Review: Sure, it's short, but it's also lots of fun and better done that you might expect
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 31, 2011
A short, fun little story about teenage Jack Reacher, Second Son is another testament to what a great idea the Kindle Singles program is. Second Son is a very quick read, but I think that's for the best; a full novel about teenage Reacher would be too much, and would end up with too many people trying to view it as an "origin" story for the man he would become. Instead, we get an entertaining little vignette about Reacher's arrival in a new town, his confrontation with a local bully, and a couple of other little run-ins with bureaucracy and mystery that give us a sense of the man to come. For the most part, Child avoids making teenage Reacher exactly the same as the adult (he talks a lot more, for one thing), but neither does he change the character so much as to be unrecognizable. And while the ending feels a little rushed, especially with regard to the surprisingly brief wrap-up of a plot thread, it's still a nice miniature version of the Reacher stories to come. I'd say this is more for fans than newcomers, but either way, it's a fun read and a nice new take on an iconic character.