Zero Margin: From the World of Reacher

Frances Neagley #1

by Lee Child, Yasmin Angoe

The first explosive thriller in a Reacher spin-off series starring Frances Neagley—the inspiration for the upcoming Prime streaming series Neagley—from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child and critically acclaimed author Yasmin Angoe.

A kidnapped boy. A corrupt shadow network. A mission that turns personal. Neagley is about to be pushed to her limits.

Former U.S. Army Master Sergeant Frances Neagley has a simple set of protect the innocent, expose the guilty, leave no one behind. But this time, Neagley is fighting a war that tramples all her principles. When a desperate encrypted call reaches her, Neagley reconnects with Madeline Baker, her former commanding officer, now the wealthy CEO of a public security company, and one of the few people she still respects. Baker’s son has been taken by a covert syndicate that defies governments, borders, and death itself.

Neagley assembles a precision strike team and dives into a labyrinth of dark-web auctions, compromised intelligence officials, and off-the-books military tech. But every lead points back to one impossible the mastermind is someone they know. Now the mission is personal. And Neagley knows one some missions you choose. Others choose you.

336 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication March 23, 2027

About the author

Lee Child was born October 29th, 1954 in Coventry, England, but spent his formative years in the nearby city of Birmingham. By coincidence he won a scholarship to the same high school that JRR Tolkien had attended. He went to law school in Sheffield, England, and after part-time work in the theater he joined Granada Television in Manchester for what turned out to be an eighteen-year career as a presentation director during British TV's "golden age." During his tenure his company made Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown, Prime Suspect, and Cracker. But he was fired in 1995 at the age of 40 as a result of corporate restructuring. Always a voracious reader, he decided to see an opportunity where others might have seen a crisis and bought six dollars' worth of paper and pencils and sat down to write a book, Killing Floor, the first in the Jack Reacher series.

Killing Floor was an immediate success and launched the series which has grown in sales and impact with every new installment. The first Jack Reacher movie, based on the novel One Shot and starring Tom Cruise and Rosamund Pike, was released in December 2012.

Lee has three homes—an apartment in Manhattan, a country house in the south of France, and whatever airplane cabin he happens to be in while traveling between the two. In the US he drives a supercharged Jaguar, which was built in Jaguar's Browns Lane plant, thirty yards from the hospital in which he was born.

Lee spends his spare time reading, listening to music, and watching the Yankees, Aston Villa, or Marseilles soccer. He is married with a grown-up daughter. He is tall and slim, despite an appalling diet and a refusal to exercise.