The Hard Way by Lee Child

Published by

Sarah Ann

on

September 1, 2015

It’s been a while since I read anything by Lee Child, and that’s because Tom Cruise ruined it for me. But I love Lee Child and Jack Reacher so much I couldn’t leave them forever.

The Hard Way is the 10th book in the Jack Reacher series. It’s one of the best ones in the series yet.

This time, Jack Reacher is wandering around the U.S. as usual, and now he’s in New York City. While enjoying coffee at a sidewalk cafe for the second night in a row, Reacher is approached by a businessman wanting to know if Reacher saw a specific man getting into a car the previous night. Reacher then gets involved with helping a millionaire save his wife and stepdaughter from their kidnappers. The more Reacher learns about the wife’s disappearance, the more he realizes his new employer is not as wholesome as he seems.

Lee Child invests a great deal of time into researching his stories, and it always shows. His details are so intricate and the stories well-planned and brilliant. Reacher never misses anything. All the combat and self-defense scenes are also very fun, and very educational.

The Hard Way is nearly 500 pages long, but the entire story takes place within just a few days, so it’s incredibly fast-paced.

I appreciate how Lee Child cuts to the chase with sex scenes, which are usually one or two sentences long. I also appreciate how Reacher’s character takes nothing for granted. He wears the same outfit every day until it wears out and he has to buy a new one, and carries only a toothbrush and money in his pocket.

Another funny thing about these novels are their titles, which are always repeated several times in each book. Reacher says variations of things like, “We need to do this the hard way!” Movies do the same thing.

The next few Reacher books that come after The Hard Way are:

Last Updated on November 17, 2025 by Sarah Ann

Affiliate Disclosure: There may be affiliate links in this content. This means I earn a small commission if you buy anything from those links. This comes at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support.