Background
Lee Child was born on October 29, 1954, in Coventry, United Kingdom. His father was a civil servant. He is the second of four sons. He was raised in Birmingham.
1973
Lee Child, right, with his brother Andrew in 1973.
2005
Lee Child receiving Barry Award in September 2005.
2010
Lee Child at Boucheron in 2010.
2014
Lee Child with Michael Cavacini at ThrillerFest IX in July 2014.
2016
Lee Child with Tom Cruise in Louisiana in October 2016.
2017
Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom
Lee Child with students of the University of Sheffield on October 13, 2017.
2018
6001 Dodge St, Omaha, NE 68182, United States
Lee Child on Marion Marsh Brown Writers Lecture Series at the University of Nebraska Omaha on April 11, 2018.
Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham B15 2UA, United Kingdom
King Edward's School where Lee Child studied.
Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom
The University of Sheffield where Lee Child received a Bachelor of Laws degree.
Lee Child with Andy Martin.
Lee Child with Dan Ames.
Lee Child in his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Photo by Stephanie Diani.
Lee Child with Mike Hilt.
Lee Child with Paul Brown, Jeffrey P. Gold, and Djel Ann Brown.
Lee Child with Stephen King.
Lee Child with Bill Clinton.
Lee Child with Mike Hosking in Newstalk ZB studio.
Lee Child next to his car.
Lee Child, right, with his brother David holding their younger brother Andrew, at their home around 1970.
Lee Child outside George RR Martin’s Meow Wolf House.
Lee Child with Naked Blue.
Lee Child at Yankee Stadium.
Order of the British Empire which Lee Child received in 2019.
Nero Award which Lee Child received in 2005.
(The Jack Reacher series consists of twenty-four books. Ex...)
The Jack Reacher series consists of twenty-four books. Ex-military policeman Jack Reacher is a drifter. He’s just passing through Margrave, Georgia, and in less than an hour, he’s arrested for murder. Not much of a welcome. All Reacher knows is that he didn’t kill anybody. At least not here. Not lately. But he doesn’t stand a chance of convincing anyone. Not in Margrave, Georgia. Not a chance in hell.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0775W2V36/?ie=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0
Lee Child was born on October 29, 1954, in Coventry, United Kingdom. His father was a civil servant. He is the second of four sons. He was raised in Birmingham.
Lee Child attended Cherry Orchard Primary School in Handsworth Wood until the age of 11. He also studied at King Edward's School, Birmingham. He then studied law at the University of Sheffield and received a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1977. While studying law, Child became interested in theatre. In 2009 he received a Doctor of Letters degree at the University of Sheffield.
After graduating, Lee Child worked in commercial television. He joined Granada Television in Manchester in 1977 and worked for eighteen years as a presentation director during British TV's "golden age." During his tenure, his company produced Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown, Prime Suspect, and Cracker. Child was involved in the transmission of more than 40,000 hours of programming for Granada, writing thousands of commercials and news stories. But he was fired in 1995 as a result of corporate restructuring.
Always a voracious reader, he decided to see an opportunity where others might have seen a crisis and bought six dollars' worth of paper and pencils and sat down to write a book, Killing Floor (1997), the first in the Jack Reacher series. Writing this book, Child often says he had two muses: fear and hunger. Then in 1998, he moved to the United States. In the Jack Reacher series, a former major in the United States Army Military Police Corps, Reacher roams the United States taking odd jobs and investigating suspicious and frequently dangerous situations.
The Reacher novels are written either in the first-person or third-person. The schedule for the Reacher series is one-per-year, except for 2010 when two were published. Most of the novels are set in the United States, in locales ranging from major metropolitan areas like New York City and Los Angeles to small towns in the Midwestern and Southern United States. Based on the novel One Shot, the film Jack Reacher starred Tom Cruise in the title role was released in 2012. In 2016 was released the film Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. On 14 November 2018, Child announced that he made a deal with Skydance Television and Paramount Television to produce a Jack Reacher series.
In 2007, Child collaborated with 14 other writers to create the 17-part serial thriller The Chopin Manuscript, narrated by Alfred Molina. On 30 June 2008, it was announced that he would be taking up a Visiting Professorship at the University of Sheffield from November 2008. In 2009, he funded 52 Jack Reacher scholarships for students at the university.
Lee Child also wrote some short stories featuring Jack Reacher including "Too Much Time" (novella), "Deep Down", "Everyone Talks", "Guy Walks into a Bar", "High Heat" (novella), "James Penney's New Identity", "Maybe They Have a Tradition", and other. His most recent book is Blue Moon: A Jack Reacher Novel (2019).
(The Jack Reacher series consists of twenty-four books. Ex...)
Lee Child is greatly influenced by John McDonald and Travis McGee, Stephen King, and Alistair MacLean. He also loves the work of Jonathan Franzen and Ian McEwan.
He always begins writing each new Jack Reacher novel on September 1st.
Lee Child is also engaged in charity. In January 2012, Grant donated £10,000 (about US$16,000 at the time) towards a new vehicle for Brecon Mountain Rescue Team in Wales where his brother is a senior member of the team.
Quotations:
"People want order restored and they can't get it in the real world but they can get it in the fictional realm."
"Look, I’m a populist thriller writer, and I’m perfectly comfortable with that but I am intrigued by newspaper coverage. Everything in newspapers is tailored to what people want to consume - the sports section features rugby and football, not curling and croquet - yet the literary coverage is entirely aspirational rather than devoted to what they know their readers are actually consuming."
"I really enjoyed working with Cruise. He's a really, really nice guy. We had a lot of fun."
"Hope for the best, plan for the worst."
"Don't get it right - get it written!"
"Never forget a Favor, Never forgive a Slight!"
"Long experience had taught me that absolute silence is the best way. Say something, and it can be misheard. Misunderstood. Misinterpreted. It can get you convicted. It can get you killed."
"Nothing of value was ever achieved in the morning."
"Printing currency for foreigners to buy is the best racket a government can get into."
Lee Child is a member and annual sponsor of Thrillerfest. He was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America in 2009.
Lee Child loves black coffee.
He never ever pays vehicular citations he receives (parking tickets, speeding) without first contesting them in court.
He is a smoker who started at age 11 and only ever quit once for 10 months in 1985 to save enough money to buy a CD player.
Physical Characteristics:
Lee Child is tall and slim. He is 6’5″. He has sandy-blonde hair and blue eyes.
Lee Child married his wife Jane in 1975. The marriage produced one child, a daughter Ruth.