Lee Child Books

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Lee Child is the alias used by Jim Grant, an author hailing from England. Lee Child writes in the thriller genre of novels, and has been writing novels since 1985.

Lee Child is known for his Jack Reacher series of books. This series began in 1997 with Killing Floor and has spawned many more novels in the series. The Jack Reacher series is one of the most popular book series out there, and some of the books have been made into movies.

Jim Grant did not start out as a novelist, as he went to study law at the University of Sheffield, before moving into television as a producer for ITV’s north-west subsidiary, Granada Television. Grant remained with ITV Granada until 1995, when he was made redundant due to corporate restructuring within the company. It was then that he made the move into fiction, with his first novel, and also the first to feature Jack Reacher, Killing Floor, released in 1997. It was after the release of Killing Floor that he moved from the United Kingdom to the United States. Grant Claims that the animosity he felt toward his former employers was the basis for the content of the Jack Reacher series, as it focuses on revenge for the main character.

Killing Floor the first book to feature Lee Child’s most famous character, Jack Reacher. Killing Floor won Child the Anthony Award for Best First Novel in 1998. He beat Grace Edward, Maureen Jennings, Philip Reed and Robert Skinner to claim the award. The same year, he won the Barry Award for Best First Novel for Killing Floor, and in 2000 he won the Best Translated Novel at the Japan Adventure Fiction Association Prizes. Killing Floor was also nominated for a Dilys Award in 1998 and a Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel, but lost out to Dead Body Language by Penny Warner.

Several other of the Jack Reacher series of novels have picked up literary awards. Die Trying, the second book in the series, won the WH Smith Thumping Good Read Award, while Personal, the 19th book in the series, won the RBA International Prize for Crime Writing. So it’ is fair to say that although Grant’s writing is seen as very commercial, it has also received critical success. And in 2013, Grand won the Cartier Diamond Dagger, which is a lifetime achievement award presented by the Crime Writers’ Association.

As well as in book form, Grant’s work has been translated to the silver screen, as the movie Jack Reacher, starring Tom Cruise, was based on the ninth book in the series, One Shot.

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF LEE CHILD BOOKS:

In Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series going by the actual books, The Enemy is the first novel in Chronological order taking place in 1990. It’s followed by Night School and The Affair. After that you can read them in publication order.

The short story Second Son takes place when Reacher is a child at 13 years old. The short story High Heat covers Reacher at 17 years old. And finally the short story Small Wars takes place in 1989 – just before The Enemy.

LEE CHILD AWARDS:

Lee Child has won many awards throughout his career. The first novel in the Jack Reacher series, Killing Floor, won awards such as the Anthony Award and the Barry Award. Throughout the years he has been nominated for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for some of his books, and his book A Wanted Man won the Specsavers’ National Book Award, as they declared it the Thriller and Crime Novel of 2012.

BOOKS INTO MOVIES:

Lee Child’s novel One Shot was adapted to the big screen, and turned into the 2012 action thriller Jack Reacher starring Tom Cruise. A sequel to that movie was made in 2016 entitled Jack Reacher: Never Go Back based on the Reacher novel Never Go Back.

BEST LEE CHILD BOOKS:

Three of the more appreciated books by Lee Child in the Jack Reacher series are:

Killing Floor: The debut novel by Lee Child, and this thriller hit the floor not killing, but running. The main character Jack Reacher arrives in a town he has never been in before via Greyhound, and is promptly arrested by the police – for murder. This was just an incredible thriller which quite rightly won the Anthony Award and Barry award for the Best First Novel in 1998, and was nominated for the Macavity Award as Best First Mystery Novel.

Persuader: The 7th novel in the Jack Reacher series takes place in two different time settings via flashbacks, and both times come together for an explosive ending. In this one, Jack Reacher works with the DEA on an undercover operation as they attempt to expose a smuggling operation. However Jack Reacher has an ulterior motive – a man called Quinn, who is involved with the smuggling ring in some manner. The problem with that? Quinn is someone who Reacher personally saw die years ago.

Never Go Back: It’s no surprise that this book, the 18th in the Jack Reacher series, was made into a movie considering it’s one of the highest rated Reacher books ever. While all Reacher books can be read as a standalone novel, this was the conclusion of a small story spanning multiple books with Reacher interested in a woman called Susan – the commanding officer of his old military unit. Just as everything looks to be going right for Reacher – it all goes wrong. Reacher arrives only to find there’s another CO in charge, and that Reacher is being arrested for a crime he apparently committed 16 years previously.

Lee Child FAQs

Q: What is Lee Child’s real name?

A: The real name of author Lee Child is Jim Grant.

Q: What book is the movie Jack Reacher based on?

A: The movie Jack Reacher is based on the novel One Shot, written by Lee Child.

Q: What is Lee Child’s date of birth?

A: The author Lee Child was born on October 29th, 1954.

When Does The Next Lee Child book come out?

The next book by Lee Child is Reacher: The Stories Behind the Stories and will be released on September, 9th 2025. It is the newest book in the Lee Child Non-Fiction Books.

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