Jack Reacher owes his life (such as it is) to Lee Child. Lee Child owes a big part of his livelihood to Jack Reacher.
Funny that those two guys aren’t a lot closer, but that’s the way it needs to be, Child said.
“You have got to keep a distance. If you start getting too close to the character, the whole thing falls apart,” the best-selling author said in a phone interview. “It gets too sugary, too defensive.”
Child said he has a rule for defining his relationship with Reacher: “I want to like him less than you’re going to like him.”
If You Go: Authors & Illustrators Dinner
What: Authors & Illustrators Dinner with Lee Child, author of the “Jack Reacher” novels.
When: 7 p.m. today. Silent auction starts at 5 p.m.
Where: Hilton Vancouver Washington, 301 W. Sixth St., Vancouver.
Cost: $80.
Information: 360-906-4700 or www.fvrlf.org
And boy, do people ever like Reacher. He’s the hard-boiled hero of a series of novels penned by Child, who headlines tonight’s fundraising event for the Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation.
The annual Authors & Illustrators Dinner is at 7 p.m. at the Hilton Vancouver Washington, 301 W. Sixth St.; a silent auction starts at 5 p.m.
Since 1995, Child has written 20 titles featuring the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Reacher. The former Army cop follows in the tradition of fictional tough guys that include Travis McGee, the hero-for-hire created by John D. MacDonald, and Spenser, the Boston private eye originated by Robert B. Parker.
“I loved Spenser, the Travis McGee series,” Child said. “I love series as a whole, which is why I write one. I love the comfort and familiarity of seeing these characters once a year.”
Child’s stories are getting another showcase these days, thanks to film adaptations of his books. “Jack Reacher” came out in 2012, with Tom Cruise in the title role.
” ‘Never Go Back’ is being made right now,” Child said. “They’re three weeks into shooting. It will be released in October 2016.”
Cruise again will portray Reacher, even though the box-office magnet falls somewhat short of 6-foot-5 and 240.
“I’m fine with that,” Child said. “He’s a fine actor, and he’s a nice guy.”
Maybe Cruise doesn’t physically resemble his creation, Child said, “But who does?”
Child, who grew up in Birmingham, England, is no stranger to dramatic productions. He had an 18-year career with Granada Television when it was turning out classics such as “Brideshead Revisited,” “The Jewel in the Crown” and “Prime Suspect.”
Child was fired in a corporate reorganization and thought he’d try his luck as a writer. The result was “Killing Floor,” the first Jack Reacher book.
Working on TV shows and writing novels “seem related, but they’re really unrelated,” Child said.
In television, “the audience is very large, the reaction is very swift, and you very quickly learn about keeping the audience happy. TV is all teamwork all the time. It’s fun because you’re surrounded by fun people. But if it’s a great show, you can’t take the credit because 100 other people were involved. If it’s a failure, 100 people are involved.
“I love the immediacy of writing,” Child said. “Me and the reader: two people connected for 48 hours.”
