First review of The Affair - the new Jack Reacher thriller

Prequel for a Heavyweight: Hero Gets His Back Story

By JANET MASLIN, New York Times, Published: September 19, 2011
THE AFFAIR - A Reacher Novel

By Lee Child

405 pages. Delacorte Press. $28.

NZ/Aust - Bantam Books - NZ$39.99

Lee Child’s books usually concentrate on the strategic genius of Jack Reacher, who has long since earned his prominent place in the pantheon of cool, smart-talking American heroes. But “The Affair” shows off the gifts of a different strategist: the author himself. Mr. Child understood how and why the 16th book in this series had to be different from the first 15. He knew it was time for a big, exciting surprise.

The Reacher books, like those in many series, had reached an existential shark state: they had to keep moving forward to survive. But they could move only in relatively limited ways. And although some (like “61 Hours,” the 14th) are much better than others (“Worth Dying For,” the 15th), they played by the same rules.

Mr. Child’s 16th book, “The Affair,” shakes up the status quo by delivering the Reacher creation myth. At the start of the series (“Killing Floor,” in 1997) this guy was already a former Army M.P. who had no baggage. Despite the occasional flashback — as in “The Enemy,” with its French settings and glimpses into the Reacher family history, and the recent online short story “Second Son,” which presents Reacher as a boy — his origins were mysterious. Sure, he was a drifter, a loner and a creature of habit. But we didn’t know how he got that way.

“The Affair” cleverly begins at the single most crucial point in Reacher’s life: the point at which he had to leave the Army. As it opens, he is about to enter the Pentagon. “I remember the date, of course,” Mr. Child writes, in one of his typically attention-riveting opening paragraphs. “It was Tuesday, the 11th of March, 1997, and it was the last day I walked into that place as a legal employee of the people who built it.”Reacher hasn’t yet developed his extreme, minimal style or his clean, mean look. He has hair that’s too long by Army standards and five days’ worth of beard. Since the Reacher books are about to start being Reacher movies, with Tom Cruise cast (to the squawking of many Reacher diehards) as this physically imposing figure, the character’s appearance matters. A 36-year-old Reacher is a cool, new figure to imagine.There is a lot of intrinsic humor in the way Mr. Child invents each of Reacher’s habits. This may sound ridiculous to anyone who has never encountered this series, but even the tiniest details matter. Take the toothbrush: nowadays Reacher takes it everywhere, because he’s got a half-size travel version, and it’s the only thing he’s willing to carry. But “The Affair” includes the eureka moment when Reacher first spied this thing and fell for it. This book also provides the origins for Reacher’s love of diners and his standards for a good one: “It was cheap, and it hadn’t killed me.”

Full review at New York Times.