Review: Not as great as other Lee Child's but you can't discount this author's great writing ability!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 16, 2013
I am so mixed on this review, since I've read every one of Lee Child's books, and felt he somewhat slighted us readers with this shorter novellaTo me areas seemed superfluous and trivial, and without the keen history always evident in Mr. Child's former novels.  It for sure was a different Jack Reacher character than the one we've grown to love.I did enjoy the setting of Manhattan's music scene, which I considered "right on" having partaken of it often during the time frame (Son of Sam fear & an unbearably hot summer with black outs and such). As a teen age Jack Reacher, matters get handled somewhat differently than the more mature man would handle things, which is maybe my reason for not feeling the character was familiar.Of course, Reacher soon finds himself involved with the notorious Croselli crime family who aren't going to be embarrassed by a snot nosed, out-of-town kid. This takes us onto the campus of NYU where Jack connects with a college girl about the same time a power outage darkens and paralyzes the city. The couple soon explore the somewhat immobilized NYC and the devastation occurring due to being without electrical power.  It is during their excursion they come across a man who Jack believes is serial killer, Son of Sam. From here, Jack tries to  team with NYPD to catch the Son of Sam and end his killing spreeThere are still sufficient bad guys and a fast pace to keep you reading this thriller, which has an  unexpected twist ending as young Jack leaves NYC for West Point to catch up with his brother.We all know Lee Childs is a brilliant writer.  I just think I wanted more intense action like that occuring in his former novels, and was disappointed when this short story ended as I didn't feel it was meaty enough to meet its full potential.