Lee Child, Jack Reacher and the changing face of a fictional hero

In an uncertain world Jack Reacher has always provided the certainty we all need. But now even Reacher is changing.

Lee  Child  calls  it  a  “very  slight, subtle, nuanced reboot and refresh’’. But he knows there is a chance it will cause something of a backlash. From experience, Child knows that if you start to mess around with Jack Reacher, then some people are going to be upset.

“The Tom Cruise debacle a few years ago really showed how deeply people care and are into it, so any kind of disruption is a possible problem,’’ Child says down the Zoom line from Colorado.

The Cruise “debacle”, to which Child refers, was the casting of Cruise as Reacher in the movies Jack Reacher and Never Go Back. In the books, Reacher is physically massive. Somewhere around 196cm tall and more than 100kg. And Cruise? Well, he doesn’t quite measure up. He’d be staring at Reacher’s chest, at best. The films would be fine, but many Reacher fans were outraged that Cruise was there at all.

The “reboot” Child is talking about is his decision to invite his younger brother Andrew Grant to co-write the latest Reacher book. The Sentinel is the 25th Reacher novel and the front covers carries Lee Child’s name in large letters and restyles Andrew Grant as Andrew Child in much smaller font. But the plan is, after another couple of co-written books, Grant will take over the Reacher universe full-time.

CRUISE CONTROL Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher and Lee Child playing TSA Agent in a scene from film Jack Reacher: Never Go Back from Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions

The Birmingham-born brothers understand long-time fans may be a little worried, concerned that the great warrior hero who wanders the American landscape righting all manner of wrongs will be diluted in some way.

“That’s a completely logical approach,’’ Grant says. “If I wasn’t me, I would be looking at it the same. I would be looking at what the differences were – was it as good?’ People being people are going to react in ways that are unpredictable, possibly unmerited – who knows?’’ Child says. “People are going to be ... sceptical, I think is a good word, or a little questioning, but I think it (The Sentinel) will convince them pretty quickly.’’

And he’s right. As someone who has read a lot of Reacher, the first 30 or 40 pages are spent looking for changes. Is Reacher too wordy? Would he have done that? But that fades and the momentum of the story takes you past all that into the almost mythic, but certainly escapist, world of Reacher.

Reacher books have sold more than 100 million copies, but Child says the time was right for a younger person to take over. Grant is almost 15 years younger than Child.

“I am going to be 66 later this month (October) and I am just beginning to feel the world is moving on without me,’’ Child says. “There is so much stuff in the world I don’t understand anymore.’’

Reacher has never been one for technology. At the end of The Sentinel he hands back a mobile phone. “I don’t need it any more,’’ Reacher says. But Child says certain accommodations will have to be made to keep Reacher relevant in the modern world.

“Reacher was always way behind the curve in terms of technology, but it was starting to get a bit grotesque,” he says. “What I wanted out of Andrew was that sensibility of half a generation younger.’’

But Child doesn’t believe too much about Reacher will change. He says he has worked hard for 25 years making sure Jack Reacher remains Jack Reacher.

“I think that’s what readers realty want,’’ he says. “They want the same guy every year, reliable comfortable. Nobody wants to be worried that next year Reacher is going to become a vegan pacifist.’’

Not that Reacher should be misunderstood. While some, because of the character’s military history, have attempted to portray him as a some gun-toting, ultra patriotic right-wing figure, Child says the opposite is true; that Reacher is really a rational “Mr Spock’’ character who weighs the evidence before making a decision. “In general, I think he is much more of a liberal, to be honest, than a Republican.’’

Child also believes Reacher would have little time for the pretend soldiers who walk American streets with heavy weaponry.

“Reacher would just be full of derision at those stupid, fat, toothless bastards.’’ Child describes Reacher as “me basically age nine in Birmingham’’ but says the character’s enormous global appeal is “wish fulfilment’’ on behalf of the readers.

“Everybody has been in a situation where they just want to punch somebody in the face, but they know they can’t, they shouldn’t, it’s against the law and all that good stuff. But the relief of seeing it done in fiction is a very inspiring and happy thing.’’

Grant is a successful author in his own right and says he was “gobsmacked’’ when his older brother asked him to come on board. Child asked him as the duo drove through a blizzard after a book launch in Denver.  Child’s  theory  was  that  while driving through the snow his brother would be “concentrating 99 per cent on not getting us killed, so if I ask him now he won’t freak out immediately’’.

Grant says he asked himself two questions. One: Could I do it? And, two: Should I do it? He decided he couldn’t answer the first question until he had a go. As for the second. “I am a long-term Reacher fan and the idea that there wouldn’t be another Reacher every year to enjoy was horrible,” he says.

Left to right: Tom Cruise plays Jack Reacher, Judd Lormand plays Local Deputy and Jason Douglas plays Sheriff in a scene from film Jack Reacher: Never Go Back from Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions

Grant styles himself as the oldest Reacher fan. He was the first to read a draft of his brother’s debut Reacher novel, 1997’s Killing Floor. Grant remembers the apprehension he felt before starting it. His brother had lost his job in television, so the novel was make or break for him.

“So if the book had been terrible it would have been a disaster for him and I was going to have to say to him, ‘I’m sorry, but it’s terrible’,” Grant says. “So I was terrified reading it.’’ But he says he knew from the earliest pages that his brother had created something memorable.

Grant says the biggest challenge was meshing his writing habits with his brother’s. Child says his approach to novel writing is “completely unstructured’’.

“I do a first line, then think, ‘What would be a good second line?’. He (Grant) would say, ‘What well happens next?’. And I’d say, ‘I don’t know – no idea. Just sit there and see what happens’.’’

Grant says he has always preferred a little more structure in his stories and that his brother’s approach was “the most uncomfortable’’ part of the process. But he soon learned that planning Reacher didn’t really work anyway.

“There were a couple of scenes I had really clear in my mind about what Reacher would do and where he would go and they just absolutely didn’t fit and we didn’t use them, because you can’t tell Reacher what to do,’’ Grant says. “Reacher is going to do what he wants. So what I realised was writing a Reacher book is just not like writing any of my other books.’’

The Sentinel by Lee Child and Andrew Child is out on October 27.

Child traditionally starts a new Reacher book on September 1, which means the new one is already under way.

“I still have absolutely no idea where it’s going and how it’s going to be resolved,’’ Grant says. “The difference is, this time around, I am not worried about that.’’

The Sentinel by Lee and Andrew Child is out now (Bantam Press, $32.99)