The agent with Cruise control

AT 6ft 5in and weighing nearly 18st, former US military cop Jack Reacher is one of fiction’s most physically imposing heroes.

So eyebrows were raised when Tom Cruise – just 5ft 7in – was cast to play him in a Hollywood adaptation of Child’s novel One Shot.

But despite the difference in size, Cruise, right, was a hit with fans, bringing his intensity to the role, and again in a second Reacher movie, Never Go Back. Child, 63, published his first Reacher novel, Killing Floor, in 1997 after being made redundant by broadcaster, Granada.

His books have now sold more than 100million copies worldwide, and his latest novel, The Midnight Line, went straight to the top of the bestseller charts when it was published last month.