Killing Floor
Ratings45
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings45
Average rating3.7
Margrave is a no-account little town in Georgia. Jack Reacher jumps off a bus and walks fourteen miles in the rain, just passing through. An arbitrary decision, a tribute to a guitar player who died there decades before.
But Margrave has just had its first homicide in thirty years. And Reacher is the only stranger in town. So the murder is pinned on him. As nasty secrets leak out and the body count mounts, only one thing is for sure: They picked the wrong guy to take the fall.
Killing Floor introduces Jack Reacher, the tough ex-military cop of no fixed abode. Trained to think fast and act faster, with an eye for the women, he is truly every thinking reader’s perfect action hero.
Reviews with the most likes.
A really quite brilliant book. The last 200-250 pages are absolutely incredible as more plot twists unfold and the action ramps up. Imagine Jack Reacher as James Bond but with less tech and not working for anybody but himself. Fantastic read. Arguably the best action story I've read so far. On to the remaining 20-odd Reacher books 👌🏼
I really wanted to love this as I'd heard how good the series was and was looking forward to going through them...but! Perhaps the later ones are more nuanced but in this one all the characters seem to have been taken out of the big book of clichés and they felt like they had been written by a 15 year old who'd watched too many action films. I don't mean to be overly harsh but it really disappointed me, especially as the plot was easily predicted with not one surprising turn in the whole thing.
Lots of ‘let me educate you a bit' sidetracks from the main plot slowed down the momentum.
The mystery was nicely complex so you didn't figure it out too soon.
Lots of descriptions that can be pretty gruesome at times.
I figured I'd give the Jack Reacher series a try with Killing Floor and I'm glad I got to see Lee Child's work. The book isn't anything amazing by far but it's a well-built story that works.
There are times where the story seemed sluggish and areas where improbable things happened too much but Child ran to the other end of the spectrum with page-turning scenes that made the book very enjoyable.
Most of the ‘gotcha' parts of the plot are easily seen ahead of time but Child doesn't pull any funny-business and keeps it simple. There's no twist out of nowhere that caused me to put the book down.
My main issue with Child's writing is his lack of full sentences. At least 30% of the book has fragmented sentences that are too casual and distracting from the flow. I also felt there was very little given into the history of Jack Reacher.
Overall, the book is a good read if you're looking for something slightly serious and if you're willing to slosh through the slower portions. Overall, not too bad.
Series
29 primary books42 released booksJack Reacher is a 48-book series with 29 primary works first released in 1997 with contributions by Lee Child, Marie Rahn, and 7 others.
Series
27 primary books41 released booksJack Reacher Chronological Order is a 41-book series with 27 primary works first released in 1997 with contributions by Lee Child, Jakob Levinsen, and 8 others.
