A Wanted Man, by Lee Child (Delacorte Press; $28.00)

Jack Reacher is an unlikely hero. As he describes himself, he’s a “No-account, unemployed and homeless veteran. . . with no stable relationships.” He hitchhikes across the country and, even in this day and age, still manages to get rides. But the rides always end badly, with Reacher having to shoot bad guys and foil crime in whatever locale he finds himself.

In A Wanted Man, Reacher is still—as in Child’s most recent books—trying to get himself to Virginia. He’s fallen for a woman he’s spoken to on the phone, and wants to meet her in person to see if there’s the chance of romance. But, as always, his plans are detoured when his ride doesn’t quite work out. This time, he’s picked up by two guys and a woman, and the woman tries to signal to Reacher that something is amiss. The reader knows that earlier that evening, three guys had walked into a bunker but only two walked out. But where the woman came from, who the dead guy was, and why the FBI, CIA, and State Department are all involved in what looks to be a local crime is the crux of the story.

I really like Reacher, though I’ve read so many of Child’s mysteries that his character’s idiosyncrasies make me roll my eyes. For one thing, Reacher only owns the clothes on his back, since he has no luggage. So when they get dirty (three days on a shirt) he merely buys more. He budgets between $20-$25 a day, which he feels is “cheaper than living somewhere, and easier than washing and ironing and folding and packing.  That was for damn sure.” But where does he get his money? And if he carries it with him (he doesn’t seem like a credit card kind of a guy), how does he not get rolled by the occasional bad guy who picks him up?

Oh—I forgot. He’s Jack Reacher. Who would dare?

He also has an internal clock that should be in a museum. My mother has pointed out that he always knows what time it is, despite not wearing a wristwatch. In this book, he sets “the clock in his head for two hours” to force himself to wake up though he hasn’t slept for at least 24 hours.

But the little tic that I like the most is Reacher’s emphatic, “That was for damn sure” whenever he mentally agrees with himself.  (I included one of these lines in the quote in the third paragraph.) I once heard Lee Child speak at a book festival, and someone pointed out that he writes that line in his books frequently. The fan asked Child if he uses it so often because he uses it himself. As I recall (I wasn’t taking notes, and this was several years ago), Child said that it was more of a writer’s device to transition between scenes or action. I had never noticed the line prior to hearing the question, but once it was pointed out, I notice it whenever I read one of his books.  

Lee Child’s Jack Reacher stories are improbable, similar, and totally enjoyable. That’s for damn sure.