Child is a self confessed ''couch french fry'' - content to stay on the couch and watch television. While Reacher, the main character in the string of books and transient loner, is always on the go - living a life of unexpected dramas. Child is touring New Zealand promotinghis latest book 61 Hours, the 14th in the Reacher series, which is set during a horrible South Dakota winter in a small town that has big trouble coming. Lounging in a suite at the Hilton Hotel in Auckland, Child is quiet happy to reveal he's ''very, very passive''. ''For New Zealanders, that's hard to understand I don't do anything. I lie on the couch
''I don't run and I don't swim.'' It seems New Zealanders can't get enough of Child's books, with 5315 copies of 61 Hours selling in just two days - sending it to the top of the NZ bestseller chart.
Child is not sure why Reacher appealed to Kiwis. ''New Zealanders are intelligent and discerning people and big readers. Reacher is tough but fair and maybe that's a bit of a national characteristic in New Zealand.'' Child reckons he started the latest book with the title and the thought of a ticking clock and worked from there. ''I like things that come back from the past and bite you in the ass,'' he says, referring to the storyline. The book ends with the future of Reacher in limbo. But Child says all the details are there and readers will be able to work out what has happened. The next book will be on the shelves in September. Child will not be throwing himself off a bridge on a bungy cord or rafting down a raging river on this tour. Instead, he is indulging in a local author's book. Child was reading Christchurch writer Paul Cleave's latest crime book Bloodmen. ''I'll come back to New Zealand anonymously and see the sites. I want to go and relax in the South Island and maybe see Fiordland.'' No doubt this popular author will also sample some of New Zealand's couches - as he contemplates the next Reacher adventure. reading and watch the New York Yankees on TV,'' he says.
