Little did I know that as I began to put down my first words of my debut novel What Goes Around that a writer – also from the West Midlands of England – was coming up with one of the great characters of crime fiction, none other than the iconic Jack Reacher. So, it was a pleasant surprise, when recently visiting a local bookstore, to see that Penguin Books has reissued one of my favourite Reacher novels TRIPWIRE with a 25^th anniversary edition – another happy coincidence as I mark twenty-five years as a published author.

TRIPWIRE has the plotting and the twists of a crime novel that keeps a reader turning the pages. In this story Reacher gives us a hint of vulnerability: he makes mistakes and is uncertain about relationship with Jodie Garber and it’s just possible he has met his match with the bad guy Hook Hobie. 

As well as being very disciplined about how he creates his stories (1^st September is the date he unfailing began his Jack Reacher novels) Lee is very open about how smoking weed has played a part in his creative process – as I remember, there were a few guys I used to know in Wolverhampton said a similar thing but the judge deemed it not an acceptable defence.

Lee Child recently announced his retirement and that his younger brother will continue to write Jack Reacher novels so at least Lee’s most famous character will remain active. On behalf of the millions of readers who missed buses and trains as they remained glued to the pages until the end of a chapter – thank you, Lee, for those hours of thrilling adventures!