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Novellista James Grant, also known as Lee Child, is stepping back and passing his beloved character Jack Reacher on to his brother, who will continue the blockbuster books.
Andrew Child (left) will write the Jack Reacher books for older brother Lee.
Photo: Supplied
The sentinel is the 25th novel in the Jack Reacher series, published last month. He is the first to be co-authored by Andrew Grant, published under his pseudonyms Lee and Andrew Child.
James has sold more than 100 million copies of his Reacher books since he released the first novel, Slaughter floor, in 1997.
But he says his days as a novelist have come to an end, as he felt he couldn’t offer a modern take on the character.
Rather than ditching the series entirely, he passed the mantle to someone better equipped to carry it: his younger brother, another talented writer who had followed the series from the beginning and was heavily committed to its continuation.
“I’ve always tried to be incredibly self-aware, as an athlete,” James told RNZ. Sunday morning.
“I don’t want to be the embarrassing guy who sticks around for too long a season, or in show business, if he’s past the expiration date and he’s still on stage, well that’s not good.
“So what I’ve always tried to do is be aware of ‘when am I losing it’ and that is culture is moving forward without me. I can feel that coming so I thought I better do something about it and, in a classic way , normally I suppose that what would have to be done would have been to finish the series and say ‘that’s it’.
“But there are so many Reacher fans around the world, and especially in New Zealand, as we know, that I thought ‘I can’t do that to people, you have to find a different solution. Andrew, as a writer, is very similar to me, we are similar people, I thought he was the only opportunity for this. “
James said retirement would provide opportunities to simply do nothing but read the books that you never had time to look at in the past and enjoy doing it.
“It’s the only thing that has bothered me to write, it takes a lot of time to read,” he said.
For Andrew, the move was unique and he said it was important for fans to know that his brother had passed the project on to someone authentically close to the character. He had read all the books in the series and was in tune with his brother’s thought processes and what made Jack Reacher special.
“The truth is that nobody made me do it,” he said.
“Part of what we are doing is completely unique because there have been many occasions where an author has died and a few years later his estate has contacted someone to see if they would be interested in continuing the series that had been inactive for a few years. years.
“But no one has ever passed the baton from one living writer to another, least of all his own brother.”
James said Andrew had made the series more of a 21st century affair than he himself had been capable of, but that the brothers had collaborated well on the new book.
Reacher’s character, he said, was something he had internalized over 25 years.
The characterization had often been discussed between the brothers. When some current event was mentioned in the news, for example, the brothers reflected on how they thought Reacher would react, how he would feel about it.
“I think Lee and I are made of the same fabric, so whatever Lee is in Reacher, I’d say he’s similar to me,” he said.
Andrew recalled that his older brother asked him to read the manuscript of Slaughter floor, his first novel published in 1997. Grant had been laid off, with a mortgage to pay and children to care for. Writing for a living was a high-risk move and the stakes were high.
“I have never been more nervous reading a book than that in my life. But in one sentence I knew it was going to be fantastic,” Andrew said.
“For me, I remember clearly thinking ‘I know this character, even though I didn’t know his name, I knew how he would respond to different situations, I knew what his motivations were, what his values were, his character.’
“So when Lee said that the idea of joining him first and then finally taking over the show came up, when I was thinking ‘wow, can I do this?’ It all came down to me being a Reacher fan for so long. time and I lived every year for that dose of the new Reacher story and I thought ‘well if I don’t, there won’t be any more Reacher stories,’ I just couldn’t do that. “
His heroic character, though it will remain largely unchanged, insists Andrew.
Meanwhile, James will be involved in the production of a new television series based on the Reacher character and hopes to shape the project. The actor who plays the role is Alan Ritchson.
In the new book The sentinel, Reacher is more ruthless than ever, punishes those who cross the line and try to complicate his life.
“But he is not indiscriminate. He does not just run, whatever city he is in, looking for trouble and fighting with people. Wherever he goes, he will prefer to be left alone.
“He just wants to live his life and roam and do his thing … it’s very moral,” Andrew said.
