The Book61 Hours is the 14th thriller written by Lee Child. Each of his books features his main character, Jack Reacher, an American ex-Military Policeman seeking redemption while travelling without baggage around the States.
61 Hours takes place in South Dakota. As the book starts, a lawyer is conducting some shady business at the local prison and then while distracted on returning home, skids on the frozen highway, causing a bus carrying 20 elderly tourists (and Jack Reacher) to land in a ditch, stranded outside the small town of Bolton.
Reacher soon realises all is not as it seems as he gets involved with a police department under pressure, a mystery concerning all old military installation, protecting a witness to a drugs transaction and a killer on the loose, potential police corruption and a criminal mastermind pulling strings from Mexico. All the while, this thriller is set against the backdrop of severe snowstorms that make travelling difficult and dangerous and the clock is counting down to a date with destiny.
In 2011, Child won the Novel of the Year Award for 61 Hours at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. What then will be the attitude of the Ponders End Book Club to Lee Child's book? Will they agree with the judgement of the award givers at the Harrogate festival or will they instead favour the opinions of a Booker Prize judge who has said that "hell would freeze over before a popular crime writer wins the Booker Prize"? I wonder which view will prevail......
The Author
Lee Child is a prolific and popular thriller writer with his books selling over 50 million copies worldwide (apparently one per second). Child might seem the quintessential American thriller writer but he is actually British born and bred. Child was born Jim Grant in 1954 in Coventry, England. Before becoming an author, Child studied at law school in Sheffield and then joined Granada Television where he worked as a presentation director. While working for Granada, hew was involved in producing a number of high profile and popular TV series including 'Brideshead Revisted', 'The Jewel in the Crown', 'Prime Suspect' and 'Cracker'.
After being made redundant from his job at Granada TV, Child decided to embark on a writing career and described writing as 'the purest form of entertainment'. His first novel, "Killing Floor" was published in 1997 and he moved to the United States in 1998 with his American wife, Jane. Since this date, Child has continued to publish a book a year. always featuring his main character, 'Jack Reacher'.
More information
You can find out more about Lee Child and his latest novels at http://www.leechild.com
