THE FIRST NOVEL IN LEE CHILD’S #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING JACK REACHER SERIES—SOON TO BE AN ORIGINAL SERIES ON PRIME VIDEO!“From its jolting opening scene to its fiery final confrontation, Killing Floor is irresistible.”—PeopleEx-military policeman Jack Reacher is a drifter. He’s just passing through Margrave, Georgia, and in less than an hour, he’s arrested for murder. Not much of a welcome. … he’s arrested for murder. Not much of a welcome. All Reacher knows is that he didn’t kill anybody. At least not here. Not lately. But he doesn’t stand a chance of convincing anyone. Not in Margrave, Georgia. Not a chance in hell.
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Lee Child is one of my favourite authors and a great inspiration to any would-be writer.
Jack Reacher, that says it all!
Great to see how it all started.
I like Jack Reacher books – he just does his own thing
I picked this up on BookBub because I’d heard of Jack Reacher, even though the author’s name displays more prominently. Jack Reacher has a reputation and even types like me who tend to stick to literary, women’s fiction and stories with prominent heroines have let our reading eye wander over to this rangy, slow-talking, quick-thinking, ex-military rambling man.
Lee Child has a foreword to the edition I lifted from BookBub which explains how he created Jack Reacher. Unlike the male leads in other stories of his day, he wanted someone big, tough, an ace with guns and who spills the blood of baddies without batting an eye. And since Jack Reacher is all of that, you might as well as make him a a lady killer, too.
In the end, JR laid waste to a dozen baddies. I feel that there were more. Like when you’re swatting flies after living the door open. You think you kept count but a few extra might’ve missed the tally. And yes, I count fly deaths. It’s very satisfying. Jack Reacher seems to only keep a daily count based on his lackadaisical reportage of them to his short-term girl and a sympathetic police officer, which given this is the first in a very long series, is probably just as well. If this series opener is any indication, the body count must be in the hundreds by now.
I’m not going to comment on the plot, other than to say that it was well enough done. A little too much depends on Jack Reacher’s sleuthing abilities; his tracking of a CFO on the run is too clever to be probable. Signing the hotel registers using the Beatles’ names, really? Really?
But I rode Jack Reacher’s voice from beginning to end. His prosaic, sharp-eyed take on a low life or seedy motel or congested airport or police station or a millionaire’s spread grounded me right into the midst of the story. “Well, Jack,” I’d think nestled in my bed, basking in the glow of my e-reader, “you’ve gotten yourself in a tight spot now. But I’m not worried the least little bit.” And I wasn’t, which is usually not the insouciance a storyteller should lull his reader into. But I found it rather relaxing not to have to worry that my man Jack wouldn’t walk through the torrent of flying bullets. All the what-ifs were exchanged for the much calmer ‘hows’. Like the romances I currently write. Trust me, they will find their happy ending, though not after cutting through a swath of blood and crime.
Counterfeiting is the central crime here, and I came away with quite the education in how it works. The key is the paper, apparently. It’s nigh unto impossible to replicate it. But Jack Reacher figured how it was done. Solved the problem that stumped academics and the department of Treasury for decades. Took our man a day or two while driving around.
Oh Jack. My heroes probably wish I’d make them as strong and smart as you.
can’t beat Jack Reacher!
Jack Reacher one of the best characters ever!
Great read!
Lee Cild. Jack Reacher series. ‘Nuff said. Everyone knows this action hero. Written much better than any Tom Cruise portrayal could do justice to. (Jack Reacher, as written, is 6’ 5” tall, 260 lbs. TC is almost a *foot* shorter than the character is supposed to be! Hollywood! Good Grief. )
I like all the Lee Child books and this is a good start for the Reacher series
Love to read Childs, especially the Reacher series. Unfortuantely, this one, while good, just got a little tooo descrptive of thing; people, buildings, situations.
Everyone loves Jack!
I love Jack Reacher, he’s a kick ass dude
The first Jack Reacher book is not nearly as good as the rest. I still recommend it because it is part of the character building.
I’ve come to love all of the Reacher series! Killing Floor, the first, had me hooked and waiting for the next. Still am!
This is the 1st book I read by Lee Child. I loved this book so much I read it twice. Some parts of this story was gruesome . I loved the action in this story. I loved the suspense in this story. Definitely kept me interested from the beginning to the end. Awesome job Mr. Child.
This is a great book.
Always enjoy a good Jack Reacher novel. Keeps me coming back for more.
I got to say that I am officially a Jack Reacher fan right now. This is my first book, and so far Lee Child has delivered. He offers an interesting character in Jack Reacher, a for military police officer who is a drifter going from one town to the next. Reacher originally does not want to get involved in a murder investigation, that is until the murder victim is revealed to be someone Reacher knows. This gives Reacher a personal reason to get involved.
The start of the Reacher series is a ‘love it or leave it’ moment. I love it, and have read all of them, happily. Quick, righteous, short-tempered Reacher takes to the road in every book and confronts weirdness or injustice where it finds him. Plots often spiral outward unexpectedly, but this single guy stays at the center.