Kenneth Turan reviews Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child, the latest in the Jack Reacher series. Turan compares and contrasts the Reacher character with Parker:
Reacher shares numerous traits with Parker, including living by a code of honor civilians can’t comprehend, but unlike Stark’s character he wants to do the right thing and invariably does. He’s got a more human appeal than ice-cold Parker, and he cares a lot more about women than his predecessor ever managed to.
I’ve never read one of Lee Child’s books, so I can’t comment, but thought you might find the review interesting.
I wonder if the title Gone Tomorrow was inspired by this song?:
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Although you can compare Reacher and Parker in terms of behaviour and coldness, Reacher is, in my opinion, too much of a hero. He is always too much in control of the situation, and he gets in real trouble all the time. And while Reacher has a more human appeal in many ways, the cold appeal which solves his problems stands in contrast to that appeal. I always thought that Reacher’s two sides do not always fit together.
When I first read one of Child’s novels it reminded me of Parker, but after a few books I was happy to grab an original Parker.