Reacher said nothing - A review
‘Reacher said nothing’ by Andy Martin follows the academic-journalist as he sits in on the creation of the twentieth Reacher novel, ‘Make Me’, by Lee Child.
Famed for his lack of plotting and preparation, many people have doubted Child’s claims that come September 1st he just sits down and starts, and so Martin watches the man at work to see how a Jack Reacher novel really comes together. The answer is with a lot of cigarettes and coffee.
Now, if you are hoping for a how-to guide, this isn’t it as Martin isn’t around enough (or at least doesn’t document enough) for a real insight into Child’s working process, nor does the observer provide much detail around the structure of the writing day. Sure, there are a couple of schedules, but they are as much preoccupied with the aforementioned coffee and cigarettes than the writing.
By the first half of the book, you really think that Child does much of his work when the observer isn’t there. In fact, at some point Martin turns up and Child informs him he has already written and submitted a short story for something - surely that interests the reader!
Instead, we get insights into Child's life, insights into Martin's life, and a chartered record of their experiences. Individual and joint. And while not quite pretentious, no matter how well read or intelligent Child is, I feel they inflate a lot of discussions and situations in order to inject some drama and tension into the proceedings. But on some occasions, this bordered on insulting my intelligence.
On page 132, Martin, while explaining to a wannabe writer states he is “trying to figure out what [Child] was getting up to, and where it all came from, and how he did it” but in all honesty, this is as vague as the findings.
In summary, though, once you discard the huge chunks of the book that will be irrelevant to most (instead read the autobiography), when the book delivers insights it can really deliver and for that reason, it is worth skimming and persevering. But only if you find it cheap.
