I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
"Deep Down"
by
Lee Child
It is part of the , series and is a thriller in eBook edition that was published by Delacorte Press on July 16, 2012 and has 44 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Killing Floor, Die Trying, "Second Son", Tripwire, Running Blind, Echo Burning, Without Fail, Persuader, The Enemy, One Shot, The Hard Way, Bad Luck and Trouble, Nothing to Lose, Gone Tomorrow, 61 Hours, Worth Dying For, The Affair, A Wanted Man, Never Go Back, "High Heat", Personal, Make Me, "Small Wars", Night School, MatchUp, The Midnight Line, Past Tense, No Middle Name, The Hero, Blue Moon, "Cleaning the Gold"
This is a very short story, and technically, it’s 16.5 in the Jack Reacher thriller series. Chronologically, this takes place early in Reacher’s career in 1986, so more like a 0.5.
My Take
What can I say, it’s a Reacher…and he figures it out so easily while I’m sitting here totally stupid. I liked how Child informed us of Reacher’s character with his mouthing off to Christopher, his observational skills in figuring out what Christopher’s hand movements mean. Without being an info dump, it tells us that Reacher is very good at his job.
Christopher hedges so many restrictions around Reacher, I can’t imagine how he’ll be able to investigate anything. So…naturally…he does. Piece’a cake.
I do enjoy reading Reacher’s analysis when he’s about to go into battle. He’s so analytical.
The Story
It’s a hearing before a procurement committee on the Hill, and there’s a suspicion that one of the liaison officers is selling the design to a foreign manufacturer.
It’s Reacher’s job to figure out who, and oh man, there are so many obstacles before him…
The Characters
Captain Jack Reacher is an investigator for the army, pulled in to investigate a leak occurring during a pre-committee hearing.
Colonel Cornelius Christopher is with Military Intelligence, and he handles Reacher
The liaison officers
All four of them are West Pointers with off-the-chart IQs. Fast tracking their way to general, maybe even President of the United States. There are three 30-year-old lieutenant colonels: Christine Richardson is private school all the way; Darwen DeWitt is the daughter of a Houston businessman with a string of dent-repair shops; and, Alice Vaz is also public school. Twenty-nine-year-old Major Briony Walker is the fourth officer and is from a navy family and all public schools as well.
The Cover and Title
The cover incorporates a nice set of complements with the bright royal blue sky background and the slightly subdued orange in the author’s name and the title. That blue sets off the Capitol building beautifully.
The title refers to the leak, for it’s “Deep Down” and under.
I only got introduced to Reacher a little more than a week ago listening to a Book report radio interview with Child – I Must’ve been living under a rock as I hadn’t even heard of the guy – Lee Child? And then I got a copy of his latest nove; ‘Never go back’, and that was me Reachered over and out! I will definitely try get my hands on this short story – thank you very much for the review.
You’re welcome! Be sure to read “Second Son“…it’ll blow you away.