Reacher Said Nothing Lee Child & The Mak - Softcover

Andy Martin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593076621 ISBN 13: 9780593076620

Publisher: Transworld Publishing, 2015

Synopsis

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 “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.

About this title

About the Author

Andy Martin is a former fellow of the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. A native of Britain, he lectures at the University of Cambridge for the Department of French. He is the author of Waiting for Bardot, The Boxer and the Goalkeeper, Walking on Water, The Knowledge of Ignorance, Stealing the Wave, and Napoleon the Novelist.

Review

“[Andy] Martin, an unabashed fan of [Lee] Child’s work, conveys his excitement at hanging out with Child.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“In more than seventy tight vignettes . . . Child, his backstory, and his work come alive. Martin’s irrepressible glee about the project is infectious. 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.”—Library Journal

“Amazingly enjoyable and genuinely enlightening, largely because Lee Child is as thoughtful and as amusing as you’d think from reading his great thrillers.”—Sullivan County Democrat
 
“An unusual entry in the annals of literary biography . . . fascinating . . . I could not stop reading.”—Sarah Weinman, The Crime Lady
 
“One-of-a-kind . . . It’s funny, serious, a kind of mock-heroic and heroic together. It’s quizzical and respectful, sophisticated and self-deprecating.”—Professor Dame Gillian Beer
 
“Andy Martin is no mere ‘Reacher Creature,’ as fans of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher are known. He’s something of a Reacher Teacher. Martin’s book is the perfect accompaniment to all things Reacher. It explores, it explains, and it entertains. Like a detective novel, Reacher Said Nothing takes you down alleys and lanes and streets cast in shadow—but the journey isn’t urban, it’s in the boulevards and byways between your own ears. Andy’s writing is a brainiac’s delight.”—Sam Fussell, author of Muscle

Edition details

• Publisher: Transworld Publishing
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593076621
• ISBN 13: 9780593076620
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320