James Dover Grant (born 29 October 1954), primarily known by his

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Lee Child, is a British author who writes thriller novels, and is best known for his ''

Jack Reacher Jack Reacher is the protagonist of a series of crime thriller novels by British author Lee Child. In the stories, Jack Reacher was a major in the US Army's military police. Having left the Army at age 36, Reacher roams the United States, tak ...

'' novel series. The books follow the adventures of a former American

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear rec ...

man,

, who wanders the United States. His first

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

, '' Killing Floor'' (1997), won both the

Anthony Award The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America. Among the m ...

and the Barry Award for Best First Novel.

Early life and education

Grant was born in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

. His Northern Irish father, who was born in Belfast, was a civil servant who lived in the house where the singer

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

was later born. He is the second of four sons; his younger brother, Andrew Grant, is also a thriller novelist. Grant's family relocated to

Handsworth Wood Handsworth Wood is a suburb of Birmingham in the West Midlands County, England. Located within the metropolitan county of the West Midlands since 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, it was previously a part of the county of ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

when he was four years old so that the boys could receive a better education. Grant attended Cherry Orchard Primary School in Handsworth Wood until the age of 11. He attended

King Edward's School, Birmingham King Edward's School (KES) is an independent day school for boys in the British public school tradition, located in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Founded by King Edward VI in 1552, it is part of the Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI in Bir ...

. In 1974, at the age of 20, Grant studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

, though he had no intention of entering the legal profession and, during his student days, worked backstage in a theatre. After graduating, he worked in

commercial television Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship. It was the United States′ first model of radio (a ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

(LLB) degree from the University of Sheffield in 1977 and returned to the university to receive an honorary

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

(DLitt) in 2009.

Career

Television production career

Grant joined Granada Television, part of the UK's

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

Network, in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

as a presentation director. There he was involved with shows including ''

Brideshead Revisited ''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles ...

'', '' The Jewel in the Crown'', ''

Prime Suspect ''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television drama series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, who ...

'', and '' Cracker''. Grant was involved in the transmission of more than 40,000 hours of programming for Granada, writing thousands of commercials and news stories. He worked at Granada from 1977 to 1995 and ended his career there with two years as a trade union

shop steward A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a labor union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the union hold ...

Writing career

After being made redundant from his job because of corporate restructuring, Grant decided to start writing novels, stating they are "the purest form of entertainment." In 1997, his first novel, '' Killing Floor'', was published, and he moved to the United States in the summer of 1998. He starts each new book of the series on an anniversary of his starting the first book after losing his job. His pen name "Lee" comes from a family joke about a heard mispronunciation of the name of Renault's Le Car, as "Lee Car". Calling anything "Lee" became a family gag. His daughter, Ruth, was "lee child". "Child" places his books alphabetically on bookshop and library shelves between

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

greats Raymond Chandler and

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

. Grant has said that he chose the name Reacher for the central character in his novels because he himself is tall and when they were grocery shopping his wife Jane remarked: "'Hey, if this writing thing doesn't pan out, you could always be a reacher in a supermarket.' ... 'I thought, Reacher – good name.'" Some books in the ''Jack Reacher'' series are written in the first person, while others are written in the third person. Grant has characterised the books as revenge stories – "Somebody does a very bad thing, and Reacher takes revenge" – driven by his anger at the downsizing at Granada. Although English, he deliberately chose to write American-style thrillers. In 2007, Grant collaborated with 14 other writers to create the 17-part serial thriller '' The Chopin Manuscript'', narrated by

Alfred Molina Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British-American actor known for his work on the stage and screen. He first rose to prominence in the West End, earning a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Pla ...

. This was broadcast weekly on

Audible.com Audible is an American online audiobook and podcast service that allows users to purchase and stream audiobooks and other forms of spoken word content. This content can be purchased individually or under a subscription model where the user receiv ...

between 25 September 2007 and 13 November 2007. On 30 June 2008, it was announced that Grant would be taking up a Visiting Professorship at the

from November 2008. In 2009, Grant funded 52 Jack Reacher scholarships for students at the university. Grant was elected president of the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Award ...

in 2009. Grant was the Programming Chair for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in 2018, part of the

Harrogate International Festivals Harrogate International Festivals (HIF) is a registered charity and one of the UK's longest running arts festivals, having been established in 1966. Based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Festivals include the Harrogate Music Festival, Theakston Ol ...

portfolio. In 2019, it was announced that Child would be curating a new TV show called ''Lee Child: True Crime.'' The show will dramatise real-life crime stories from around the world and focus on average people who go to extraordinary lengths to fight crime or seek justice. In January 2020, Child announced that he would be retiring from writing the ''Jack Reacher'' book series, and hand it to his brother Andrew Grant, who would write further books of the series under the surname Child. He intended to write the next few books together with Grant before passing the series entirely over to him.

Writing style

Grant's prose has been described as "

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

" and "commercial" in style. A 2012 interview suggested that many aspects of the Jack Reacher novels were deliberately aimed at maintaining the books' profitability, rather than for literary reasons. For instance, making Jack Reacher have one parent who was French was suggested as being partly because the presence of only American members of Reacher's family would limit the series's appeal in France. The same interview stated that Grant "didn't apologise about the commercial nature" of his fiction.

Other activities

In 2019, Child collaborated with musicians Jennifer and Scott Smith of the group Naked Blue on an album of music "exploring their favourite character, Jack Reacher, in song." He contributed a vocal to track #5, "Reacher Said Nothing." In 2020 Child joined the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

judging panel, alongside Margaret Busby (chair),

Sameer Rahim Sameer Rahim is a British literary journalist and novelist. He became Managing Editor (Arts and Books) at ''Prospect'' magazine, having previously worked at the ''London Review of Books'' and at ''The Daily Telegraph'', and his reviews of both fic ...

Lemn Sissay Lemn Sissay FRSL (born 21 May 1967) is a British author and broadcaster. Sissay was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, has been chancellor of the University of Manchester since 2015, and joined the Foundling Museum's board of trus ...

and Emily Wilson.

Philanthropy

In January 2012, Grant donated £10,000 towards a new vehicle for Brecon Mountain Rescue Team in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. His brother is a senior member of the team. The team's former control vehicle was written off after a collision in 2011. Grant is an annual sponsor and original member of ThrillerFest.

Personal life

Grant married his wife Jane in 1975. Since 1998 they have resided in New York state. They have a daughter, Ruth. Grant is a fan of

Aston Villa Football Club Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...

and has been known to include the names of Aston Villa players in his books. In 2013, the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' quoted Grant saying that he writes while intoxicated ("high") by

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

. However, in a phone interview in November 2013, he clarified his comments to the ''

Irish Examiner The ''Irish Examiner'', formerly ''The Cork Examiner'' and then ''The Examiner'', is an Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork, though it is available throughout the country. ...

'', saying he's never written while high. "Yeah, that's true", Child told ''

The Post-Standard ''The Post-Standard'' is a newspaper serving the greater Syracuse, New York, metro area. Published by Advance Publications, it and sister website Syracuse.com are among the consumer brands of Advance Media New York, alongside NYUp.com and ''The ...

''. "I mean, people say to me, 'There was that story in the newspaper,' and I say, 'No, that's ''The Daily Mail''.' In Britain, that's not a newspaper, you know, that's a scandal sheet where they make stuff up. It's not very reliable. And certainly, I don't deny smoking the occasional joint, but I don't work when I'm stoned because you don't get much done that way."

Works

Novels

''Jack Reacher'' series: ''Note: For consistency, ISBN is that of the

Bantam Press Bantam Press is an imprint of Transworld Publishers which is a British publishing division of Penguin Random House. It is based on Uxbridge Road in Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the ...

(UK) hardcover, first printing only.''
^ by Lee Child and Andrew Child

Non-fiction

* ''The Hero'', Publication: London: TLS Books, 2019 .

Short stories

Collections: * '' No Middle Name'' (2017), collection of two novellas and ten short stories from the ''Jack Reacher'' series: *: "Too Much Time" (novella), "Deep Down", "Everyone Talks", "Guy Walks into a Bar", "High Heat" (novella), "James Penney's New Identity" (1999 version), "Maybe They Have a Tradition", "No Room at the Motel", "Not a Drill", "

Second Son The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

", "Small Wars", "The Picture of the Lonely Diner" ''Jack Reacher'' series: Other short stories: * "The Snake Eater by the Numbers", chapter six from serialized novel ''Like a Charm'' (2004, edited by

Karin Slaughter Karin Slaughter (born January 6, 1971) is an American crime writer. She has written 21 novels, which have sold more than 40 million copies and have been published in 120 countries. Her first novel, ''Blindsighted'' (2001), was published in 27 l ...

) * "Ten Keys", collected in ''The Cocaine Chronicles'' (2005, edited by

Jervey Tervalon Jervey is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Caroline Howard Jervey (1823–1877), American author, poet * Huger Jervey (1878–1949), American lawyer and law professor * Patty Jervey (born 1964), American rugby union player *Tra ...

and Gary Phillips) * "The Greatest Trick of All", collected in ''Greatest Hits'' (2005, edited by Robert J. Randisi), and in ''The Best British Mysteries IV'' (2007) * "Safe Enough", collected in ''MWA Presents Death Do Us Part'' (2006) * "The .50 Solution", collected in ''Bloodlines: A Horse Racing Anthology'' (2006) * Chapter 15 from audio serialized novel ''The Chopin Manuscript'' (2007) * "Public Transportation", collected in ''Phoenix Noir'' (2009) * One chapter from audio serialized novel ''The Copper Bracelet'' (2009) * Story collected in ''The World's Greatest Crime Writers tell the inside Story of Their Great Detectives'', or ''The Line Up'' (2010), about

and his origins * "Me and Mr. Rafferty", collected in ''The Dark End of the Street'' (2010, edited by Jonathan Santlofer and

S. J. Rozan S. J. Rozan is an American architect and writer of detective fiction and thrillers, based in New York City. She also co-writes a paranormal thriller series under the pseudonym Sam Cabot with Carlos Dews. Life and career S.J. (Shira Judith) Roz ...

) * "Section 7 (a) (Operational)", collected in ''Agents of Treachery'' (2010) * "The Bodyguard", collected in ''First Thrills'' (2010, edited by Lee Child) * "Addicted to Sweetness", collected in ''MWA Presents The Rich and the Dead'' (2011, edited by

Nelson DeMille Nelson Richard DeMille (born August 23, 1943) is an American author of action adventure and suspense novels. His novels include '' Plum Island'', '' The Charm School'', and '' The Gold Coast''. DeMille has also written under the pen names Jack ...

) * "The Bone-Headed League", collected in ''A Study in Sherlock'' (2011) * "I Heard a Romantic Story", collected in ''Love is Murder'' (2012) * "The Hollywood I Remember", collected in ''Vengeance'' (2012, edited by Lee Child) * "My First Drug Trial", collected in ''The Marijuana Chronicles'' (July 2013) * "Wet with Rain", collected in ''Belfast Noir'' (November 2014) * "The Truth About What Happened", collected in ''In Sunlight or in Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper'' (December 2016) * "Chapter 6: The Fortune Cookie" from the novel ''Anatomy of Innocence'' (March 2017) * "Pierre, Lucien & Me", collected in ''Alive in Shape and Color'' (December 2017) * "New Blank Document", collected in ''It Occurs to Me that I am America'' (January 2018) * "Shorty and the Briefcase", collected in ''Ten Year Stretch'' (April 2018)

Adaptations

* ''

'' (2012), film directed and written by

Christopher McQuarrie Christopher McQuarrie is an American filmmaker. He received the BAFTA Award, Independent Spirit Award, and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the neo-noir mystery film ''The Usual Suspects'' (1995). He made his directorial debut wit ...

, based on novel '' One Shot''. An American thriller film starring

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Go ...

. Grant made a cameo appearance as a police desk sergeant in the film. * '' Jack Reacher: Never Go Back'' (2016), film directed by

Edward Zwick Edward M. Zwick (born October 8, 1952) is an American filmmaker and producer of film and television. He has worked primarily in the comedy drama and historical drama, epic historical film genres, including ''About Last Night (1986 film), About L ...

, and written by

Richard Wenk Richard Wenk (born 1956) is an American film screenwriter and director best known for his work on ''The Expendables 2'' (2012), ''The Equalizer (film), The Equalizer'' (2014), and ''The Magnificent Seven (2016 film), The Magnificent Seven'' (20 ...

, Zwick, and Marshall Herskovitz, based on novel '' Never Go Back''. With Tom Cruise reprising the role. In the film, the final scene is set in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, which was not a location in the book. Grant made a cameo appearance as an airport ticket agent in the film. * '' Reacher'' (2022), an

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...

series starring

Alan Ritchson Alan Michael Ritchson (born November 28, 1982) is an American actor, model, singer and songwriter. He made his acting debut as Aquaman / Arthur Curry on The CW superhero series ''Smallville'' (2005–2010), where he appeared as a guest star betw ...

. In the series, Grant can be seen in the last chapter as a man walking out of the diner who says "Excuse me" when passing Reacher. Reacher then speaks to Finlay and eats a piece of peach pie.

Awards

Awards of novels

Honorary degrees

Child has received

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

s from several universities. These include:

Other awards

Honours

Grant was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to literature.