Make Me

 mystery, thriller

Goodreads

“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.

But as always, Reacher’s rule is: If you want me to stop, you’re going to have to make me.

This is the 20th Jack Reacher book in the series. I didn't like it as much for several reasons. For one, it reads like a movie script. What is going on with these novelists, wrting a book with a movie in their mind? Although it is a tad better than The Revenge of Adam Defoe, it's almost as tedious to read, too wordy, describing each character's build, clothing, hair, head/footwear, etc., and repetitious too. It reads as though it was written by another author. I have enjoyed several of the earlier books in the series but the last 2 books are not as thrilling and IMHO, this latest is the worst yet.

Another reason I didn't like is Jack sort of becomes a softie and acquires a girlfriend, the character Michelle Chang. Lee Child did not make this character an interesting person. She's too bland, dry, and obscure, almost like a cardboard cutout. I can't explain why I read her that way.

In past books, Reacher eliminates the bad guys without having to "converse" with them as he does in this one. But why? It is so out of character, I was waiting and waiting for the real Jack Reacher to emerge.

Ultimately, I didn't like the dark storyline itself. Jack Reacher does not deserve to fight brutal, subhuman, and degenerate antagonists.

Not recommended.