Reacher Said Nothing: Lee Child and the Making of Make Me

by Andy Martin

Overview

It had never been attempted before, and might never be done again. One man watching another man write a novel from beginning to end.
 
On September 1, 2014, in an 11th floor apartment in New York, Lee Child embarked on the twentieth book in his globally successful Jack Reacher series. Andy Martin was there to see him do it, sitting a couple of yards behind him, peering over his shoulder as the writer took another drag of a Camel cigarette and tapped out the first sentence: “Moving a guy as big as Keever wasn’t easy.” Miraculously, Child and Martin stuck with it, in tandem, for the next 8 months, right through to the bitter-sweet end and the last word, “needle”. 
 
Reacher Said Nothing is a one-of-a-kind meta-book, an uncompromising account in real time of the genesis, evolution and completion of a single work, Make Me. While unveiling the art of writing a thriller Martin also gives us a unique insight into the everyday life of an exemplary writer. From beginning to end, Martin captures all the sublime confidence, stumbling uncertainty, omniscience, cluelessness, ecstasy, despair, and heart-thumping suspense that go into writing a number-one bestseller.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509540853
Publisher:	Polity Press
Publication date:	04/13/2020
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Andy Martin is the author of With Child: Lee Child and the Readers of Jack Reacher.  He writes for The Independent and The New York Times and teaches at the University of Cambridge. His book on surfing, Walking on Water, is a cult classic.

Read an Excerpt

IT ENDED the way it was always going to have to end. With a burial.
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Reacher Said Nothing"
by .
Copyright © 2015 Andy Martin.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part 1: Politics and You 7

Part 2: Making Your Voice Heard 29

Part 3: Politics is a Team Sport 67

Part 4: It’s All Marketing 131

Part 5: Let the Campaigns Begin 189

Part 6: Presidential Politics 263

Part 7: The Part of Tens 311

Appendix: State ID Voting Requirements 331

Index 353

Editorial Reviews

11/23/2015
Even the most devoted fans of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels are likely to find this rambling account of the latest entry's creation hard-going. Martin (The Boxer and the Goalkeeper), an unabashed fan of Child's work, conveys his excitement at hanging out with Child during the seven-month writing of the 20th Reacher novel, Make Me. He was more than just a removed observer, participating in the creative process by offering suggestions about character and plot. Martin's enthusiasm carries him to hyperbolic lengths, however, such as describing the experience as akin to the particle collisions that take place in CERN's Large Hadron Collider: "the cataclysmic Big Bang... the expansion of a fictional universe, which is still growing." His flights of literary fancy are not always easy to follow, as when he describes Make Me as a "form of pre-Socratic flux, equipped with endless cups of coffee." Child himself does not always come off to best advantage; it's hard to make sense of Martin's explanation as to why Child was affected more by the Yankees' loss of the 2001 World Series than by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Readers who prefer watching movies with the director's audio commentary on may enjoy this as the literary equivalent; others can stick to reading Make Me. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

01/01/2016
Martin (French, Univ. of Cambridge; Waiting for Bardot) hits on the idea of crafting a book about international best-selling thriller writer Lee Child and the process he undergoes each year to turn out another of his much-anticipated "Jack Reacher" novels (with the publication of Make Me, the series currently runs to 20 volumes). Child agrees, offering Martin unprecedented access to both his writing and personal lives. As he observes Child, Martin feels himself being drawn into the novel, seemingly as invested in its outcome as the author. "It wasn't just that I didn't really want the novel to come to an end," Martin writes of his waning time with Child and the imminent last words on the page. "I had a growing anxiety: What if I missed the ending?" For the biography of a book that emphasizes Child's focus on structure and pacing, Martin's own observations are often scattershot and random. For instance, a riff between the two about the possibility of creating an algorithm to write Reacher's adventures includes an aside on philosophers Claude Lévi-Strauss and Roman Jakobson; the book holds many similar surprises, which may remind readers of the work of cultural critic Jon Ronson. But it's in those close interactions in more than 70 tight vignettes that Child, his backstory, and his work come alive. Martin's irrepressible glee about the project is infectious. VERDICT Recommended for fans of Child's work or aspiring novelists who could benefit from an insider's view of the messy, complicated, and transcendent act of writing.—Patrick A. Smith, Bainbridge State Coll., GA

Library Journal