Second Son is a short story written exclusively for e-readers by Lee Child, the master behind Jack Reacher. Second Son sees Reacher as a 13 year old living on an army base, dealing with all the problems that come with that; bullying, family disputes and the stresses of the army itself. Obviously being a short story, it is a quick read (should take no longer then an hour to complete) and offers very little in the way of story or character development; especially when it concerns Reacher's mother, father and brother who feature very rarely, or at all, in the regular Reacher series. This could have been a good chance for Lee Child to show us who Reacher's family was, but instead we are left wondering.
In terms of the main character, Reacher, this is very much the same man that we read about in the other Lee Child book. There is a concern with this however, as it is often easy to forget you are reading about a 13 year old. He is as brutal as he is when he is 40, breaking arms and knocking out his opponents in fights (in this case other children slightly older than himself), which in itself isn't too far fetched, but the thought processes of why he fights i thought a bit implausible from a 13 year old.
Lee Child's free flowing writing is on show in this short story, making it instantly clea you are reading a Reacher story. The chapters flow together nicely and everything feels detailed without going overboard with explanation. This is what makes Lee Child such a great author, and he hasn't skipped a beat here.
Overall, Second Son is good for what it is; a short story detailing the expliots of a very young Jack Reacher. It is a decent read for those that are fans of the Reacher series of books, but would be extremely disappointing (due to the light story and character development) for those that haven't read any of Lee Child's other works.
