Lee Child's 6 favorite books

The best-selling author of 17 Jack Reacher novels recommends six debut novels that led to greater things

Lee Child
(Image credit: Sigrid Estrada)

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming (Thomas & Mercer, $15). Fleming was disillusioned after World War II and had a girlfriend who was pregnant, which back then meant a reluctant marriage. So he briefly escaped to Jamaica and wrote a spy novel he didn't think was very good. But a publisher took a chance, and James Bond became an icon. What if there'd been no pregnancy?

The Deep Blue Good-by by John D. MacDonald (Random House, $16). MacDonald, also restless after the war, broke away from his prosperous background to become a prodigious pulp wordsmith — Westerns, sci-fi, anything to pay the rent. Until, in the early '60s, he dreamed up a leathery boat bum named McGee and launched one of the greatest series ever. What if MacDonald had gone to work for GM?

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