Created by Bill Pronzini
(1943–)
First introduced in Bill Pronzini’s 2003 Nameless novel Spook, JAKE RUNYON is one of the more intriguing “minor” characters I’ve come across lately.
In the book, Nameless (who now, if you haven’t heard, has a name — it’s “Bill”) is going into semi-retirement. He and his young associate Tamara Corbin need someone to help them do field work for the agency. They hire Jake.
Runyon was a cop in Seattle who left the force after being involved in a high-speed chase in which he was injured (a slight limp in one leg) and his partner was killed. After that he worked for a private detective agency in Seattle.
His world fell apart when his wife of 20 years died of cancer. Jake moved to San Francisco, put in one job application with Nameless, and got one job offer. His reason for moving to San Francisco is to re-connect to his son from his first marriage. Joshua’s mother blamed all her problems on Jake’s leaving, and Joshua wants nothing to do with his father. Jake understands and respects this, but still wants to try to know his long-estranged and troubled son.
It seemed clear from the start that Jake was no minor character after all; that he was going to stick around, and take on the bulk of the action that Nameless was getting a little too long in the tooth to take on. Jake’s hard-boiled, doesn’t shy from a fight, but doesn’t go looking for one either. He’s an excellent investigator, and in Spook he’s already bonded with his new bosses.
I’m looking forward to seeing Jake develop. Looks like the nameless agency is going to continue to find some intriguing cases, and we readers will reap the rewards.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The above, written by Greg Harness in September 2004, was pretty prescient. Jake has, indeed gone on to become a major player in the Nameless series, as has feisty, impulsive agency manager Tamara Corbin. In fact, Jake has in many ways become what Nameless once was: the loner private eye who throws himself into his work.
NAMELESS DETECTIVE NOVELS IN WHICH JAKE APPEARS
- Spook (2003) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Nightcrawlers (2005) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Mourners (2006) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Savages (2007) | Buy this book | Kindle It!
- Fever (2008) | Buy this book | Kindle It!
- Schemers (2009) | Buy this book | Kindle It!
- Betrayers (2010) | Buy this book | Kindle It!
- Camouflage (2011) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Hellbox (2012) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Nemesis (2013) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Strangers (2014) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Vixen (2015) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Zigzag (2016) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Endgame (2017) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
SHORT STORIES
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“The Winning Ticket” (June 2007, EQMM; with Nameless)
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“The Plunderer” (September/October 2023, EQMM)
Respectfully submitted by Greg Harness.
In the 1980s I was a big fan of the Nameless series, but stopped reading after HARDCASE because Nameless seemed to be slowing down, and I didn’t have the interest anymore to hunt down this hard-to-find (in the pre-Amazon era) series. This convinces me I should have hung on for one more book… maybe it’s time to go back.