Second Son by Lee Child

A Jack Reacher short story published as an individual ebook, now also available in the new complete Jack Reacher short story collection, No Middle Name. Ever wondered what early experiences shaped Reacher's explosive career as butt-kicker supreme, the one-man guided-missile battler for justice? Lee Child looks back on an incident in his hero Jack Reacher's teenage years as the younger son of a tough career US Marine, on a faraway military base in the Pacific. 'The coolest continuing series character now on offer' Stephen King

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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Okinawa, 1974: the Reacher family is assigned to a miliatry base there and is going through their well-established routine of moving into their new home. Reacher's brother, Joe, isn't dealing well with the idea that he'll have to take a placement test to get into school; Reacher is dealing with a neighborhood bully; their mother is in France as her father dies; and his father is in the middle of a crisis of his own.

It's a short story (40 pages in text), but it contains all the hallmarks of a standard Reacher tale, just on a smaller scale. It's sort of cheating, taking a well-established character like Reacher and imagining the mini-version of him. But you know what? This was so fun, I didn't care.

Dick Hill gives a pretty good performance, but his little Reacher and Joe voices are unintentionally amusing and cartoonish. I bet he'd be fun listening to with a full Reacher novel (particularly if it didn't feature kids).

Not a great story, but satisfying. Not a great performance, but satisfying. Gets the job done.