The 10 most borrowed library books list makes for very macho reading

We always thought that people went to libraries to unwind, relax, and enjoy a few moments of tranquillity. We were wrong.

Data released today by Public Lending Right reveals that readers around the UK have in fact been enjoying the face-punching, gun-blasting, neck-snapping, throat-kicking badassery of Jack Reacher, borrowing the Lee Child novels from which he originates more than any other book available on the library shelves. Awesome.

The stats, which cover 2014-2015, give a great insight into the reading habits of the UK, including a near-obsession with thriller writer James Patterson, who topped the list for ‘most borrowed author’ for the ninth year running, as well as Coventry-born crime writer Child who supposedly sells a book every four seconds globally.

Here are the ten books that topped the chart, all of which should find their way into your hand soon (unless some blood-hungry bookworm has checked them out already). 

Personal by Lee Child

The nineteenth book in the Jack Reacher series sees our hard-hitting hero hunting a gunman that’s taken a shot at the French president by purposefully let him live. So successful was the book that it won the world’s most lucrative crime fiction award, the RBA International Prize for Crime Writing, netting Child a tidy 125k euros for his efforts. Pretty good for a writer who only decided to pick up a pen after losing his job in the television industry. 

Never Go Back by Lee Child

New York Times wrote that this “may be the best desert island reading in the series” thanks to the exceptional plot, wild surprises and Reacher’s peculiar nature. Our muscle-bound hero, one with “a chest like a suit of NFL armour and biceps like basketballs” is slated to make the leap from book to screen once again later this year (first time being back in 2012) with this story that sees him searching for a woman, only for trouble to find him instead. 

Abattoir Blues by Peter Robinson

The 22^nd book in the famous Inspector Banks series from this Yorkshire-born bestselling crime fiction writer sees the sharp-eyed protagonist take a look into a case of two missing boys, before Banks is faced with a race to save his own skin. 

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

Not heard of Robert Galbraith? That’d be because he doesn’t exist. Instead, this is the pen name of a little author you may know called JK Rowling. This is her second novel in a series that follows the investigations of private eye Cormoran Strike, this time taking a look into the mysterious disappearance of a novelist preparing to release a manuscript that’d destroy the lives of everyone around him. 

Invisible by James Patterson

He’s churned out a huge 300 novels to date, and dropped 15 books in 2014 alone. Of the lot, this proved most popular, a chilling and terrifying thriller centring on a girl hell bent on proving hundreds of unsolved rapes, kidnappings and murders are all linked.  

Unlucky 13 by James Patterson

The thirteenth book in Patterson’s hugely successful ‘Women’s Murder Club’ series sees Detective Lindsay Boxer piece together the case of two corpses found inside a wrecked car on the Golden Gate Bridge, while a psychopathic killer from her past comes back to haunt her. 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

It’s the book that had your girlfriend gripped from page one, and the film that made every boyfriend around the world look at his other half with very suspicious eyes. The sudden disappearance of the beautiful and clever Amy Dunne throws her husband into a world of finger-pointing, doubt and blame, only for the truth to reveal itself in a jaw-dropping and totally unexpected turn of events. 

Want You Dead by Peter James

In a pretty good attempt to scare us away from online dating forever, Brightonian detective Roy Grace must stop a psychopath with a dark past from destroying the life of the smouldering single lady Cameron whom he’s recently met over the internet. It’ll make you think twice before swiping right on Tinder. 

Be Careful What You Wish For by Jeffrey Archer

The whole political finances scandal and perverting the course of justice thing aside, it’s impossible to call Jeffrey Archer’s career in writing anything but phenomenally successful. Selling upwards of 300 million books around the world, and the only author to have been a number one bestseller in fiction (eighteen times), short stories (four times) and non-fiction (just the once), it’s clear to see why book lovers picked up Archer’s 2014 novel in their droves. 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

And now for something a little more light-hearted. The book that earned writer Jeff Kinney a spot on Time magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People In The World’ is a children’s novel in cartoons, following Greg Heffley’s perilous venture into a new school.