Jack Reacher
Reacher would go on to appear in a series of novels, an infamously controversial film in which the diminutive Tom Cruise was miscast as the 6-foot, 5-inch hulking behemoth described in the books, and a TV series produced for Amazon Prime. Reacher is the protagonist and first-person narrator of his tale of tracking down those responsible for the murder of his brother Joe.
Joe
Joe was two years older than Jack, born on a military base in Asia as the Eisenhower era was drawing to a close. Jack would also be born on a military base but in Europe. Thus, the two brothers, though separated by a mere two years, become symbols of the post-WWII Era and the Cold War respectively. This literal closeness and the symbolic gap are reflected in their personal relationship as well in which they spent most of their adulthood emotionally close but geographically distant. Jack is determined to investigate Joe’s murder and discovers his brother was investigating a counterfeiting ring run by some dangerous customers enjoying the backing of corrupt local law enforcement.
The Kliners
The Kliner family is operating the counterfeiting operation and it is truly a family business. This includes Mr. Kliner, his second wife, and Kliner’s son resulting from his first marriage. By the time the story concludes, this small family with huge ambitions will occupy and require even less space.
Finlay, Roscoe, and Picard
Not everyone in the local police force is a corrupt stooge protecting the Kliner family. Reacher quickly establishes a relationship of trust with a man named Finlay, the Chief of Detectives. Finlay is joined in Reacher’s confidence and trust by Roscoe, a female officer. For a brief period, this threesome is extended into a foursome with the addition of Finlay’s contact within the FBI, an agent named Picard. Eventually, it is left almost entirely up to Reacher, Finlay, and Roscoe to bring down the Kliner criminal organization, however, when Picard reveals his true loyalty. This cost to Picard for this betrayal will quite literally be his mind.
Grover Teale
In addition to assorted corrupt cops on their payroll, the Kliner counterfeiting operation enjoys the coverage provided by the political protection of Mayor Grover Teale. Not coincidentally, the village green of the little Georgia town over which Grover presides, features a statue of a man named Caspar Teale “who’d done something or other about a hundred years ago.” Like many small towns, political leadership here has become an example of dynastic inheritance which helps to broaden and deepen the influence of Grover’s corrupt power to protect the Kliners while at the same time increasing and intensifying the danger Reacher and his cohorts face in trying to bring down a criminal enterprise.
