SUMMER SPECIAL: Lee Child on Jack Reacher, AI & Reading in Prisons

Philippa is joined by the legendary Lee Child — creator of Jack Reacher, published in over 120 countries with more than 40 million books sold — for this summer special. They cover holidays, the Reacher handover to brother Andrew Child, artificial intelligence, and why literacy in prisons matters more than you might think.

☀️ Holiday Chat

Lee hasn't had a proper holiday in 10 years — when you've been on 70 planes in a single year, home starts to look like a very good option. He and Philippa discuss:

• Why 40% writing and 60% promotion means travel has lost its appeal
• Dream holiday: two weeks in Antigua with a book a day plus a 25% margin for ones he doesn't get on with
• The accidental best holiday of his life — a British Airways voucher, a paper ticket, a pilot who said "you're here, let's go," and a tiny Cessna to an almost uninhabited Bahamian island
• The villa in Tobago that promised a cook and delivered disappointment
• The Soviet Union trip he always wanted but never took — and why a Russian jail would be his true holiday nightmare
• Reading on the beach with the "commentary track" switched on — and the moment in Seven that made him think "they wouldn't dare" and then they did

🎙️ Jack Reacher: Exit Strategy & Chain Reaction

Lee explains the creative handover to his brother Andrew Child, why it was never really a handover at all, and how the two of them have always been on the same wavelength — sometimes literally finishing each other's sentences about Russian oligarchs falling from windows.

They discuss:

• How Andrew is now doing "all the hard work" while Lee does "the fun work" — which is just talking
• Why Lee stopped writing when he felt he was running out of gas, and why he'd rather stop than phone it in
• The brilliant passive opening of Exit Strategy — a note slipped into Reacher's pocket in a coffee shop
• Why Reacher works as a proxy for every reader who's ever wanted to help but couldn't
• Chain Reaction (out 20th October): a tech town, solar farms, data centres, and Reacher's feelings about the world's first trillionaires
• Andrew's two contributions to the reset: more Reacher dialogue, and dragging him slightly further into the modern world

📚 Literacy, Prisons & Why Reading Saves Lives

Lee talks about his prison literacy work and his involvement with The Queen's Reading Room — and the research showing that just five minutes of reading reduces stress hormones by 20%. Plus why Quick Reads matter, why TV adaptations are a brilliant way in for reluctant readers, and why some women end up in prison simply because they couldn't read an official letter.

🍦 Ice Cream Order

Vanilla, in a bowl, with hot fudge sauce — slightly melty — and yes, a 99 Flake if one's going.

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Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.

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