Review: Spider snipes for Her Majesty
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 28, 2013
FRIENDLY FIRE by Stephen Leather is a short story prequel to his Dan "Spider" Shepherd series. It's brief enough to be read in its entirety over a lunch-hour and establishes three elements to the continuing Spider saga:1.  The existence of a flesh-and-blood Mrs. Spider Shepherd, or at least one whose voice can be heard over a satphone; his son Liam didn't come from a test tube.2.  Spider's bona fides as a Special Air Service sniper.3.  Spider's dislike of American special forces units. Here, it's the Army's Delta Force. Later, in the full-lengthFalse Friends, it will prove to be the Navy's Seals. For Dan, the U.S./U.K. "special relationship" apparently doesn't stand for much.Author Lee Child has tried to do somewhat the same with his Jack Reacher series, i.e. create a backstory (while generating some pocket money); the sillySecond Son (Kindle Single)comes to mind. Happily, FRIENDLY FIRE is a bit more successful at it though, as a stand-alone piece, it's not really much more than a trailer for the big show. Spider's fans will not have cause for major dissatisfaction.