Before Jack Reacher, there was Parker.
Reacher, if you don't already know, is the protagonist of an enormously successful series of excellent thrillers by Lee Child of which "Gone Tomorrow" is the 13th and latest. Child has 22 million copies of his books in print in 40 territories; they've all been optioned for movies and the previous two, "Bad Luck and Trouble" and "Nothing to Lose," were No. 1 New York Times bestsellers.
Parker, by contrast, has operated a bit more under the radar. The antihero of a number of books by Richard Stark (a pseudonym for the late mystery master Donald Westlake), Parker never sold that many copies, though current University of Chicago Press reprints are trying to change that. But his cultural influence has been considerable.
For one thing, the classic modern noir "Point Blank" is based on Stark's "The Hunter," with Lee Marvin doing a Parker for the ages. As the ad copy on the back of the early paperbacks put it, "Parker Steals. Parker Kills. It's A Living." A laconic, impeccably professional, almost indestructible stoic who never went down for the count, Parker was too much of a nihilistic career criminal to be anything but an antihero, but without him the more conventionally heroic Jack Reacher might not have existed.
Reacher shares numerous traits with Parker, including living by a code of honor civilians can't comprehend, but unlike Stark's character he wants to do the right thing and invariably does. He's got a more human appeal than ice-cold Parker, and he cares a lot more about women than his predecessor ever managed to.
Reacher also has an intriguing background and a fascinating MO. As he details in his resume in "Gone Tomorrow," he started out in the Army, "thirteen years a military policeman, the elite 110th investigative unit, service all over the world." Then, when the Cold War ended, "suddenly getting cut loose."
On his own, Reacher decides less is more. He travels around the country with no luggage, no belongings, no home, nothing to tie him down. He goes with the flow to a certain extent, like those tourists who want to leave only footprints, but at a certain point something happens while he's around and he has no choice but to get involved and tidy up.
