Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
New York : Delacorte Press, 2015.
Description
'Why is this town called Mother's Rest?' That's all Reacher wants to know. But no one will tell him. It's a tiny place hidden in a thousand square miles of wheat fields, with a railroad stop, and sullen and watchful people, and a worried woman named Michelle Chang, who mistakes him for someone else: her missing partner in a private investigation she thinks must have started small and then turned lethal. Reacher has no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there and there's something about Chang; so he teams up with her and starts to ask around. He thinks: How bad can this thing be? But before long he's plunged into a desperate race through LA, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Francisco, and through the hidden parts of the internet, up against thugs and assassins every step of the way, right back to where he started, in Mother's Rest, where he must confront the worst nightmare he could imagine. Walking away would have been easier.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member repb
Besides a title which made absolutely no sense, Make Me was quite a disappointment. Reacher has morphed from a very cool tough guy into a cold blooded executioner; a turn of events I do not like. This book, in particular, was oddly put together and ends up in a very dark way. Some of it just does
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not make sense at all. Child must have heard of the 'dark web' somewhere along the way and made it the focus of the crime. I don't mind some great twists and turns ... but Make Me was just plain dumb. I'm not only greatly disappointed but wonder if Child is struggling to come up with something interesting. I hope so. I used to love his stuff ... not too sure any more. Show Less
LibraryThing member BookWallah
Typical Reacher plot: on a train, middle of nowhere, meets women investigator, finds conspiracy -- you know the drill. Pacing was a tad slow, it was page 304 before I had a clue what the twisted bad guys might be doing.
Reacher is a Luddite when it comes to technology; I actually like that. Never
Mr. Child I do not mind if Reacher does not get technology, but will you please employ a technologically literate proof reader from this decade? You write about a technologically complex subject here (no spoilers here), and you do a fair job of explaining it. But one word ruined the entire book for me. You describe a room full of computers, screens and cables -- so far so good -- and then you describe them with "modems". These have not been widely used in the USA since the 1990s. Reacher is starting to show signs of recognizing his weaknesses, perhaps you could too Mr Childs and hire that techie proof reader.
Recommended only for the Reacher die hard fans.
Reacher is a Luddite when it comes to technology; I actually like that. Never
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used a cell phone; I can deal with that. In this novel he discovers they have touch screens; and it actually kind of charming.Mr. Child I do not mind if Reacher does not get technology, but will you please employ a technologically literate proof reader from this decade? You write about a technologically complex subject here (no spoilers here), and you do a fair job of explaining it. But one word ruined the entire book for me. You describe a room full of computers, screens and cables -- so far so good -- and then you describe them with "modems". These have not been widely used in the USA since the 1990s. Reacher is starting to show signs of recognizing his weaknesses, perhaps you could too Mr Childs and hire that techie proof reader.
Recommended only for the Reacher die hard fans.
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LibraryThing member Writermala
Jack Reacher is always an interesting read. In "Make Me" however his partner, Michelle Chang, an ex FBI agent is also interesting. This makes a sleepy town called "Mother's Rest" a mysterious place and the mystery is not solved till the last few pages. All in all a good read.
LibraryThing member 4hounds
Always good...can't stop until I'm done! I liked Chang; maybe she'll hang around for a while.
LibraryThing member norinrad10
Another in a series of Jack shows up in remote town and gets involved in exposing small town secrets books. Plot is not terribly original and bad guys are typical bad guys, nothing overwhelming. Writing on this is a return to the crisp clean style of early Reacher books. That's a plus. Good way to
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spend a couple days. Show Less
LibraryThing member labdaddy4
Another very fast paced and action filled novel by Lee Child. While the lead character is getting fairly predictable the story line is not - twists and turns and a few surprises along the way. As always, the violence level is intense and the writing is descriptive. Nothing really special or unique
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but still a fun read. Show Less
LibraryThing member Romonko
I'm a huge Jack Reacher fan and have read all the books in the series. I love big, laconic Jack Reacher and I love how he tries to help the little guy. I love how masterful he is at planning strategic moves and I love how he's a rolling stone with no permanent residence. He is all of those things
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in this book, but the premise behind the threat was too depraved for my taste. That's why 4 stars instead of 5. Child has crafted a good plot around his astonishing premise and that is what kept me reading frantically until the end. It all starts around a lonely little town with the name of Mother's Rest. Reacher gets off the train to Chicago to explore where this strange name came from and he steps right into a rat's nest of intrigue and a whole batch of really bad guys. He also meets an ex-FBI agent by the name of Michelle Chang who is searching for a colleague of hers whose last known sighting was at Mother's Rest. The two of them join forces and set out to unravel the mystery of Chang's colleagues disappearance and find themselves right in the middle of a fight for their lives. Good plotting, lots of tension and a nice chemistry between Chang and Reacher make the book very exciting up to the end. But the end is so shocking that it took away a little of the enjoyment of this wild ride of a thriller. Show Less
LibraryThing member alanteder
This one just didn't grab me. It seemed to have a very slow start and buildup esp. for a Reacher book. The path to the eventual solution was intriguing though and well done. The repulsive nature of the bad guys' scheme in the end was too much (some farm community doing that sort of thing seems way
"Reacher said nothing." line count = 27
other good Reacher one-liners = none that I noticed
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out of all reality) but certainly earned them their retribution at the hands of Reacher and ally."Reacher said nothing." line count = 27
other good Reacher one-liners = none that I noticed
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LibraryThing member jfe16
Jack Reacher, intrigued by the name of a small agricultural town, steps off a train in Mother’s Rest and sets out to discover the meaning of that unique name. But no one seems to be willing or able to satisfy his curiosity in this regard and, in inimitable Jack Reacher fashion, he keeps at it
But there’s something about this tiny town and the miles of wheat fields surrounding it; it's a town with secret watchers among its dour populace, a lone, empty railway station, and a private investigator who believes he is her missing partner. Jack’s barely arrived in Mother’s Rest before he finds himself partnered with the woman and dropped into the middle of a not-so-small mystery involving the disappearance of a former FBI agent.
Jack Reacher, once a military police major who tired of being a soldier, now seems content simply drifting from place to place. In this, his twentieth outing, readers will find everything they have come to expect from a Jack Reacher tale. The stoic nomad may be maturing, but he’s still the same carry-only-cash-and-a-toothbrush hero who uses logic, reasoning, and an unflagging sense of right in working his way through the tangles of a convoluted situation, seeking justice and righting wrongs.
The fast-paced plot ramps up the suspense and grabs readers as it races along to its final reveal in this can’t-put-it-down thriller. With a bit of unexpected vulnerability, the venerable Jack Reacher keeps readers on the edge of their seats while, in his trademark fashion, he does what he does to dispatch the bad guys and save the day.
Jack Reacher being Jack Reacher . . . highly recommended.
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until the answer is finally revealed. But there’s something about this tiny town and the miles of wheat fields surrounding it; it's a town with secret watchers among its dour populace, a lone, empty railway station, and a private investigator who believes he is her missing partner. Jack’s barely arrived in Mother’s Rest before he finds himself partnered with the woman and dropped into the middle of a not-so-small mystery involving the disappearance of a former FBI agent.
Jack Reacher, once a military police major who tired of being a soldier, now seems content simply drifting from place to place. In this, his twentieth outing, readers will find everything they have come to expect from a Jack Reacher tale. The stoic nomad may be maturing, but he’s still the same carry-only-cash-and-a-toothbrush hero who uses logic, reasoning, and an unflagging sense of right in working his way through the tangles of a convoluted situation, seeking justice and righting wrongs.
The fast-paced plot ramps up the suspense and grabs readers as it races along to its final reveal in this can’t-put-it-down thriller. With a bit of unexpected vulnerability, the venerable Jack Reacher keeps readers on the edge of their seats while, in his trademark fashion, he does what he does to dispatch the bad guys and save the day.
Jack Reacher being Jack Reacher . . . highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member mikedraper
Lee Child has a talent for creating nail biting suspense. In this psychological novel, Child demonstrates a nail biting story sprinkled a touch of romance.
Jack Reacher is traveling around the countryside - just for the experience. After his days in the military, he gets satisfaction by traveling
He comes to a town Mother's Rest. It's a desolate town set among the wheat fields with nothing much to offer other than a train station.
Reacher meets Michelle Chang a former FBI agent, now a private investigator. She's looking for her partner who had been hired to look into some secret of Mother's Rest but has now disappeared.
The story unfolds out as if it was written for Alfred Hitchcock. The town is hiding something and Jack and Michelle team up and retrace the steps of Michelle's missing partner to learn about the person who hired them.
The townsfolk they encounter are unhelpful and closed mouth. It was as if Jack and Michelle ran into a mid-western version of "The Valley of the Dolls"
As Reacher and Michelle peel back the hidden layers of the story, the suspense mounts and the secret being hidden comes to a frightening light.
This is a well told story with well described characters placed in a situation where the reader can relate to and wonder what they might do if they were ever in a similar situation.
Jack Reacher is traveling around the countryside - just for the experience. After his days in the military, he gets satisfaction by traveling
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around America and helping people in need, when necessary.He comes to a town Mother's Rest. It's a desolate town set among the wheat fields with nothing much to offer other than a train station.
Reacher meets Michelle Chang a former FBI agent, now a private investigator. She's looking for her partner who had been hired to look into some secret of Mother's Rest but has now disappeared.
The story unfolds out as if it was written for Alfred Hitchcock. The town is hiding something and Jack and Michelle team up and retrace the steps of Michelle's missing partner to learn about the person who hired them.
The townsfolk they encounter are unhelpful and closed mouth. It was as if Jack and Michelle ran into a mid-western version of "The Valley of the Dolls"
As Reacher and Michelle peel back the hidden layers of the story, the suspense mounts and the secret being hidden comes to a frightening light.
This is a well told story with well described characters placed in a situation where the reader can relate to and wonder what they might do if they were ever in a similar situation.
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LibraryThing member jdyork74
Lee Child is back in fine form. The most recent Reacher novel reminds of the some of the best of the series. I have read (or listened to) the whole series and the later works have gotten more formulaic and repetitive. This one makes Reacher somewhat vulnerable at times and that is very rare. I also
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liked the fact that he was less solitary in this novel. My favorites of the series are when he works with a team to fight the bad guys. In the later novels I really missed some of his connecting with people - while still remaining the character he has created. I highly recommended this one! Show Less
LibraryThing member chasidar
Lee Child does not disappoint. Another great Reacher adventure!
LibraryThing member jamespurcell
Another excellent book from Lee Child as Jack Reacher gets off the train and seeks the origins of Mother's Rest. Dark secrets in town are foretold in chapter one. And, the plot thickens as Reacher, figuratively,bumps into a former FBI agent turned PI, seeking her colleague who came to town and
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disappeared. Strange behaviors by townspeople pique Reacher's always active curiosity and the chase is on. We explore the Deep Web, take on a Ukrainian Mafia mob and end up back in Mother's Rest for the grand finale. Good story, well told and with all the small towns with dark secrets, this series has a lot of legs left. An issue arises as Reacher and Chang become an item. Clearly, someone will have to make a life style change. Show Less
LibraryThing member Judiex
Jack Reacher was a completely free man, free to travel wherever and whenever he felt like it. At the beginning of MAKE ME, he was riding a train towards Chicago when he noticed a sign for Mother’s Rest. The name interested him so he decided to get off to learn about its’ origin.
And walked into
Michelle Chang, a former FBI agent and current private investigator, showed up at the depot looking for Keever, a missing partner, who had called her for back-up support and then disappeared. At first, she thought Reacher was Keever.
The town was very suspicious of strangers and Jack was quickly placed under surveillance. When he and Michelle began interacting, not surprising since there was only one quite empty motel and one restaurant in the town, the surveillance became ever more focused on them. That, as well as trying to figure out what happened to Keever, moved them into a sort of partnership.
She did not know what Keever had been working on so they really had nothing to go on. Trying to find the answer to the questions–where he was, what had he discovered, why was ge in Mother’s Nest–took them to Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, Oklahoma City and San Francisco.
The answers are even more remote and frightening than they ever expected.
One interesting observation: “Poor people are fat, and rich people are thin. That never happened before.”
MAKE ME is a great, compelling read. The story is well-told, even though Lee Child does use a lot of phrases instead of complete sentences. Several of the characters seem unreal but they fulfill the purpose of his novel. He calls many characters by their descriptions, sometimes because he doesn’t know their names. But there is one character whose name he does know who he refers to as “the old lady” who deserves the respect of being called by her name. There is a beautiful description of the sky as day breaks.
Unfortunately, Child uses unnecessarily short paragraphs which insults the reader’s intelligence and attention span and wastes a lot of paper. For that, I lowered my rating one sta
And walked into
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the middle of a very strange community.Michelle Chang, a former FBI agent and current private investigator, showed up at the depot looking for Keever, a missing partner, who had called her for back-up support and then disappeared. At first, she thought Reacher was Keever.
The town was very suspicious of strangers and Jack was quickly placed under surveillance. When he and Michelle began interacting, not surprising since there was only one quite empty motel and one restaurant in the town, the surveillance became ever more focused on them. That, as well as trying to figure out what happened to Keever, moved them into a sort of partnership.
She did not know what Keever had been working on so they really had nothing to go on. Trying to find the answer to the questions–where he was, what had he discovered, why was ge in Mother’s Nest–took them to Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, Oklahoma City and San Francisco.
The answers are even more remote and frightening than they ever expected.
One interesting observation: “Poor people are fat, and rich people are thin. That never happened before.”
MAKE ME is a great, compelling read. The story is well-told, even though Lee Child does use a lot of phrases instead of complete sentences. Several of the characters seem unreal but they fulfill the purpose of his novel. He calls many characters by their descriptions, sometimes because he doesn’t know their names. But there is one character whose name he does know who he refers to as “the old lady” who deserves the respect of being called by her name. There is a beautiful description of the sky as day breaks.
Unfortunately, Child uses unnecessarily short paragraphs which insults the reader’s intelligence and attention span and wastes a lot of paper. For that, I lowered my rating one sta
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LibraryThing member auntmarge64
A wonderful addition to the Jack Reacher saga, with a bit of a twist at the end hinting at a possible change in Jack's lifestyle.
LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl
So, another Jack Reacher novel. This time Lee Child takes his large and battle-scarred protagonist out into the vast reaches of the middle of the US, to a small town called Mother's Rest, which is important in that it has a train station and some sizable grain silos, but is otherwise unremarkable
It's fun watching Reacher unravel puzzles. Child gives all the details of how Reacher solves the mystery, and how he predicts what the bad guys will do next. He is also good at creating large casts of characters and making each memorable by giving each a telling detail, without bogging the story down with descriptions. Bog down is something a thriller about Jack Reacher never does.
This installment is solid, with a return to one of Child's favorite locations. It's well-plotted and the short chapters flew by. Reacher is a man with principles, although most of us would recoil from some of them, including a cavalier attitude towards murders of convenience. Reacher isn't really a kind man and he's far from being a hero, but it is entertaining to watch him bust heads and shoot things.
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outside of its odd name. Reacher planned a brief stop before continuing on with his peripatetic life, but is drawn into helping a private detective find a missing colleague. This being Reacher, things get complex and violent, but it's nothing that he can't handle.It's fun watching Reacher unravel puzzles. Child gives all the details of how Reacher solves the mystery, and how he predicts what the bad guys will do next. He is also good at creating large casts of characters and making each memorable by giving each a telling detail, without bogging the story down with descriptions. Bog down is something a thriller about Jack Reacher never does.
This installment is solid, with a return to one of Child's favorite locations. It's well-plotted and the short chapters flew by. Reacher is a man with principles, although most of us would recoil from some of them, including a cavalier attitude towards murders of convenience. Reacher isn't really a kind man and he's far from being a hero, but it is entertaining to watch him bust heads and shoot things.
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LibraryThing member rmaney
I've read them all and this is clearly the best Jack Reacher novel in a while. The biggest reason is that, unlike some of the more recent ones, it keeps you guessing to nearly the very end and the evil being battled is definitely the most evil Racher has faced yet. Plus, adding a little
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vulnerability to Reacher (he doesn't always win so easily) and some high tech wizardry into the plot are nice changes of pace. Nevertheless, the end still felt a bit rushed, as these sorts of stories often do. (Since this book is so new, I won't spoil it for anyone with more detailed descriptions.) Still, Jack Reacher remains the best thriller character currently in print and Lee Child's writing is as pointed and efficient as ever - with even a few bits of humour and irony thrown in, some of which you have to be paying careful attention to get. I remain a fan and now look forward to the next instalment! Show Less
LibraryThing member Elle10021
One of the better Reacher novels and Jack is a little slower and older now but still a compelling character.
LibraryThing member infjsarah
Jack Reacher books are nearly always quick paced easy reads where suspension of disbelief is required. This is no exception. I enjoyed it as usual although the conclusion and reason for the murders really IS gross.
LibraryThing member MSWallack
While I still enjoy the Reacher books, they are becoming a bit repetitive. I know that Lee Child has said that the character is not intended to evolve (though one element of possible evolution did occur in this book), but the lack of evolution is beginning to make the character and the series feel
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a bit stale. This particular book featured numerous repetitive elements (some obviously intended for stylistic purposes, others not), but that led to a degree of tedium in the story. More importantly, I found it both distracting and annoying that at least one of the principal characters in this book seemed to speak in the exact same "voice" as Reacher (which is, of course, one of the things that distinguishes him). Finally, I saw the "big reveal" coming as soon as a few pieces of information were revealed. Oh, well. Show Less
LibraryThing member sberson
Another solid addition.
LibraryThing member Kathy89
The beginning of “Make Me” felt like I read this Jack Reacher book before. He gets off the train in the middle of nowhere in a town called Mother’s Rest and there’s a woman waiting to pick someone up at the train station. She’s former FBI looking for her partner who’s not on the train
The only thing that will have me reading the next one that something happens to Reacher that makes him realize he does have vulnerabilities’ and is not superhuman. Gave it two and half stars because of the grisly topic and to see if Reacher bounces back in the next book.
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so she walks back to the only motel in town with Reacher. There’s something funny going on in this town and they team up to find out what happened to her partner. Slowly the clues are presented. The only thing that will have me reading the next one that something happens to Reacher that makes him realize he does have vulnerabilities’ and is not superhuman. Gave it two and half stars because of the grisly topic and to see if Reacher bounces back in the next book.
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LibraryThing member BrianEWilliams
Jack Reacher befriends a private detective searching for her missing colleague. The hunt takes them to several cities in the western US and eventually to a scary part of the internet called the Deep Web. The conclusion is both shocking and disturbing. This book is definitely not for the faint of
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heart! Highly recommended as an exciting thriller. Show Less
LibraryThing member LeighScarletRyan
Fun, fast read, a few minutes of gross reading towards the end.
LibraryThing member quiBee
This is a solid Jack Reacher where he arrives in a small town in the middle of nowhere, in the Midwest States, gets mistaken for someone else and then gets sucked into looking into the disappearance of a man who had been investigating something nasty in the small town. This was a typical Reacher
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and an enjoyable read, but perhaps finished just a bit too easily for my taste. 3.5 stars. Show Less
Awards
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Shortlist — 2016)
Language
Original publication date
2015-09-10
ISBN
0804178771 / 9780804178778