Jack Reacher author Lee Child said his CBE is a “great honour”.
The writer, whose literary action hero has been brought to life on the big screen by Tom Cruise, said in a statement: “Someone read my books and enjoyed them enough to put my name forward for this great honour, which in itself is all a writer could ask for.”
The 64-year-old, whose real name is James ‘Jim’ Grant, was born in Coventry, but grew up in Birmingham.
One of his books is reportedly sold every nine seconds.
His writing career developed later on in his life and he only started putting pen to paper at the age of 40, after being made redundant after an 18-year-career in television.
According to his official website, during his time in television, his company made Brideshead Revisited, Prime Suspect and Cracker.
The crime writer has residences in the US and UK (a farm in East Sussex), but lives predominantly in Manhattan, New York. He has also retained his British citizenship.
The big screen aside, there are also plans afoot for the Reacher books to be adapted into a TV series.
“If you can see a bandwagon, it’s too late to get on.” #KillingFloor #TuesdayThoughts pic.twitter.com/Rsx3UCWrbW
— Lee Child (@LeeChildReacher) June 4, 2019
Speaking to the Press Association in November last year, Child said: “The whole landscape has changed. Now, TV and Netflix is the way to go.
“We want to do long bingeing seasons which are streamed, much more character-based, with much more time and space to tell the story.
“I’ve got nothing bad to say about Tom Cruise. He’s a terrific guy and a pleasure to know, but readers didn’t like him as Reacher. My loyalty is first and foremost to my readers.”
The author, who is married and has a grown-up daughter, is described on his website as being “tall and slim, despite an appalling diet and a refusal to exercise”.
His fans, who dub themselves “Reacher Creatures”, will be pleased to hear the demise of Jack Reacher is not something that will happen any time soon.
Last year, Child told Press Association: “People love him and it would be gratuitously cruel if he actually died.”
Child is made a CBE for services to literature.