Does Lee Child's new Jack Reacher novel put pressure on Tom Cruise?

Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher in "Jack Reacher."

/ Paramount Pictures

(CBS News) Just months before actor Tom Cruise takes to the big screen as ex-military policeman Jack Reacher, author Lee Child has come up with a new adventure for Reacher.

"A Wanted Man," published today, is the 17th book in Child's Reacher series. In it, the larger-than-life military man turned drifter gets a ride while hitchhiking from a pair of kidnappers and their cocktail-waitress victim.

Not one to turn to his back on a victim, Reacher embarks on a 400-page journey in rural Nebraska that involves a terrorist cell, a pumping-station murder, a host of federal agencies and the scaling of a high-security fortress.

Reacher fans, however, may be wondering as they read just how Cruise will do in bringing the math-obsessed, coffee-loving vigilante to life. Reacher is described as a blondish, hulking six feet, five inches tall, with broad shoulders, long arms and hands like shovels

Producers have said that while Cruise may not meet all the literal qualifications, he portrays Jack Reacher the way Child wrote him - "as a force of nature."

Due out Dec. 21, "Jack Reacher," the Paramount movie about a sniper and five random victims, is based on "One Shot," the ninth book in the series. It also stars Rosamund Pike, Werner Herzog, Robert Duvall, and Richard Jenkins.

Tell us: What do you think of Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher?

[05deluxe]

Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher is ludicrous !!!!!! The Rock would have been a much better choice !!!! I think Lee Child sold out !!!!! I've read all the books & Tom just isn't even close to being Jack !!!! I was very disappointed when I heard this on the tv !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sevenislands]

Having read every Jack Reacher novel, Reacher's size is crucial to the credibility of that character. Lee Child will destroy that character for all Reacher fans by having Cruise, a midget compared to the hulking Jack Reacher. The movie I will not watch so as not to tarnish my vision of my hero Jack in these novels. Out of all the actors in Hollywood who old fit the so important physical attributes of Jack, their choice of Cruise is obviously related to big name for the box office. Way to go Lee Child for single handedly destroying the image of Jack Reacher!

[pc82xi]

Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher? No way. Maybe if you have never read a Child book Tom Cruise may be great but I have been spoiled and have read every one of his books and the more I think about it the more I have trouble with it. Remember Denzel Washington playing Lincoln Rhyme? In the book (The Bone Collector) Lincoln Rhyme is white with a male nurse and in the movie Denzel Washington (a great actor) is black and the male nurse is played by Queen Latifah. This is why I tend to not go see a movie if I have read the book first.

[pc82xi]

Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher? No way. Maybe if you have never read a Child book Tom Cruise may be great but I have been spoiled and have read every one of his books and the more I think about it the more I have trouble with it. Remember Denzel Washington playing Lincoln Rhyme? In the book (The Bone Collector) Lincoln Rhyme is white with a male nurse and in the movie Denzel Washington (a great actor) is black and the male nurse is played by Queen Latifah. This is why I tend to not go see a movie if I have read the book first.

[pc82xi]

If you have never read Mr. Childs books fine, but if you have there is no way that Tom Cruise is Jack Reacher. He is too different to be believable as Jack Reacher, much the same as Denzel Washington was in The Bone Collector. I will go see the movie to give it a chance but I believe I will be disappointed.

[richman42]

Mr. Child has established the Reacher character firmly in the reader's mind as a huge man with very large feet. Potential human threats are immediately intimidated by his size. While Mr. Cruise is a fine action-orientated actor (a la Mission Impossible) he does not fit the established visual expectations of the reader. This is a poor choice.