Searched for this, and everything on the topic was archived and wouldn't let me revive it, so here we go...

I've done the W.E.B. Griffin books, the Tom Clancy books, the John Ringo books (and still am), Able Team, Phoenix Force, Mack Bolan, and a bunch of others, but had never read any of the Jack Reacher books.  Saw the movie, enjoyed it a lot, so I grabbed one of the pulp novels and started reading.  Very first mention of guns in the book, the two bad guys are carrying S&W Sigma 40's which are "very expensive" guns.  

Do I just skip over that part, just like we skip over so many things in movies and tv shows, because the books are good?  Or was the movie the exception that proved the rule and I should skip the rest of the books?

Thanks.

It's written buy a Brit with no clue about guns or the mill but ignore the silly and enjoy the books.

The early books are better.

I've read/listened to a handful of them. I liked them. They were decent books. Simple and easy to read. Nothing too deep or complex. You can't help but like Reacher. He is a bad ass with a code that most people here would admire. The authors writing style or at least so of the descriptions he uses make him sound like a real old timer but thats not necessarily a bad thing. I didn't know he was a Brit. Maybe thats what it is. A Brit trying to sound American.
As for the movie. I liked it well enough but Tom Cruise was NOT the right guy to play Reacher.  I think he is a great actor despite being completely insane but he is an oompa loompa and Reacher is constantly referred to as a really big guy. 6'5" and 230-250lbs of pure muscle. Physically intimidating etc. Tom Cruise...not so much.
I consider the books good mindless entertainment. Not the greatest works ever but fun reads. Or if you like audio books for car trips they are perfect since they are easy to follow while not paying 100% attention.

The author has no clue about guns.  They're good books otherwise.

I've read a bunch of them but lost interest because predictable.
 

ETA: see below

Reacher rolled into town.

Reacher got hemmed up in something.

Reacher fucked girl.

Reacher headbutted someone.

Reacher said nothing.

Reacher left.

After reading the fourth book this was the pattern that emerged.

Also, the white guy is always in on it.

Brad Thor...Scot Harvath series

Perfect.

Author knows less than Stephen King in regard to guns, but insists on not only including them in every story but making them plot devices.  

If that's not a problem for you, go forth and enjoy.  For me?  It's like I'm reading Hunt for Red October if Tom Clancy had done no research and only seen a picture of a submarine.  Once.  And it was in a movie starring Kirk Douglas and a giant squid.

I liked the book character, probably because I was a Security Policeman and found some aspects of the Reacher team interesting, but the movie was silly.

Yes, that's how getting paid to write books usually works.

As I interpret what Lee Child has written in the back of a few of his books, he apparently studied law and became a solicitor but never practiced, had a successful writing career in British television but was 'rightsized out' in some sort of reorganization, then took up writing novels.

I have read every Jack Reacher book. I found them entertaining. As someone mentioned earlier they all follow the same pattern about rolling into town, finding trouble, banging a broad, beating people up and leaving. I really like his smart ass remarks and words of wisdom to people so I keep reading them.