No Middle Name

The Nowhere Man

Lee Child’s creation Jack Reacher is a fascinating character. Leaving his army past behind, he lives like a vagabond, travelling to random places with no more luggage than a toothbrush in his pocket. He moves about constantly, sleeps whenever and wherever he can; when his clothes get too dirty, he simply buys new ones and chucks the old. He takes life as it comes, but does not hesitate in interfering if he sees a crime being committed or some injustice being done. His body is built for endurance, his mind never shuts down and his wisecracks bubble up at just the right moment.

He is tall, muscular, hefty and a fighter no ordinary mortal can take on in hand-to-hand combat. Very few can match his astute reading of people—their behavior and their motives. No Middle Name is a collection of short stories starring Jack Reacher, that gives some glimpses of his growing up years and indicates what makes him the way he is.

The younger son of a marine, Reacher and his smart older brother Joe, grew up on several military bases, which is probably why he never formed any deep friendships or connections with other people.  Reacher does not have a middle name, but his first name, Jack, is also never used. 

Even as a kid, as the story Second Son, set in Okinawa, shows, he is prepared for a fight and his “lizard brain” is as sharp as ever.  In High Heat, set in New York in 1977,  he is a teenager travelling alone, looking for adventure and no-strings-attached romance, when he gallantly step in to save a woman from being beaten in the street, only to discover that she is an FBI agent and the man belongs to a notorious gang. Soon the mob is after him, and the city suffers a sudden blackout. In the dark and in sweltering heat, Reacher gets a girl to drive him around, thrashes the gang boss, and also manages to point the cops towards dreaded serial killer Son of Sam.

The compliation begins with Too Much Time, in which Reacher, just taking a walk in a small nondescript town, sees a bag-snatch taking place, catches the thief, is persuaded by the local cops to give a witness statement and finds himself in the midst of a conspiracy. He is arrested for being an accomplice and somebody up in the chain wants him dead for a reason he fathoms as he goes along.

The reader is grabbed by the neck with the intrigue and suspense in this one, and Lee Child simply does not let go till the last page has been turned. This story leads to The Midnight Line, the the 22nd Reacher novel, just out.

No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories

By Lee Child

Publisher: Delacote

Pages: 432