Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

When a tale is advertised as a short story, and priced accordingly, it is probably not fair to be overly harsh. I suppose the story is more than a teaser and serves a purpose. I think the publisher is trying to attract new readers. In that sense, “The Christmas Scorpion” by Lee Child might have been a huge success, except for my point at the end of this review. POV: Third person. BLUSH FACTOR: No worries here. No profanities. SUSPENSE: Some suspense. Not edge-of-the-seat though. THE WRITING: The best writing is the first two and last three pages. Which is not to say the writing throughout isn’t good. I just more enjoy information and description that paints a picture for me, tied together with some, but not overly much, dialogue to bridge the descriptive segments. CHARACTER: Some character development, but, not much. Excerpt Due to the length of this story, I am posting an extremely short excerpt. ‘…Her accent was from somewhere in England. “I don’t have a phone,” Reacher said. “Sorry.” The woman didn’t answer. “Comms failures happen all the time,” Reacher said. “Nothing you can do about it, soldier.” “Are you from Fort Irwin?” “Is that where you’re headed?” “We’re supposed to be there now,” she said. “Who are you?” “You first,” she said. “Right now I’m nobody. Once upon a time I was 110th MP.” “Really?” “For my sins.” The woman turned back and said, “Tony, come here.” The guy got up and came over, just the same, tall and lithe. But no smile. The woman said to him, “This gentleman was in the 110th…’ Child, Lee. The Christmas Scorpion: A Jack Reacher Story (pp. 6-7). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. BOTTOM LINE For a two dollar short story, this is worth the money. I think it unfair to post harsh reviews for a product that is advertised as being what it turns out to be. The real value of this short story, though, is for those who have never read a Lee Child novel. They can get a decent glimpse of his skill. Hopefully, the above excerpt will help a few readers decide. Four stars out of five. Why four? Twenty-some pages that is so heavily short, one-line dialogue as this story tends to exaggerate the length of time one will be reading the tale. I am striving to produce reviews that help you find books that you want, or avoid books that you wish to avoid. With your help, my improvement will help you and me improve book reviews on Amazon. Together, you and I can build a great customer review process that helps everybody. Will you join me? It is people such as you who have helped me improve over the years. I'm still learning, and I have a great deal yet to learn. With your help, I'll improve every day. One request: Be respectful and courteous in your comments and emails to me. I will do likewise with you. Thank you so much for indicating if this review helped you, or for your comment.