In my last ARC, I learned a long favorite author had died and in this one I learned Lee Child is no longer authoring Reacher books! They will live on with his brother?!? Anyway this is a different book because it is about Lee's experience writing the book. Nothing earth shattering as he is a creature of habit but I also realized very well off!

This was a compendium of anecdotes about each of the first 20 or so Reacher books. Mildly interesting about an Authors process, but got a bit repetative at the end. Was mostly interested in a promised Reacher short story, but the copy I was given was missing that.

This book has different chapters describing how Lee Child came to write these books, his inspiration and other things going on in his life as his wrote the book series. Great insight into some of the hows and whats of this book series! I really enjoyed it!

Any new Reacher type release by Lee Child is an immediate read for me. Although this one is different and more of a day in the life style “memoir”. This is a set of short essays about the writing and time around the writing of the Reacher books. It is a fascinating look into an authors style and what is his thought process through every book. Overall great selection of essays and Child once again knocks it out the park!

I received a free advanced copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

“Reacher: The Stories Behind the Stories” by Lee Child is appropriately titled, this is a collection of introductions that Lee Child wrote for a series of special editions of his first twenty Jack Reacher novels.

There’s not much to say about this collection. If you are a fan of the Reacher books, it is interesting to hear a little of the backstory around the writing of each of these books. Mr. Child takes us through his writing process (starts each new book on September 1st), what was going on in the world, and what was going on in his life, and how those things influenced the stories and settings. We see how the process and the demands on his time begin to change as the series soars in popularity, from changes to the book tours, to filming cameos in the Tom Cruise films.

There is a bit of insight into Mr. Child’s thoughts about Reacher, and how /why he behaves the way he does. We also see some overarching themes, how demands from the fans change the direction, and the view from the intelligentsia on genre novels. But this is mostly about what was happening in Mr. Child’s life, from moving houses to hopping to the UK to going on book tours. But little else that opens up Reacher to us fans. And unfortunately these intros end before the big changes to the series take place, the transfer of writing responsibilities to his brother (at first jointly) and the start of the Amazon Prime Reacher series. Maybe we have to wait for volume two before we hear about that.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Penzler Publishers - Mysterious Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

I want to thank Lee Child, Penzer Publshers, and NetGalley for an opportunity to review the ARC for Reacher. The following is my own unbiased review.

This is not a new Jack Reacher book. Reacher is subtitled the story behind the stories. It is the basis for the introduction to celebrate 20 years of Jack Reacher novels (1999-2019) being reissued by Penzler Publishers. The book is a reflection of author Lee Child's Reacher series, starting with The Killing Floor to 2019's Blue Moon. One note of clarity; Killing Floor was actually finished in 1997, but for some reason the celebration for this book considers the period of 1999-2019.

In one respect the dates don't really matter. What we have is the author's reflections and ruminations on how he writes, the ideas for each book, how some characters are names, and what was happening in the world and in the author's own life during the time frame. If you are a Reacher fan you will find some parts of the writing interesting, but probably wishing you would learn more about the iconic Reacher character and some of his closest companions (who receive next to no mention in this review, except a couple of mentions of Brother Joe who dies in Killing Floor).

I give it 3 stars, and only recommend to those who have read several Reacher books. If you are new to Jack Reacher, start with Killing Floor.