Author Lee Child reckons his famous character Jack Reacher would "fit in so well” in NZ.
He’s 70, sold hundreds of millions of books and is staring down retirement. But is the author as restless as Reacher?
Emma Gleason sits down with bestselling author Lee Child to discuss his beloved protagonist, why he resonates with Kiwis – Child thinks the fact we’re “no fuss, no drama” people explains the fandom – and the appeal of peace and quiet.
Is Lee Child ready for change?
He certainly seems calm, all lanky ease and erudite manners.
He’s certainly unassuming (for a man worth an estimated $122 million) and is pouring himself a coffee from the hotel urn when he intimates to me that change is afoot – news confirmed by the Telegraph, a new house in the Lakes District and a return to the United Kingdom after decades living in the US.
He smelled a shift coming and, as with his famous character Jack Reacher, proved he too is eager to move on.
Child turned 70 last year and has been discussing retirement for years. And why not? He’s made his fortune, been notably prolific and won legions of fans around the world.
The series he spawned in 1997 has sprawled across page and screen (the show is the reason for our São Paulo junket meeting).
There are 28 books in the Reacher series to date, and Kiwis love them.
We were early adopters.
“It was great in the beginning. It was the first country that really took to Reacher, it was my first number one there.”
Even though we have a comparatively small population, “the per capita sales figures are insane”, he reveals.
“It’s like everybody buys a copy and then they buy two for their sheep.
“It was always a huge success.”
So much so that he’s visited Aotearoa multiple times. In 2014 he told RNZ that New Zealand was “the world centre of Reacher madness”.
A 2018 book tour for Past Tense saw him visit Auckland, Dunedin and Christchurch, where he made an appearance at WORD Christchurch, interviewed by Kiwi author Paul Cleave - a “great writer”, Child says.
Their connection goes way back, Cleave tells me over email.
Child was in New Zealand promoting his 1999 book Tripwire, and Cleave went along to a book signing at Whitcoull’s.
“There was me, and one other guy there, and that was it,” Cleave says.
They met again, in Christchurch, in 2010, and in 2011 their paths crossed outside a restaurant in the UK.
“He stopped to tell me how much he loved Christchurch,” Cleave recounts - a sentiment Child expressed to me too.
“And how saddened he was to hear about the earthquakes,” he says. “[Child] asked how I was doing, how the city was doing.”
Cleave says Child’s “always generous with his time, and kind”, even emailing Cleave’s UK publisher about how much he loved one of his books.
Fast forward to 2018 and they’re both on stage at WORD in front of New Zealand Reacher fans.
For Child, meeting his readers and getting a first-hand look at the New Zealand psyche helped him understand the resonance.
“As Alan [Ritchson] said, when I went there, they are Reacher.
“They’re self-contained, self-reliant people; no fuss, no drama, they just do the work. And that’s very much what Reacher is like. I think that’s the connection, that’s what explains it.”
The love shows no sign of waning, with Child’s work dominating library loans around New Zealand last year.
The book that started it all was Killing Floor.
Child had lost his media job – he was going by his name James Grant then (Lee Child is a pseudonym) – and decided to put his pen to a novel instead.
It was a commercial hit and more followed. Child would, famously, write a book a year after that, starting each one on the date he began his first, September 1.
Since then the Coventry born, Birmingham-raised Child has sold hundreds of millions of books.
In Too Deep was the most recent of them, released in 2024 and penned by Child and his brother Andrew. (They’re co-authoring, a succession plan of sorts as the 70-year-old Child flirts with Reacher-retirement. Their next, Exit Strategy, is slated for November 2025, and reportedly his last).
For now though, there’s the TV show. That’s a hit too.
His famous character is back on screens, with Prime Video show Reacher and titular star Alan Ritchson returning for its third season (based on 2003’s Persuader) last month.
It’s become something of a juggernaut – lumped in the “Dad TV” genre – and a hit for all involved parties. Child is an executive producer.
Action and a moral compass form the foundation of the Reacher world, but it right to call his famous character a vigilante?
Definitely not, Child insists, pointing to his own prose for a straight answer.
“There’s a line in one of the books that says, ‘I don’t want to put the world to rights, I just hate the people that want to put it to wrongs’.”
Like his reluctant fictional hero, Child’s a principled guy, vocalising in generous media interviews his feelings about Trump and the Maga movement; the “embarrassment” of Brexit; his background in trade unions; and support as an “old stoner” for legalising cannabis.
Reacher’s more reactive than anything else; “He’s not going to roam the world looking for crimes to solve”, Child explains.
“The problem, he can’t walk away from certain things.”
Things he can’t ignore: unsolved murders, victims of family violence, banking anomalies (Bad Luck and Trouble) and a West Point ring in a pawn shop (The Midnight Line).
What has he walked away from then? The military, working as a bouncer at a strip club, Roscoe Conklin, a town called Hope.
Judging by the audience appetite, readers and viewers can’t ignore it all either.
There’s something in the stories that strikes a chord with people, whether it’s the thrilling plot and tight writing, or the more existential propositions presented by Reacher – rejecting the establishment, unloosing your tether from society, and challenging things that feel patently unfair.
When you feel like you’re chafing, getting on a bus and leaving town might sound good to a lot of people right now.
Will Reacher ever stop moving, own more than a toothbrush?
“That’s the perpetual tension in Reacher. He loves his solitude. But he’s worried about being lonely,” Child explains, in his calm, thoughtful manner.
“Sure, he’s a guy who would love to put down roots. He intended to.
“He came out of the army, he was going to spend a year looking around the US and then settle down, and he can’t.
“He just can’t do it. I think he wants to but he can’t.”
Is that internal conflict why he resonates so much with people? We want to stay put and make a home but can’t help wondering what a plan B could look like, a different, unshackled life?
“We’re all like that you know, and I thought that was a guy thing, but actually it’s a woman thing even more. They would love to just walk away tomorrow,” shares Child.
And the idea of a plan B in escaping to New Zealand – and from it – has been a common theme in recent years, making headlines and providing narrative fodder.
Will we ever see a Reacher book set in New Zealand? Child is hesitant to see Reacher use his passport – though he did send him to Germany in Night School and Sydney for the short story The Fourth Man.
“I never wanted to make it into a travel book, because if I did that then, you know, Japan would want a book, and everybody would want a book.
“But,” he adds. “If there’s an organic reason, absolutely”.
You can imagine how it could play out. He’s visiting an old army buddy who’s living somewhere like Greymouth or Oban, there’s a fight at the pub – Reacher breaks it up of course – and then the next day a dead body turns up.
Or maybe he just takes his toothbrush to a backcountry hut and enjoys some peace and Kiwi hospitality.
“He would fit in so well,” Child thinks. “He’d be there three days and gone. And he’d love it.”
The third season of Reacher is streaming on Prime Video now.
Emma Gleason is the Herald’s lifestyle and entertainment deputy editor. Based in Auckland, she covers culture, style and media, recently covering everything from Prime Ministerial fashion to punk band Amyl and the Sniffers.
Telegraph: Is a transactional relationship ever OK? It's complicated, says Rachel Johnson.