Reacher: The Stories Behind The Stories

On Monday September 5 th , 1994, at home, at the dining room table, I sat down to write. An hour later, I gave the first chapter to my wife. I asked, ''Should I continue?'' ''Yes,'' she said. ''I like it.'' From global bestseller and creator of Jack Reacher, comes Lee Child''s first-ever autobiographical collection. From urgently scribbling out his debut Killing Floor in pencil (the stub of which he still owns), to facing his retirement, and everything in between, here are 25 fascinating personal reflections on his life and work, crafted across decades. Whether it is through Lee''s moving account of meeting a fan years after her mother brought her to a book signing, to facing his first computer and the coming of the internet, to writing about New York just before - and just after - 9/11, to later seeing his novels adapted for the big screen . . . each riveting piece deftly evokes where he was, psychologically and physically, when he wrote each novel. Lee has clearly felt unwavering gratitude for his readers since 1997. And these honest, witty and wise reflections were originally designed for fans of Reacher who may be interested in a ''behind-the-scenes'' - or, in Lee''s words: ''why the books turned out the way they did''. But this collection is also so much more. It is the story of a man who once put pencil to paper in an attempt to turn his luck around . . . and who made every word count.

About the author

Lee Child is one of the world’s leading thriller writers. He was born in Coventry, raised in Birmingham, and now lives in England's Lake District. It is said one of his novels featuring his hero Jack Reacher is sold somewhere in the world every nine seconds. His books consistently achieve the number-one slot on bestseller lists around the world and have sold over one hundred million copies. Lee is the recipient of many awards including Author of the Year at the 2019 British Book Awards. He was appointed CBE in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Product details

• Authors: Lee Child, Child Lee
• Publisher: Bantam UK
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 09.09.2025
• EAN: 9780857508744
• ISBN: 978-0-85750-874-4
• No. of pages: 256
• Dimensions: 142 mm x 222 mm x 24 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Crime & mystery, English, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Essays, Memoirs, LITERARY CRITICISM / Mystery & Detective, Thriller / suspense fiction, Thriller / suspense, Literary essays, Crime and mystery: hard-boiled crime, noir fiction, Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Writing / Fiction Writing, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs, collection; true story; comedy; true stories; mental health