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Second Son (Jack Reacher 0.1)
by
Lee Child
Short story explains how Jack Reacher became heroic.
Okinawa, 1974. Even at thirteen, he knows how to outwit and overpower anyone who stands in his way. As the new kid in town, that’s pretty much everyone. His family has come to the Pacific with his father, who’s preparing for a top-secret Marine Corps operation. After receiving a rude welcome from the local military brats...more
Okinawa, 1974. Even at thirteen, he knows how to outwit and overpower anyone who stands in his way. As the new kid in town, that’s pretty much everyone. His family has come to the Pacific with his father, who’s preparing for a top-secret Marine Corps operation. After receiving a rude welcome from the local military brats...more
ebook, 40 pages
Published
August 15th 2011
by Random House
(first published 2011)
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A very interesting peek at the life of young (13 years old) Jack Reacher.
Reacher admits to a military-base bully that he's probably a psychopath, and he's probably right — but as Elliott Leyton, author of Hunting Humans: The Rise of the Modern Multiple Murderer, tells us, the majority of psychopaths aren't Hannibal Lecter. As with any psychological diagnosis, there must be a range of psychopathy, from those who are merely empathically challenged to those who have no empathy at all. Young Jack Re...more
Reacher admits to a military-base bully that he's probably a psychopath, and he's probably right — but as Elliott Leyton, author of Hunting Humans: The Rise of the Modern Multiple Murderer, tells us, the majority of psychopaths aren't Hannibal Lecter. As with any psychological diagnosis, there must be a range of psychopathy, from those who are merely empathically challenged to those who have no empathy at all. Young Jack Re...more
A 13-year old Jack Reacher was no different than the grownup ex-Major we've come to love and admire. That is the basic backdrop on which the short story Second Son has been written. Be it the abnormal physique, the care-for-little attitude or the sharpness of the mind when required, Reacher had all these traits as a young kid too. His father was in the Marine and Reacher had to move around a lot due to his father's varying postings. As expected, Reacher complained little. This particular story h...more
Jul 02, 2012
Harry
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
detective-mystery,
favorites
I'm going to add the same review for all of the Reacher series, so if you've read this one, you've read 'em all. If you feel a certain affinity for the lone hero, a man of principle, of unwavering knowledge and assent as to his own actions, than Jack Reacher's your kinda guy.
Lee Child has created an unforgettable and unique character in his creation of Jack Reacher. Jack seems to implicitly understand that he is a unique animal/human running around on this planet and that in spite of social con...more
Lee Child has created an unforgettable and unique character in his creation of Jack Reacher. Jack seems to implicitly understand that he is a unique animal/human running around on this planet and that in spite of social con...more
Overview
There's something very hedonistic about reading Lee Child's collection of thrillers. At once completely improbable almost to the point of fantasy and intensely enjoyable almost to the point of orgasm (that might be an overstatement). These novels read so fast, you can spend a single snowbound day plowing through one and go to sleep wishing it would snow all day tomorrow so you could read another.
"Second Son" is a short story, but as enjoyable as any other Child novel. It introduces the y...more
There's something very hedonistic about reading Lee Child's collection of thrillers. At once completely improbable almost to the point of fantasy and intensely enjoyable almost to the point of orgasm (that might be an overstatement). These novels read so fast, you can spend a single snowbound day plowing through one and go to sleep wishing it would snow all day tomorrow so you could read another.
"Second Son" is a short story, but as enjoyable as any other Child novel. It introduces the y...more
A short story prequel in the Jack Reacher suspense series. This story takes place when Jack is 13 in 1974 and the family has just been posted to Okinawa.
My Take
This sets us up for Jack's math and deductive abilities...even as a kid, that boy was bright!
I do like how Child describes the difference between Joe and Reacher. Joe has no trigger, he's all brains and into theory; he's likely to end up in military intelligence. Reacher, well, Reacher is "permanently jammed wide open on full auto", an un...more
My Take
This sets us up for Jack's math and deductive abilities...even as a kid, that boy was bright!
I do like how Child describes the difference between Joe and Reacher. Joe has no trigger, he's all brains and into theory; he's likely to end up in military intelligence. Reacher, well, Reacher is "permanently jammed wide open on full auto", an un...more
Lee Child- Second Son (Dell Books 2012) 3.75 Stars
Jack Reacher is thirteen and his family has just been moved to a military base near Okinawa, Japan. Now he and his brother Joe must adjust and fit in with the kids in the neighbourhood. Jack Reacher will handle them in the only way he knows, with his fists.
The introduction was kind of boring, but it does provide some insight into the background of Reacher’s family. The whole book is great for adding depth to this character and showing where he l...more
Jack Reacher is thirteen and his family has just been moved to a military base near Okinawa, Japan. Now he and his brother Joe must adjust and fit in with the kids in the neighbourhood. Jack Reacher will handle them in the only way he knows, with his fists.
The introduction was kind of boring, but it does provide some insight into the background of Reacher’s family. The whole book is great for adding depth to this character and showing where he l...more
There's nothing in here to indicate a certain event shaped him the way he was. What this 'chapter' does (only a few pages long is this book) is merely to confirm that Reacher from a very early age was tall, big, fights well, loves his coffee strong, eats a lot, clearly has a healthy appetite for the opposite sex, and could have made a good Sherlock Holmes if he was brought up in London instead of various army bases around the world. The events in this book are what we know of him already... it's...more
This is not a novel but a short story, which came out only as an e-book last month.
The year is 1974, and the then thirteen year old Jack Reacher, arrives with his family in Okinawa, Japan. His father is with the Marine Corps thus the family has to move often from one place to the next, wherever duty calls. Their arrival there though is nothing but accidental, since the Americans are already starting to realize that China has set some big plans into place, so they want to have some of their best...more
The year is 1974, and the then thirteen year old Jack Reacher, arrives with his family in Okinawa, Japan. His father is with the Marine Corps thus the family has to move often from one place to the next, wherever duty calls. Their arrival there though is nothing but accidental, since the Americans are already starting to realize that China has set some big plans into place, so they want to have some of their best...more
I was thrilled to find this Kindle single by one of my favorite authors. It was a short story about the hero of his books, Reacher, a military police officer who took early retirement and is traveling around the United States to see it because, as a military brat, he had always been with his parents who had been continuously assigned overseas.
“Second Son” is about his travails when his father is reassigned to the Philippines and he has to start yet another school and face the school bullies. He...more
“Second Son” is about his travails when his father is reassigned to the Philippines and he has to start yet another school and face the school bullies. He...more
This is a short story that gives an insight into what Jack Reacher was like as a child (around 13 years old). His grandfather is dying and his family has been relocated so they cannot contact his next of kin, which is his daughter, Josephine. Josephine is Reacher’s mother. After getting moved into their new home, Reacher and his brother, Joe, encounter the bully kid of the neighborhood. Before they know it, Reacher’s dad, Stan, and Joe are both in some trouble. Reacher’s mom has to leave to be w...more
One of the best short stories I have read so far... and there haven't been many.
A wonderful insight has been given into the young days as Jack Reacher by Lee and I am glad to know that even then he was as straight as an arrow could be. Typical no nonsense behavior and thinking rationally before every fight to make sure he emerged victorious and the other guy(s) ended up on the hospital bed.
After reading this novel one can easily imagine how Reacher's mother, Josephine has played an essential rol...more
A wonderful insight has been given into the young days as Jack Reacher by Lee and I am glad to know that even then he was as straight as an arrow could be. Typical no nonsense behavior and thinking rationally before every fight to make sure he emerged victorious and the other guy(s) ended up on the hospital bed.
After reading this novel one can easily imagine how Reacher's mother, Josephine has played an essential rol...more
I'm still tossing up whether these $2.99 'fill in the spaces' (very) short ebooks from established authors are worth the money or not. They are just so short - I completed it in less than 30 minutes whilst exercising on a treadmill - and my rip-off detector has abuzz with each step!
This one is set before any of the Reacher novels, when Jack Reacher is just 13 years old and living with his family on a US military base. Essentially the 13 y/o Reacher is much the same as the adult Reacher. He is co...more
This one is set before any of the Reacher novels, when Jack Reacher is just 13 years old and living with his family on a US military base. Essentially the 13 y/o Reacher is much the same as the adult Reacher. He is co...more
Child seems to have entered a nostalgic period for my favorite macho hero, Jack Reacher. The last Reacher book I read, "The Affair", took us back to 1997 to provide some back ground on how/why Reacher decided to leave the Army MP's.
This time Child reaches all the way back to Reacher's childhood as a thirteen year old growing up with his two year older brother Joe and his U.S. Marine father and French mother as they have just been transferred to Okinowa. This is not a full length novel but more a...more
This time Child reaches all the way back to Reacher's childhood as a thirteen year old growing up with his two year older brother Joe and his U.S. Marine father and French mother as they have just been transferred to Okinowa. This is not a full length novel but more a...more
ok. i absolutely adore jack reacher. and by extension, lee child. but i have to say - calling this short story a peek into reacher's childhood is totally misleading. this story takes place within a very short time frame - a couple of days - when jack was 13. sure, we meet his parents and his brother, but what we're seeing of jack is pretty much what we've seen of him in all the previous books. just shorter.
his role in this book is as per the others - enforcer slash detective. but please. the ki...more
his role in this book is as per the others - enforcer slash detective. but please. the ki...more
Post-Thoughts:
I'm left with this impression.
I'm having trouble grasping the realistic aspects in The Second Son of Stan Reacher, Jack Reacher. Are you telling me a 13 year old pubescent child is capable of highly intricate, perplex deductive reasoning that can easily direct 3 trained military officers to find a missing potential catastrophic code book? Having that quality of a character in a story is truly fascinating and just plain awesome. But really, are you serious? That's completely far-f...more
I'm left with this impression.
I'm having trouble grasping the realistic aspects in The Second Son of Stan Reacher, Jack Reacher. Are you telling me a 13 year old pubescent child is capable of highly intricate, perplex deductive reasoning that can easily direct 3 trained military officers to find a missing potential catastrophic code book? Having that quality of a character in a story is truly fascinating and just plain awesome. But really, are you serious? That's completely far-f...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Ok, before the review let me say I LOVE Jack Reacher. There, I said it. A fictional character that makes my heart race, my synapses fire and raises my anxiety levels while I wait for another book. Lee Childs is an author Stephen King and I can finally agree on (I love King's writing but his recomendations usually leave me cold). So why then did I only give this exclusive E-book only three stars? I'm not sure. I guess because it was more than "0k" but less than "Really Liked It". Probably because...more
So it's basically a Reacher story with ages changed. The mystery is okay and the writing is good: simple and direct, but don't expect any depth to be added to Reacher or any insight into what makes him who he is. I've come to realize that Child is painting his character as a freak of nature, which many readers don't like (they pine for some deep secret or tumultuous event that altered a character's psyche) but it is what is. Some people are just born to do certain things...Jordan was born to pla...more
A well-done tale of Reacher's childhood that left me wanting more. In this story, we find out a lot more about Reacher's family background. I've lamented recently that, since Reacher ages in real time, his present day adventures will soon be hampered by the fact that he's past 50 (no spring chicken), and can't keep taking down the nastiest bad guys indefinitely. I've thought that more forays into our hero's past is the way to go. In this story we get a glimpse that maybe there are a lot of untol...more
Mostly read Reacher novels in one sitting, but normally the sitting is a lot longer, this one done and dusted in an hour or so.
It's a little far-fetched, but even in my own books I've stretched what a fifteen year old is capable of. I found this not so much an insight into how Reacher became the character he is, it is what it is - Reacher has ALWAYS been that way, this short story is just set thirty years before the main novels. Which suits me fine - there's lots coming out of the Lee Childs cam...more
It's a little far-fetched, but even in my own books I've stretched what a fifteen year old is capable of. I found this not so much an insight into how Reacher became the character he is, it is what it is - Reacher has ALWAYS been that way, this short story is just set thirty years before the main novels. Which suits me fine - there's lots coming out of the Lee Childs cam...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Nice short story about why Jack Reacher is the man he is. Lets you get into the mind of Lee Child's character at an early age. It should be noted that, at age 13, Jack is 5' 11" (six inches short of his adult height but already 4 inches taller than a fully-grown Tom Cruise). Good books. Bad movie casting. As is often the case, the best way to avoid disappointment when watching a movie about a beloved book or fictional character in a book is to avoid the movie. In my mind, Reacher looks more like...more
Do you want to know how Jack Reacher began his life? Are you a fan of the Lee Childs' books about Jack Reacher? Well you most definitely need to read this. It was a Kindle Single, so I'm not sure how you would get this if you don't have a Kindle. Must be a way.
In this short story you find out who Jack Reacher was in 1974 on Okinawa. He's the new kid on the block. His father is there to prepare for a top secret mission. Seems like everyone is against them, but Jack is ready to do what Jack does...more
In this short story you find out who Jack Reacher was in 1974 on Okinawa. He's the new kid on the block. His father is there to prepare for a top secret mission. Seems like everyone is against them, but Jack is ready to do what Jack does...more
An interesting novella showing some of Reacher's early life. It shows a little bit of how tough Reacher was early on, and gives some explanation about why he is the way he is later on in the series. That being said, it's by no means groundbreaking territory. I'm also not sure just how realistic I find it. Yeah, I can see a kid being that tough. I can not find a kid being that cool and collected though. It just doesn't ring true to me. In addition, the odds of him bossing MP's around and them lis...more
This short story takes place when Jack Reacher is 13. His family has just been assigned to the Philippines. Jack knows that he and his brother must prove themselves to the other kids on the base. Within hours of their settling in, Jack's mother leaves for Paris to be with her dying father. Jack's father is in trouble for loosing a manual. Jack's brother is in trouble for allegedly stealing the answers to a test they were supposed to take. We see Jack use his skills to find the real culprits and...more
Nice background story of a young Jack Reacher and his family. Weaves in some of Reacher's idiosyncracies and methodology in a young adult novel manner. An entertaining for those familiar with Child's previous Reacher books, yet also accessible and a good introduction for new reader.
The ending comes a bit quick and is reminiscent of an Encyclopedia Brown whodunnit, complete with all loose ends conveniently tied up. Also, all of the immediate family (mother, father, brother) are curiously kept fro...more
The ending comes a bit quick and is reminiscent of an Encyclopedia Brown whodunnit, complete with all loose ends conveniently tied up. Also, all of the immediate family (mother, father, brother) are curiously kept fro...more
Did I ever said that I love the way Lee Child wrote Reacher's book.
Because I think it's so Reacher!!!
The way the book written, represented Jack Reacher himself so clear.
There are only 2 authors for me so far, whose written style has represented the main character of the story by the rhythm, atmosphere and nuance of writing style completely without the necessity to read the details of them.
It's Lee Child for Jack Reacher, and Simon Beckett for Dr.David Hunter.
This book made me able to see Reacher...more
Because I think it's so Reacher!!!
The way the book written, represented Jack Reacher himself so clear.
There are only 2 authors for me so far, whose written style has represented the main character of the story by the rhythm, atmosphere and nuance of writing style completely without the necessity to read the details of them.
It's Lee Child for Jack Reacher, and Simon Beckett for Dr.David Hunter.
This book made me able to see Reacher...more
This was a really fast read. A kindle single about Jacj Reacher when he was 13 years old.
I love the Reacher series by Lee Child. Having said that... here comes the but...but this book doesn't really have anything that gives you any new insight into Jack Reacher's life. A peek at a single family scene in his life as a kid and his relationship in his family. Even as a kid he was protecting someone else.
Would rather see a whole book wih a chronological outline of his life leading up to the curre...more
I love the Reacher series by Lee Child. Having said that... here comes the but...but this book doesn't really have anything that gives you any new insight into Jack Reacher's life. A peek at a single family scene in his life as a kid and his relationship in his family. Even as a kid he was protecting someone else.
Would rather see a whole book wih a chronological outline of his life leading up to the curre...more
A nice little back-story about one of my favorite heroes. Lee Child can write a good short story as well as a novel. My only issue with this story is that it is difficult to believe that any 13 year old boy could be quite as clever as the young Reacher proves to be.
If I might add a snarky comment, rather than have the height and weight challenged Tom Cruise play the grown up Reacher in the file adaptation of "One Shot" which is schedule to start filming later this month, maybe the 5' 7" 170 poun...more
If I might add a snarky comment, rather than have the height and weight challenged Tom Cruise play the grown up Reacher in the file adaptation of "One Shot" which is schedule to start filming later this month, maybe the 5' 7" 170 poun...more
This is the much anticipated glimpse into the childhood of Jack Reacher. More specifically a few days when Reacher is thirteen, and the family has just been transfered to Japan. This short story is classic Reacher; he is brutal, but only to those who deserve it.He kicks butt as the tough but sensitive character we know from the novels. While reading the novels I had assumed that his instincts and reactions were due to his military training, but this story will prove that he had all that to start...more
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Lee Child was born in 1954 in Coventry, England, but spent his formative years in the nearby city of Birmingham. By coincidence he won a scholarship to the same high school that JRR Tolkien had attended. He went to law school in Sheffield, England, and after part-time work in the theater he joined Granada Television in Manchester for what turned out to be an eighteen-year career as a presentation...more
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Nov 26, 2011 05:59am