Talk:Lee Child

message: I’ve read in an interview on a new website (www.jackreacher.co.uk ) that Lee Child would have called his biography “Always Lucky... the Most Fortunate Man Who Ever Lived". He seems to be a very optimist man! And my question is how do you think Jack Reacher would name his biography? 
Bradleyjohn 17:39, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: I just read Mr. Child's first book and when looking further into the author's work I found his website notes that Lee Child is not his legal name and the site declines to give his "real name". I think the fact that "Lee Child" is a pseudonym should at least be noted in the article, but I'm not adequately familiar with the subject to feel comfortable just dumping it in without any context. 70.16.72.15 06:23, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Pen name

message: Annual sales of over 31 million?  I don't believe it!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Saintmesmin (talk • contribs) 12:18, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I see it's been removed. That would have no place in the article unless verified.
In case anyone wants to update this.... James Grant (not Jim) is Lee Child's legal name, but as Child is the name he is known by publicly and professionally, that is how he should be referred to. His current sales (as of 2009) are approximately 6 million books per year worldwide (according to the NY Times, a number which is realistic).  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.255.43.24 (talk) 19:50, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  sales - "a book a second" 

message: The percentage of enemy female soldiers in Vietnam is not Childs' only error. In one novel he keeps referring to the pastor of a country church as a "vicar". This is a totally UK/Commonwealth tearm.
A protestant pastor in rural America is almost universally called
"preacher". Other tearms may be "reverend" or "pastor". I have never heard a rural or city pastor called "vicar" in the U.S.
He also refers to model 1911 type pistols holding seven rounds as "junk". That will be news to the millions of military personnel,law enforcement officers and civilians who have carried these pistols and used them successfully for almost a century. In fact, many elite military and SWAT teams
choose the 1911 type over any other.
And then there is the statement that the Chevrolet Caprice is the "best" police cruiser ever. I guess that's why 85% of all police cars in the U.S. are Ford Crown Victorias.
I really like Childs' Reacher novels, but maybe his editors should get some blame for not noticing this stuff.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.230.246.232 (talk) 23:02, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Talk pages are for discussing ways to improve the article (see WP:TALKPAGE) - this isn't a good place to post general book reviews. If you can find a notable source that makes these criticisms (e.g. a review published in a noteworthy media outlet), that could certainly be mentioned in the article. --GenericBob (talk) 06:40, 8 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Other errors 

message: In the southern hemisphere, the seasons do not match up with those of the northern hemisphere.  Accurate release dates with the appropriate country appended would provide more accuracy to the article.  However difficult following these up may be, it would be worthwhile as the popularity of the author grows throughout the world.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.119.29.144 (talk) 21:38, 25 February 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Use of 'spring' and 'fall' as means of describing when various books were/will be released 

message: As the title of the article is 'Lee Child', the author should be referred to as 'Child' throughout, and not 'Grant'.  Acknowledging that 'Child' is the pesudonym of 'James Grant' or 'Jim Grant' should be done in the first paragraph, with footnotes or appropriate reasoning present.  Vaughn  178.119.29.144 (talk) 21:45, 25 February 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: I wondered about this. There seems to be an inconsistency within the article, so I have changed the Childs to Grants as most were Grant, with only the occasional Child. Personally, I think it should stay as Grant as that is his name. How do other pages featuring authors with pseudonyms organise their work? I can only think of Ruth Rendell as an example! --90.244.49.149 (talk) 19:25, 9 November 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: If you search for Theodor Seuss Geisel it will redirect you to the Dr. Seuss page. Dr. Seuss is only mentioned as the pen name for Geisel numerous times but the article is mainly referring to the author as Theodor Seuss Geisel and not as Dr. Seuss.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.24.49.245 (talk) 20:19, 10 June 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lee / Grant 

message: Why is the fact that Child is a fan of Aston Villa Football Club in the lead? Wouldn't it be better placed in the bio section? It feels weird to put so much emphasis on it when it doesn't seem, from the rest of the article, to be one of the most important aspects of his life or work... I'll be repositioning that sentence in the biography section. Juniper4589 (talk) 09:46, 15 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Fan of Aston Villa? 

message: 29 October 1954 seems to be the consistent birthdate. Coventry source seems reliable, plus some literary blogs which seem more credible than your average non-WP:RS ( ). Dl2000 (talk) 14:23, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: DOB check

message: I did not get that part :
"A 2012 interview suggested that many aspects of the Jack Reacher novels (including Child's pen name, and Reacher's partially French ancestry) were deliberately aimed at maintaining the books' profitability"
Maybe someone should explain that. 
--Caviar d'Aberdeen (talk) 21:33, 29 April 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  French ancestry 

message: Is his name actually Jim, or is that just a nickname for James?--90.244.49.149 (talk) 19:27, 9 November 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: It appears that his real name is James with Jim being a nickname for it. He's referred to as Jim more often than James when his real name is mentioned in conjunction with Lee Child's. It could be that's how he prefers to be called.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by BobM NH (talk • contribs) 21:01, 10 June 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: "James D."  Does anyone know what the "D." stands for?  rags (talk) 19:40, 1 August 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Jim or James 

message: ...for the effort to create and sustain a reasonably well-referenced and presented article. This article shines, in particular, alongside the fictional character article that also appears here at Wikipedia. Le Prof.  71.201.62.200 (talk) 21:38, 5 September 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Two suggestions in any case: The "being made redundant from his job due to corporate restructuring" fails to capture the actual content of the source that is cited, where a later mention of "anger" is more to the point. Grant's skulduggery and machinations for the two years before he was ultimately and precipitously fired — an early message-firing at that — deserves a longer and more careful presentation (esp. given the fine source that was found and cited). Otherwise, the Daily Mail paragraph in his personal life section gives far too much space to the issue at hand, and too much space to the repudiated Daily Mail claim. I think a paragraph half as long, and leading with the trssuth, rather than the falsehood, is a better aim. 71.201.62.200 (talk) 21:46, 5 September 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Thank you

message: This short story also occupies pp. 513 to 592 of the Random House edition of Never Go Back.  Should I add this parenthetically with the 'electronic' mention?  rags (talk) 19:34, 1 August 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: "High Heat"

message: "He is especially known for his "Reacher" series ...  To my knowledge, ALL of his fiction has included Reacher.  I am thinking to rephrase this slightly.  rags (talk) 20:48, 1 August 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lede 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Something should be mentioned about Child's politics &ideology reflected in his writings. He uses the "old white guy" as criminal mastermind quite often, "white supremacist" gangs quite often as opponents for Reacher, etc. Half the time the setting of some villainous plot is a rural western or southern town, with their (white male) inhabitants depicted as total assholes (and quite invested in the aforementioned villainous plot). The character sometimes makes big of supposed racial, political, and institutional "injustices." Reacher, although supposedly a trained ex MP alpha male, never uses a weapon unless some opponent has lost one to him, and generally hesitates toward characters who use weapons - sometimes portraying them in a very biased manner.
In "Die Trying," Child spends LITERALLY HALF THE BOOK selling readers his narrative of what American militias are , i.e., incompetent, violent, suicidal, cults that kidnap women, send out truck bombs, murders people just for the sake of it, establish enclaves without any interposition, act irrationally. He goes to a shitload of trouble to make us dislike the  - white fat man - who leads this militia?cult?enclave? - and then has him describe in a detailed manner to Reacher his ideology, for no reason at all, other than to make political statements. Then he drills into the reader the name of the murderous, extremely deluded antagonist group: the "Montana Militia." The Montana Militia. The Montana Militia. The Montana Militia.
Total bullshit. But of course I realize u guys are a leftist site, no point in trying to rectify that, but the political underwritings should be reported in this article.
Jasonbourne033 (talk) 17:21, 30 May 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Wikipedia is not a forum for discussion about personal opinions on a subject.--Dmol (talk) 18:21, 30 May 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Ok, so don't include my opinions about it. But include the facts. Article completeness would benefit from a "Political leanings" subsection. Jasonbourne033 (talk) 02:30, 31 May 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Political undercurrents in the Jack Reacher books