Jack Reacher has long been a family affair.
For decades, Lee Child was the only author on the jacket cover of the crime thriller series, the blocky letters of his name growing larger with each consecutive bestseller. Then in 2020, a new name appeared: Child’s brother, Andrew, cowrote “The Sentinel.” It was the beginning of a slow transition into Lee's retirement, passing the series into the hands of the younger Child.
But even if Andrew, 57, hadn’t been putting pen to paper himself, he’s known the former military character like a third brother. Having read Lee’s manuscript before he published it, he calls himself the “original Reacher fan.”
There are only three of us on the call – Andrew in his home office in Wyoming, Lee, 71, smoking cigarettes from his in the UK. But you can feel the presence of this “invisible brother,” as Andrew puts it. They know his instincts and motivations like he's their kin.
Now, as the brothers publish their 30th book, they reflect on Reacher's humble beginnings and where he goes next. “Exit Strategy” (out now from Bantam) is “classic Reacher,” the brothers agree. Both names may be on the cover, but it’s Andrew’s second solo-written Reacher novel, Lee says: “It’s all his now.”
