The 10 Best Jack Reacher Books, According to Goodreads Reviews
Lee Child is the bestselling author of the Jack Reacher books, a series about Jack Reacher, a former major in the U.S. Army turned wanderer and private investigator. In the new Jack Reacher book, Blue Moon, Reacher comes to the aid of an elderly couple . . . and confronts his most dangerous opponents yet. It comes out on October 29th and we can’t wait to read it. While some readers may want to read the Jack Reacher books in order, you definitely don’t have to go that route! Each book is a self-contained story, and with more than 23 books in the series, why not start with the best ones?
4.22 average rating
Set in the heart of Nebraska, this thriller follows Reacher as he dives into the decades-old mystery of a missing child. Except, the most powerful family in the area, the Duncans, don't want him looking too closely into the past or their present dealings, which reveal a vast, worldwide criminal conspiracy that is bent on keeping Reacher from solving the case.
Related: ‘Jack Reacher’ TV Series Based OnLee Child Books Ordered By Amazon (Deadline.com)
4.21 average rating
James Barr is a military sniper, so it makes no sense that when six shots are fired, only five find their mark...unless he's not the shooter. When he's arrested for murder, he clings to innocence and asks for Reacher. Even though Barr is the last person Reacher wants to help, he shows up and a simple case turns anything but in a complicated web of law and politics that has Reacher teaming up with a scrappy defense lawyer to uncover the truth.
4.19 average rating
The past comes rushing back for Reacher when the untraceable ex-military investigator is tracked down by a woman using a signal that very few people have to contact him. She has horrific news: someone is hunting and killing the members of his old unit, and Reacher is the only one who can trace this evil before it reaches anyone else—and himself.
4.18 average rating
In New York City, on a subway car in the middle of the night, Reacher finds himself observing five other passengers with mounting suspicion—he is certain that one of the other passengers is a suicide bomber. The fallout from acting upon this suspicion sends him investigating war crimes in the 1980's and tangling with local and federal law enforcement in a race to the truth.
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4.17 average rating
This novel tells the origin story of Reacher's shift from military investigator to loner. Set in the days surrounding the fall of the Berlin Wall, Reacher is ordered to the scene of a general's murder and told to contain the scene. But this is far from a simple murder, and as more killings follow, Reacher will team up with a young lieutenant to uncover the truth--and learn some shocking secrets about his own family.
Related: If Jack Reacher Were A Bad Guy
4.16 average rating
Reacher is tasked with a very daring job—assassinating the Vice President-elect of the United States. Well, not exactly. The VP has been receiving death threats, and the Secret Service needs to call the unseen enemy's bluff to determine whether or not their protection is penetrable. As Reacher tests the strength of the VP-elect's security, he draws closer to the anonymous source that would topple the VP and throw the country into turmoil.
4.13 average rating
Travel back to another one of Reacher's early cases, in the heart of Mississippi. A young woman is killed, and all signs point to a young military officer living on a nearby base. But the suspect has friends in high places and slips out of the grasp of local justice, which is where Reacher enters. He teams up with the cagey local sheriff and the two embark on an investigation fraught with mistrust and twists, which will shape Reacher into a formidable investigator.
4.10 average rating
When a DEA officer is kidnapped by a reclusive drug tycoon, Reacher is on the case. Going undercover as a bodyguard for the drug family, Reacher finds himself in a Maine mansion, ingratiating himself in order to find his missing agent...and runs smack into a figure from his past. Someone who should be dead. New cases and old enemies collide as Reacher struggles to maintain his cover and serve justice.
4.10 average rating
Reacher is killing time in a pawn shop when he finds a woman's class ring from West Point. Moved by the object, he picks it up and decides to return it to her. Instead, he walks head-on into a twisted case with many feints and unexplainable crimes, exposing a vast conspiracy involving prescription drugs and people bent on keeping hold of their profits, no matter the cost.
4.07 average rating
Reacher is headed on a cross-country trip across the U.S. when he decides to take a short detour to his father's hometown. As he pokes around, he slowly begins to suspect that his father never lived there. At the same time, two Canadians on their way to New York City find themselves stranded nearby, at the mercy of all-too-friendly strangers. As Reacher probes his father's past, their fates intertwine in a breathtaking exploration of small-town secrets.
What to Read Next
Tirzah Price is a writer and contributing editor at Book Riot. She’s a fan of all things YA, mystery, and thrillers. Follow her on Twitter @TirzahPrice.