I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
"Small Wars"
by
Lee Child
It is part of the Jack Reacher #0.75, Jack Reacher #19.5 series and is a military thriller, thriller in eBook edition that was published by Delacorte Press on August 18, 2015 and has 44 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books in this series include [books_series]
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, "Deep Down", Never Go Back, "High Heat", Personal, Make Me, Night School, MatchUp, The Midnight Line, Past Tense, No Middle Name, The Hero, Blue Moon, "Cleaning the Gold"
This short story is 0.75 in the prequel chronology and 19.5 publication-wise in the Reacher thriller series revolving around Jack Reacher, a very perceptive military policeman. The story takes place between Forts Benning and Smith.
My Take
Yep, sure is nice to have family money. And Crawford is ambitious, as you’ll discover a few pages in.
It cracked me up how much arguing went on and all the “fine” points examined over whose jurisdiction the shooting fell in. More laughter ensued when I read that Neagley is in charge of security for special forces command. I dunno, I can’t imagine special forces needs a lot of mollycoddling, that they can protect themselves pretty well. Must’ve been a pretty cushy posting, lol.
Oh, lord, it’s just one of the many things I adore about Jack Reacher:
“‘Were you out sick the day they taught thinking?’
‘Now you’re being unpleasant.’
‘Not yet,’ Reacher said. ‘You’ll notice the difference.'”
There is some useful information for would-be assassins in here.
“He wanted expert bureaucrats, but he didn’t want them to be in love with bureaucracy.”
There’s a fun bit in here with Frances taking out a snarky lookie-loo of a local deputy.
The sad part is how quickly the state police latched onto an easy suspect. And how little they paid attention to justice.
The Story
It’s an assassination. One that gets passed up the line until a scapegoat is found.
The Characters
Jack Reacher, an MP, is an emergency fill-in. Sergeant Frances Neagley is transferred in to help shape things up.
Fort Benning, Georgia, is…
…where Reacher is temporarily based. The sergeant in the MP office is out of shape in so many ways. Major David Noble, an MP, was newly placed in charge of criminal investigations throughout the southeastern military districts. Until, that is.
Fort Smith, Arkansas, is…
…where the special operations school is located. Lieutenant Colonel Caroline Crawford, the new War Plans soldier, celebrated her promotion with a silver Porsche. Mr. H and Mrs. R Crawford are her paranoid parents. Captain Ellsbury is the local MP commander.
The suspect is a too-tall, weird-looking black guy who fits the specs.
Colonel Joe Reacher is Jack’s older brother and has just been given a new counterintelligence command.
The Cover and Title
The cover is explosive with the red rays fanning out from the center of the background and a great contrast for the white outlined and embossed yellow font for the author’s name and the title in a black outlined white tucked behind Child’s name. The promo next to the author’s name and the series info slipped in between the title flip the colors.
The title is the concerned focus, “Small Wars” that could be compromised.
