He will only read for 50 minutes, but in that short time, the audience will get a good taste of Lee Child’s latest mystery novel “61 Hours.”
Child, author of the popular Jack Reacher mystery novels, will be at the Columbus Performing Arts Center on Tuesday for “Evenings with Authors” as part of his current book tour.
The event, which is put on by The Thurber House of Columbus, will include a 50-minute reading from “61 Hours,” a question-and-answer session with audience members and a book signing and reception. Refreshments will also be provided.
The Thurber House has been sponsoring “Evenings with Authors” for more than 25 years. The longevity of this event speaks to the series’ success, said Susanne Jaffe, the executive director of The Thurber House.
Jaffe said the audience varies each month, but the event is always popular. Months with popular authors sometimes draw a crowd of the author’s fans.
Other months, when the author is not as well-known, members still comes because they expect good things from the event, she said.
Jaffe said she chooses authors based on how she feels the audience will react to their work.
“I think there are certain books that are more appropriate than others for our audience,” she said.
“People attend movies because they want to see the movie. They come to see authors that they have an interest in,” Jaffe said. “It’s the same thing.”
Jaffe said Child’s success with readers was reason enough to bring him as part of The Thurber House’s series.
She said she thought he would “bring in a lot of mystery buffs” because of the nature of his novels.
“He’s humongously popular,” Jaffe said. “I think it’s a great lead character,” she said of why Child’s Jack Reacher novels are so successful with readers.
Reacher is a former military policeman who “is not afraid to take justice into his own hands,” according to Child’s website.
“61 Hours” is the 14th book in the Jack Reacher mystery series. It features Reacher in the middle of a South Dakota blizzard.
Throughout the book, Reacher risks his life to protect a witness who is being hunted by a killer.
Child began writing the Reacher novels at age 40 when he was fired from his job and took the opportunity to start writing novels, according to his website.
Jaffe said she expects Tuesday’s event to be extremely successful.
“It is probably going to be standing room only,” she said.
Jaffe said she hopes students will take advantage of the student discount for this event.
The Thurber House holds “Evenings with Authors” from September to November and from January to June.
Tuesday’s “Evenings with Authors” event with Lee Child begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Columbus Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $18 in advance or $20 at the door.
