Publication
Bantam Press, c2017
Collection
Status
Available
Description
Fiction. Short Stories. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � Get ready for the ultimate Jack Reacher experience: a thrilling new novella and eleven previously published stories, together for the first time in one pulse-pounding collection from Lee Child. No Middle Name begins with �Too Much Time,� a brand-new work of short fiction that finds Reacher in a hollowed-out town in Maine, where he witnesses a random bag-snatching but sees much more than a simple crime. �Small Wars� takes readers back to 1989, when Reacher is an MP assigned to solve the brutal murder of a young officer found along an isolated forest road in Georgia�and whose killer may be hiding in plain sight. In �Not a Drill,� Reacher tries to take some downtime, but a pleasant hike in Maine turns into a walk on the wild side�and perhaps something far more sinister. �High Heat� time-hops to 1977, when Reacher is a teenager in sweltering New York City during a sudden blackout that awakens the dark side of the city that never sleeps. Okinawa is the setting of �Second Son,� which reveals the pivotal moment when young Reacher�s sharp �lizard brain� becomes just as important as his muscle. In �Deep Down,� Reacher tracks down a spy by matching wits with four formidable females�three of whom are clean, but the fourth may prove fatal. Rounding out the collection are �Guy Walks into a Bar,� �James Penney�s New Identity,� �Everyone Talks,� �The Picture of the Lonely Diner,� �Maybe They Have a Tradition,� and �No Room at the Motel.� No suitcase. No destination. No middle name. No matter how far Reacher travels off the beaten path, trouble always finds him. Feel bad for trouble. Praise for No Middle Name �Captivating . . . classic [Lee] Child . . . This volume demonstrates what his fans already know: he�s a born storyteller and an astute observer.��Publishers Weekly (starred review) �Lee Child, like his creation, always knows exactly what he�s doing�and he does it well. Time in his company is never wasted.��Evening Standard.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member phoenixcomet
I am the fan of the short story, especially when it's of my favorite character, Jack Reacher. This collection of tales covers Jack's lifespan from young boy to older man traversing the country. Not precisely in chronological order, yet loosely so, the stories cover all sorts of scenarios and shows
Show More
Reacher's intelligence and ability to make things happen. Well done. Show Less
LibraryThing member rosalita
Let's be honest: Jack Reacher is kind of a ridiculous character. As portrayed in Lee Child's wildly popular series of thrillers, he is an ex-Marine who travels around the country with only his toothbrush, his passport, and an ATM card. He drifts in and out of small-town America, kicking ass and
So yeah, kind of ridiculous. But compelling nonetheless, because I've read every one of the Reacher novels and enjoyed them in all their violent absurdity. I knew Child had published a number of e-book short stories featuring our favorite ass-kicker, but my library only has a handful of them. So some of the stories in this collection were familiar, and others were new to me although not actually new, if you know what I mean.
After reading the collection (which spans time between Reacher as a 13-year-old military brat and his current circumstances), I think Reacher may even work better in the short form. You get pure concentrated doses of Reacher with little secondary character development (not that there's a ton of that in the full-length books), and the plots aren't drawn out to such a ridiculous extent as they need to be to make a full novel.
If you like the Reacher persona, you will probably enjoy this collection. If you don't, nothing here will change your mind, I don't think. If you are curious about this Reacher creature, I'm not sure this collection is the best place to become acquainted; you'd probably be better off starting with the first novel, [Killing Floor] and seeing if he strikes your fancy.
Show More
seldom bothering to take names. Bad guys get their comeuppance, women get bedded, Jack moves on.So yeah, kind of ridiculous. But compelling nonetheless, because I've read every one of the Reacher novels and enjoyed them in all their violent absurdity. I knew Child had published a number of e-book short stories featuring our favorite ass-kicker, but my library only has a handful of them. So some of the stories in this collection were familiar, and others were new to me although not actually new, if you know what I mean.
After reading the collection (which spans time between Reacher as a 13-year-old military brat and his current circumstances), I think Reacher may even work better in the short form. You get pure concentrated doses of Reacher with little secondary character development (not that there's a ton of that in the full-length books), and the plots aren't drawn out to such a ridiculous extent as they need to be to make a full novel.
If you like the Reacher persona, you will probably enjoy this collection. If you don't, nothing here will change your mind, I don't think. If you are curious about this Reacher creature, I'm not sure this collection is the best place to become acquainted; you'd probably be better off starting with the first novel, [Killing Floor] and seeing if he strikes your fancy.
Show Less
LibraryThing member labdaddy4
A very enjoyable work. I liked the fact that the author started with Reacher as a boy and then progressed through to adulthood. I wonder if some of these were originally designed to be full length novels - they certainly have the potential.
LibraryThing member jfe16
Eleven Jack Reacher short stories and a novella . . . a must for every Jack Reacher fan. Explore Reacher’s childhood, teen years, military service, and more are all topics for these tales. As always, Lee Child draws the reader into the tale, and every story is pure unputdownable Jack Reacher.
Highly recommended.
Show More
Highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member brakketh
Standard Reacher stories, enjoyable brain candy.
LibraryThing member lewilliams
These short stories are well written and with enough action to keep your interest.No Middle Name is a great summer read.
LibraryThing member TomDonaghey
NO MIDDLE NAME: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories (2017) by Lee Child is a delightful dozen doozies featuring our dauntless hero. Here you find the internet stories, magazine features and other pieces that will help complete your shelves of the best in action mysteries.
Try and pick
As always, the Reacher stories are fun, fast-paced, and furious, with brilliant deduction, slightly odd considering these are action tales.
The only question I have is why do so many regular sized people feel it is going to be worthwhile trying to fight the 6' 6", 250 pound Reacher. I would turn and go the other way. I guess they sacrifice themselves for the good of the series.
Try and pick
Show More
out a favorite tale and you will be pressed to the wall in trying. Each story is a great read, compact yet with everything the novels have. This modern day Lone Ranger arrives in town just in time to find "THAT" kind of situation, does his good stuff, and disappears in a blazing cloud of bus dust.As always, the Reacher stories are fun, fast-paced, and furious, with brilliant deduction, slightly odd considering these are action tales.
The only question I have is why do so many regular sized people feel it is going to be worthwhile trying to fight the 6' 6", 250 pound Reacher. I would turn and go the other way. I guess they sacrifice themselves for the good of the series.
Show Less
LibraryThing member antao
Everyone is equal, but is he or her the most human? Does Jack Reacher, the man-with-no-middle-name, embody many men?
I'm surprised people that are interested in books don't take the opportunity to step back and recognise the multi-cultic hogwash that has made contemporary literary criticism so
There are so many blatant untruths about human nature that people are expected to recite whenever they say anything that it just takes the edge out of everything, even when it comes to Lee Child and his Jack Reacher.
It's not unknown for writers of fiction to develop many characters over time, in order for them to have more structure, content, more substance, capable of exuding humanity from the innately indifferent pages of a novel. So, Pessoa was obsessed with character, a creative artist who took aspects of his art much further than anyone else? Look at a wide range of those who have or are considered to be the greats, Picasso, Dali, the great musicians and composers, most of them could have been considered obsessive in one way or another ... even Dulce Pontes could be called of as healthily obsessive with perfection, i.e. to the right degree .... I think this used to be called "hard work and perseverance" as well as "talent" and "creativity". I suspect both Pessoa and Lee Child may prove more reliable than cyberspace at delineating humanity's ever-changing face.
To be able to construct a persona to explore and reveal a way of thinking and feeling is an art, be it Bernardo Soares, Álvaro de Campos or Lee Child. Pessoa’s life was all about seeing the multiplicity of mind while Child’s is all about the down-to-earthness of mind. The great tragedy of many human lives is that so many minds are too lazy to explore themselves. Very few people create true heteronyms: mostly, through multiple pseudonyms, they return to the same few obsessions, quirks of style, political or philosophical beliefs. Following a few supposedly shifting personae over the years has for me rather reaffirmed the idea of an irreducible core to most human subjects. Which in turn reaffirms the artistic skill of a Pessoa when opposed to someone like Child, i.e., someone able to write somehow from a point "outside himself" not once but multiple times. Child can only write Jack-Reacher-Lee-Child novels while Pessoa can only write using Álvaro-de-Campos-Bernardo-Soares-Ricardo-Reis personas. Everyone develops different personas when writing. Even writing on this blog, the character that is presented isn't much like the myself url. In political discussions, I tend to strike a much more strident tone than is natural. In order to avoid the waffly “on the one hand this, on the other hand” that approach, attitudes are pared down and tend to the more radical than I actually am. In more light-hearted pieces, the sort of humour used is more suitable for the written word than for speech, so that is another persona of sort. I dare say this is very common with people writing reviews regularly, hence all the provocation that goes on.
The very fact that it is impossible, or at least extremely hard to arrive at a true voice (does such a thing even exist?) means that personae are unavoidable, deliberately or not.
To live as a persona attached to its narrow view of its world as WeAreTheWorld seems to do is so lacking in imagination. I imagine the fact that we respond to some books in a certain way give them validity in our own dull minds.
Or as the great philosopher Spike Milligan warned us:
“I talk to the trees. That's why they put me away.”
NB: Yep. I've read another Lee Child book. Deal with it! Yes, I'm looking at you, you trolls!
I'm surprised people that are interested in books don't take the opportunity to step back and recognise the multi-cultic hogwash that has made contemporary literary criticism so
Show More
predictable and boring. So much criticism I see and read, myself included, is completely bollocks, but as essays (or assays), they’re still a wonder to read.There are so many blatant untruths about human nature that people are expected to recite whenever they say anything that it just takes the edge out of everything, even when it comes to Lee Child and his Jack Reacher.
It's not unknown for writers of fiction to develop many characters over time, in order for them to have more structure, content, more substance, capable of exuding humanity from the innately indifferent pages of a novel. So, Pessoa was obsessed with character, a creative artist who took aspects of his art much further than anyone else? Look at a wide range of those who have or are considered to be the greats, Picasso, Dali, the great musicians and composers, most of them could have been considered obsessive in one way or another ... even Dulce Pontes could be called of as healthily obsessive with perfection, i.e. to the right degree .... I think this used to be called "hard work and perseverance" as well as "talent" and "creativity". I suspect both Pessoa and Lee Child may prove more reliable than cyberspace at delineating humanity's ever-changing face.
To be able to construct a persona to explore and reveal a way of thinking and feeling is an art, be it Bernardo Soares, Álvaro de Campos or Lee Child. Pessoa’s life was all about seeing the multiplicity of mind while Child’s is all about the down-to-earthness of mind. The great tragedy of many human lives is that so many minds are too lazy to explore themselves. Very few people create true heteronyms: mostly, through multiple pseudonyms, they return to the same few obsessions, quirks of style, political or philosophical beliefs. Following a few supposedly shifting personae over the years has for me rather reaffirmed the idea of an irreducible core to most human subjects. Which in turn reaffirms the artistic skill of a Pessoa when opposed to someone like Child, i.e., someone able to write somehow from a point "outside himself" not once but multiple times. Child can only write Jack-Reacher-Lee-Child novels while Pessoa can only write using Álvaro-de-Campos-Bernardo-Soares-Ricardo-Reis personas. Everyone develops different personas when writing. Even writing on this blog, the character that is presented isn't much like the myself url. In political discussions, I tend to strike a much more strident tone than is natural. In order to avoid the waffly “on the one hand this, on the other hand” that approach, attitudes are pared down and tend to the more radical than I actually am. In more light-hearted pieces, the sort of humour used is more suitable for the written word than for speech, so that is another persona of sort. I dare say this is very common with people writing reviews regularly, hence all the provocation that goes on.
The very fact that it is impossible, or at least extremely hard to arrive at a true voice (does such a thing even exist?) means that personae are unavoidable, deliberately or not.
To live as a persona attached to its narrow view of its world as WeAreTheWorld seems to do is so lacking in imagination. I imagine the fact that we respond to some books in a certain way give them validity in our own dull minds.
Or as the great philosopher Spike Milligan warned us:
“I talk to the trees. That's why they put me away.”
NB: Yep. I've read another Lee Child book. Deal with it! Yes, I'm looking at you, you trolls!
Show Less
LibraryThing member infjsarah
It's Jack Reacher - you know what to expect. Some of the stories were better than others.
LibraryThing member jamespurcell
Some early days and current Reacher stories which are good or mostly excellent. His growing up and later contact with brother Joe does provide some regret for the early loss of this character from Reacher's current world.
LibraryThing member cmt100
When I grow up, I'm going to be Jack Reacher--invincible, curious, and kind. Meanwhile, I'll settle for Lee Child's terrific series. Having read every Reacher novel more than once, I didn't know whether short stories would work. They do. If you're a Reacher fan, run, don't walk. Twelve tales in a
Show More
single book. Show Less
LibraryThing member reading_fox
A collection of Jack Reacher short stories. Organised more or less chronologically in Jack's life they mostly take place before the novels, and start with a story of Jack and Joe growing up on bases around the world, before a few more of teenager Jack getting to grips with his personal morality and
Not a lto else to say, if you've never met Jack Reacher (where have you been) this might not be the best introduction, but if you're already familiar with the style then there's little else to say - a few random encounters a bit of trademark violence, and a little clever thinking around the corners, eventually. There's no sense that these are deliberate reveals of his backstory and family, more that they've been opportunities to write in some of the other characters. It's the lack of continuous plots across the series that I dislike most about Reacher, and this collection does nothing to alleviate this. On the other hand they're all good stories, fun and written as well as any of the novels.
One for the fans, but still worth reading.
Show More
opportunities it affords. The last few are generally weaker and seem to have been written for a specific theme - christmas etc - before the collection ends with an excerpt from the next novel.Not a lto else to say, if you've never met Jack Reacher (where have you been) this might not be the best introduction, but if you're already familiar with the style then there's little else to say - a few random encounters a bit of trademark violence, and a little clever thinking around the corners, eventually. There's no sense that these are deliberate reveals of his backstory and family, more that they've been opportunities to write in some of the other characters. It's the lack of continuous plots across the series that I dislike most about Reacher, and this collection does nothing to alleviate this. On the other hand they're all good stories, fun and written as well as any of the novels.
One for the fans, but still worth reading.
Show Less
LibraryThing member edwardsgt
Amixed bag of short stories, the first, longer stories are best and the following shorter ones weaker, but Reacher fans probably won't care.
LibraryThing member Alan1946
I obtained this as an audio book, having read a few of the novellas. A very good idea to put them all together in one volume, made all the better by being able to borrow it in digital format from my local library. The stories vary in length, but each displays that Reacher logic, meaning that the
Show More
resolution of each problem comes about through Reacher's thinking, rather than force, although force may be required at times. There are a total of eleven short stories, all read by Canadian actor Kerry Shales, who characterises all the voices really well, and conveys the stories with great accuracy. His Reacher voice has a wonderful roughness, reflecting the character better than depicted in the films. Show Less
LibraryThing member DrLed
Synopsis/Review: These short stories fill in lots of background for Jack Reacher. Some are a bit better than others, but they all leave the reader wanting more stories.
LibraryThing member Novak
It's hard to believe that Lee Child allowed this book of fairy tails to be published. Everything his readers loved about Jack Reacher is destroyed in this handful of short stories. Personally, I will never be able to read another JR yarn without calling to mind these hopeless pages.
LibraryThing member JPodlaski
No Middle Name by Lee Child, a collection of short stories, was not what I expected. The first few short stories were interesting and then I found myself skimming through the rest due to lack of interest. The short, short stories seemed like notes that weren't quite fleshed out yet and many had
Show More
identical descriptions leading into the scenes. I'll stick to the full-length Jack Reacher books and some of the other authors who are introducing characters that are just as magical and fun to read as many of Child's full-length versions. I've got to start paying attention to reviews prior to purchasing or in this case downloading a free copy. Show Less
LibraryThing member Roycrofter
Good mix of stories, highly entertaining.
LibraryThing member Whiskey3pa
Decent collection of short fiction. Interesting in some cases and underwhelming in others. A twist is usually an asset in short stories and is generally absent here.
LibraryThing member dickmanikowski
There's a reason why Lee Child is known for his novels rather than his short stories.
LibraryThing member DramMan
Tautly written, pacy, punchy - highly enjoyable Jack Reacher short stories, classic Lee Child.
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
9780857503947
Original publication date
2017