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After being made redundant from his job because of corporate restructuring, Grant decided to start writing novels, stating they are "the purest form of entertainment." In 1997, his first novel, Killing Floor, was published, and he moved to the United States in the summer of 1998. He starts each new book of the series on an anniversary of his starting the first book after losing his job.
His pen name "Lee" comes from a family joke about a heard mispronunciation of the name of Renault's Le Car, as "Lee Car". Calling anything "Lee" became a family gag. His daughter, Ruth, was "lee child".
"Child" places his books alphabetically on bookstore and library shelves between crime fiction greats Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie. Grant has said that he chose the name Reacher for the central character in his novels because he himself is tall and when they were grocery shopping his wife Jane remarked: "'Hey, if this writing thing doesn't pan out, you could always be a reacher in a supermarket.' ... 'I thought, Reacher – good name.'"
He has written seventeen Jack Reacher novels which have won various awards, including the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, and the National Book Award. Some books in the Jack Reacher series are written in the first person, while others are written in the third person. Grant has characterised the books as revenge stories – "Somebody does a very bad thing, and Reacher takes revenge" – driven by his anger at the downsizing at Granada. Although English, he deliberately chose to write American-style thrillers. In 2007, Grant collaborated with 14 other writers to create the 17-part serial thriller The Chopin Manuscript, narrated by Alfred Molina. This was broadcast weekly on Audible.com between 25 September 2007 and 13 November 2007.
Grant was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America in 2009. Grant was the Programming Chair for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in 2018, part of the Harrogate International Festivals portfolio.
In 2019, it was announced that Child would be curating a new TV show called Lee Child: True Crime. The show will dramatise real-life crime stories from around the world and focus on average people who go to extraordinary lengths to fight crime or seek justice.
In January 2020, Child announced that he would be retiring from writing the Jack Reacher book series, and hand it to his brother Andrew Grant, who would write further books of the series under the surname Child. He intended to write the next few books together with Grant before passing the series entirely over to him. As it now stands, there are 26 completed novels in the Jack Reacher Series.“Child is a superb craftsman of suspense.”—Entertainment Weekly
“The truth about Reacher gets better and better.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“Implausible, irresistible Reacher remains just about the best butt-kicker in thriller-lit.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Like his hero Jack Reacher, Lee Child seems to make no wrong steps.”—Associated Press
“Lee Child [is] the current poster-boy of American crime fiction.”—Los Angeles Times
“Indisputably the best escape artist in this escapist genre.”—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times
“Jack Reacher is much more like the heir to the Op and Marlowe than Spenser ever was.”—Esquire
“Smart, breathless…[with] one of the best female characters in the whole Reacher series.” - New York Times
“Furious action…Child keeps the pacing swift and the surprises rolling…[A] feverishly thrilling series.” - Miami Herald
“Child’s surprise-filled seventeenth Jack Reacher novel takes the ex-military policeman on a wild road ride that builds to a terrific slam-bang climax…While the erratic trip through America’s heartland doesn’t always follow a logical path, Reacher displays his acuity, patience, endurance, and military skills in the exhilarating fashion series fans have come to expect.” - Publishers Weekly
“To survive, Jack must use his wits more than ever. His statistical knowledge, analytical thinking, and insight into human behavior help him dig deep into a multilayered puzzle well before the need for an all-out physical confrontation builds to a heart-racing climax. VERDICT Fans will devour this volume quickly and long for the next Reacher novel.” - Library Journal
On MediaAudiobook on 2 CD-ROMs, complete with art on CDs. Supplied in windowed CD sleeves, no case provided.
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