I'd never believed in luck. Never had any cause to. Never relied on it, because I never could. Lee Child More Quotes by Lee Child More Quotes From Lee Child This was like July 13th, 1943, the pivotal day of the Battle of the Kursk. We were like Alexander Vasilevsky, the Soviet general. If we attacked now, this minute, we had to keep on and on attacking until the enemy was run off his feet and the war was won. If we bogged down or paused for breath even for a second, we would be overrun again. Lee Child july running war You do not mess with the special investigators. Lee Child investigators mess special They found out about him in July and stayed angry all through August. They tried to kill him in September. It was way too soon. They weren't ready. The attempt was a failure. It could have been a disaster, but it was actually a miracle. Because nobody noticed. Lee Child july miracle august The key to thrillers is vicarious pleasure. Lee Child vicarious pleasure keys I just felt from personal observation that there is nothing more dislocated or alienated than a lifelong military person trying to cope in civilian life. It's like two completely separate planets. Lee Child military trying two British crime stories tend to be very internal, psychological, claustrophobic, very limited in terms of geography. Lee Child crime psychological stories The thriller is not a recent invention. It probably goes back to the dawn of storytelling. Lee Child invention storytelling dawn I don't know what the secret is when I am writing it - it really is a surprise to me. Lee Child surprise secret writing I grew up in Birmingham, where they made useful things and made them well. Lee Child birmingham grew-up made My mother still calls me Jim and that is about it. Everyone else calls me Lee. My wife calls me whatever. Lee Child call-me wife mother I have a kind of old-fashioned, artisan approach. Lee Child artisans old-fashioned kind I love Italian food but that's too generic a term for what's available now: you have to narrow it down to Tuscan, Sicilian, and so on. Lee Child sicilian term italian All of us write wish fulfillment. Lee Child fulfillment wish writing Reacher said, "So here's the thing Brett. Either you take your hand off my chest, or I'll take it off your wrist. Lee Child wrists said hands I felt alienated by the experience and decided to stay away from corporate employment. Lee Child corporate employment stay-strong I'm not afraid of death. Death's afraid of me. Lee Child not-afraid-of-death afraid-of-death not-afraid I had a teacher once, grade school somewhere. Philippines, I think, because she always wore a big white hat. So it was somewhere hot. I was always twice the size of the other kids, and she used to say to me: count to ten before you get mad, Reacher. And I've counted way past ten on this one. Way past. Lee Child teacher kids school People, Reacher was certain about. Dogs were different. People had freedom of choice. If a man or a woman ran snarling toward him, they did so because they chose to. They were asking for whatever they got. His response was their problem. But dogs were different. No free will. Easily misled. It raised an ethical problem. Shooting a dog because it had been induced to do something unwise was not the sort of thing Reacher wanted to do. Lee Child dog men people I like food, like any other guy, but it is not the main thing in my life. I can do without it. Lee Child other-guys guy can-do To fill a small bag means selecting,and choosing, and evaluating. There's no logicial end to that process. Pretty soon I would have a big bag, and then two or three. A month later I'd be like the rest of you. Lee Child three two mean
