Lee Child?s first literary claim to fame is that he went to the same high school that J.R.R. Tolkien attended. The second, of course, is his Jack Reacher books. After being fired from his 18-year-long career in British television, he decided to use his sudden free time to try his hand at writing, eventually creating a character who, like him, was suddenly downsized (this time from a military policeman) and adrift in a world he wasn?t familiar with. The book, Killing Floor, was an instant hit, and the Reacher series has grown more popular with each new installment. Dividing his time between his homes in Manhattan and the south of France, he remains remarkably slim despite an appalling diet and a refusal to exercise.