Killing Floor (Jack Reacher, #1)

by Lee Child

"This was the first Jack Reacher novel and with its lean, spare prose it has one of the most intriguing heroes of our times and displays a gift for explosive drama." (Daily Express)

Jack Reacher jumps off a bus and walks fourteen miles down a country road into Margrave, Georgia. An arbitrary decision he's about to regret.

Reacher is the only stranger in town on the day they have had their first homicide in thirty years.The cops arrest Reacher and the police chief turns eyewitness to place him at the scene. As nasty secrets leak out, and the body count mounts, one thing is for sure.

They picked the wrong guy to take the fall.

Although the Jack Reacher novels can be read in any order, Killing Floor is the first book in the internationally popular series. It presents Reacher for the first time, as the tough ex-military cop of no fixed abode: a righter of wrongs, the perfect action hero.

• ISBN10: 0399142533
• ISBN13: 9780399142536
• Publish Date: 17 March 1997 (first published 1 March 1997)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 16 June 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Putnam Adult
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 359
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sarah Says]

Lee Child is now up to 24 Reacher novels. 24 and I’ve read 10 so far. I’ve read them jumping around the place; 7, 5, 14, 3 etc. but I decided I wanted to read them all in order, omitting the ones previous read. So that brought me to number one and it was good to finally read the original. I could see Reacher starting to become the man he is in the later books.
In this book we see the pivotal point in Reacher’s life when his brother dies and he learns it’s better to be on the move.
In this book it’s been only six months since Reacher was made redundant and booted out of the army. On a whim he gets off a bus and ends up in a town where some serious shit is going down, always the way with Reacher. Reacher spends his time just trying to get the hell out of the place until his brother turns up dead. Then the race is on for Reacher to find out who did it, get the bad guys and avenge his brother. It is a hell of a lot more complicated than that, but I’m trying to be brief.
Killing Floor is fast paced and action packed. I would say that Reacher has improved as a character over time or should I say Lee Child’s writing of Jack Reacher has improved over time, either way they just keep getting better.

[redjoy53]

it doesn't sound like a good title -- but is really good. Tells you lots about how to counterfeit money.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

This is everything you would expect from a cheesy action movie, but as a book I would of liked more than bad lines and over-the-top action sequences. Jack Reacher is an ex-marine drifter who ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time. With the knowledge he has learnt from his life as a Military Police Major, Reacher has to try and clear his name and solve the murder of his brother; this leads him into a huge cover up happening in the small town of Margrave, Georgia.

I was interested in seeing what a Jack Reacher would like, and too be honest it was enjoyable but nothing special. I have heard the books do get better so I might actually read another book at some point.

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a ChapterFirst Sentence: I was arrested at Eno’s diner.

Super Brief Review: Amazing thriller that was incredibly hard to walk away from.

Favorite Quotes: Stevenson still on the ball with the pump-action.

“We got us a situation here, Mr. Reacher,” Finlay said. “A real situation.”

Layers of fences separated with plowed red earth. Hubble didn’t look up. I didn’t nudge him. It wasn’t the Magic Kingdom up ahead. – Jack Reacher on going to prison

After twenty years in Boston and six months in Margrave, there wasn’t a whole lot left that Finlay was ever going to raise an eyebrow at.

Slightly Longer Review: You know that you have a great book when you actually forget that the main protagonist is not the author. Jack Reacher was so real to me that I have a hard time remembering that Lee Child has written his story. Jack is a loner but he has a strong sense of justice. Luckily for him he is no longer tied to any agency and therefore is not held back by policy and red tape.

Jack makes a decision to hop off a Greyhound bus at a clover leaf exchange and make a trip down to Margrave, GA. It came close to being the worst mistake of his life. Jack is arrested and thrown in a cell. Apparently he murdered someone last night. Didn’t matter that he was in Florida at the time of the murder. He bides his time thinking that it is only a matter of time before they realize they have the wrong man. Jack is around long enough though to realize that something isn’t quite right in Margrave. He’s enjoying his freedom and doesn’t want to get caught up in business that means nothing to him. That is until Jack Reacher is taken by complete surprise (a difficult feat) and personally drawn into it.

Lee Child is brilliant. I don’t think I can put it any other way. The man deserves all the praise you’ve read about. I didn’t have anything figured out until Jack Reacher himself started explaining it to me. It was amazing. I kept thinking: “There’s something that will go wrong with this book. Some plot line left unresolved, something that will go unexplained.” I am so satisfied with this book that I can’t wait to devour the rest! I gave this book an adults only rating because it is gory and violent and there were parts that made me flinch. If you love a good thriller and have somehow missed Lee Child, do yourself a favor and get your hands on a copy today!

[ibeforem]

This was very good. The main character was unique and interesting, and he kept you intrigued. Also, while I could feel there was going to be a twist, I didn’t quite have it figured out. I like to be surprised. And I’ve discovered it’s the first in a series. I’ll be sure to check out the others!