Monday, June 30, 2008
Lee Child, Jack Reacher
Charles McGrath did a piece for the NYT Book Review about Lee Child of the Jack Reacher mysteries. It led to my taking out some of Child's work from the library. I've been immersed the last few days. Years ago I went through a streak, reading mysteries. I still am not sure what got me going, but it was addictive. Chewing gum for the mind — although to be fair, there are a few practitioners that do honor to the form. Like Fyodor Dostoevsky. John D. MacDonald (Travis McGee) seems to have been inspirational, a strong influence on many who practice the craft.
The Jack Reacher mysteries speak satisfyingly to the lizard brain. They are well-crafted, if by nature depressive, but do give a generous allowance for brutal revenge fantasies and provide yet another variant of the mythic hardboiled detective, able to do what no man could do. The Jack Reacher character is the new macho — he is certified pc approved. Reacher may be better than any man but not better than any woman. His women colleagues run faster, have washboard abs, kill as good as him; they are smarter and better drivers. Child flatters 'em and Reacher leaves 'em. Lee Child is plugging for a female readership and his calculations have been fulfilled.
A funny aspect of McGrath's piece was the testosterone in the air:
…[Lee Child] doesn’t appear to be the sort of person who would be much use in a bar fight. You can’t picture him head-butting, or breaking someone’s nose with his elbow.
He's not so tough.