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Make Me is the Reacher novel where Lee Child seems to have decided that the things his readers actually like (the slow patient observation, the very specific tactical detail, the moral arithmetic) are worth more than the propulsive thriller mechanics. The book opens with Reacher stepping off a train in a small Midwestern town named Mother's Rest because he was curious about the name. By the next morning he is investigating a missing private investigator and a network of unwilling participants in an online economy that turns out to be much darker than anyone in the town wants to discuss.
The pace is slower than the early Reacher books. The moral pressure is heavier. The closing sections are some of the most carefully observed writing Child has done in the series. Reacher himself feels more weary and more dangerous at the same time.
Four stars. One of the strongest entries in the back half of the series. Recommended even to readers who have not kept up with all 19 prior novels.
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