A Book Review: Make Me by Lee Child (Jack Reacher #20)

In the past 5 weeks, I read 5 Jack Reacher books; one week one Reacher. I am not reading this series in the sequential order. My local library has these books, but they are being loaned out all the time, so I can only borrow these books as they become available. That is fine, because every Jack Reacher novel tells a stand alone story. This means you can start from anywhere you like. This week I read Make Me. This is the 20^th installment in the series. Admittedly, this book is sharing a similar structure with its predecessors. Formulaic? Maybe, but Make Me is still a very fine thrill machine.

Synopsis:

Jack Reacher stepped off a train in the middle of nowhere. What was Jack doing? He just wanted to find out, why on earth would anyone name a town, Mother's Rest?

All was quiet when Jack set his foot on the ground. On his side stood a steel post, marking the train stop. Meanwhile, straight ahead, the shape of a little town loomed silently in the distance. Jack was making his way into the town when a woman approached him.

She seemed distressed.

The woman introduced herself as Michelle Chang. She had mistaken Jack as her missing partner from a private investigation. She suspected, their small investigation must have dug out something big and deadly. The woman was worried about her partner's life. Jack decided to help her out. After all, it was not like Jack had anywhere to go.

The duo drove a car into Mother's Rest. They followed the clue to a motel, where they met a strange and watchful clerk. From there, Jack would unravel a dark secret spanning from a little Midwest town all the way to Chicago, LA, Phoenix, San Francisco and then back.

Some people wanted Jack to back off from the case. No chance in hell! Jack Reacher's way is this – If you want me to stop, then you gotta make me.

My thoughts on this book:

Lee Child has written more than 20 Jack Reacher novels, and this series fetched a crazy sales figure exceeding 125 million copies. While some have flagged these books with a description such as guilty pleasure reads, but the staggering sales figure alone testifies the endurance, and the appeal, of these books. Make Me showcased all the fine qualities that earned a lasting fondness from the reading community.

Upon the first glance, Make Me has a similar setting to previous books; Jack Reacher visited a small town at whim, he discovered a criminal activity untouchable by the legal authority, so he decided to dispense some justice. The setting in this book might be giving its reader a deja vu, but to Lee Child's credit, this book still surprised me all the way.

How? Well, the crimes in this book is unique.

In fact, what sets every Jack Reacher novel apart from each other, is the crimes. I have no idea where Lee Child is getting his ideas from, but the crimes in each Jack Reacher book is always distinctive and intriguing, Make Me is no exception. The plot in this book is multi-layered, the story twisted and turned as it unfolded in front of a reader's eyes. Lee Child is a master at mounting the suspense. He keeps the secret very close to the heart. He keeps a reader guessing at the answer, and he only unveils the solution, very close to the book's end. This is why, reading a Jack Reacher novel is always a rewarding experience. In this book, Jack Reacher overcame obstacles and gradually solved puzzles. Ultimately, Reacher did expose the villain's machination in full, but it was disbursing! In my opinion, the criminal activity in Make Me is the darkest in this series. Thankfully, the sort of things that were mentioned in this book are fictitious (I hope).

While Jack Reacher books are not exactly “action-packed”, but these book never run short on the action side of things either. Throughout Make Me, there are some fighting scenes here and there to spice things up. Especially at the end of the book, where a concentrated dose of fighting scenes provided an excitable conclusion to Reacher's quest for justice. While the ending is pretty good, but in my opinion, it is somewhat falling flat in comparison to the previous novels, such as Gone Tomorrow, where the action scenes in the end was so thrilling it sent me to the edge of my seat. Despite its slightly flat ending, Make Me is still a thrilling and entertaining read. The plot, the characters, and the suspense, worked their charms in this book and gripped me right from the first chapter.

I returned this book to the library and searched for more Jack Reacher books. To my disappointment, I was told by the librarian, all of their Jack Reacher novels are being loaned out. So I guess I will just have to bide my time for Jack Reacher's next thrilling adventure. Meanwhile, if you are fond of crime thrillers, then don't waste anymore time. Acquaint yourself with Jack Reacher. Make a trip to your library or the local bookstore, and get a book called Killing Floor. I think you will like it.