Latest Jack Reacher thriller flys of the shelves

Kiwis can’t get enough of Jack Reacher.

Scandata just out shows a massive 5,315 copies of Lee Child’s latest thriller, 61 Hours, sold in just two days when the book went on sale last Friday sending it straight to the top of the NZ Bestseller chart (International Fiction). This out-performs the previous thirteen Reacher books.

The much-awaited thriller has also gone straight to number one in the US and UK.

We have over 31,000 copies out in the market and that’s cleaned the warehouse out. Needless to say, we’ve got more stock on order in readiness for Lee’s tour here mid- April. If the population numbers were the same, this is the equivalent of 525,000 copies in the UK and our first week sale is equivalent of 79,725 copies compared to 26,000 in the UK for those first few days of sales which is an outstanding performance says Random House publicist, Jennifer Balle.

New Zealanders fell to Reacher’s charms early on and we have always out-sold the other Lee Child markets per capita says Jennifer: “We seem to really respond to this former US military cop and maverick drifter’s quest for fairness and justice.”

And, Jennifer says our fondest for Jack Reacher down under hasn’t gone unnoticed by Lee Child.

In fact, Jennifer says that Lee actually mentioned at a recent publishing dinner organised in the UK to celebrate the publication of 61 Hours, how much he was looking forward to returning to New Zealand again. He’s genuinely very fond of us because we were the first to break his books through. The Brits and Aussies sat up and took notice of our extraordinary sales figures early on.

Reacher fans will have the chance to meet Lee and hear him speak at the various events and book signings planned for around the country (Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch and Dunedin) when he tours here 12-16 April.

For those still yet to discover the appeal of Jack, Jennifer says she usually gets people to think of a young Clint Eastwood and that usually does the trick. And, if Reacher was to own a car, it would have to be a beaten-up Mustang.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/61-hours-by-lee-child-1923461.html

Footnote:
Even Wellingtonians are mad for Jack. The Wellington event at the Duxton has just sold out with 508 tickets being snapped up.
People can, however, still catch Lee at his store signings on Wednesday, 14 April: Whitcoulls, Lambton Quay (12-12.30pm) &  Borders,
Lambton Quay (1-1.30pm).