Second Son (Lee Child novel)
Kindle cover
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| Author | Lee Child |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Jack Reacher |
| Genre | Thriller, young adult fiction |
| Publisher | Delacorte Press (US) |
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Publication date
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15 August 2011 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback), eBook |
| Pages | 40 (later published together with The Affair) |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | none |
| Followed by | Deep Down |
"Second Son" is a short story featuring Jack Reacher, a fictional character created by British author Jim Grant (who writes under the pen name of Lee Child). It is notable in several ways: in being a short story, as Reacher mainly appears in full-length novels, of which sixteen appeared as of 2012; in giving a glimpse of the teen-age Reacher, making the story a prequel set far earlier chronologically than all other appearances of Reacher. "Second Son" and "Deep Down" were both released originally for the Kindle. "Second Son" was later included in the paperback and Kindle editions of "The Affair". "Second Son" was bundled with the movie Jack Reacher as a Target Exclusive, when the movie was released on Blu-ray on 7 May 2013.
It is 1974. In Paris a 90-year-old man, the retired furniture restorer and World War I veteran Laurent Moutier, is unable to get out of bed and realises he is about to die. He faces stoically and unflinchingly the approach of death, mainly concerned about letting his daughter Josephine know. This takes some effort since she is married to an American military officer who is a member of US Marine Corps and she is constantly moving around the world with her husband on his different assignments. Her married name is Josephine Reacher; she is Jack Reacher's mother, and the dying Laurent Moutier is therefore his grandfather.
The story then moves to give a snapshot of the life of the 13-year-old Reacher and his family, having newly arrived at a military base in Okinawa. His father, Captain Stan Reacher, is to take command of a unit which would take part in an invasion of China, should the US get into war with that country.
The bad news from Paris, prompting Josephine to immediately take the first plane there, is compounded by a string of various kinds of trouble hitting members of the family. Reacher and his 15-year-old brother Joe ran afoul of the neighbourhood bully, an earlier-arrived American boy who takes "a toll" of anyone going to swim in the sea. Reacher is not intimidated by him – but Helen, the girl from a neighbouring house to whom Reacher takes a liking, is terrified. Then, Joe is accused of stealing the text of entry examinations from the school where they are due to enroll, dimming his prospects in this school. And most seriously of all, the classified code book of the unit of Stan, the father, has gone astray. Unless it can be recovered swiftly, Stan's military career would be in jeopardy.
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Wikipedia