Includes bibliographical references (pages 505-511) and index.

Lee Child is the thriller writer responsible for countless international bestsellers--as well as the iconic character of Jack Reacher. Yet despite being revered by millions of readers around the globe, little is actually known about the enigmatic man behind the novels. The Lee Child origin myth is a much-loved one: it sees the author springing, fully formed, from the brow of Granada Television. But this is the first time that anyone has revealed the Lee Child arc: from peaceful obscurity in the Yorkshire Dales to cult status as a literary rock star, through to backlash, the changing zeitgeist and intimations of retirement. The Reacher Guy is an explosive and riveting biography of a much-loved and mythologized author. In it, Heather Martin looks closely at where Child really sprang from. Based on disarmingly frank personal conversations and years of correspondence with the author, as well as privileged access to archival materials, it the nearest thing the world is ever likely to get to the autobiography Lee Child does not intend to write.