Who Is the Toughest Tough Guy?

If Jack Reacher and Mitch Rapp got in a fistfight, who’d win? I posed that question several years ago in our library blog and it has been one of our most commented posts.

Jack Reacher is the retired military cop gone hobo in Lee Child’s popular series. Mitch Rapp is the secret CIA counter-terrorism agent featured in Vince Flynn’s thrillers. In the books, both men are huge, unrelenting, clever and heroic. 

I don’t know how one would determine who is tougher. But I’d cheer for Reacher since he’s the more likeable guy. Ironically, they have just cast Tom Cruise to play Reacher (who is supposedly 6’ 5”) in the movie One Shot due out in 2013.

Both Vince Flynn and Lee Child have new books in these series coming out this fall. Child’s book The Affair is due out September 27. Reacher, still in the service in 1997, investigates a murder in Carter’s Crossing, Mississippi.

Flynn’s Killshot is due out November 1st. Here Mitch Rapp goes to Europe to track down those responsible for the Pan Am Lockerbie terrorist attack when things go terribly wrong.

If you like the Reacher and Rapp characters, you might like some other tough guys:

Dave Robicheaux in James Lee Burke’s series set in New Orleans.

Scot Harvath in Brad Thor’s thrillers.

Bob Lee Swagger in Stephen Hunter’s books.

Alex Hawke in Ted Bell’s suspense novels.

Check ‘em out at the library.

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