Lee Child: MatchUp

“You’re saying I misjudged the man?”

“I believe so.”

He chuckled.

“Sister Anselm wrong? I’m marking that down on the calendar. As far as I know this is a singular occurrence.”

LARA ADRIAN is the author of more than twenty-five novels, including the Midnight Breed vampire romance series, with nearly four million books in print worldwide. She also writes as Tina St. John, where her historical romances have won numerous awards including the National Readers Choice, the Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer’s Choice, and the Booksellers Best. All her novels regularly appear in the top spots of all the major bestseller lists. She lives in Florida. To learn more, visit laradrian.com.

STEVE BERRY is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of twelve Cotton Malone adventures and four stand-alone thrillers. His books have been translated into forty languages with more than twenty-one million copies in fifty-one countries. He’s a member of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries Advisory Board and a founding member of International Thriller Writers—a group of more than thirty-eight hundred thriller writers from around the world—serving three years as its copresident. Find out more at steveberry.org.

C. J. BOX is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-three novels including the Joe Pickett series. He won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel in 2009, as well as the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, Barry Award, and the Western Heritage Award for Literature. His novels have been translated into twenty-seven languages. Four have been optioned for film and television. He’s an avid outdoorsman and lives with his wife, Laurie, on a ranch in Wyoming. His website is cjbox.net.

SANDRA BROWN is the author of sixty-seven New York Times best sellers. She has upward of eighty million copies of her books in print worldwide. She holds an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Texas Christian University, where she and her husband Michael Brown, have instituted an annual scholarship. She has served as president of Mystery Writers of America, and in 2008 was named a Thrillermaster, the top award given by International Thriller Writers. In 2011, she participated in a USO tour of thriller writers to Afghanistan. Lots more can be found at sandrabrown.net.

LEE CHILD was born in Coventry, England, but spent his formative years in the nearby city of Birmingham. In 1995, at the age of forty, as a result of being fired during a corporate restructuring, he decided to see an opportunity where others might have seen a crisis. So he bought six dollars’ worth of paper and pencils and sat down to write Killing Floor, the first in the Jack Reacher series. Now there are tens of millions of Reacher novels across the globe in too many languages to count, and two major motion pictures involving the character. He divides his time between Manhattan, France, and England. Check him out at leechild.com.

NELSON DEMILLE spent three years at Hofstra University, then joined the army and saw action as an infantry platoon leader in Vietnam, where he earned the Air Medal, Bronze Star, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. His first major novel was By the Rivers of Babylon, published in 1978. There have been many more since, most #1 New York Times best sellers. He is a past president of Mystery Writers of America and was named Thrillermaster by International Thriller Writers in 2015. He holds three honorary degrees: doctor of humane letters from Hofstra University, doctor of literature from Long Island University, and doctor of humane letters from Dowling College. He lives on Long Island, New York, with his wife and son. For more, visit nelsondemille.net.

DIANA GABALDON holds degrees in zoology, marine biology, a PhD in quantitative behavioral ecology, and an honorary doctorate in humane letters. She spent a dozen years as a university professor before venturing into novel writing, creating the phenomenally successful Outlander series, which is published in forty-two countries and thirty-eight languages. It is also a hugely popular television series on the Starz network. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her husband. Her website is dianagabaldon.com.

ANDREW GROSS majored in English at Middlebury College. After earning an MBA from Columbia University, he first worked at the Leslie Fay Companies, a women’s clothing firm started by his grandfather, then went into the sports apparel field. Eventually, he followed his dream and started writing. Ultimately, he became the author of fourteen New York Times bestselling thrillers, five cowriting with James Patterson and nine on his own. His books are now sold in over twenty-five countries. His latest, One Man, is a World War II thriller built on his own family’s history. He lives in Westchester County, New York, with his wife. Find out more at andrewgrossbooks.com.

CHARLAINE HARRIS was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta. First published in 1981, she was firmly embedded in the mystery genre before branching out into new territory. Starting with the premise of a young woman with a disability who wants to try interspecies dating, she created the Sookie Stackhouse urban fantasy series. The first book in the series, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001. The series, which ended in 2013, ultimately found readers in over thirty languages and became the HBO series True Blood . She lives in central Texas with her husband and, when not writing, takes care of a house full of rescue dogs. Learn more at charlaineharris.com.

LISA JACKSON is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than eighty-five thrillers. Before being published Lisa was a mother struggling to keep food on the table by writing novels, hoping that somebody would pay her for one of them. Eventually, that hope became a wonderful reality. Today, she’s neck deep in murder with over twenty million copies of her books worldwide. Learn more about her at lisajackson.com.

PETER JAMES is a bit of a rebel. In 1994, Penguin published his book Host on two floppy disks. Those disks are now in a London museum as the world’s first electronic novel. He is the author of twenty-eight novels with over seventeen million books worldwide. His list of awards is staggering. He’s also a self-confessed “petrol head,” at one time or another owning four Aston Martins, an AMG, a Brabus Mercedes, a Bentley Continental GT Speed, and two classic Jaguar E-Types. He still maintains an international racing license and divides his time between a country home near Brighton, Sussex, and his apartment in Notting Hill, London. To learn more, check out peterjames.com.

J.A. JANCE was introduced to Frank Baum’s Oz books as a second-grader. After reading the first book she was hooked, knowing from that moment on she wanted to be a writer. She published the first Detective J. P. Beaumont adventure, Until Proven Guilty, in 1985. Since then there have been twenty-one more Beaumont books. Two other series have joined the Beaumont collection, one with Arizona County Sheriff Joanna Brady and the other with a former Los Angeles news anchor turned mystery solver, Ali Reynolds. She divides her time between Bellevue, Washington, and Arizona. All things about her can be learned at jajance.com.

MICHAEL KORYTA is the author of eleven New York Times bestselling thrillers. Before turning to writing, he worked as a private investigator and a newspaper reporter, then taught at the Indiana University School of Journalism. His first novel, the Edgar-nominated Tonight I Said Goodbye, was accepted for publication when he was only twenty years old. He wrote his first two novels before graduating from college and was published in nearly ten languages before he fulfilled the “writing requirement” classes required for his diploma. He lives in Indiana with his wife, Christine, a cranky cat named Marlowe, an emotionally disturbed cat named John Pryor, and an exceedingly athletic dog of unknown heritage named Lola. For more check out michaelkoryta.com.