When Lee Child conceived Jack Reacher, he wanted to rethink the notion of the crime thriller protagonist. In the introduction to the novel, Child remarks, “If you can see a bandwagon, it’s too late to get on” (xiii). Thinking back to his time working in television, as well as what was commonplace in other detective novels he enjoyed, Child notes that the “Lead characters were primus inter pares in a repertory cast…series heroes had partners, friends, jobs, apartments, favorite bars, favorite restaurants, neighbors, family, even dogs and cats” (xiii). The Latin phrase primus inter pares means “first among equals,” suggesting Child’s interpretation of a typical literary hero as someone who is on par with most if not all the other characters in the story.

As a continuation of his efforts to avoid “the bandwagon,” Child created Reacher to be practically invulnerable, even superhuman at times, to put distance between his protagonist and the stereotypes of crime fiction. Child was determined to “start over with an old-fashioned hero who had no problems” (xviii) that was more in line with figures out of classic Westerns: strangers who ride into town and take on corruption.