Lee Child’s first autobiographical collection coming from Transworld in September 2025
Lee Child’s first autobiographical collection, Reacher: The Stories Behind the Stories, will be published by Transworld in September.
Sarah Adams, fiction and brand publisher, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Otto Penzler, of New York-based Mysterious Press, in a collection of origin tales for all of Lee Child’s solo-written Reacher novels. The book will be published by Bantam in hardback, trade paperback, e-book and audiobook on 9th September 2025. The audio book will be read by Child himself.
The book will also include an introduction and new Jack Reacher story from Child, along with an afterword by Penzler, crime fiction expert and bookseller, exploring the importance of the character and novels within contemporary crime fiction.
The stories were originally published by Penzler of New York-based The Mysterious Bookshop as forewords to 100-copy-run limited editions of the novels – this is the first time they have been published as a collection for a global audience.
Transworld said: “From urgently scribbling out his debut Killing Floor in pencil (the stub of which he still owns), to taking a step back after Blue Moon, and everything in between, here are 24 fascinating 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, to facing his first computer and the coming of the internet, to 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.”
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Transworld added: “Lee has clearly felt unwavering gratitude for his readers since 1997. And these honest, witty and wise reflections 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’.”
Child said: “Taken together, these forewords read like a diary of my writing life – and my real life, too – covering where I was, what was on my mind, what I was doing, what I was thinking. Even I am surprised at some of it.”
Adams said: “These gripping treats for Reacher fans (and indeed anyone interested in the craft of writing) are written with the same storytelling prowess that has made Lee Child a global megastar. It is a joy to hear his voice as he candidly recounts the story behind each of his novels. If anyone has heard Lee talk about his writing, they will know how entertainingly he does so. But what has moved me about this collection, and certainly the stories from the early years, is hearing Lee talk in real time – with so much of his own story yet to come. In so doing he has gifted readers a unique ‘behind-the-scenes’.”
She added: “Importantly, this collection chronicles the rise of an action icon, and we are extremely proud to be bringing it to market in the year of the 30th Reacher novel."
