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Lee Child Biography & Bibliography

Author of the Jack Reacher Thrillers

Feb 24, 2008 Elizabeth Gregory

Since the publication of his debut novel in 1997, Lee Child has won popular and critical acclaim for his American thrillers - yet he is a British writer.

Lee Child was born in Coventry in 1954, although his parents relocated to nearby Birmingham when he was four years old. Child moved to Sheffield in 1974 to pursue a law degree, although he confesses that he never had any intention of being a lawyer; he spent much of his spare time working backstage in a theatre rather than studying law.

Early Career at Granada TV

On graduation in 1977, he moved to Manchester to take a job as a presentation director at Granada Television, one of the biggest companies in the ITV network. He remained there until 1995, and was involved with a number of high-profile British TV greats including Prime Suspect, Cracker,and Brideshead Revisited.

When Child’s employment was terminated due to a company restructure, he decided to have a go at writing novels instead. This proved an astute career move: his first novel, Killing Floor, was published in 1997 to great acclaim, winning The Anthony Award and The Barry Award as well as receiving nominations for The Dilys Award and The Macavity Award.

The Jack Reacher Novels

As well as winning awards, Killing Floor introduced us to a man who was to become the star of one of the most successful series of thrillers in recent years: Jack Reacher. A retired American military policeman, Reacher often finds himself involved in trouble due to a knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time – Killing Floor has Reacher arrive in the small sleepy town of Margrave at exactly the same time as the first murder in 30 years takes place there.

Since this debut novel, Child has continued to produce a new Jack Reacher novel every year. After the success of his second novel, Die Trying, winner of the WH Smith Thumping Good Read Award, Child moved to America in summer 1998 with his wife Jane in order to devote himself to writing American thrillers. He now divides his time between an apartment in Manhatten, and a country house in the south of France.

The latest in the series, Nothing to Lose, will be published in hardback in the UK on March 24th and in the US on June 3rd: see the official Lee Child website for more details.

Books in the Reacher Series

Killing Floor (1997)
Die Trying (1998)
Tripwire (1999)
The Visitor (2000) - also published as Running Blind
Echo Burning (2001)
Without Fail (2002)
Persuader (2003)
The Enemy (2004)
One Shot (2005)
The Hard Way (2006)
Bad Luck and Trouble (2007)

The copyright of the article Lee Child Biography & Bibliography in British/UK Fiction is owned by Elizabeth Gregory. Permission to republish Lee Child Biography & Bibliography in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Author Lee Child