The Reacher Guy by Heather Martin

 

The Reacher Guy: The Authorised Biography of Lee Child by Heather Martin.

Published in paperback 21st October 2021 by Little Brown Books.

From the cover of the book:

Lee Child is the enigmatic powerhouse behind the phenomenally successful Jack Reacher novels. With devoted fans across the globe, and over a hundred million copies of his books sold in more than forty languages, he is that rarity, a writer who is both critically acclaimed and adored by readers. And yet curiously little has been written about the man himself.

The Reacher Guy shows us for the first time the young man behind the invention of Jack Reacher. Through parallels drawn between Child and his literary creation, it tells the story of how a lost and lonely boy from Birmingham with a ferocious appetite for reading grew up to become a high-flying TV executive, before coming full circle and establishing himself as an internationally bestselling author.

Heather Martin explores Child's lifelong fascination with America - and shows how the Reacher novels fed and fuelled this obsession. Drawing on exclusive correspondence and conversations with Child over a number of years, she forensically pieces together his life, from Northern Ireland and County Durham to New York and Hollywood. This is the definitive account of the man behind one of the most iconic series of our times.

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Welcome to the story of James (Jim) Dover Grant, otherwise known as Lee Child, the man behind the best selling Jack Reacher series.

In this book, Heather Martin takes us on a journey through Child's life, from his roots in northwest England, where his love of reading began, all the way to the fulfilment of his American Dream - charting his family history, his childhood in Birmingham, his student days in Sheffield, his life as a TV executive, and his transformation into a literary household name.

In many ways, this is an unusual biography. The format is rather unconventional, proceeding chronologically whilst also meandering back and forth in time with references to episodes and anecdotes from people connected to Child, interspersed with quotes from Martin's interviews with him. As she puts together the pieces of his life through the recorded facts of his rise to fame, her own experience spending time with him, and the sometimes anachronistic accounts of his friends and colleagues, she paints a many layered picture of a man made up of more than one persona - which is somehow rather fitting, given that he lives a dual existence as both Jim Grant and Lee Child. 

Building on the feeling that you are reading the account of a man who it is not easy to get to the truth about, Martin cleverly mixes in references to Child's own enigmatic creation Jack Reacher. Sprinkled throughout the text are quotes and scenes lifted from Child's many books exploring how facets of his own upbringing and character are echoed in Reacher and the way he interacts with those around him, displaying an intimate knowledge with Reacher's many dramatic adventures. This is absolute genius, giving real insight into both author and his brainchild in a way I have never seen before in a biography. 

This is a bit of a weighty tome, filled with incredible detail about Child, bringing in a real sense of time and place at each stage of his life, and is so engaging that I found its 500 odd pages slipped by with ease. There are so many fascinating nuggets strewn throughout the pages, especially if you are a fan of the Reacher series and curious about Child's inspiration, writing process, the direction of his career, and how fame and fortune have affected him - and of course, who doesn't want to know what he really thinks about Tom Cruise stepping into Reacher's enormous shoes on the big screen? My lips are sealed, so you will have to grab a copy to find out for yourself!

The Reacher Guy is available to buy now in hardback, paperback, ebook and audio formats from your favourite book retailer.

Thank you to Little Brown Books for sending me a hardback copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Heather Martin was born in West Australia. She read languages at Cambridge, where she also did a PhD in comparative literature, and has held teaching and research positions at Cambridge, Hull, King's College London, and most recently, the Graduate Center, City University New York.

Heather is a long-time Jack Reacher fan. While waiting to get her hands on the next in the series, she once read a Lee Child book in Spanish and wound up writing to the author about the fate of his character in translation. The Reacher Guy is her first biography. She is based in London.