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Lee Child

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This article is about the British writer. For the Irish rugby league footballer, see Lee Child (rugby league). For the English tennis player, see Lee Childs.
Lee Child
Lee Child at Bouchercon XLI, 2010
Lee Child at Bouchercon XLI, 2010
BornJim Grant
(1954-10-29) 29 October 1954 (age 69)
Coventry, England, UK
OccupationNovelist, writer, author
NationalityBritish
Period1985–present
GenreCrime fiction, mystery, thriller
Notable worksKilling Floor
Signature
Website
http://www.leechild.com

Jim Grant (born 29 October 1954), better known by his pen name Lee Child, is a British thriller writer.[1] His first novel, Killing Floor, won the Anthony Award for Best First Novel.

Each of Child's novels follows the adventures of a former American military policeman, Jack Reacher, who wanders the United States.

Early life

Though Grant was born in Coventry, England,[2] his parents moved him and his three brothers to Handsworth Wood in Birmingham when he was four years old, so that the boys could get a better education.[3] Grant attended Cherry Orchard Primary School in Handsworth Wood until the age of 11. He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham, also the alma mater of J. R. R. Tolkien and Enoch Powell.[4] His father was a civil servant[5] and his younger brother, Andrew Grant, is also a thriller novelist.

In 1974, at age 20, Grant attended law school in Sheffield at Sheffield University, though he had no intention of entering the legal profession and, during his student days, worked backstage in a theatre.[5] Instead, he took a job in commercial television after graduating.[6]

Career

Television production career

Grant at Bouchercon XL, 2009

Grant joined Granada Television, part of the UK's ITV Network, in Manchester as a presentation director.[7] There he was involved with shows including Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown, Prime Suspect, and Cracker. Grant was involved in the transmission of more than 40,000 hours of programming for Granada, writing thousands of commercials, news stories, and trailers.[8] He stayed with Granada 1977–1995[5] and ended his career there with two years as a trade union shop steward.[9]

Writing career

After being let go from his job because of corporate restructuring,[7] Grant decided he wanted to start writing novels, stating they are "the purest form of entertainment."[10] In 1997, his first novel, Killing Floor, was published and he moved to the United States in the summer of 1998.[11]

His pen name "Lee" comes from a family joke about mispronunciation of the name of Renault's Le Car, while "Child" put his works on bookstore shelves between crime fiction stars Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie.[7]

Grant has said that he chose the name Reacher for the central character in his novels because he is himself tall and, in a supermarket (Asda in Kendal, Cumbria, when he was living in Kirkby Lonsdale), his wife Jane told him: "Hey, if this writing thing doesn't pan out, you could always be a reacher in a supermarket."... "I thought, Reacher — good name."[5] Some books in the Reacher series are written in first person, while others are written in the third person. Child has characterized 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 British, he deliberately chose to write American-style thrillers.[7]

In 2007, Grant collaborated with 14 other writers to create the 17-part serial thriller The Chopin Manuscript narrated by Alfred Molina that was broadcast weekly on Audible.com from 25 September 2007 to 13 November 2007.

On 30 June 2008, it was announced that Grant would be taking up a Visiting Professorship at the University of Sheffield in the UK from November 2008. In 2009, Child funded 52 Jack Reacher scholarships for students at the university.[12]

Grant was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America in 2009.[13]

In 2012, his novel One Shot was adapted into Jack Reacher, an American thriller film starring Tom Cruise. Child has a cameo as a police desk sergeant in the film.

Writing style

Grant's prose has been described as "hardboiled" and "commercial" in style. A 2012 interview suggested that many aspects of the Jack Reacher novels were deliberately aimed at maintaining the books' profitability, rather than for literary reasons. For instance, having the character Jack Reacher having one parent who was French was suggested as being partly because the absence of any non-American members of Reacher's family would limit the books' appeal in France. The same interview stated that Child 'didn't apologise about the commercial nature' of his fiction.[14]

Philanthropy

In January 2012, Grant donated £10,000 towards a new vehicle for Brecon Mountain Rescue Team in Wales. He offered the donation because his brother is a senior member of the team. The team's former control vehicle was written off after a collision in 2011.[15]

Personal life

Grant's wife Jane[5] is from New York.[11]

Child is a fan of Aston Villa Football Club.[16]

Novels and awards

Child receiving a Barry Award in 2005 for The Enemy.
Title Year Awards/Nominations
Killing Floor 1997 Anthony Award winner Barry Award winner Dilys Award nominee Macavity Award nominee
Die Trying 1998 WH Smith Thumping Good Read Award winner
Tripwire 1999
The Visitor (known as Running Blind in the U.S.) 2000
Echo Burning 2001
Without Fail 2002 Dilys Award nominee Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award nominee
Persuader 2003 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award nominee
The Enemy 2004 Barry Award winner Dilys Award nominee Nero Award winner
One Shot 2005 Macavity Award nominee
The Hard Way 2006
Bad Luck and Trouble 2007 Shortlisted for Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, 2009[17]
Nothing To Lose 2008
Gone Tomorrow 2009
61 Hours 2010 Winner, Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, 2011
Worth Dying For 2010
The Affair 2011
A Wanted Man 2012 National Book Award, Thriller & Crime Novel of the Year[18]
Never Go Back 2013

Other awards

Short stories

  • "James Penney's New Identity" from Fresh Blood 3 (edited by Mike Ripley and Maxim Jakubowski) and from Thriller (US)
  • "The Snake Eater by the Numbers" from Like a Charm (edited by Karin Slaughter)
  • "Ten Keys" from The Cocaine Chronicles (edited by Jervey Tervalon and Gary Phillips)
  • "The Greatest Trick of All" from Greatest Hits (edited by Robert J Randisi)
  • "Guy Walks Into a Bar..." A prequel to Gone Tomorrow published in The New York Times[20]
  • "Me & Mr. Rafferty" from The Dark End of the Street (edited by Jonathan Santlofer and S. J. Rozan)
  • "The Bodyguard" from First Thrills (edited by Lee Child)
  • "Second Son" (electronic short story about Jack Reacher)
  • "Addicted to Sweetness" from The Rich and the Dead (edited by Nelson DeMille)
  • "Everyone Talks" (Reacher short story published in the June/July US edition of Esquire Magazine
  • "Deep Down" (Electronic short story about Jack Reacher, published 16 June 2012)
  • "High Heat" (Electronic short story about Jack Reacher, published 6 August 2013)[21]

References

  1. ^ David Smith (22 June 2008). "Sacked at 40 and on the scrapheap. Now Brummie tops US book charts". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  2. ^ Glass, Ben (2 December 2008). "If you don't know Lee Child, you don't know Jack". It's All About Coventry. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  3. ^ Bob Cornwell. "A Reacher Moment...or Two". twbooks.co.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
  4. ^ David Smith (22 June 2008). "Sacked at 40 and on the Scrapheap: Now Brummie tops US Book Charts". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 22 June 2008.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Interview in January Magazine, May 2003". Retrieved 7 October 2007.
  6. ^ Claire White (1 August 2001). "A Conversation with Lee Child". Writers Write.
  7. ^ a b c d Curtis, Bryan (20 December 2012). "The Curious Case of Lee Child: Before Tom Cruise could become Jack Reacher, Jim Grant had to become Lee Child". Grantland.com. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  8. ^ "Lee Child". BookBrowse. 1 May 2004.
  9. ^ "Interview with Tangled web Books, 2005". Retrieved 7 October 2007.
  10. ^ Readers Digest. "Select Editions". RD.com. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
  11. ^ a b "Interview in Writers' Write Journal, August 2001". Retrieved 7 October 2007.
  12. ^ Alison Flood, Students offered scholarships from fictional crimefighter, Jack Reacher, Guardian
  13. ^ "People and Publishing: Milestones", Locus, April 2009, p.8
  14. ^ Maher, Kevin (25 August 2012). "Lee Child on creating Jack Reacher". The Times.
  15. ^ "Author Lee Child's £10k to Brecon Mountain Rescue Team". BBC News. 24 January 2012.
  16. ^ "Exclusive interview with ace author Child in matchday programme". Aston Villa Football Club. September 15, 2011.
  17. ^ "Shortlist for Theakston's Crime Novel of the year Award 2009". digyorkshire.com. 2 June 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
  18. ^ Alison Flood (5 December 2012). "EL James comes out on top at National Book awards". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
  19. ^ Alison Flood (12 February 2013). "Lee Child gets away with major crime writing award". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  20. ^ Child, Lee (June 6, 2009). "Guy Walks Into a Bar... ". The New York Times.
  21. ^ (July 2, 2013). "17.5: High Heat". LeeChild.us.
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