VJ Books Presents Author Lee Child!
  Lee Child is the bestselling author most known for his Jack Reacher novels, a thriller series following the adventures of former American military policeman, Jack Reacher. His first Reacher novel, The Killing Floor (1997), won both the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for Best First Novel.
In January 2020, Child announced that he would be retiring from writing the Jack Reacher book series and hand it to his brother, fellow thriller author Andrew Grant, who will continue the series under the pen name Andrew Child.
Before handing over the reins entirely, the brothers co-wrote The Sentinel as well as the latest Reacher novel, Better Off Dead, which finds our leading man assisting army veteran turned FBI agent, Michaela Fenton. She is searching for her twin brother who might be mixed up with some dangerous people. Most of them would rather die than betray their terrifying leader, Dendoncker. Reacher is good at finding people who don’t want to be found, so he offers to help, despite feeling that Fenton is keeping secrets of her own. But a life hangs in the balance. Maybe more than one. But to bring Dendoncker down will be the riskiest job of Reacher's life. Failure is not an option, because in this kind of game, the loser is always better off dead.
Child was born in 1954 in Coventry, England, but spent his formative years in the nearby city of Birmingham. By coincidence he won a scholarship to the same high school that JRR Tolkien had attended. He went to law school in Sheffield, England, and after part-time work in the theater he joined Granada Television in Manchester for what turned out to be an eighteen-year career as a presentation director during British TV's "golden age."
After being made redundant as a result of corporate restructuring, Child decided to start writing novels, stating they are “the purest form of entertainment.” 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, The Killing Floor, the first in the Jack Reacher series.
Lee spends his spare time reading, listening to music, and watching the Yankees, Aston Villa, or Marseilles soccer. He is married with a grown-up daughter.
You can find a signed copy of Better Off Dead and a collection of other Lee Child signed books below.
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Lee Child Bibliography
Jack Reacher Series
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Killing Floor - 1997
- Die Trying - 1998
- Tripwire - 1999
- Running Blind: US title/The Visitor: UK title - 2000
- Echo Burning - 2001
- Without Fail - 2002
- Persuader - 2003
- The Enemy - 2004
- One Shot - 2005
- The Hard Way - 2006
- Bad Luck and Trouble - 2007
- Nothing to Lose - 2008
- Gone Tomorrow - 2009
- 61 Hours - Spring 2010
- Worth Dying For - 2010
- The Affair - 2011
- A Wanted Man - 2012
- Never Go Back - 2013
- Personal - 2014
- Make Me - 2015
- Never Go Back: Movie Tie-In Edition - 2016
- Night School - 2016
- No Middle Name - 2017 (includes 11 previously published Reacher stories and a new novella)
- The Midnight Line - 2017
- Past Tense - 2018 (UK edition released same month)
- Blue Moon - 2019 (UK edition released same month)
- Better off Dead - 2021 (UK Edition released same month)
- No Plan B - 2022 (UK Edition released same month)
Short Story Anthologies
- Fresh Blood 3 (1999) Lee's story, "James Penney's New Identity", features a pre-Killing Floor Jack Reacher.
- Like a Charm (2004) Serialized novel; Lee wrote Chapter Six: "The Snake Eater by the Numbers".
- The Cocaine Chronicles (2005) Lee's story: "Ten Keys".
- Greatest Hits (2005) Lee's story: "The Greatest Trick of All".
- Thriller (2006) Contains an edited version of "James Penney's New Identity" originally published in Fresh Blood 3.
- MWA Presents Death Do Us Part (2006) Lee's story: "Safe Enough".
- Bloodlines: A Horse Racing Anthology (2006) Lee's story: "The .50 Solution".
- The Best British Mysteries IV (2007) Lee's story: "The Greatest Trick of All".
- The Chopin Manuscript (2007) Audio serialized novel; Lee wrote Chapter 15.
- Killer Year: Stories to Die For (2008) Lee edited but did not contribute a story.
- Guy Walks Into a Bar (June 7, 2009); prequel to Gone Tomorrow includes Reacher, published in The New York Times.
- Phoenix Noir (2009) Lee's story: "Public Transportation".
- The Copper Bracelet (2009) Audio serialized novel; Lee wrote one chapter.
- The Line Up (2010) Lee gives the inside story on Reacher and his origins.
- Watchlist (2010) Print edition of previously audio-only serialized novels
- The Chopin Manuscript (2007) and The Copper Bracelet (2009).
- The Dark End of the Street - 2010 (Lee's story: "Me and Mr. Rafferty")
- Agents of Treachery - 2010 (Lee's story: "Section 7 (a) (Operational)")
- First Thrills - 2010 (edited by Lee)
- The Best American Mystery Stories 2010 (edited by Lee)
- MWA Presents The Rich and the Dead - 2011 (Lee’s story: “Addicted to Sweetness”)
- A Study In Sherlock - 2011 (Lee’s story: “The Bone-Headed League”)
- “Second Son” - 2011 (available as a digital single, in audio or as bonus with US paperback edition of The Affair)
- “James Penney’s New Identity / Guy Walks Into A Bar” - 2011 (available as a digital single in the UK and territories)
- MWA Presents Vengeance - 2012 (Lee edited and contributed an introduction)
- Love is Murder - 2012(Lee’s story: “I Heard a Romantic Story”)
- Esquire - 2012 (Lee’s story “Everyone Talks” features Reacher)
- Deep Down - 2012 (a Reacher prequel story available as a digital single, in audio or as bonus with US paperback edition of A Wanted Man)
- The Marijuana Chronicles - 2013 (Lee’s story: “My First Drug Trial”)
- High Heat - 2013 (a Reacher story available as a digital single, in audio or as bonus with US paperback edition of Never Go Back)
- USA Noir - 2013 (Lee’s story is “Public Transportation”)
- FaceOff - 2014 (with Joseph Finder)
- “Good and Valuable Consideration” which pairs Reacher with Finder’s Heller.
- Not a Drill - 2014 (a Reacher story available as a digital single and in audio)
- Belfast Noir - 2014 (Lee’s story is “Wet with Rain”)
- MWA Presents Manhattan Mayhem - 2015 (Lee’s story: “The Picture of the Lonely Diner”)
- MatchUp - 2017 (edited by Lee Child)
- Cleaning the Gold - 2020 (with Karin Slaughter)
Ephemera
- Jack Reacher’s Rules (US/CA) / Reacher’s Rules (UK and territories) - 2012
- How to Write a Mystery - April 2021
Lee Child Awards
- Killing Floor -1997 Anthony Award for Best First Novel
- Killing Floor - 1997 Barry Award
- Killing Floor - 1997 Japanese Adventure Fiction Association Prize
- Die Trying - 1998 WH Smith Thumping Good Read Award
- The Enemy - 2004 Barry Award
- The Enemy - 2004 Nero Award
- 61 Hours - 2011 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award
- A Wanted Man - 2012 Specsavers' National Book Award, Thriller & Crime Novel of the Year
- 2013 Cartier Diamond Dagger, lifetime achievement by the Crime Writers' Association
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