Military Bookshelf: Jack Reacher's New (Liberal) Baggage
Military.com - Tom Miller
Jun 09, 2008
Wherein our hero who famously travels light wanders off the beaten track—into the political thicket—and emerges laden with some new, unexpected, and uncharacteristic baggage.
Nothing to Lose: A Jack Reacher Novel, by Lee Child. Delacorte, $27 (416p) ISBN 978-0-385-34056-4
Some things about larger-than-life ex-Military Policeman Jack Reacher haven't changed.
He's on the move more than "The Fugitive." Except in Reacher's case, there's no one-armed man to pursue and no cops chasing him. In fact, after twelve novels and tens of thousands of miles, I'm still not sure what's behind this walkabout.
Reacher still travels light: a little cash, an ATM card, an expired passport, and a collapsible toothbrush. That's it. Not even a spare pair of underwear.
Reacher is powered by coffee. He drinks it 24/7. He never drinks a cup when a pot will do. The first thing he does when he arrives in a new town is find an all-night diner with a bottomless pot. If he ever gives up coffee, Starbucks won't last a week. Juan Valdez will be destitute.
His fighting prowess makes Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee look like pugs. Surrounded by six Neanderthals in a bar, Reacher calmly disables all six—breaking arms, cracking ribs, busting noses—and hardly works up a sweat. Maybe it's all that caffeine.
He still has a way with women who find him irresistible. Even though they know that he's going to love 'em and leave 'em, they literally fall into his arms. Who knew? Maybe the attraction lies in the misguided notion that men are susceptible to change. Whatever it is, it can't be the clothes.
Reacher has never been very forthright about his background—much of which doesn't compute—and he's always known less about the military than you'd expect from someone who spent thirteen years on active duty. If you've been reading the Reacher books for a while, you already know that the important dates in his life—birth, West Point graduation, retirement from the Army—are moving targets.
In this latest installment, we learn that Reacher attended the MP Officer's Basic Course at Ft. Rucker, Ala. He must have been lonely there. His fellow MP officers were at Ft. McClellan, Ala., where the course was taught before moving to Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., in 1999.
Some things, however, have changed. The most distressing is Reacher's new-found political awareness. It's not enough for this new Reacher to right wrongs and be on his way. Now, he feels compelled to make speeches and save the world. If I wanted Al Gore . . . Wait, bad example. I'd never want Al Gore. Or, this facsimile.
The political Jack Reacher is angry and wants change. How angry? Angry enough to endorse military desertion and reduce the War on Terror to a single impulse: "'it's all about political vanity and electioneering.'" What about 9/11? I guess that it's hard to stay informed when you're always on the go.
Moreover, he has the gall to lecture voters about their responsibility. This from a guy with no job, no address, no responsibilities, and no voter registration card. What hypocrisy.
The storyline itself is also disappointing. While crossing the country—diagonally this time, from Maine to San Diego—Reacher runs into trouble in Despair, Colo., a small (fictional) town on the eastern prairie.
It seems that the good people of Despair don't like strangers. Reacher hardly has time for a cup of Joe before he's arrested, charged with vagrancy, and escorted out of town with the admonition that "'We aim to keep you out.'"
If this guy wasn't a fictional action-hero, everybody would feel that way. Think about it. Here's a stranger who wanders into town on foot. How odd is that? He's likely to look unkempt. He carries a toothbrush, but no razor. He wears his only set of clothes until they're worn out. The only thing missing is the grocery cart. Actually, the homeless usually have more possessions than Reacher.
The good people of Despair, however, have done just about the worst thing possible. Believe it or not, but our Jack has a sensitive side. He certainly doesn't like being told what to do. How'd he ever get through West Point?
Anyway, Reacher is now determined to find out why the townspeople are so unfriendly. He soon has other questions to consider: Why are young men going missing after visiting Despair? Why is there a Military Police Forward Operating Base on the highway leading out of Despair to the west—out near the town's only industry, a metal recycling plant?
With the help of Officer Vaughan, an attractive female cop from the neighboring town of Hope (get it?), Reacher sets out to discover what exactly is going on in Despair.
Officer Vaughan just happens to be married, but to a National Guardsman who suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq and is now languishing in a substandard facility. It doesn't add anything to the story, but it gives Reacher an opportunity to tar by association the thousands of military medics, doctors, nurses, and physical therapists who work selflessly to save and rehabilitate the wounded.
"'[D]eep down to the army,'" Reacher opines, "'a wounded soldier that can't fight anymore is garbage.'"
Reacher makes a great show of sympathizing with Vaughan's husband but that doesn't stop him from bedding her. Nice guy.
There are some bad characters doing bad things in Despair, but they're less interesting than you'd think. There also are some putative good characters doing bad things. They just don't make heroes like they used to.
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Copyright 2008 by Tom Miller
A former history professor, Tom Miller is a novelist and essayist. His most recent novel, Freshman Sensation (2007), is available from the publisher at http://www.ccjournal.com/. His reviews and essays have appeared in numerous books, journals, and newspapers, including The Encyclopedia of Southern History, American History Illustrated, the Chicago Tribune, and the Des Moines Register. He also is a former Army Officer and Vietnam Veteran.
