Deep Down

Jack Reacher #16.5

by Lee Child

Summoned by Military Intelligence to Washington, D.C., Reacher is sent undercover. The assignment that awaits him: The army is meeting with its Capitol Hill paymasters for classified talks on a new, state-of-the-art sniper rifle for U.S. forces. But vital details about the weapon are leaking—straight from the Capitol and probably into the hands of unidentified foreign arms dealers. The prospect of any and every terrorist, mercenary, or dictator’s militia getting their hands on the latest superior firepower is unthinkable. That’s where Reacher comes in. His task: infiltrate the top-secret proceedings and smoke out the mole. His target: a quartet of high-powered Army political liaison officers—all of them fast-track women on their way to the top.

According to his bosses, it’s a zero-danger mission. No need to draw a gun . . . just chat over drinks. But Reacher knows that things are rarely what they seem. And he’s learned the hard way never to underestimate an opponent. Or four. Lessons that will come in handy when he starts digging for the truth—and gets his hands a lot dirtier than he expected.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Short Stories, Audiobook, Action

44 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2012

About the author

Lee Child was born October 29th, 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 director during British TV's "golden age." During his tenure his company made Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown, Prime Suspect, and Cracker. But he was fired in 1995 at the age of 40 as a result of corporate restructuring. Always a voracious reader, he decided to see an opportunity where others might have seen a crisis and bought six dollars' worth of paper and pencils and sat down to write a book, Killing Floor, the first in the Jack Reacher series.

Killing Floor was an immediate success and launched the series which has grown in sales and impact with every new installment. The first Jack Reacher movie, based on the novel One Shot and starring Tom Cruise and Rosamund Pike, was released in December 2012.

Lee has three homes—an apartment in Manhattan, a country house in the south of France, and whatever airplane cabin he happens to be in while traveling between the two. In the US he drives a supercharged Jaguar, which was built in Jaguar's Browns Lane plant, thirty yards from the hospital in which he was born.

Lee spends his spare time reading, listening to music, and watching the Yankees, Aston Villa, or Marseilles soccer. He is married with a grown-up daughter. He is tall and slim, despite an appalling diet and a refusal to exercise.

Reviews

[Alex is The Romance Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

What's the point of this really short story??? Apart from the money-making aspect!!!!

I get so annoyed with these little short stories that authors bring out between books just to make a buck or two more...because that's what this little "story" of just over 40 pages felt like..

So we know Jack Reacher is smarter than all those military guys out there...but really...within a few hours he solves a case of someone selling arms secrets to the enemies of USA!!!! Really....

So not impressed!!!!

[Bob]

Not so cool. This looks like it was written for Tom Cruse --- the poorest choice I can think of as Jack Reacher. Afraid, Lee Child has sold out.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Jack Reacher short story published 2012.

Another entertaining short story with Jack still wearing his MP cops cap.

Top secret schematics for a brand new sniper rifle are being sold to a foreign competitor, at least that’s what army intelligence thinks and they want it to stop.
Under suspicion are four young senior ranked female officers one of which is believed to be the culprit. But which one?
Enter Jack the lady killer. Jack’s job is to find the culprit and quick before an international incident happens.
Doesn’t take Jack long to find the rotten apple but it’s not what army intelligence thinks is going on.

A readable short story but not one of the best I have read.

3 stars.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely one of the better Jack Reacher short stories in my opinion. Whereas a lot of them so far have felt pointless to the overall larger plot, this one fits in well to the back story.

It's always nice to see Reacher in uniform and see snippets of his military days, and this book delivered that.

Three stars.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another short novella that focuses on Reachers backstory - This one is set during he’s time in the Military Police.

Reacher is sent to Washington in an undercover mission to solve which of the four female suspects are leaking top secret information.

It’s a relatively quick read and much shorter than some of the other novellas that have been released between each of main novels.
Unlike the others in the series, I found this one to be far more interesting and believable.

The story is a nice little mystery, I liked the way Reacher solves it!

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

This thankfully short story goes nowhere. 2 of 10 stars

[Jim A · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Lee Child Jack Reacher short story.

Reacher fans will want to read this just because it's Reacher. Anyone who has not read a Lee Child Reacher novel should not waste their money on this.

I can't really find anything about this short story to recommend it. Reacher is called from Germany to go undercover in a congressional hearing regarding a new sniper rifle. Military Intelligence thinks that there is a leak as to the specs of that rifle. Reacher's job is to find the leak.

There really is no plot to speak of. The first third of the story involves a woman jogging and a man driving a car, prior to their lives intersecting. At the same time Reacher is being briefed by Military Intelligence on his mission. Then there's the hearing and after that the end game.

I like short stories because they showcase an author's ability to develop and tell a good story quickly. This fails in the 'good story' category.

Then to top it off, I can't even pass this on to another Reacher fan, as it's not an Amazon 'loanable' eBook.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Reacher book takes place in 1986, when he is a twenty-something in the Army. All the other Reacher books I’ve read take place in modern times, when he’s left the army and he’s in his drifter and hipster phase, wandering through small towns finding trouble. But he never seeks trouble! It’s always, like, he’s minding his own business eating pancakes in a diner, and he overhears some bad guys talking about their sex-trafficking ring and is obligated to get involved because his conscience won't allow him to just hear this and not do anything.

In this book, his commander guy gives him a strange assignment: find out which soldier is betraying America by sharing secrets about our weapons program to the Soviets! And he’s narrowed it down to one of 4 people! And the 4 people are all young women about Reacher’s age! So he’s put on an assignment with these 4 women and is encouraged to “interact socially” with these women to find out which one gives him bad vibes. The commander guy is like, do whatever you need to do to get to know them better – wink wink. Reacher is skeptical. How am I supposed to do that? Why would they tell me anything? Won’t they be suspicious of someone new joining the team? And the commander guy is all “Goddammit Reacher, stop asking questions! America needs you to seduce these babes!! Just go do it!”.

So reluctantly, Reacher sets off to work. I won’t spoil the ending, but I will say one time 6 commies surround him in this alley when he’s on a pay phone, but he kicks their asses! All of them!

So anyways, 5 stars! I don't know how to rate this!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well this is a first...5 stars for a short story!

Admittedly I probably love it because I already know (and love) Reacher and his stories are somewhat familiar so obviously he will outsmart everyone and win the day! That's not really a spoiler is it??!

It encompasses everything I love about Reacher - his cool assessment of people, his methodical and logical reactions to danger and his quiet humour.

Best short story I've read this year.
(But maybe you need to be a Reacher fan...would be interested on how it reads if you weren't familiar with the series).

[Fred · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lee Child develops another novella, short story. Being a short story it is easy to follow the characters.

In 1986, Jack Reacher’s handed a Military Intelligence task to discover & stop an organization portrayed by 4 woman from selling state of the art “Marine Sniper Rifles” to foreign countries?



These new high-power rifles described in the book, can kill people a mile away. Reacher’s assigned to follow & uncover 4 woman discovered in the espionage & identify which of these women are in this foreign intelligence “war plan”. Reacher’s clairvoyance, attractiveness, gentlemen techniques gets the woman to abandon their key woman strengths for him!

Once again, in the end, Reacher’s overwhelming & heartless strength, defeats all men (& strong woman) in a simple brick fight.

Jack Reacher then goes down his lonely road down to his next mission waiting for us.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

A day in the life of our hero. Short, undistinguished, not actually bad. Just a snack, unfulfilling in the end.

[Harry · Rating 1 out of 5]

As everyone knows, I'm a huge fan of Lee Child's novels. But if this is an example of his short stories and if I were reading Child for the first time, I'd never read another book of his...ever. In my opinion "fate" has no place in mystery/thrillers. The genre depends on plot, the willing choices people make. Eliminating characters as suspects as due to chance beyond anyone's control (say for example, the weather) is a huge no, no for me.

Assessment: barely made it through the short story.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

My only issue with Jack Reacher after reading Killing Floor, Lee Child's first published book, was the awkward-to-average-at-best writing, and before committing to read the rest of series, I wanted to see if it improved (Spoiler Alert: It doesn't). I figured a good way to do that would be to read something he wrote more recently. And then this short story, starring the very same protagonist and written in 2012, fell into my lap.

This story has good bones -- it has a compelling lead character, a tight plot, an interesting mystery, believable tension, and a memorable climax -- but comes off the rails due to a few notable shortcomings in the writing. This especially annoyed me because this had such potential to be a tremendously good short story, were it not for these irksome missteps:

1) The opening of the book cuts quickly, and multiple times, between Jack Reacher's point of view and two other points-of-view -- a nameless jogger, and a motorist -- solely to set up the accidental death of the jogger, a character the reader cannot, as she is nameless, yet be invested in. That this happens in a short story, and not a novel, where the author has the benefit of leading the reader on a roundabout path to the central plot of the story, makes it all the more unforgivable, especially in light of one of my other complaints. I am fairly certain the story, as currently constructed, can be read without reading either of those alternate points-of-view with no loss in story or context -- meaning it should have been, at the very least, just cut out, if not edited to be improved.

2) There is a scene where Jack Reacher is talking to his handler just after he finishes reading the four suspects' dossiers -- one of which points out that her grandfather was a high-ranking official in the Soviet military -- and the handler asks Reacher if he sees any red flags. He says no and the handler replies "Neither did we." Mind you, the setting of this short story is 1986 -- when The Cold War was still a very real thing. Whether the suspect is the guilty party, or this is just a red herring, surely this should at least be remarked on by someone of Jack Reacher's implied skill.

3) This story cuts out in the middle of an action sequence, jumps 24-hours and into a foreign country, and proceeds to abruptly end in that paragraph. I had to check back and forth to make sure I hadn't missed something. I know that Kindle Singles -- which this story was released exclusively as -- do not have restricted lengths, but even if the author or his editor had a hard word count for whatever reason, two-thirds of the opening scenes could have easily been edited out to make room to give this story the kind of ending it deserved.

Needless to say, I won't be picking up the Jack Reacher series wholesale and rushing through it, but I wouldn't be opposed to reading another Reacher book if my options were limited, like at an airport or somewhere similar.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

There isn't much story to this short story, like Reacher walks into a bar. Ask questions, find out the truth, kick some ass.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rare Lee Child book that did not grip me. I love the Jack Reacher books and was let down a little by this one.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is set in the 80's. It's another decent event in Jack Reachers history, following a corruption threat. Lots of detail and less action in this one but still a good read!

[Carol Jones-Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good reading buddy of mine sent me a note that said I need to get caught up on my Reacher reading. So, here I go. Trying to get a start on that goal.

In 1986, summoned by military intelligence to Washington, DC, Reacher is sent undercover. The assignment that awaits him: the army is meeting with its Capitol Hill paymasters for classified talks on a new, state-of-the-art sniper rifle for US forces. But vital details about the weapon are leaking from someone at the top of the federal government and probably into the hands of unidentified foreign arms dealers. The prospect of any and every terrorist, mercenary, or dictator's militia getting their hands on the latest superior firepower is unthinkable. Reacher is tasked with infiltrating the top-secret proceedings and revealing the traitor. He targets a quartet of high-powered Army political liaison officers—all of them fast-track women on their way to the top. According to his bosses, it's a zero-danger mission, but Reacher knows that things are rarely what they seem.

I think the big question for this review probably involves authors releasing short stories relating to series between full-length series novels. Obviously, in this competitive market, it’s to keep up the enthusiasm for the next series novel, and usually, these stories help us fill in a blank for a character that we’ve come to love. Lee Child’s previous short story, Second Son (Kindle Single), which looks back into Reacher’s childhood, did just that. A lot of readers felt that the young Jack was too mature in his thinking, but for me, the character fit exactly with the storyline established. This Reacher with whom we reunite in 1986, not so much.

I’m going to start with a point I latched on to while reading and believe is the height of dumbassery in these kinds of stories and novels — Reacher is not alone, Stone Barrington does it (Stuart Woods), Mitch Rapp (Vince Flynn) and others I can name. The character is undercover on an assignment and pretty much has a wish to be “made” (as it’s called in the genre). Stone just tells folks, Mitch’s girlfriend screams it, and Reacher — barely into his non-investigation has the urge to just tell the women under suspicion who he is and for whom he works. As it happens, the baddie makes him pretty quick anyway, but then this is a short story.

Given that it was a short story, the first half of the story was set up along with a gratuitous stalking of a woman jogging culminating in her death at the hands of a baddie we never meet. The second part of the story, by comparison, felt rushed and wrapped up too easily. We know Reacher is a military mastermind so making the baddie the most obvious person of a group of women was maybe a little condescending to the reader. Probably not intentionally, but it really felt to this reader that the Reacher spirit we have come to know was missing. Is it to give us the feeling of being inside a military op with the too small suit and the shirt that reaches halfway down the arm and PX shoes? Much was made of what Reacher was wearing instead of that space being used to making sense of the resolution of the storyline.

Overall I thought it was a good read. Recommend.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve known the name Lee Child for a while now and having read Stephen King recommending him as a “guilty pleasure” decided to have a look at the writer. I tried with his novel “One Shot” but couldn’t make it past the first few pages of description of a city. Months later I tried again with “Deep Down” a short story featuring Child’s Jack Reacher character and finished it – but only just.

Child writes the blandest, most uninspired and workmanlike prose (prose is barely the word to describe it really, let’s look at the label as a placeholder) I’ve ever read. Actually that’s not true, the last writer I read who wrote like he were writing inter-departmental memos in a law firm was Tom Clancy who also had a penchant for the military.

So the story here is that one of four high-ranking military women is a double agent selling military secrets to the Ruskies and it’s up to Jack Reacher to sit down with them and figure out whodunit. Most of the story is a group of military people sat in a room discussing the pros and cons of certain rifles. I have no interest in guns but Child obviously does and goes into detail on the specs which made me feel like I was reading a catalogue.

And the characters (!) are described as ciphers. One character is described as “woman with fanny pack” throughout and another is “man in car” – it reads like a mathematics problem: woman with fanny pack is running at x speed and man in car is moving at x speed equidistant to blah blah blah. The characters that do have names are the dullest of the dull. They’re all military types so they all speak monotonously, are all uptight, neither displays emotion even at the mention of a colleagues’ death, they are the most boring people ever to feature in a work of fiction.

Except for Jack Reacher whose popularity is utterly inexplicable. He’s described as some kind of superman who sleepwalks through the story showing an astonishing lack of charisma or wit in his numerous dull exchanges with every character he meets. All I know about him is he’s a tough guy and has no personality.

It’s not just the lack of any decent characters or engaging plot that lost me but Child’s terrible writing style which borders on the obsessive. Every detail of every scene – no matter how boring – is noted down. It makes for an awfully dreary reading experience and having gotten a taste of Child’s writing style I can say with confidence I will never read another word by this “writer”.

[Georgie-who-is-Sarah-Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, this is Reacher 16.5 and, as you might expect, there's a fairly recognisable formula that's being followed. Don't get me wrong - it's a good formula: Lee Child is brilliant at setting up scenes that suck you in with the level of apparently innocuous detail that then lead on to something more significant. Usually involving Reacher being laconic and vaguely unhelpful with someone in authority - one of the main reasons I like the books is precisely because Reacher gets away with saying all the faintly bolshie things I would love to.

In this short story, the formula works its usual magic, with the careful juxtaposition of two different commuting experiences (trust me, Child makes these feel important) with Reacher taking on a new assignment. But, in fact, the story is only just getting going when it's over. It lasts long enough for Reacher to make his trademark brilliant deductions on scant evidence, and, OF COURSE, to knock out vastly superior forces using only native wit and his right elbow.

Bit of a letdown, really - all dressed up and no where to go. So you're likely to read this maybe for completeness' sake (and because it's not awful) but not for the sort of visceral satisfaction a Reacher story normally brings.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. I'm not a fan of short stories (this may be closer to a novella) but it's okay. Still Reacher still some huh moments but still enjoyable.

[Conner Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had potential but wrapped up too quick. Now I know why they call it a novella

[Kathy Davie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very short story, and technically, it's 16.5 in the Jack Reacher suspense series. Chronologically, this takes place early in Reacher's career in 1986, so more like a 0.75.

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 well: he lets him spew!

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
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.

[Hobart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
Ahh, this is more like it -- I was afraid that I was going to have to give up on these shorts to preserve my appreciation for the novels. But Lee Child and Dick Hill pulled it off.

Its the mid-80s, Reacher's a Captain in the Army and is called to Washington to go undercover as an Army sniper. Someone is leaking information from a Congressional investigation into whether the Army and Marines need a new, super-cutting-edge sniper rifle. The Army's got it narrowed down to 4 suspects, they want him to narrow it down. Reacher is repeatedly assured that this will just be talking and that there is "no danger." So, yeah, things are going to get dicey.

The suspects are four women on the fast track to the top of the Army -- if not Commander-in-Chief (Child apparently likes the idea of women on the Fast-Track in the Army) -- we get to spend a little time getting to know them with Reacher. His handler wants Reacher to try to use his masculine wiles with one or all of them. Reacher has a pretty good idea who is target is, and then plunges in, pretty sure he'll have to come up with something better than attempting to seduce superior officers.

Interspersed with the early portions of this story are snippets of two different individuals heading toward the center of D.C. -- it's not immediately clear what's going on with either of them, but you get plenty of opportunities to guess. They do a decent job of increasing the tension, though.

Reacher does get enough clues (naturally) to identify the leak -- not only that, he's able to uncover a whole lot more. Best yet, the book includes a fantastic Reacher fight scene (don't get me wrong, I love it when he uses his brain, but the last two short stories I listened to didn't have a lot of action.).

Some of Hill's female voices leave a little to be desired. But I have no other complaints -- good stuff (he has sort of a Stan Lee quality to his voice from time to time -- if Child ever made him say "true believers," I'd flip).

Good, strong story. Capable narration -- a great way to spend 100 minutes.

[Todd Cannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the short Reacher story Second Son that Child wrote so when I saw this was available in our library I was eager to read it. I had to put it on hold and wait a couple of weeks for it to come in but it was worth it.

This is only 53 pages so I easily read it in one sitting. I thought that there were some classic Reacher moments. I have seen that some reviews say that they think this was not one of Child's best efforts but I think that they may just be mad that Tom Cruise was cast in the Jack Reacher movie. (The negative reviews I read all mention Tom Cruise.) While I do not think that Tom Cruise should have been cast as Reacher I don't see any reason to blame this story.

One possible discrepancy is that in a couple of previous Reacher books we learn that Reacher once won a sniper competition hosted by the Marines. In this story he claims not to know anything about being a sniper. Now this story takes place pretty early in Reacher's career so maybe this experience got him interested in sniper rifles and led to him entering an winning the competition.

[Zora · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful. Unspeakably awful.

Is it him? Or is it me? If it's him, and I were a friend, I'd make sure he was seeing a neurologist, and I'm not making a mean joke, here. This is not the writer who wrote 61 Hours. A vastly different brain is at work.

Or is it me? Has my taste changed so drastically in the past two years and all those Reacher novels I rated 5 stars were really crap, too? I can't imagine this is so, but something is terribly wrong, and perhaps I should re-visit the series and lower those ratings.

Or, other possibilities, these are first drafts, written in an afternoon possibly in an altered state, or penned by someone else in the tradition of VC Andrews--or the Nancy Drew books, which by the way are better written and filled with more tension than this short story.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

And so my adventures in the world of Lee Childs Jack Reacher continue. Now I will admit that I have a lot to learn about this canon but I was under the impression he was a traveller from one situation to another figuring out problems and dealing with situations along the way rather like the littlest hobo but more fists and brain work than cute eyes and a loving disposition (go on who recognises that reference). But this story is something different and I must admit I am intrigued to find out how out of place this story is to other books or if it is actually I who is wrong and I have totally misread this series. Either way I am keen to see how this story fits in with all the other books I have lined up in the series to read.

[Skip · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jack Reacher is asked to help figure out who is selling inside information on the procurement of a new sniper rifle among four upwardly mobile military woman, and is flown in from overseas to work undercover. Just as the story gets interesting, it's over. What is the point?

[XOX · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reacher is recruited to go undercover to discover a mole.

He is pretty good at deduction. He met with three out of the four suspects. All women. After talking and listening to the women talk. He is able to know which one of them is the right one.

As usually Reacher got into fights. Pretty enjoyable read.

[Dorel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry I read 35% of this story 📖 & stopped because it didn't grab my interest.

[John O · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much descriptive fighting in these short stories, occupies too much of the book.