"The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories" by Lee Child

"No Middle Name, The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories." 418 pages.

I completed reading this book today, 15 June 2015.

He's all there. Classic Reacher.

6'5." Clunky street shoes. Walmart street clothes. Carrying only a folding toothbrush, a bank card, a three year old expired passport, and a wad of cash, drinker of copious amounts of black, unsweetened coffee.

Each of the short stories is compelling reading.

This time we see Reacher as a young man.. he acquired most of his physical size by the time he was sixteen. Child has a bit of fun with us readers as he imputes characteristics the mature, savvy operator that Reacher is as an adult to a mere child. Child has Reacher developing his skills early in life... telling time sans watch, intuiting danger, courage, stoicism, understated wit, and street fighting.

In one of the short stories (there are twelve of them, the longest 70 pages and the shortest, 6 pages), at 16, Reacher finds himself in an FBI sting organized by a female agent. In a bar (he's 16!) Reacher notices the female undercover agent being sexually harassed by a mob boss. Not understanding then the undercover role the woman was playing, he leaps to defend her honor. Reacher beats up the mob boss... using typical Reacher elbow and feinting moves. At 16!

The pull of the Reacher stories comes from the character... how he operates... how he finds himself in situations where trouble is present, and how he expertly, cleverly, and assuredly deals with danger.
For me, throughout the Reacher series, the stories and the plot lines blur, but Reacher the character stays clear in the mind.

Child is a master of metaphor and understatement.

Reacher is one of fiction's great, mysterious strangers. That's his appeal.

All of Child's Reacher books have been optioned for film. Two have been produced. The movies have not been successful... for good reason. The movies, starring the diminuative, un-Reacher-like, Tom Cruise, unlike the books, emphasize the plots, and not the special qualities of the Jack Reacher character.

I'll stick with the books. I get every Reacher book the minute it comes out.