Author Lee Child: 'I can't have a bad guy named after a Villa player, though I did have Milosevic'

“The president radiated charm and charisma and power. He stepped over to where Tyler was standing and said, ‘I’m Jacob Ramsey’.“Then Ramsey made the introductions. He pointed and said, ‘John McGinn, my national security advisor. Matthew Cash, the NSA director’.”That excerpt, taken from a 2025 short story titled Eleven Numbers, is a diversion from Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books, which regularly top The New York Times’ bestseller list, but carries on a key ingredient of them, which is sometimes subtle and sometimes obvious. That being Aston Villa Football Club.Advertisement