The Jack Reacher franchise has spanned books and movies, with one novel per year being released since 1997. The books are written under the pen name, Lee Child by Jim Grant. The plot of the series of crime thrillers tells the story of the retired U.S. Army Major who investigates crimes wherever his travels take him.
1. Remote Control by Andy McNab
There are several similarities between Jack Reacher and the hero of Remote Control, Nick Stone. Both are retired military professionals, with Stone drawn from the real-life experiences of author Andy McNab.
Remote Control tells the story of former British Special Forces officer Stone, who sets out to visit a former colleague, Kev Brown. Stone has moved from the SAS to British intelligence when his mission to Washington D.C. is terminated without warning. Upon arriving at the home of his former colleague, Stone finds the family dead apart from the youngest daughter.
The murder of the family sets into motion a series of events that takes Stone and the eight-year-old back to the U.K. as they run for their lives.
Andy McNab brings a level of authenticity to each thriller he writes based on his personal experiences. McNab was a member of the British Special Forces, SAS unit and retired as the most decorated officer in the military. McNab is a pen name for SAS officer Stephen Mitchell, who rose to fame with his autobiographical account of his Gulf War mission, Bravo Two Zero.
2. A Dangerous Man by Robert Crais
The Joe Pike and Elvis Cole crossover series of novels have been published since 1987 and the release of The Monkey’s Raincoat. The 2019 release from Robert Crais, A Dangerous Man tells a similar story to those in the Jack Reacher series. The traveling crime expert, Joe Pike, finds himself in a dangerous situation when he halts an abduction.
Pike has just completed a transaction at a local bank when he spots the teller being abducted as she takes her lunch break. Pike quickly comes to realize the conspiracy he is uncovering is too large to handle alone and calls in Elvis Cole to assist.
Robert Crais is a professional crime novelist who wrote for several TV shows early in his career. Crais has been awarded several awards, including the Private Eye Writers of America and the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award.
3. A Brewing Storm by Richard Castle
Jack Reacher has been called a 21st-century James Bond, with Castle’s Derrick Storm filling a similar role in this series of books. To avoid any confusion, Richard Castle is the pseudonym of Tom Straw. The author wrote several episodes of the TV series, Castle.
Fans of the show will recognize Castle as the fictitious author, with Straw writing the novels detailed in the show.
In A Brewing Storm, Castle tells the story of Derrick Storm’s return to the fold of the intelligence services. Having faked his own death to escape his life of service, Storm is allowed to work with FBI agent, April Showers. The pair work together to look into the abduction of the son of a U.S. Senator.
Much like the Jack Reacher novels, Derrick Storm enters into a world of conspiracies.
4. Project Strike Force by Kevin Lee Swaim
Kevin Lee Swaim is an author who follows similar themes to those of Lee Child. The author studied creative writing and works in insurance for a Fortune 50 company. Much like the Jack Reacher series, Swaim’s hero, John Frist, is an ex-military officer embarking on different adventures.
The difference between Kevin Lee Swaim’s central character is the changes made to his body by scientists. The scientific changes made to his body and brain wipe out his memories and create a super-soldier.
The themes of Project Strike Force are many, with the effects of PTSD central to the problems leading Frist towards his many changes. John Frist is left with the problem of chasing down a terrorist, Abdullah, who is intent on completing a terrorist attack.
5. Memory Man by David Baldacci
The Jack Reacher series is infused with the coolness of the main character as an anti-hero. The central character of Memory Man, Amos Decker, is an anti-hero who is capable of flipping between the light and dark sides of life. In the Memory Man book, Decker is equipped with a photographic memory that has improved because of a football injury.
Balducci weaves a complex story revolving around the murder of Decker’s wife and child. After losing everything, he is offered a chance at redemption when a confession to the murders is discovered.
A trained lawyer, David Balducci is a best-selling author who found fame after an aborted career as a screenwriter. Balducci is the author of 40 best-sellers, a run beginning with the publication of Absolute Power.
6. Black 13 by Adam Hamdy
Film producer and novelist Adam Hamdy brings several of the themes of the Jack Reacher series to life in the first of the Scott Pearce series. The similarities between Reacher and Pearce are many, including the former military careers that give them the skills to complete their missions.
Black 13 is a spy novel that gives Scott Pearce a high-octane debut. Pearce is a formidable opponent for foreign assets looking to make inroads into the U.K. and western democracy. Much like the Jack Reacher series, the work of Adam Hamdy brings together the global nature of the spy community and the powerful relationships built in this secretive world.
The death of a friend brings a hunt for Scott Pearce that takes his pursuers to Pakistan and Thailand before his triumphant return to the U.K. The codename Black 13 changes the approach of Pearce to his career as a spy for the U.K.’s MI6.
7. Hard Road by J.B. Turner
The Joe Reznick spy series began with the hard-boiled Hard Road that features several of the character traits of Jack Reacher. The world of Joe Reznick resembles that of Jack Reacher because both inhabit worlds where everything is not what it seems. The Scottish author takes themes from the world of spies and updates them to the modern world.
In the first of the Joe Reznick series, the hero is tasked with performing an assassination on a high-level target. Reznick is told to make the assassination look like a suicide to avoid an international incident. As he closes in on his target, Reznick does not believe everything is as clear-cut as he has been told.
The story takes several wild turns as Reznick and his target escape together to discover the truth behind the assassination order.
8. The Bone Labyrinth by James Rollins
James Rollins is behind some of the most audacious mystery novels on the market, with The Bone Labyrinth no exception. The novel follows a group of military heroes as they look into two seemingly unrelated incidents. An attack on a lab in Atlanta occurs at the same time as an archeology team is attacked in the mountains of Croatia.
Headed by Commander Gray Pierce, the Sigma Force team is tasked with looking into the impact of both events. Pierce and his team embark are forced to unravel a mystery that includes the discovery of the skeleton of a neanderthal woman in an ancient Catholic Church and the work of a modern-day scientist. Along the way, James Rollins brings together a series of elements that raise questions about the birth of human consciousness.
If the geopolitical themes of some Jack Reacher novels are your thing, The Bone Labyrinth will fall within your wheelhouse.
9. Capture or Kill by Tom Marcus
The former MI6 operative Tom Marcus has spent the majority of his life working with the special forces in the U.K. Following in the footsteps of Andy McNab, Marcus has written several novels that reflect the true nature of working with intelligence services. Marcus became the youngest soldier to pass the special forces training camp in the U.K.
Capture or Kill starts a series of novels revolving around the MI5 agent, Matt Logan. The first novel in the series tells the story of Logan chasing down a pair of brothers intent of completing a terrorist attack in Europe. In a bid to catch the pair, Logan agrees to join a specialist group, Blindeye.
10. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
The Bourne franchise became a global hit as a movie series and a trilogy of books. The rogue operative elements of the Bourne franchise tie in nicely with the Jack Reacher series. Robert Ludlum, Bourne’s creator, is an influence on most modern thriller novelists because of his one heroic individual theme.
If you are a fan of the Jack Reacher series or the Bourne movie franchise, returning to the source material may surprise you. Jason Bourne is left with amnesia after an explosion on a yacht, leading to him embarking on a quest to discover his identity. Ludlum leads us on a race across Europe, with the real-life terrorist, Carlos the Jackal in hot pursuit of Jason Bourne.
11. Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab
McNab has already appeared on this list for his fictional novel, Remote Control. The former SAS member makes a second appearance for his 1993 book about a behind enemy lines mission during the 1991 Gulf War. Others involved in the mission have stated elements of the book are fictitious or exaggerated to increase the suspense.
No matter what the truth is about the mission, McNab weaves a powerful story of heroism in the face of extreme difficulties.
12. The 14th Colony by Steve Berry
Steve Berry is a thriller writer who combines historic facts with rumor and speculation to create intense novels. The author offers a similar hero to Jack Reacher in the form of Cotton Malone. The former Justice Department agent stumbles across a plot to assassinate the incoming President and Vice President-elect on inauguration day.
The plot takes the reader on a global trip from Russia to Washington D.C. Cotton Malone comes to life as a flawed anti-hero, with a traumatic past that affects every decision he makes. Conspiracy theories and historical speculation come to life on the pages of this fast-paced thriller in the style of the Jack Reacher series.
13. The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter by Malcolm Mackay
Scottish author, Malcolm Mackay, is a different voice to many in the thriller and crime sector of fiction. Mackay’s prose is short and snappy, with his characters taking turns to move the story along. The anti-hero aspects of Jack Reacher are easy to identify in Mackay’s debut, The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter.
Mackay leaves us in no doubt about the identity of the murderer from the first page when Calum MacLean is given the task of murdering Lewis Winter. Mackay takes us on a journey into the underworld of Scotland as the criminal gangs of the nation begin a descent towards an all-out war. A trilogy begins with this novel that is surprisingly original and addictive.
14. Made to Kill by Adam Christopher
Adam Christopher offers a different view of the 1960s, with a parallel universe inhabited by robots and supercomputers. Raymond Electromatic is the last robot known to exist and works as the last employee at the Electromatic Detective Agency. Raymond was programmed to work as a private detective and to make as much money as possible.
To avoid issues, Raymond’s memory is wiped every 24 hours to leave him unaware of the results of his work. A glamorous woman arrives in Raymond’s world and sets him off on a journey into the dark side of Hollywood and celebrity.
Adam Christopher takes a sideways glance at the traditional detective novel, but his work does not suffer for doing so. The New Zealand author combines comedy and mystery in the style of the Doctor Who TV franchise.
15. No Man’s Land by David Baldacci
The John Puller Jr. franchise has been a popular one for David Baldacci. The series moves forward at a fast rate, with the fourth novel moving close to Jack Reacher territory. John Puller is a former Army Ranger who investigates crimes for the military police.
In No Man’s Land, Puller begins to investigate the death of his mother, who disappeared thirty years earlier. Puler begins to suspect a prison inmate may have something to do with the death of his mother and sets out to prove a link between the two.