[2] The books follow the adventures of a former American military policeman, Jack Reacher, who wanders the United States.

[12] Grant joined Granada Television, part of the UK's ITV Network, in Manchester as a presentation director.

Grant was involved in the transmission of more than 40,000 hours of programming for Granada, writing thousands of commercials and news stories.

[15] After losing his job because of corporate restructuring,[13] Grant decided to start writing novels, which he later called "purest form of entertainment.

[18] The name has the advantage of placing his books alphabetically on bookshop and library shelves between crime fiction greats Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie.

[13] Grant has said that he came up with the name Reacher for the central character in his novels when he was grocery shopping with his wife Jane at Asda supermarket in Kendal, Cumbria, when he was living at Kirkby Lonsdale.

In a 2012 interview, Grant said many aspects of the Jack Reacher novels were meant to maintain the books' profitability, rather than for literary reasons.

[26] Child has listed John D. MacDonald, Alistair MacLean, and Robert B. Parker as influences on the Reacher series.

[27] In 2019, Child collaborated with musicians Jennifer and Scott Smith of the group Naked Blue on an album of music exploring Jack Reacher, in song.

"[28] In 2020 Child joined the Booker Prize judging panel, alongside chair Margaret Busby, Sameer Rahim, Lemn Sissay, and Emily Wilson.

[36] Jack Reacher series: Note: For consistency, ISBN is that of the Bantam Press (UK) hardcover, first printing only.

These include: Grant was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to literature.