I tried to finish this thing, mostly because I spent almost $15 on it. At about 60% I gave up. I was flipping through pages hoping that something was finally going to happen. Seriously, does Mr. Child do any research for his books? Does he have internet access?
1) I don't live in Oklahoma but the internet has cell phone coverage maps. It sure looks like almost every square inch of the state has some type of coverage. (Maybe someone from Oklahoma could confirm that.) Yeah, there might be some dead areas but not when driving for three hours. Which brings us to point number 2.
2) Oklahoma City is smack dab in the middle of the state. All of the wheat fields are west and northwest of OC. It is only 100 or so miles from downtown OC to the Texas border. Add another 100 and you're in Amarillo Texas. It's hard to tell exactly where this fictional town is set but even if it is up in the far northwest corner, it is only about 100 miles back down south to Amarillo. The northern border of the state is only 100 miles from OC and I-35 runs up that way, add another 100 and your in Wichita KS. Three hours at 50 mph and you should hit a good size town somewhere. And it probably has cell phone service.
3) Chicago. Our heroes determine that the bad guy has a network behind him because he has a gun. He couldn't take the gun on the airplane so someone must have supplied him with it. They incapacitate the bad guy and start using their cell phone again which they knew had been traced before. Why would you do that if you thought there was some network of bad guys? Go get a burner phone like you did earlier in the book.
4) The library. Our heroes find out their guy phoned from the library. Our heroes know they have been traced by their cell phones. Our heroes are so smart that they can't figure out that maybe the bad guys just might have the library under surveillance.
5) Chang uses an old FBI business card to fool people into thinking she is still with the FBI. No one ever asks to see, I don't know, A BADGE!!! Who on this planet doesn't know that any scam artist can print their own business cards? At home, on their personal printer.
I may have forgiven some of this nonsense if the book was any good but it was just deadly dull. I didn't care anymore. One last observation about my fellow readers. If you don't want a violent book don't read Lee Child or John Sandford. There are plenty of light mystery books out there you can select from.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Lee Child’s Reacher series has hit Book No. 20 with a resounding peal of wisecracking glee. Everything about it, starting with Reacher’s nose for bad news, is as strong as ever. . . . The big guy’s definitely on the upswing. The guy who writes about him is too.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“Lee Child has another winner with Make Me. . . . There’s a reason why Child is considered the best of the best in the thriller genre: He can take all these strange elements and clichés and make them compelling and original.”—Associated Press
“A superb thriller.”—New York Daily News
“Child’s complete command of the story makes this thriller work brilliantly.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“I’ve read all twenty of Lee Child’s novels. Maybe there’s something wrong with me. But I can’t wait for the twenty-first.”—Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker
“[The Reacher series] is the current gold standard in the genre. . . . In Make Me Lee Child delivers another Jack Reacher specialty; the total knockout.”—Dayton Daily News
“Child serves up wingding plots, pithy dialogue, extraordinary background on intriguing topics, and cunningly constructed suspense. But what keeps us coming back—by the millions—is the chance to walk around in the skin of that big guy in the middle of everything.”—The Oregonian
“A dark thriller . . . Lee Child’s Make Me, the twentieth in his wildly popular Jack Reacher series, delivers exactly what readers have come to expect from the perennial bestselling author: interesting characters, tight plots and page-turning action. . . . Readers won’t be disappointed.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Jack Reacher is back. . . . Readers new to this series will find this book a good starting point, and fans will be pleased to see Jack again.”—LibraryReads (Top Ten Pick)
“The reigning champ ups the ante. . . . Yes, there’s breakneck action, but what gives this one its zing is the multilayered plot. . . . The beguiling Chang offers a new treat for series fans as well, and a surprise at the end will keep readers short of breath until the next installment begins.”—Booklist (starred review)
“This series remains as compulsively readable as ever. Child is a master of pacing, stretching out the mystery through short chapters that give rise to bursts of well-choreographed violence. . . . Of course, the biggest strength is Reacher himself: impassive, analytical, secretly romantic, and relentlessly honorable. It’s impossible not to root for him. . . . Reacher is still going strong. Will satisfy fans—and newcomers, too.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Lee Child has another winner with Make Me. . . . There’s a reason why Child is considered the best of the best in the thriller genre: He can take all these strange elements and clichés and make them compelling and original.”—Associated Press
“A superb thriller.”—New York Daily News
“Child’s complete command of the story makes this thriller work brilliantly.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“I’ve read all twenty of Lee Child’s novels. Maybe there’s something wrong with me. But I can’t wait for the twenty-first.”—Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker
“[The Reacher series] is the current gold standard in the genre. . . . In Make Me Lee Child delivers another Jack Reacher specialty; the total knockout.”—Dayton Daily News
“Child serves up wingding plots, pithy dialogue, extraordinary background on intriguing topics, and cunningly constructed suspense. But what keeps us coming back—by the millions—is the chance to walk around in the skin of that big guy in the middle of everything.”—The Oregonian
“A dark thriller . . . Lee Child’s Make Me, the twentieth in his wildly popular Jack Reacher series, delivers exactly what readers have come to expect from the perennial bestselling author: interesting characters, tight plots and page-turning action. . . . Readers won’t be disappointed.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Jack Reacher is back. . . . Readers new to this series will find this book a good starting point, and fans will be pleased to see Jack again.”—LibraryReads (Top Ten Pick)
“The reigning champ ups the ante. . . . Yes, there’s breakneck action, but what gives this one its zing is the multilayered plot. . . . The beguiling Chang offers a new treat for series fans as well, and a surprise at the end will keep readers short of breath until the next installment begins.”—Booklist (starred review)
“This series remains as compulsively readable as ever. Child is a master of pacing, stretching out the mystery through short chapters that give rise to bursts of well-choreographed violence. . . . Of course, the biggest strength is Reacher himself: impassive, analytical, secretly romantic, and relentlessly honorable. It’s impossible not to root for him. . . . Reacher is still going strong. Will satisfy fans—and newcomers, too.”—Kirkus Reviews
Review
Lee Child s Reacher series has hit Book No. 20 with a resounding peal of wisecracking glee. Everything about it, starting with Reacher s nose for bad news, is as strong as ever. . . . The big guy s definitely on the upswing. The guy who writes about him is too. Janet Maslin, "The New York Times"
""
Lee Child has another winner with"Make Me." . . . There s a reason why Child is considered the best of the best in the thriller genre: He can take all these strange elements and cliches and make them compelling and original. Associated Press
A superb thriller. New York "Daily News"
""
Child s complete command of the story makes this thriller work brilliantly. "Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
I ve read all twenty of Lee Child s novels. Maybe there s something wrong with me. But I can t wait for the twenty-first. Malcolm Gladwell, "The New Yorker"
""
[The Reacher series] is the current gold standard in the genre. . . . In "Make Me" Lee Child delivers another Jack Reacher specialty; the total knockout. "Dayton Daily News"
""
Child serves up wingding plots, pithy dialogue, extraordinary background on intriguing topics, and cunningly constructed suspense. But what keeps us coming back by the millions is the chance to walk around in the skin of that big guy in the middle of everything. "The Oregonian"
""
A dark thriller . . . Lee Child s "Make Me, " the twentieth in his wildly popular Jack Reacher series, delivers exactly what readers have come to expect from the perennial bestselling author: interesting characters, tight plots and page-turning action. . . . Readers won t be disappointed. Minneapolis "Star Tribune"
""
Jack Reacher is back. . . . Readers new to this series will find this book a good starting point, and fans will be pleased to see Jack again. "LibraryReads "(Top Ten Pick)
The reigning champ ups the ante. . . . Yes, there s breakneck action, but what gives this one its zing is the multilayered plot. . . . The beguiling Chang offers a new treat for series fans as well, and a surprise at the end will keep readers short of breath until the next installment begins. "Booklist "(starred review)
This series remains as compulsively readable as ever. Child is a master of pacing, stretching out the mystery through short chapters that give rise to bursts of well-choreographed violence. . . . Of course, the biggest strength is Reacher himself: impassive, analytical, secretly romantic, and relentlessly honorable. It s impossible not to root for him. . . . Reacher is still going strong. Will satisfy fans and newcomers, too. "Kirkus Reviews"" --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
""
Lee Child has another winner with"Make Me." . . . There s a reason why Child is considered the best of the best in the thriller genre: He can take all these strange elements and cliches and make them compelling and original. Associated Press
A superb thriller. New York "Daily News"
""
Child s complete command of the story makes this thriller work brilliantly. "Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
I ve read all twenty of Lee Child s novels. Maybe there s something wrong with me. But I can t wait for the twenty-first. Malcolm Gladwell, "The New Yorker"
""
[The Reacher series] is the current gold standard in the genre. . . . In "Make Me" Lee Child delivers another Jack Reacher specialty; the total knockout. "Dayton Daily News"
""
Child serves up wingding plots, pithy dialogue, extraordinary background on intriguing topics, and cunningly constructed suspense. But what keeps us coming back by the millions is the chance to walk around in the skin of that big guy in the middle of everything. "The Oregonian"
""
A dark thriller . . . Lee Child s "Make Me, " the twentieth in his wildly popular Jack Reacher series, delivers exactly what readers have come to expect from the perennial bestselling author: interesting characters, tight plots and page-turning action. . . . Readers won t be disappointed. Minneapolis "Star Tribune"
""
Jack Reacher is back. . . . Readers new to this series will find this book a good starting point, and fans will be pleased to see Jack again. "LibraryReads "(Top Ten Pick)
The reigning champ ups the ante. . . . Yes, there s breakneck action, but what gives this one its zing is the multilayered plot. . . . The beguiling Chang offers a new treat for series fans as well, and a surprise at the end will keep readers short of breath until the next installment begins. "Booklist "(starred review)
This series remains as compulsively readable as ever. Child is a master of pacing, stretching out the mystery through short chapters that give rise to bursts of well-choreographed violence. . . . Of course, the biggest strength is Reacher himself: impassive, analytical, secretly romantic, and relentlessly honorable. It s impossible not to root for him. . . . Reacher is still going strong. Will satisfy fans and newcomers, too. "Kirkus Reviews"" --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
About the Author
Lee Child is the author of twenty New York Times bestselling Jack Reacher thrillers, eleven of which have reached the #1 position. All have been optioned for major motion pictures; the first, Jack Reacher, was based on One Shot. Foreign rights in the Reacher series have sold in almost a hundred territories. A native of England and a former television director, Lee Child lives in New York City.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1
Moving a guy as big as Keever wasn’t easy. It was like trying to wrestle a king-size mattress off a waterbed. So they buried him close to the house. Which made sense anyway. The harvest was still a month away, and a disturbance in a field would show up from the air. And they would use the air, for a guy like Keever. They would use search planes, and helicopters, and maybe even drones.
They started at midnight, which they thought was safe enough. They were in the middle of ten thousand acres of nothingness, and the only man-made structure their side of any horizon was the railroad track to the east, but midnight was five hours after the evening train and seven hours before the morning train. Therefore, no prying eyes. Their backhoe had four spotlights on a bar above the cab, the same way kids pimped their pick-up trucks, and together the four beams made a wide pool of halogen brightness. Therefore, visibility was not a problem either. They started the hole in the hog pen, which was a permanent disturbance all by itself. Each hog weighed two hundred pounds, and each hog had four feet. The dirt was always chewed up. Nothing to see from the air, not even with a thermal camera. The picture would white out instantly, from the steaming animals themselves, and their steaming piles and pools of waste.
Safe enough.
Hogs were rooting animals, so they made sure the hole was deep. Which was not a problem either. Their backhoe’s arm was long, and it bit rhythmically, in fluent articulated seven-foot scoops, the hydraulic rams glinting in the electric light, the engine straining and roaring and pausing, the cab falling and rising, as each bucket-load was dumped aside. When the hole was done they backed the machine up and turned it around and used the front bucket to push Keever into his grave, scraping him, rolling him, covering his body with dirt, until finally it fell over the lip and thumped down into the electric shadows.
Only one thing went wrong, and it happened right then.
The evening train came through five hours late. The next morning they heard on the AM station that a broken locomotive had caused a jam a hundred miles south. But they didn’t know that at the time. All they heard was the mournful whistle at the distant crossing, and then all they could do was turn and stare, at the long lit cars rumbling past in the middle distance, one after the other, like a vision in a dream, seemingly forever. But eventually the train was gone, and the rails sang for a minute more, and then the tail light was swallowed by the midnight darkness, and they turned back to their task.
Twenty miles north the train slowed, and slowed, and then eased to a hissing stop, and the doors sucked open, and Jack Reacher stepped down to a concrete ramp in front of a grain elevator as big as an apartment house. To his left were four more elevators, all of them bigger than the first, and to his right was an enormous metal shed the size of an airplane hangar. There were vapor lights on poles, set at regular intervals, and they cut cones of yellow in the darkness. There was mist in the nighttime air, like a note on a calendar. The end of summer was coming. Fall was on its way.
Reacher stood still and behind him the train moved away without him, straining, grinding, settling to a slow rat-a-tat rhythm, and then accelerating, its building slipstream pulling at his clothes. He was the only passenger who had gotten out. Which was not surprising. The place was no kind of a commuter hub. It was all agricultural. What token passenger facilities it had were wedged between the last elevator and the huge shed, and were limited to a compact building, which seemed to have both a ticket window and benches for waiting. It was built in a traditional railroad style, and it looked like a child’s toy, temporarily set down between two shiny oil drums.
But on a sign board running its whole length was written the reason Reacher was there: Mother’s Rest. Which he had seen on a map, and which he thought was a great name for a railroad stop. He figured the line must cross an ancient wagon train trail, right there, where something had happened long ago. Maybe a young pregnant woman went into labor. The jostling could not have helped. Maybe the wagon train stopped for a couple of weeks. Or a month. Maybe someone remembered the place years later. A descendant, perhaps. A family legend. Maybe there was a one-room museum.
Or perhaps there was a sadder interpretation. Maybe they had buried a woman there. Too old to make it. In which case there would be a commemorative stone.
Either way Reacher figured he might as well find out. He had no place to go, and all the time in the world to get there, so detours cost him nothing. Which is why he got out of the train. To a sense of disappointment, initially. His expectations had been way off base. He had pictured a couple of dusty houses, and a lonely one-horse corral. And the one-room museum, maybe run part-time and volunteer by an old guy from one of the houses. Or the headstone, maybe marble, behind a square wrought-iron fence.
He had not expected the immense agricultural infrastructure. He should have, he supposed. Grain, meet the railroad. It had to be loaded somewhere. Billions of bushels and millions of tons each year. He stepped left and looked through a gap between structures. The view was dark, but he could sense a rough semicircle of habitation. Houses, obviously, for the depot workers. He could see lights, which he hoped were a motel, or a diner, or both.
He walked to the exit, skirting the pools of vapor light purely out of habit, but he saw that the last lamp was unavoidable, because it was set directly above the exit gate. So he saved himself a further perimeter diversion by walking through the next-to-last pool of light, too.
At which point a woman stepped out of the shadows.
She came toward him with a distinctive burst of energy, two fast paces, eager, like she was pleased to see him. Her body language was all about relief.
Then it wasn’t. Then it was all about disappointment. She stopped dead, and she said, “Oh.”
She was Asian. But not petite. Five-nine, maybe, or even five- ten. And built to match. Not a bone in sight. No kind of a willowy waif. She was about forty, Reacher guessed, with black hair worn long, jeans and a T-shirt under a short cotton coat. She had lace-up shoes on her feet.
He said, “Good evening, ma’am.”
She was looking past his shoulder.
He said, “I’m the only passenger.”
She looked him in the eye.
He said, “No one else got out of the train. So I guess your friend isn’t coming.”
“My friend?” she said. A neutral kind of accent. Regular American. The kind he heard everywhere.
He said, “Why else would a person be here, except to meet the train? No point in coming otherwise. I guess normally there would be nothing to see at midnight.”
She didn’t answer.
He said, “Don’t tell me you’ve been waiting here since seven o’clock.”
“I didn’t know the train was late,” she said. “There’s no cell signal here. And no one from the railroad, to tell you anything. And I guess the Pony Express is out sick today.”
“He wasn’t in my car. Or the next two, either.”
“Who wasn’t?”
“Your friend.”
“You don’t know what he looks like.”
“He’s a big guy,” Reacher said. “That’s why you jumped out when you saw me. You thought I was him. For a second, anyway. And there were no big guys in my car. Or the next two.”
“When is the next train?”
“Seven in the morning.”
She said, “Who are you and why have you come here?”
“I’m just a guy passing through.”
“The train passed through. Not you. You got out.”
“You know anything about this place?”
“Not a thing.”
“Have you seen a museum or a gravestone?”
“Why are you here?”
“Who’s asking?”
She paused a beat, and said, “Nobody.”
Reacher said, “Is there a motel in town?”
“I’m staying there.”
“How is it?”
“It’s a motel.”
“Works for me,” Reacher said. “Does it have vacancies?”
“I’d be amazed if it didn’t.”
“OK, you can show me the way. Don’t wait here all night. I’ll be up by first light. I’ll knock on your door as I leave. Hopefully your friend will be here in the morning.”
The woman said nothing. She just glanced at the silent rails one more time, and then turned around and led the way through the exit gate. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Moving a guy as big as Keever wasn’t easy. It was like trying to wrestle a king-size mattress off a waterbed. So they buried him close to the house. Which made sense anyway. The harvest was still a month away, and a disturbance in a field would show up from the air. And they would use the air, for a guy like Keever. They would use search planes, and helicopters, and maybe even drones.
They started at midnight, which they thought was safe enough. They were in the middle of ten thousand acres of nothingness, and the only man-made structure their side of any horizon was the railroad track to the east, but midnight was five hours after the evening train and seven hours before the morning train. Therefore, no prying eyes. Their backhoe had four spotlights on a bar above the cab, the same way kids pimped their pick-up trucks, and together the four beams made a wide pool of halogen brightness. Therefore, visibility was not a problem either. They started the hole in the hog pen, which was a permanent disturbance all by itself. Each hog weighed two hundred pounds, and each hog had four feet. The dirt was always chewed up. Nothing to see from the air, not even with a thermal camera. The picture would white out instantly, from the steaming animals themselves, and their steaming piles and pools of waste.
Safe enough.
Hogs were rooting animals, so they made sure the hole was deep. Which was not a problem either. Their backhoe’s arm was long, and it bit rhythmically, in fluent articulated seven-foot scoops, the hydraulic rams glinting in the electric light, the engine straining and roaring and pausing, the cab falling and rising, as each bucket-load was dumped aside. When the hole was done they backed the machine up and turned it around and used the front bucket to push Keever into his grave, scraping him, rolling him, covering his body with dirt, until finally it fell over the lip and thumped down into the electric shadows.
Only one thing went wrong, and it happened right then.
The evening train came through five hours late. The next morning they heard on the AM station that a broken locomotive had caused a jam a hundred miles south. But they didn’t know that at the time. All they heard was the mournful whistle at the distant crossing, and then all they could do was turn and stare, at the long lit cars rumbling past in the middle distance, one after the other, like a vision in a dream, seemingly forever. But eventually the train was gone, and the rails sang for a minute more, and then the tail light was swallowed by the midnight darkness, and they turned back to their task.
Twenty miles north the train slowed, and slowed, and then eased to a hissing stop, and the doors sucked open, and Jack Reacher stepped down to a concrete ramp in front of a grain elevator as big as an apartment house. To his left were four more elevators, all of them bigger than the first, and to his right was an enormous metal shed the size of an airplane hangar. There were vapor lights on poles, set at regular intervals, and they cut cones of yellow in the darkness. There was mist in the nighttime air, like a note on a calendar. The end of summer was coming. Fall was on its way.
Reacher stood still and behind him the train moved away without him, straining, grinding, settling to a slow rat-a-tat rhythm, and then accelerating, its building slipstream pulling at his clothes. He was the only passenger who had gotten out. Which was not surprising. The place was no kind of a commuter hub. It was all agricultural. What token passenger facilities it had were wedged between the last elevator and the huge shed, and were limited to a compact building, which seemed to have both a ticket window and benches for waiting. It was built in a traditional railroad style, and it looked like a child’s toy, temporarily set down between two shiny oil drums.
But on a sign board running its whole length was written the reason Reacher was there: Mother’s Rest. Which he had seen on a map, and which he thought was a great name for a railroad stop. He figured the line must cross an ancient wagon train trail, right there, where something had happened long ago. Maybe a young pregnant woman went into labor. The jostling could not have helped. Maybe the wagon train stopped for a couple of weeks. Or a month. Maybe someone remembered the place years later. A descendant, perhaps. A family legend. Maybe there was a one-room museum.
Or perhaps there was a sadder interpretation. Maybe they had buried a woman there. Too old to make it. In which case there would be a commemorative stone.
Either way Reacher figured he might as well find out. He had no place to go, and all the time in the world to get there, so detours cost him nothing. Which is why he got out of the train. To a sense of disappointment, initially. His expectations had been way off base. He had pictured a couple of dusty houses, and a lonely one-horse corral. And the one-room museum, maybe run part-time and volunteer by an old guy from one of the houses. Or the headstone, maybe marble, behind a square wrought-iron fence.
He had not expected the immense agricultural infrastructure. He should have, he supposed. Grain, meet the railroad. It had to be loaded somewhere. Billions of bushels and millions of tons each year. He stepped left and looked through a gap between structures. The view was dark, but he could sense a rough semicircle of habitation. Houses, obviously, for the depot workers. He could see lights, which he hoped were a motel, or a diner, or both.
He walked to the exit, skirting the pools of vapor light purely out of habit, but he saw that the last lamp was unavoidable, because it was set directly above the exit gate. So he saved himself a further perimeter diversion by walking through the next-to-last pool of light, too.
At which point a woman stepped out of the shadows.
She came toward him with a distinctive burst of energy, two fast paces, eager, like she was pleased to see him. Her body language was all about relief.
Then it wasn’t. Then it was all about disappointment. She stopped dead, and she said, “Oh.”
She was Asian. But not petite. Five-nine, maybe, or even five- ten. And built to match. Not a bone in sight. No kind of a willowy waif. She was about forty, Reacher guessed, with black hair worn long, jeans and a T-shirt under a short cotton coat. She had lace-up shoes on her feet.
He said, “Good evening, ma’am.”
She was looking past his shoulder.
He said, “I’m the only passenger.”
She looked him in the eye.
He said, “No one else got out of the train. So I guess your friend isn’t coming.”
“My friend?” she said. A neutral kind of accent. Regular American. The kind he heard everywhere.
He said, “Why else would a person be here, except to meet the train? No point in coming otherwise. I guess normally there would be nothing to see at midnight.”
She didn’t answer.
He said, “Don’t tell me you’ve been waiting here since seven o’clock.”
“I didn’t know the train was late,” she said. “There’s no cell signal here. And no one from the railroad, to tell you anything. And I guess the Pony Express is out sick today.”
“He wasn’t in my car. Or the next two, either.”
“Who wasn’t?”
“Your friend.”
“You don’t know what he looks like.”
“He’s a big guy,” Reacher said. “That’s why you jumped out when you saw me. You thought I was him. For a second, anyway. And there were no big guys in my car. Or the next two.”
“When is the next train?”
“Seven in the morning.”
She said, “Who are you and why have you come here?”
“I’m just a guy passing through.”
“The train passed through. Not you. You got out.”
“You know anything about this place?”
“Not a thing.”
“Have you seen a museum or a gravestone?”
“Why are you here?”
“Who’s asking?”
She paused a beat, and said, “Nobody.”
Reacher said, “Is there a motel in town?”
“I’m staying there.”
“How is it?”
“It’s a motel.”
“Works for me,” Reacher said. “Does it have vacancies?”
“I’d be amazed if it didn’t.”
“OK, you can show me the way. Don’t wait here all night. I’ll be up by first light. I’ll knock on your door as I leave. Hopefully your friend will be here in the morning.”
The woman said nothing. She just glanced at the silent rails one more time, and then turned around and led the way through the exit gate. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Product details
- ASIN : B00R04MDAE
- Publisher : Delacorte Press (September 8, 2015)
- Publication date : September 8, 2015
- Language: : English
- File size : 2848 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 402 pages
- Lending : Not Enabled
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Best Sellers Rank:
#10,255 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #136 in Vigilante Justice Thrillers
- #156 in Conspiracy Thrillers (Books)
- #174 in Conspiracy Thrillers (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
13,835 global ratings
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Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2015
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69 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2015
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With Make Me I've reached the limit of my patience and frustration with Mr. Childs. There were a few spurts of the old Reacher here but the story is sick and drags endlessly through a tiresome search for a character. Too much unnecessary filler material that I skimmed through. On a scale of A to E I gave this one a D, the first time for a Reacher. So I will be starting from the first Reacher because he used to be great.
74 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2016
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I was giddy when I discovered the Jack Reacher series. Not my typical genre so I was thrilled to find book after book that drew me in, enhanced my brain and kept me clicking through page after page until the wee hours of the morning. I flew through the first ten books in ten days. Then the formula--obscure place, Robin Hood-like hero, beautiful women--became a bit predictable. But still I read on. No longer at break neck speed, savoring the works instead. I even went back and re-read some of the earlier installments to tease out more attributes of the "hero". So by the time I reached book 20 I was good friends with Reacher. And oh so disappointed.
I think Lee Child has run out of steam for the series. The "bad guys" in this book were deplorable, the subject unthinkable. I call them bad guys but they shouldn't even be allowed to be called human. I won't spoil anything in case you actually want to read the book. But I wouldn't recommend it to any one. In sorry I wasted my money.
Child's seems to really be stretching himself thin in this book. In the past, fight scenes have been written in a way that I could almost feel myself being there with Reacher as he takes on one, two, ten combatants. I could hear elbow meet flesh and always anticipated the we-know-it's-coming head but slam. The fight scenes in Make Me were forced and Reacher is way off his game. It just became easier to shoot some one. And while I agree that Reacher didn't kill anyone who didn't deserve to die I agree with other reviewers that at some point law enforcement should have been involved. Simply killing the bad guys was too good and too easy.
I hate to say it but I no longer look forward to the release of book 21. Jus my prediction that it will be the last Jack Reacher book. Child's is straining to come up with scenarios in this technologically driven world. It's become more difficult to keep Reacher under the radar. It's been nearly a decade since we first met up with him but I think the time has come for him to plant roots and give up the nomadic life style that had lead to all of his encounters with loathsome characters.
I think Lee Child has run out of steam for the series. The "bad guys" in this book were deplorable, the subject unthinkable. I call them bad guys but they shouldn't even be allowed to be called human. I won't spoil anything in case you actually want to read the book. But I wouldn't recommend it to any one. In sorry I wasted my money.
Child's seems to really be stretching himself thin in this book. In the past, fight scenes have been written in a way that I could almost feel myself being there with Reacher as he takes on one, two, ten combatants. I could hear elbow meet flesh and always anticipated the we-know-it's-coming head but slam. The fight scenes in Make Me were forced and Reacher is way off his game. It just became easier to shoot some one. And while I agree that Reacher didn't kill anyone who didn't deserve to die I agree with other reviewers that at some point law enforcement should have been involved. Simply killing the bad guys was too good and too easy.
I hate to say it but I no longer look forward to the release of book 21. Jus my prediction that it will be the last Jack Reacher book. Child's is straining to come up with scenarios in this technologically driven world. It's become more difficult to keep Reacher under the radar. It's been nearly a decade since we first met up with him but I think the time has come for him to plant roots and give up the nomadic life style that had lead to all of his encounters with loathsome characters.
16 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

jhutc16
3.0 out of 5 stars
Cut a lot of the middle and take more time over the end
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 14, 2019Verified Purchase
Besides some very unintelligent moves with mobile phone use that put people in danger, my main problem was the end, which was so rushed that loose ends were waving in the wind and nothing really made sense. What happened to the five guys tied up and left in the CPA office? It's never mentioned, although their three fellow "deep web" murderers were all killed and left on the Mother's Rest "farm", with one thrown in the hog pen for the pigs to eat, so his body -- like the 209 victims' bodies -- would be hard to find. Nevertheless, two were left there, bodies riddled by bullets. And no police are ever called. Yet Westwood the journalist is found busy booking lots of rooms in the hotel "for himself and his photographers, and all kinds of assistants and interns". Seriously? Before the cops or FBI are called or get there? Then Reacher and Michelle Chang just drive away. Again, seriously? Reacher maybe. But Chang, a former FBI agent herself and licensed PI? Won't there be fingerprints around somewhere pointing at her at least? And what will the authorities say if the whole ghastly enterprise appears in the press before any investigation has occurs? Will it even be allowed to appear? A lot of plodding in the middle leading up to a bit of an irritating finale. However, a flawed Child is still better than most published thrillers.
6 people found this helpful
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still searching
3.0 out of 5 stars
Once upon a time Reacher ruled: but now, the journey’s over Jack!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 19, 2016Verified Purchase
Like a one joke movie that just won’t stretch to a sequel and beyond this series has run its course. Here we have yet another bizarrely named town in the middle of nowhere, yet another beautiful feisty lawwoman who needs a ‘helping hand’, yet another mediocre motel and yet another threadbare plot in search of inspiration.
Regrettably, it’s time for Jack to start thinking about a future that doesn’t involve a bus/coach/truck/train trip to nowhere and contemplate a safer future. The early stories were a breath of fresh air in an arguably stale genre when Reacher bestrode the thriller universe. But twenty books in twenty years is a long, long time: too long! We know he gets the girl, we know he mangles bad guys, we know he outwits all and sundry – and we know how he does it! Sadly, what once had me pining for the next instalment, now has me trying to avoid Tom Cruise’s face on book covers that should have featured Vin Diesel’s (or any suitable alternative!)
Don't get me wrong: it's okay by Reacher's standards and if you haven't read (m)any of the previous books - hence, the three stars. But journey's end is beckoning.
Regrettably, it’s time for Jack to start thinking about a future that doesn’t involve a bus/coach/truck/train trip to nowhere and contemplate a safer future. The early stories were a breath of fresh air in an arguably stale genre when Reacher bestrode the thriller universe. But twenty books in twenty years is a long, long time: too long! We know he gets the girl, we know he mangles bad guys, we know he outwits all and sundry – and we know how he does it! Sadly, what once had me pining for the next instalment, now has me trying to avoid Tom Cruise’s face on book covers that should have featured Vin Diesel’s (or any suitable alternative!)
Don't get me wrong: it's okay by Reacher's standards and if you haven't read (m)any of the previous books - hence, the three stars. But journey's end is beckoning.
7 people found this helpful
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Archenov
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another author or Child projecting his own vulnerability?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 21, 2016Verified Purchase
After the abysmal 'Personal', Jack Reacher is back on form or let's say, formula. 'Make Me' definitely has all the old Reacher story elements. I read some of the other reviews, some of which mention that the book seems like it was written by someone else. I certainly hope not! Reacher is a character created by Child and therefore would behave in a certain way. It did get me thinking though, as there are elements in the story that are a bit out of character for Reacher and this is mentioned by a significant number of reviewers on this site... For example, he seems more vulnerable, and does indeed have a bit of an attachment issue with the female character in the book. The amount of action is definitely less and time spent on describing scenery and sunrises is unusual. I have read all the other books, so can say that these differences do stand out. However, Reacher is ageing and so is the author. Is Child projecting his own vulnerability and mortality into Reacher or has someone else really written this book for Child? The subject matter is also very modern, unlike some of the other Reacher books, which give the impression that mobile phones and the internet don't exist. This book deals with some very current topics and the ending is also unusual and shocking in a way not seen in other Reacher novels. However, we live in a world where the kind of action hero like Reacher can't really survive just through brute force and some clever moves alone. So is this Child moving Reacher into a slightly different modus operandi to reflect the times we live in, or did another author write this book? A lot of us care about Reacher and some of the reviewers have suggested retiring him. I think that there is life left in the man yet and from my perspective it would be nice to see a real follow up to this book which builds on his relationship with the lead female character and the fallout of his injuries. Will Reacher stay a man or turn into a mouse? I know it's not easy to churn out book after book, but Mr. Child here is a request and a challenge: Please don't retire him just yet, but do keep Reacher the man that women want to be with and men want to be!
8 people found this helpful
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spongespider
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another corker!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 9, 2016Verified Purchase
20 books in, the jack reacher series should be starting to seem a little stale by now but somehow Lee child keeps churning them out as gripping and thrilling as ever.
Make me has all the elements of a typical jack reacher novel and then some. There is more action in this than some of the previous ones and the violence more extreme. An interesting character progression here is that, where as reacher was always concerned about justice and bringing the bad guys to book. Here , he's a cold clinical killer that would sooner blow the baddies away.
As always in a reacher book. Child never let's on till the end what's going on and when we finally do find out the truth here.......well what can I say except this is probably the most disturbing conclusion to any reacher book!
Make me has all the elements of a typical jack reacher novel and then some. There is more action in this than some of the previous ones and the violence more extreme. An interesting character progression here is that, where as reacher was always concerned about justice and bringing the bad guys to book. Here , he's a cold clinical killer that would sooner blow the baddies away.
As always in a reacher book. Child never let's on till the end what's going on and when we finally do find out the truth here.......well what can I say except this is probably the most disturbing conclusion to any reacher book!
4 people found this helpful
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Cougar Greybeard
1.0 out of 5 stars
Who wrote this?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 1, 2017Verified Purchase
Lee Child should be embarrassed that this was ever published! Purile story line that took 98% of the book to become obvious. If I hadn't been a Jack Reacher fan I would have stopped after 20 pages, as it was I skipped over paragraph after paragraph of boring descriptive text. Very disappointing. This will NOT be made into a film!
7 people found this helpful
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