(Note: to see this full article, plus more exclusive content—including reviews, interviews, reading guides, giveaways, and more, please follow The Real Book Spy’s Substack, and sign up for our free newsletter here.)
Pretty much from the moment it premiered on Prime Video, Reacher—starring Alan Ritchson as Lee Child’s larger-than-life, wandering hero—has been a massive hit.
One of the most popular shows streaming today, Reacher made headlines just recently when it was announced that the forthcoming and highly anticipated fourth season will be based on Child’s 2009 bestselling novel, Gone Tomorrow. But with no official premiere date set for season four’s kickoff episode, fans in search of oversized thrills may have to look elsewhere to get their action fix for the time being, and naturally, we’re here to help.
So, if you love Reacher, give these 15 titles and try and let me know what you think!
I mean, naturally, if you’re feeling impatient while waiting for the next season of Reacher, you might as well dive into the source material. The story opens on a subway in NYC. It’s the middle of the night, and Jack Reacher is riding in a subway car with five other people—one of whom, he will soon learn, has a big problem. Reacher, being Reacher, decides to get involved, and it’s nothing but fireworks from there. A nonstop thrill ride that barrels through Manhattan like a runaway train—Gone Tomorrow is gritty, relentless, and pure Reacher. Here, Lee Child delivers another masterclass in high-stakes suspense, where every twist cuts deeper and every lie raises the body count. If you think you know danger, wait until you ride the subway with Jack Reacher.
You absolutely cannot make a list like this and not start with Petrie’s Peter Ash, one of the only characters truly worthy of being compared to Jack Reacher. In fact, Lee Child actually had this to say about Petrie’s first book—”Lots of characters get compared to my own Jack Reacher, but Petrie’s Peter Ash is the real deal.” That’s a pretty solid endorsement. So, who is Peter Ash? Well, in many ways, he’s a lot like Reacher. He’s a wanderer, never able to settle down or stay in one place for too long. He’s a war veteran who struggles with PTSD and claustrophobia, direct symptoms of his time over in Afghanistan. But he’s also got a lot of unique traits, too. In this book, Peter tries to help the widow of a Marine who recently committed suicide, only to discover a package under her porch steps, which kicks off a deadly chain of events he never could have seen coming. As Peter races to protect the woman, he finds himself pulled further and further down the rabbit hole, and the only way out is to put it all on the line and keep fighting.
If you’re already reading the series, then you’re probably well aware that Andrew Grant, the real-life younger brother of Lee Child, is now teaming with his brother to pen the Reacher books. Writing under the name Andrew Child, Grant first came on several books back to co-write with Lee, but with each new title is getting closer to taking over the series full-time, on his own. Personally, as a huge fan of Andrew, I was so excited when it was first announced that he’d be coming alongside Lee before one day taking complete control of Reacher’s future. A talented writer, Andrew was cranking out must-read thrillers long before he ever wrote with Lee, and if you want to get a feel for his style, I’d highly recommend giving Invisible, his first Paul McGrath book, a read.
Full disclosure, I wrote this book, which is part of my Matthew Redd series. Yeah, when I’m not Book Spying and writing on Substack, I’m also penning thrillers of my own, had this one—Out For Blood—is probably my most action-packed so far. My hero, Matthew Redd, who stands 6-foot-3 and 265 pounds, is a force to be reckoned with. A sludge hammer in a scapal’s world, Redd—a former Marine Raider who previously came back to Montana for the first time in a decade to investigate the death of his adopted father—is now hoping to live a quiet live on his cattle ranch with his wife and their kids. That ain’t going to happen, though, and when Out For Blood kicks off, Redd is warned of a team of killers who are closing in on his location, forcing him to put distance between himself and his loved ones by heading solo up into the mountains in the middle of a swirling snowstorm. He’s told to “hang on until backup arrives,” but with a total whiteout pushing through Montana, Redd knows he’s on his own for the foreseeable future—and before long, he stops running and instead takes the fight the bad guys, who quickly find out that they’re underestimated Redd, and bitten off way more than they can chew.
David Baldacci is a name known by most thriller enthusiasts. With multiple New York Times bestselling series under his belt and more hit novels in circulation today than just about anyone else, Baldacci is a safe bet if you’re looking for the kind of book that’ll suck you in and never let go. While both Amos Decker (The Memory Man) and Atlee Pine (Long Road To Mercy) are characters Baldacci has built other franchises around, chances are that if you like Reacher, you’ll probably prefer his John Puller books. Puller, a “combat veteran and the best military investigator in the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigative Division,” was first introduced in Zero Day—which follows him to a remote, rural area in West Virginia coal country, where he discovers a brutal crime scene. A family is found murdered, but few in the small town seem to really care or want answers. That changes when Puller makes it his mission to get to the bottom of it. A small town with big secrets and heart-pounding conspiracies? That sure sounds like a Jack Reacher book.
The Last Protector by Simon Gervais
Buckle up and get ready for some Reacher-sized action sequences. When mercenaries target his girlfriend—the brilliant daughter of the vice president-elect—former Air Force rescue officer turned Secret Service agent Clayton White is thrust into a deadly conspiracy, forcing him to choose between the woman he loves and the country he swore to protect. Simon Gervais, a talented author with a handful of must-read series to his name, goes all out here, in his first Clayton White book, taking readers on a white-knuckle ride stuffed with big action, big conspiracies, and big fun. If you’re looking for a character to keep you company until Reacher returns, Clayton’s your guy.
A Promise to Kill by Erik Storey
From Erik Storey, the author hailed by The Daily Mail as “exceptional” and praised by Jeffery Deaver as “a born storyteller,” comes the next explosive installment in the Clyde Barr series—a full-throttle, bare-knuckled thriller that delivers heart, grit, and nonstop action. Drifter and one-man wrecking crew Clyde Barr is once again chasing peace in the wilds of the American West, trading his car for a horse and solitude in the mountains. But his quiet retreat is shattered when he stumbles upon a dying Ute elder from a nearby reservation. Suddenly drawn into the lives of the man’s family, Clyde finds a reservation under siege by a violent gang of outlaw bikers exploiting the vulnerable community. At first, he tries to stay out of the fight. But when the bad guys go too far, Clyde answers with brutal justice. Probably the most underrated title on this list, in my opinion, A Promise to Kill is an absolute must if you want a hard-hitting, Reacher-like experience.