Lee Child and the Macho of Minimalism

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

The author Lee Child makes his home in a Manhattan condominium where white predominates. 

Story by JOANNE KAUFMAN - The New York Times - Published: August 30, 2013

To hear Lee Child tell it, the whole thing began well over half a century ago with a picture book.

“It was part of a series, but the only one in our library was ‘My Home in America,’ ” said Mr. Child, 58, the British-born author of nearly 20 best-selling thrillers centered on an idiosyncratic ex-military cop who answers to Jack Reacher (when he answers at all). “On each page there was a picture of a stereotypical residence like a prairie farmhouse, a California bungalow, a New England saltbox.

“But the only picture that was drawn from the inside of the house looking out was Manhattan,” Mr. Child added. “It had this apple-cheeked little boy sitting on a low windowsill looking out at the cityscape at night. And there were all the iconic buildings to anchor the message: This is New York. And I just felt, ‘I am that boy; I have to be there.’ ”

And so he is, on the 25th floor of a condominium in the Flatiron district. From the windows that run the length of the 1,000-square-foot space — a two-bedroom apartment turned into a one-bedroom — Mr. Child can see the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and the Metropolitan Life Tower.

“My building is in many ways undistinguished,” he said. “It’s like a dorm. There are a lot of first-year Wall Streeters, post-graddy types around, dudes with backward baseball caps going to get their pizza. It gives the place a slightly tiresome youthful air. But all those images in that picture book — now I’m looking at them for real. I just love the view.” 

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