I have noticed that Reacher has a habit of murdering people in cold blood. (“But they were all bad.”) Now, initially, we are told that he was a talented and resourceful investigator in the Military Police Corps. At some point it is revealed that, besides that, he was occasionally employed by the Army as an assassin, which is consistent with his lack of qualms about rubbing people out. Do I have that right? When was his backstory updated to include this history? And, while he is undoubtedly suited for the job, does it make sense that the army would tap an MP for that kind of shadowy special op?
Making sense is not a requirement in the Reacher books; in fact it’s a positive drawback (even more so than usual in the latest novel).
From my perspective he’s less of a cold-blooded killer and more of a superhero-type who doesn’t mind leaving a trail of bodies.
I’ve read all the books, and I agree.
Though, there is a strong moral code as to who is “the innocent worthy of protection” vs “bad guys that the world would be better off without and who deserve to die”.
And that’s also true for a lot of “Reacher Lite” protagonists written by Baldacci and Deaver and Connelly and now a Nick Petrie as well.
But even more so with the original, the inspiration for Jack Reacher: Travis McGee.
If you haven’t spent quality time with John MacDonald’s laid-back but righteous “Salvage Consultant”, well then you don’t get invited to a poker game on board The Busted Flush.
Is that like Coor’s Lite…Lite?
I always thought it was Conan.
Has the series gone downhill over time? I thought the first few books were great and the latter ones marginal.
Regarding the MP-to-assassin, I’d imagine it was unusual to have an MP carry out shadow OPS. The military has whole groups of people who are actually trained to use force to kill as their day job.
Travis may well have been a major inspiration for Reacher.
But unlike him, McGee frequently felt bad about abusing the bad guys. Tying up a misbehaving ski instructor, pitching him into a snowbank and threatening to kill him, or placing a bound-and-gagged victim into a motel shower and cranking up the scalding water could plunge Travis into a depression lasting at least a couple of days. :dubious: As for killing them, recovering from that trauma often required taking an extended solo cruise with a beautiful woman. 
IMO the average quality has gotten better over time, but is still pretty bad — but I’ve always liked popcorn books for reading on the BART and the like. Some of the early ones were just stupid — the FBI kidnapping his girlfriend to get him to help them solve a crime??? Or the one where he’s trying to find out what the villain does, and he only knows two things about him — he grew up on his family’s farm that still grows opium poppies, and he’s an entrepreneur. Near the end of the book, he finally figures it out –
he sells heroin.
Or the one where there’s a southern town of about 500 near an army base, every woman in town is stunningly beautiful, and they are all getting killed after dating an Army captain at the base. There have also been unexplained deaths of young women who lived near other US Army bases in other countries where and when this guy was previously stationed. The local sheriff (who is stunningly beautiful) is stumped, but Reacher finally figures that out, too –
it was the Army captain.