Reacher is known for faithfully adapting its source material. But which Jack Reacher book is Season 2 of the Prime Video series based on?

There’s certainly plenty to pick from. British author James Dover Grant has penned 28 Jack Reacher novels under his Lee Child pen name, with a 29th due out in October 2024.

Reacher Season 1 adapted 1997’s Killing Floor. This was a logical place for the action-crime show to start, as Killing Floor is Child’s first Reacher story.

By contrast, Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher movies – which take place in a separate continuity to the streaming series – cribbed from 2005’s One Shot and 2013’s Never Go Back, respectively.

Reacher Season 2 is based on Bad Luck and Trouble, Lee Child’s 11th entry in the Jack Reacher canon.

Had the show followed the books’ publication order, Season 2 would’ve adapted 1998’s Die Trying, instead. The same applies if showrunner Nick Santora had maintained the series’ in-universe timeline, as Die Trying picks up after the events of Killing Floor.

That said, for all Reacher’s second season diverges from Child’s chronology, it largely stays true to Bad Luck and Trouble itself. Like the book, Season 2 sees Reacher trying to solve the murder of one of his old army buddies, Calvin Franz (Luke Bilyk).

Reacher’s second batch of episodes also follows Bad Luck and Trouble’s lead by bringing back Maria Sten’s Frances Neagley. Indeed, Neagley enlisting Jack’s help is what gets the ball rolling in Season 2, as she does in Child’s original tome.

Reacher’s second season cuts a key character

Another major overlap between Reacher Season 2 and Bad Luck and Trouble is the absence of Roscoe Conklin. While Roscoe plays a key supporting role in the first season, she doesn’t return in the second – reflecting Child’s established canon.

Willa Fitzgerald, who portrayed Roscoe in Season 1, addressed her series exit ahead of Season 2’s release, making it clear she backed the decision.

“I think that’s a great opportunity to get to tell a clean and complete story, and then be able to walk away,” Fitzgerald told Digital Spy.