98 | May• 2019
write. The published result a few
years later was the novelKilling Floor,
which was to become the first in the
intriguing Jack Reacher series. “In
the US, the first print run was 18,000
copies, which is not many,” he recalls.
“Now I get 18,000 copies shoplifted in
Manhattan alone.”
Sentimentally, Child continues
the tradition of starting each new
novel on September 1 every year,
with no outline in place, tapping
away on the keyboard of his com-
puter with two fingers as he’s never
learnt to touch type.
“I get up disgracefully late and
start working at about 1pm. I have
few rules in my life but one strict
rule is nothing of value is ever
achieved in the morning. The way“Everything feels like a high-wire act.
It’s like a drug...It’s a never-ending
treadmillof self-torture”
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