodie Garber-Jacob, 30, is the daughter of General Leon Garber. She met and fell in love with Reacher when she was 15 and was off-limits to him. In Tripwire, she is divorced, using her married name, working as a corporate attorney and reunites romantically with him after her father's funeral. She and Reacher live together in New York City and upstate New York in Leon's house which was left in his will to Reacher, his surrogate son. She is mentioned in Echo Burning as having moved to Europe. She appeared in Tripwire, and Running Blind (The Visitor in the United Kingdom and Australia). • Eileen Ann Hutton, age unknown, is a Brigadier General in the Army's Judge Advocate General's Corps. She and Reacher had a relationship prior to, and featured in, One Shot. • Dominique Kohl, 29, was a sergeant on the way up assigned to Reacher's unit when he was a captain in the Army. She appeared in Persuader, where Reacher remembers the events that lead to her death ten years earlier. • Duncan Munro, late thirties, is a member of Reacher's old 110th MP unit. He appears in The Affair. • Frances Neagley, late thirties, is a partner with a successful private security firm, and former Army Master Sergeant and Military Policeman. She is of medium height, slim, and has dark hair and eyes. She spends large amounts of time in the gym and has a purely platonic relationship with Reacher, not liking to be touched. Her demeanor suggests that she could be considered a female counterpart to Reacher. Rarely impressed, Reacher describes her as sometimes scary. She appeared in Without Fail, The Affair and Bad Luck and Trouble. The first page of Bad Luck and Trouble has a dedication "For the real Frances L. Neagley", which refers to real life Frances Neagley, who won a Bouchercon charity auction for the naming rights to a character.[23] • Stan Lowrey, late thirties, is a member of Reacher's old 110th MP unit. He is handsome, youthful, and full of energy. A kind of man that gets the job done. He appears in Bad Luck and Trouble and in the latest novel The Affair. • Dave O'Donnell, late thirties, is a member of Reacher's old 110th MP unit. He appears in Bad Luck and Trouble. He is "tall, fair, handsome, like a stockbroker...carries an army blade in one pocket and a pair of ceramic brass-knuckles in the other." The ceramic knuckles are made from a composite stronger than steel, harder than brass and gets past any metal detector. He is meticulous, doesn't mind paperwork, and is usually underestimated because he looks like a white-collar office worker. • Lieutenant Summer, 25, is an African-American Lieutenant in the Army Military Police. She is petite and slender, and appeared in The Enemy. • Susan Turner, early thirties, is a Major in the Army and is the commander of the 110th MP. She is described as a little above average height (5'7"), slender, long dark hair tied back, tanned skin and deep brown eyes. Her face is described as conveying "intelligence and authority and youth and mischief at the same time". Her defining characteristic is her voice ... "warm, a little husky, a little breathy, a little intimate". She appears in 61 Hours. Wandering era • Officer Roscoe, 30, is a police officer, appearing in Killing Floor. • Holly Johnson, 27, is a newly inducted Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent and former Wall Street stock analyst. She is dark, attractive, self-assured and a knee ligament injury sustained whilst playing soccer requires her to use a cane. She appeared in Die Trying. She is the only daughter of General Johnson, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and is the goddaughter of the U.S. President. • Lisa Harper, 29, is an F.B.I. Agent, stationed at Quantico. She appeared in Running Blind (The Visitor in the United Kingdom and Australia). • Alice Amanda Aaron, 25, graduated from Harvard Law School, practicing law at a legal mission in Pecos, Texas, as penance for coming from a wealthy family. She appeared in Echo Burning. • Carmen Greer, 30, is a housewife, short, slim, dark-skinned, fine-boned, "maybe 100 pounds". She is married with one child and an abusive husband. She appeared in Echo Burning. • Mary Ellen Froelich, 35, was a U.S. Secret Service Agent, charged with protecting the Vice President. She had short fair hair, and is quietly confident. She dated Joe Reacher, before he broke up with her prior to his death. Later she was in a relationship with Jack. She appeared in Without Fail. • Susan Duffy, early thirties, is a rogue agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration. She is pale, slim, and attractive, and appeared in Persuader, where she beds Reacher. • Vaughan, exact age unknown, is a police officer in Hope, Colorado. She is "probably less than five feet six, probably less than a hundred and twenty pounds, probably less than thirty-five years old" according to Reacher's estimate. Married to a totally incapacitated casualty of the war in Iraq (husband's name is Robert David Vaughan, called David). She befriends Reacher in Nothing to Lose. • Detective Theresa Lee is a New York City Police Department detective who aids Reacher's take down of an Al-Qaeda team in Gone Tomorrow. They had a brief romantic episode before Reacher left to complete his task. • Lauren Pauling, early fifties, is an ex-F.B.I. agent who now acts as a private investigator. She often refers to herself as being old. She appears in The Hard Way.