Reacher: The Stories Behind The Stories
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3.0 • 2 Ratings
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
From global bestseller and creator of Jack Reacher, comes Lee Child’s first-ever autobiographical collection.
'Essential reading for all Reacher fans.' STEVE CAVANAGH
'Need a Lee Child/Reacher fix? Of course you do . . . This book is perfect for rabid fans and unabashed addicts – like me.' JAMES PATTERSON
‘Fans of the series (and would-be writers looking for tips) will relish this . . . engaging and instructive’ Sunday Times
From urgently scribbling out his debut Killing Floor in pencil (the stub of which he still owns), to taking a step back with Blue Moon, and everything in between, here are 24 honest, witty and wise personal reflections on his life and work, crafted across decades.
Whether it is through Lee’s moving account of meeting a fan years after her mother brought her to a book signing; facing his first computer and the coming of the internet; writing about New York just before – and just after – 9/11, to later seeing his novels adapted for the big screen, each riveting piece deftly evokes where he was psychologically and physically when he wrote each novel.
Lee has clearly felt unwavering gratitude for his readers since 1997. And these stories were originally designed for fans of Reacher who may be interested in a ‘behind-the-scenes’ – or, in Lee’s words: ‘why the books turned out the way they did’.
But this collection is also so much more. It is the story of a man who once put pencil to paper in an attempt to turn his luck around . . . and who made every word count.
Praise for Reacher: The Stories Behind the Stories:
'Whip-smart, gripping and chock-full of wit and charm, just like the author himself.' KARIN SLAUGHTER, No.1 bestselling author of the Will Trent series
'A unique, fascinating insight into the creative and personal journey of one of the world’s finest authors. I loved it.' STEVE CAVANAGH, bestselling author of Fifty Fifty and Thirteen
'A fascinating look at the brilliant mind that created the iconic Jack Reacher. Both inspiring and instructive, this is a must-read for both readers and writers.' TESS GERRITSEN, bestselling author of the Martini Club series
'A terrific accompaniment to the books, and answers so many questions.' JOANNE HARRIS, bestselling author of Chocolat
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PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this occasionally insightful curio, Child (In Too Deep) shares the inspirations for 24 of his Jack Reacher novels, mostly pulling from introductions he wrote for each book's special edition. He tackles the novels in series order, giving the book a loose narrative arc beginning in the 1990s, when he started writing Killing Floor after being laid off from a TV directing job. After that book's success, the series' popularity gradually gathered steam in the 2000s, and Child writes of his resulting experiments with story structure, shifting from "one-track first-person narrative set in a small no-account rural town" to "a third-person multiple-POV story involving glossy elements like the White House and the Hoover Building." The terse prose and short chapters lend the collection a somewhat phoned-in quality, but personal revelations are scattered among the shop talk. Most memorably, Child writes of responding "OK" to news of his father's death ("This was a typical conversation with most of my family. Short, sharp, to the point, nothing wasted"). Though lacking in broad appeal, this offers a handful of worthwhile tidbits for die-hard Jack Reacher fans.
