So, there is this man. A huge, mountain of a man. Now retired from the US Army Military Police, where he commanded the 110th MP Special Investigations Unit. He opted for a nomadic life in this civilian chapter of his life. A carry over from his Army days, where he kept moving as per his postings (which began from when he was born, in Germany, as one of two kids in a Marine family). From the beginning of time, with the advent of modern man, some settled down and some kept moving. His genes came from an ancestor who kept moving. He has no intention of settling down, he doesn’t like carrying any baggage — physical or emotional. He wants no trouble.

The last part though is completely suspect. Because whether he wants it or not, whether he likes it or not, trouble always finds its way back to him. Or in some other cases, he just walks into it. I remember a particular series of stories where he first finds himself some trouble to get into. Then when that tale ends, he hitches a ride to get to somewhere else and finds trouble in that same car. And then when wraps that up in a neat little bow, he sort of crosses the road — and on to new trouble. He just walks into a trifecta of damnation one after the other.

So much for the nomadic life.

Jack Reacher meets the same fate once again in his latest hassle — Exit Strategy. Reacher arrives at Baltimore on his travels across the earth to listen to a concert for a veteran’s benefit. And as per usual, he walks himself right into trouble. What starts as a case of mistaken identity soon finds Reacher right in the thick of things. Things soon go from bad to worse, and in typical Jack Reacher, everything spirals completely out of control.

This is no different from any other Jack Reacher story. Reacher comes to a city on his travels, finds some issue, and then stays on to drive it to its natural conclusion — the death/apprehension of all the evil ones and with Reacher walking into the sunset, a very traditional good vs evil battle. For that matter no one Jack Reacher story is different from the other. Same wine, different packaging.

Do we care? Hell no!

Because while the premise might be the same, the thirty Jack Reacher novels that have hit the market till date are absolutely addictive, they are unputdownable, and they make for some of the best guilt-free reads of the times we live in. No sooner do the books hit the stands (or portals of today), there is a mad scramble amongst all us Jack Reacher fans to pick up our brand new copy and see what sort of mess the non-trouble-searching Reacher finds himself in. We know him, the man, we know what he stands for, and we know that he will not let evil pass by without giving the damn that needs to be given. Reacher lives by the adage that all it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing. And a good man he most certainly is. And we live our good samaritan fantasies vicariously through Reacher. The man we could have been if we were all living our lives in a fictional world.

The advent of the Jack Reacher movies — and even more so, the Amazon Prime series, Reacher, has made the character even more accessible to those who have not read the books (maybe). And that uptick in interest that Reacher now commands is totally deserving of the legacy that has been built over him.

Lee Child, the OG author of the series, has for all this while kept our interest alive in the character, without letting him go stale. It’s not an easy thing to do. Alex Cross, John Puller, Jack Ryan, they have been here forever too. But there’s something in Reacher than I personally cannot connect with in the others. Harry Bosch perhaps comes closest to finding that sweet spot that Reacher epitomizes, but because of his gruff, angry disposition it misses Reacher’s non-nonsense characterization and does not quite feel the same. There is a subtle comic thread that also runs along in Lee Child’s writings, and that perhaps makes a the Jack Reacher franchise all the more relatable. I am waxing eloquent, I am guilty of being a die-hard Jack Reacher fan. I need to excuse myself before I start repeating myself.

Jack Reacher in Exit Strategy, the 30th book in the series is just as much the Jack Reacher we met and fell in love with in Killing Floor. I don’t have much to say about the book because reading it and going on the journey is where the excitement is. And that can never be ruined by a review.

All I can say, for all Jack Reacher aficionados is that the new Jack Reacher book, Exit Strategy is now available. And for those who are still to meet the man, I’ll ask you to find yourself a copy of Killing Floor. And then, before you even know it, you’ll be here with the rest of us, at Exit Strategy. There is no two-ways about it. You enter this world, you can never leave.

That’s all there is to it. If you know Jack Reacher, you know what to do.

Do it.