Among the highlights of the last month was a great podcast conversation with Andrew Child, brother of Lee Child and the author of the last several Jack Reacher books. We discussed his earliest books, and a few of mine, as well as the challenges of taking over a successful series (as Andrew took over Reacher from his brother).
Most of Andrew's stories are set in big cities, like New York and Chicago. That makes a lot of sense for a man who is originally from Birmingham, then New York and Chicago in the U.S. My new book, Echoes in a Stone, takes a reader from Anchorage, to Seattle, and Taipei. I spent years of my pre-writing life building companies and doing political and business consulting around the world. At one point I'd visited so many cities in one year that I woke one morning and had to check my plane ticket to remember where I was.
But a guy with my background craves the ability to get away. That probably explains why a one-year business commitment in Alaska has turned into decades of adventures. And as I get older, I've come to believe that wild places fill a place in the soul, pushing out stress and concerns. Most of us carry the weight of the world, career, family, and social issues hung around our neck. In my travels I found that few people have discovered the power of wild places to help us find what is really important.
In fact, few have ever walked in wilderness, or floated a wild river, or paddled a canoe across a lake where the only sounds are rustling leaves and the call of a loon. But I have, and every experience brings me joy. Even after moments of fear or action, like having a grizzly bear with cubs walk behind me while I'm out in a river with a fly rod, it brings me peace.
Few thriller readers have experienced that, which is why most of my books take a reader into the wild as well as to urban settings. My love of books began reading stories that took me places that I thought I would never see. Eventually my writing has allowed me to visit many of those places. I want readers to join me, to feel how the temporary absence of urban hustle can simplify problem solving, entertain, and leave you with a sense of peace.
Many of my stories feature heroes, bad guys, and dangerous wild places, which makes solving the crises in the story a three-way challenge. In the end, the survivors will probably go sit on a rock near a clear running stream and recover. This comes from one of my strongest personal beliefs: "In the future nothing will be more valuable than the ability to be alone."
And how does Andrew Child fit into this narrative? He and his wife left the city and moved into a home in the wilds of Wyoming.