Killing Floor (Jack Reacher, No. 1) [Hardcover]

Lee Child (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 17, 1997

Ex-MP Jack Reacher goes into action to find his brother's killers, after a series of brutal crimes terrorizes tiny Margrave, Georgia, only to uncover the dark and deadly conspiracy concealed behind the town's peaceful facade. A first novel. 50,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo. BOMC Feat Alt.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When Jack Reacher suddenly decides to ask a Greyhound bus driver to let him off near the town of Margrave, Georgia, he thinks it's because his brother once mentioned that the famed blues guitarist Blind Blake died there. But it doesn't take long for the footloose ex-military policeman to discover that there are plenty of strange--and very dangerous--things going on behind Margrave's manicured lawns and clean streets that demand his attention. This first thriller by a former television writer features some of the best-written scenes of action in recent memory, a crash course in currency and counterfeiting, and a hero who is just begging to be called on for an encore.

From Library Journal

The transient Jack Reacher finds himself in tiny Margrave, Georgia, and is almost immediately arrested, if briefly, as a murder suspect. Imagine his surprise when he discovers that one of the victims is his brother, a brilliant U.S. Treasury agent. Reacher himself is no slouch; a former military policeman, he can dispatch villains with an astonishing array of weapons, including various parts of his body. In the company of a straight-arrow detective and a beautiful lady cop, Reacher soon unearths a conspiracy stretching through the little town and beyond. Blood flows freely, terrible threats are made and carried out, and body parts accumulate. First novelist Child, a former television writer, stretches coincidence outrageously in this would-be noir outing, whose hero is creepily amoral, violent, and generally unpleasant. Only large pop fiction collections need consider.?Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Information Svcs., Ridgecrest, Cal.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 359 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (March 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399142533
• ISBN-13: 978-0399142536
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (361 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lee Child is the #1 internationally bestselling author of thirteen Reacher thrillers, including the New York Times bestsellers The Enemy, One Shot, The Hard Way, and the #1 bestselling Bad Luck and Trouble and Nothing to Lose. His debut, Killing Floor, won both the Anthony and the Barry awards for Best First Mystery, and The Enemy won both the Barry and the Nero awards for Best Novel. Foreign rights in the Reacher series have sold in forty territories, and all titles have been optioned for major motion pictures. Child, a native of England and a former television director, lives in New York City, where he is at work on his fourteenth Reacher thriller, 61 Hours.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

405 of 440 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some minor quirks but a rousing good read., June 22, 2005

By 

Naomi Johnson "beauvallet" (Columbus, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Killing Floor (Jack Reacher, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

I'm new to the Jack Reacher series but I have to say that I enjoyed this first book. I was interested in reading what other reviewers had to say: Author was charged with using the word "shrugged" too much. I never noticed, I was busy turning the pages I guess. Author was charged with using short, choppy sentences. Is that a literary offense? Because if it is, it's time to take Hemingway's work out and burn it, he having been critically lauded for years for that short, choppy style which is supposed to be very manly -- in a literary sense, I suppose. All I know is that I find old Hem's work mindnumbingly dull. At least Mr. Child keeps me awake, those choppy sentences lend a sense of urgency to the story. (Just like Earl Emerson's short chapters in 'Pyro'!) Author is charged with not being an expert on America. Neither am I and I've spent 48 out of 50 years here. Oh, and one review bemoaned the fact that somehow the author failed to realize the US has no Marines stationed in Europe, that we have no naval base there. Hm, I don't keep up with the exact locations of all US bases but I spent two years at Zaragoza Air Base, Spain, and when I was there, the US had a naval base at Rota. Author is charged with having a written a very violent book. Well. There you have me. It IS violent. If violence disturbs you, what the heck are you doing reading books in this genre in the first place? There was a great honking picture of a bloody handprint on the cover of the paperback I bought -- I would have thought that was a (you'll excuse the pun) dead giveaway as to the nature of this book. Oh, almost forgot. The author is also charged with too much coincidence in the brother/killing plot point. Stranger things happen every day -- gee, Bush got elected twice. I think THAT's stretching coincidence!

Yes, Jack Reacher is an anti-hero. Yes, the books has some flaws (as most every book I've ever read does). But I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to seeing Reacher's character progression in the next book. Do I think he's the next Lucas Davenport? Nope, not unless he gets a stronger sense of humor and a lot more sexy. But Reacher is verrrry interesting!

OK, I'm done defending the book. Now, here's the bit that bothered me: A top gun in the Treasury Dept drops out of sight and the Feds don't swarm all over looking for him when his prints come across the computer? A second Treasury Dept worker is brutally murdered in an airport and (1) it's the busy airport at Atlanta and no one sees it??? and (2) the Feds don't follow up on this either? Still -- I was able to suspend my disbelief long enough to overlook these things, just because I wanted to see what Jack would do next.

82 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a Book!, September 5, 2000

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Killing Floor (Jack Reacher, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Wow, what a book! Lee Child has given us perhaps the most interesting and complex hero in some time. Jack Reacher is Clint Eastwood, John Wayne and Arnold Schwarzenegger rolled into one...but with much more personality and pizzazz! I'm only sorry it's taken me so long to read Mr. Child's book!

The story is a riveting one, focusing on Jack's involvement in a crime in a small town in Georgia. Boy, does he make a mistake in deciding to stop off in this little burg, just to find out about a blue singing legend named Blind Blake. But, what a story unfolds. The dialogue is brisk, economical, and very involving! Along with Jack, there are a ton of characters that are so remarkably fleshed out and described, you would think this was a true crime story!

There are scenes of nail-biting action; very graphic and disturbing scenes of violence; and amidst all this some really well-written scenes of sensitivity and poignancy. Jack's meeting with an old lady who once knew the old blues legend is outstanding in its emotional punch! Paul Hubble, the neurotic banker; Roscoe, the beautiful policewoman; Finlay, the chief of detectives; and the evil villains are some of the best written characters in recent mystery fiction.

What is so amazing about this book is the way Lee Child has not only woven a complex murder mystery, but also a chilling tale of greed, madness, and lost loves and lives.

This is an emotional, wrenching debut, and I cannot wait to start in on the rest of this series!

An outstanding piece of fiction!

98 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jack Reacher can have my number !, September 26, 2000

By 

Suzanne Vitale "jackeroophillip" (Bowling Green, Kentucky USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Killing Floor (Jack Reacher, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

I started with "Running Blind," Lee Child's third book, and finished it off in record time to jump back online to see what else Lee Child had written. The hero, Jack Reacher, was a military brat growing up, a military career man until the army downsized, and then became a drifter by choice. He's a one-man swat team correcting injustice as it finds him. In "Killing Floor" he just happens to get off the bus near the intersection of a small town in Georgia and after wandering on foot into the town of Margrave he is immediately arrested for a brutal murder which he obviously did not commit. He digs his way through several mysteries at one time including the identity of the murdered man. The suspense never lets up; there is a girl (a cop) that he loves but leaves with good romance and dialogue throughout. The only problem I had with the hero is that he arrives without any luggage and only occasionaly needs to buy a new outfit of clothes as he thows away what he has on at the time. He gives new meaning to traveling light. I'm going to quit writing now and start reading the next book..."Die Trying" I hope to see more of Jack Reacher after I have caught up with the next two.