Author of the week

Lee Child

Lee Child is saying goodbye to Jack Reacher—and he means it this time, said Nick Ruf ford in The Sunday Times (U.K.). A contemporary master of the adrenalinepumping best-seller, the writer born James Grant has been mulling this breakup for a while. Since introducing the roving ex– military policeman in 1997’s Killing Floor, he has churned out a Reacher novel every year. And he judged two dozen to be enough. “Initially I had the idea that in the last book he would die in a blaze of glory,” he says, “or bleed out on some filthy motel bathroom floor.” But Reacher’s fans were decidedly unexcited about the prospect of book titled Die Lonely being their hulking hero’s last hurrah. So his 66-year-old creator changed course and decided to hand Reacher off to a veteran thriller writer he can trust: his younger brother Andrew. “It sounds stupid,” he says, “but literally we are the same person, just 14 years apart.”

He collaborated with Andrew on the latest Reacher novel, The Sentinel, and is more confident than ever that the transition will work. “It’s as good as I could have done on my own,” he says. “Better, in fact, because it has that extra energy.” He’ll assist Andrew on perhaps a couple more books before fully bowing out, said Sam Leith in The Economist. And he apparently won’t miss Reacher. “I don’t particularly like him,” he says. But he is grateful for all the wealth and acclaim the character has brought him, allowing him to sign off on his own terms. “I’m retiring because I’m happy,” he says. “I always had a fear of being mediocre. I hope I’ve put that ghost to rest.”