There is flamboyance in Lee Child’s towering character Jack Reacher that has given the world 25 thrilling books that have sold millions of copies worldwide. That sweeping flamboyance is mirrored in the author who sat smoking a cigarette in his Colorado home, exchanging niceties over a Zoom call as we waited for his brother Andrew Child to join in the conversation. The occasion? Lee wants to finally retire after handing over the baton to his younger brother Andrew, who is also a thriller novelist in his own right and publishes as Andrew Grant. That James Grant famously chose to write under the pseudonym of Lee Child, embarking upon a multi-million-dollar venture for thrill-seeking bibliophiles and has two Hollywood blockbusters starring Tom Cruise, is a story for another day.

The Grant brothers are 15 years apart and yet similar in more than just the ways they think. Just before the lockdown, they decided to take a leap of faith and co-write the first book that marks the steady retirement plans of Lee Child. A few more books will be co-authored till Andrew finally takes over completely. This new Jack Reacher book is now ready for the world — The Sentinel, (Penguin Randomhouse India; Rs 699) where Jack Reacher finds himself embroiled in a cyber attack.

The Sentinel was co-written and published during the lockdown by the brothers Sourced by the correspondent

Lee Child’s books are pacy and tend to overpower all other activities in life if you were to pick one up. His Jack Reacher is an ex-policeman who helps bring justice to those in need of it, in remote villages in America. The books are as large in life as the author himself, who has appeared in cameos in Tom Cruise-starring Jack Reacher films. Clearly the funny one in the family, Lee is a riot with his straight-faced jokes, mostly cracked at the cost of his brother! Andrew Grant, who chose to adopt the name Andrew Child for this series, feels ready “for the challenge”! Here is what went down on this chat with the brothers...

You went from hanging up your boots after leaving Jack Reacher to bleed to death in a motel bathroom to bestowing the legacy of Reacher to your brother. How did that happen?

Lee: Not that I wanted to but I thought it had to be that way. I couldn’t carry on forever. A bold character like Reacher deserved a heroic end. In my mind, I had a large scene where Reacher would die. Over the years I realised that the readers would be so upset that it would be gratuitously cruel to do that. Then I went to plan B, which was a metaphorical version of a similar ending, where he would be on his way to the bus depot after solving a problem in his inimitable style, only to stop and stay back with an adopted dog for company. But even that meant no more Reacher books. Plan C was a fantasy involving a magic potion and waking up next morning 15 years younger. Finally, plan D was where I thought of an actual person I knew who was 15 years younger — my brother. Same DNA, same experiences, same attitudes, same mental processes. Deep-down we are very similar and he happened to be a writer and a really good one.

I waited until we were in a really dangerous situation, where Andrew was driving us through a horrible blizzard, the worst kind that you see in this part of town and I thought this is the moment I should ask him. Ninety-nine per cent of his attention was in trying to keep us alive and he is not going to freak out and at least think about it overnight. I said “I can’t keep doing this much longer. I must retire. Would you take over?” And I just sat back and listened to the silence, you know? (Chuckles)

Lee Child's Killing Floor Sourced by the correspondent

So Andrew, what indeed was your reaction? Did you take some time to think about it?

Andrew: It was overwhelming as you can imagine. Reacher is a worldwide phenomenon and the idea that my brother would trust me with his creation left me speechless for a while. The next part was me thinking more practically, wondering if I could do it. It felt like a challenge and I have never been able to resist one. Even when I was a little kid, if there was something too hard for me, my father would just exclaim how I couldn’t do it and I’d immediately take it upon myself to do it twice over. But what clinched the deal was the fact that I am the oldest Jack Reacher fan in the world. I read Killing Floor while it was still written in pencil. Lee and I have lived with Reacher for over a quarter of a century, like a pretend, invisible brother. We talk about him and think what he would do here or there. As a Reacher fan I know what it’s like for that year-long wait for the next book and if I don’t do it, there won’t be any more Reacher books. I didn’t want to be in that world.

Your sibling relationship wasn’t the quintessentially typical one due to the 15 years age gap I am guessing, and now you are co-writers. How has this relationship evolved and have you discovered things about each other on this journey?

Lee: Yes, you are right. It wasn’t the typical relationship of brothers who lived in the same house. There are bad and good parts to that. I have two other brothers who I did grow up with and there was the usual rivalry, spite and the aggravations that siblings typically have. There were three of us and then Andrew was way later… you know, a mistake basically! I had basically left home by the time Andrew was… human! He was a fun baby and I loved that phase but as a person I never really knew him as a brother; he was a friend. That is radically different from how people grow up. It meant that by the time he was 14 or 15, it was like meeting a nice guy! We have always been like that.

Discovered? Not really because I already knew what he was like and that’s what I needed. His talent, skill and intelligence but more so, his dogged perseverance. This is a guy who would never quit. I knew that if we started, we would definitely finish and it would definitely be good.

Andrew: Oh wow, that was a really nice thing to say. Yes, if I start something, I will always finish it. If anything, it reaffirms what I already knew. The process of collaborating is a strange thing. Some people are really good at it and for some people it comes with some difficulty. I hadn’t tried collaborating with anyone since my university days when I was doing my drama degree. Somehow, my ideas would always be the exact opposite of the group’s. I didn’t think Lee and I would have that problem and when we started and realised that we were absolutely on the same page, going in the right direction — it was a wonderful experience. We had a discussion about what we wanted the book to be like, the tone we wanted and how we wanted it to begin.

Most of the Jack Reacher book covers feature the lone man walking into the abyss, much like the tales themselves Sourced by the correspondent

So what was the process of collaborating in the lockdown like, since you weren’t quarantining together?

Lee: It was weird from the start because both of us believe one thing very fundamentally — if you are starting a task, there are only two ways of doing it — my way or the wrong way. We both believe that and so it was a happy coincidence! (Laughs) I read the opening bit written by Andrew and immediately knew that it was the exact kind of opening that I would do for that kind of a story.

We started it right before the lockdown and then we were locked down separately, following the rules stringently like responsible citizens. We were very much in touch, texting back and forth. I know the pandemic has been awful for tens of millions of people but if you are collaborating on a book, it actually worked quite well. Because all we had were the words, which is very important. All the reader would ever have is the words. We can’t be there explaining what we mean or justifying why it is written the way it is. The words have to stand up for themselves.

The language of a Lee Child novel is always commented upon for the crispness of sentences that only adds to the suspense element of the story. So were you being particular while writing to stick to his style and were there any self-imposed rules?

Andrew: Absolutely and that really was the hardest thing. I have known Reacher for 24 years and he springs from my brother’s subconscious, which is very similar to mine in terms of who he is and how he responds to things, his values and his motivations. That’s second nature to me. But what is more difficult is how that is captured on the page. Particularly since I was very careful to write in a different style. It’s much harder because you get into a style of working for over a decade and then suddenly, you have to do a 180-degree turn and do that exact opposite of what you’d been trying to do. I put an enormous amount of effort to try and make each and every sentence and word sound like a Lee Child novel. If you are being strict while writing a book, every single word is chosen for a reason. There is nothing in there that you threw up at random.

We had an agreement at the beginning that we would never reveal who wrote which part, and I get a real kick when, every now and then, somebody tries to guess which parts I wrote and which parts Lee did. That’s a compliment because they are mostly always wrong!

You have spoken about wanting to update Reacher’s universe and technology forms the crux of the problem in The Sentinel. Was that your clarion call to establish to the world Reacher’s changing with the times?

Lee: It absolutely was! The author is only human and the story can only be what the author feels and knows. I was very aware that I was falling behind. I think it’s reassuring that Reacher is behind the times; the readers quite like that. Reacher’s technological inabilities are comforting for the readers. Reacher was getting too old-fashioned though because the modern world is passing me by. So that is what I said to Andrew ‘You do the story’ and I didn’t say make it modern, make it computer-y. I didn’t say that and this is what he came up with organically. It’s not about Reacher being moved into the future, it’s Reacher moving slightly closer to the present. That is going to be very important in the upcoming years. I was getting away with it for these many years but I couldn’t have got away with it for much longer. It’s no good telling another writer what to do, you just gotta run with it and he came up with a plot that was just perfect.

Andrew: I saw technology taking Reacher out of his comfort zone. Here was an intelligent, brave and courageous man who has defeated all sorts of enemies, now facing technology as a nemesis and this story is about how he deals with a villain that is very different and unknown to the hero.

Lee, you have said in the past that you do not like Jack Reacher. Is there anything about him that you love?

Lee: That comment you are talking about is just a misconstrued headline! I never said that I don’t like Reacher. I said that it’s very dangerous for an author to fall in love with his character because then it becomes bland and sugary. And you spend your time protecting the character and showing him in the best light. What I said was, as a strategy, I had always kept Reacher at arm’s length with the condition that I will like him less than you will like him. In fact, that’s the reason why you like him — because I am very honest about him. He is a very authentic and flawed character. He is alone, he is lonely, he cheats, he lies, he steals. He had all these bad things about him.

What I like about Reacher is his ability to do what I would like to do. Often we have walked down the street, witnessing some unfair incident unfolding around us and, as much as we would like to help, we don’t more often than not because of our inhibitions. That’s what I love about him, he is me doing all the right things.

And Andrew you said that he is like a brother to you but now you are also creating parts of his universe. So how has that relationship evolved?

Andrew: Funny thing, it feels very natural, honestly. It’s like a group of friends where someone might be busy at a given moment and someone might have other plans. It just feels like Reacher is hanging out with me more at the moment.

If Reacher wasn’t the person you were creating Lee, have you ever thought of an alternate character?

Lee: The honest answer from any writer is yes, probably 99 different scenarios, or ideas. But there is a huge gap between having the idea and producing a book. The former you can enjoy in 10 minutes while daydreaming on your couch. But writing a book, that’s a whole new game. You have to invest a year of your life into building that character. Reacher is my job and the other 99 are just pleasant daydreams.

Do you both have similar inspirations as well when it comes to the next story and the one after that?

Lee: That is a question I feel I can’t answer because I don’t know. Why do we want to build a product for others to enjoy? It’s obviously got to be an answer that is deeply psychological — we are seeking some kind of reaction to compensate for what we didn’t get as children. That is my only observation. In my line of business, I know all kinds of entertainers, actors, musicians and the likes. Most of them are doing it for the exact same reason, they lacked warmth of a kind in their childhood and that they are trying to get it. You can see a comedian on stage, just loving the applause coming his way and thoroughly enjoying it. This is true for any performer and certainly the same for me.

Andrew: I think that’s right and that’s why you keep on doing it over and over again. People talk about bucket lists, and they run a marathon or swim the English Channel and take it off the list, moving on to the next one. Bit if you do this for a living, that’s different. We keep coming back to September 1 (the date of publishing for Killing Floor, Lee’s first novel) every year. You sit down and you do it again. Sometimes you are struggling and miserable and yet somehow you keep at it. There must be something incredibly fundamental about the experience of coming back.

Tell us about the upcoming Amazon series on Jack Reacher.

Lee: It’s going to be great; we have Alan Ritchson (of Smallville fame), the actor who is exactly like Reacher. Everything is in plan but we are on a hiatus because of the virus. It’s postponed till spring and that’s not too bad because it gives us the kind of air we needed to shoot as well as focus on details like music. Because I think music plays an important role in this long-format series. Had we done it at the normal pace, we wouldn’t have had the time to pay attention to these details.

And because you said Ritchson is perfect to play Reacher, I would like to ask you about the mixed opinions surrounding Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher (the former is 5’7’’ and the fictional character is 6’5’’ in height!)

Lee: My feeling about Cruise was that he is a good friend and we had a great time personally. He is a delightful man and technically a superb actor. He is super interested in the art of storytelling. Initially, I thought the books stand alone and the movie is sort of separate; just an interpretation or an opinion. Yeah, he is too small but what difference does it make? And that sure turned out to be a mistake. I underestimated how book readers could be influenced by the choice of a movie actor. It wasn’t really a connection. I don’t regret it at all, I had a lot of fun, having worked in television before, it was like going home.