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102nd out of 2,513 books
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4,372 voters
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Killing Floor (Jack Reacher #1)
by
Lee Child
While passing through a small Georgia town, former cop Jack Reacher is arrested for murder. Jack knows that he didn't kill anybody. But he doesn't stand a chance of convincing anyone. Reissue.
Paperback, 524 pages
Published
April 25th 2006
by Jove Books
(first published March 1997)
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Stephen
rated it
Jack Reacher is a walking, talking, 6’5” prescription-strength laxative guaranteed to cause scumbags to soil their skivvies. As hardboiled protagonists go, this guy is loaded with awesome and I was well and truly won over by the end of Lee Child's debut novel.
Reacher’s a former military police officer who is cucumber cool and carries himself with a calm, quiet stoicism that reminded me a lot of Shadow from Neil Gaiman’s American Gods(another favorite character of mine). In typical h...more
Reacher’s a former military police officer who is cucumber cool and carries himself with a calm, quiet stoicism that reminded me a lot of Shadow from Neil Gaiman’s American Gods(another favorite character of mine). In typical h...more
view all 45 comments
This reads like an '80s action movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
A big tough ex-military guy drifts into a small town and is sucked into uncovering a vast criminal conspiracy through completely unbelievable coincidences. - Check.
Hero has a cool, manly sounding name: Jack Reacher. - Check
Hero is quickly given a personal grudge against the villains. - Check
Bad dialogue. - Check.
Stereotypical villains including corrupt businessmen and p...more
A big tough ex-military guy drifts into a small town and is sucked into uncovering a vast criminal conspiracy through completely unbelievable coincidences. - Check.
Hero has a cool, manly sounding name: Jack Reacher. - Check
Hero is quickly given a personal grudge against the villains. - Check
Bad dialogue. - Check.
Stereotypical villains including corrupt businessmen and p...more
4 ½ stars. Rambo, Dirty Harry, with a hint of Sherlock Holmes – fun, exciting, suspense, escape.
STORY BRIEF:
This is the first book in the Jack Reacher series, sixteen books so far. It’s told in first person by Jack. He was a homicide investigator in the military police for thirteen years, hunting trained killers gone bad. He had to be able to outthink them and fight them. He retired as a major six months ago at age 36. Now Jack just wants to wander, living off his severan...more
STORY BRIEF:
This is the first book in the Jack Reacher series, sixteen books so far. It’s told in first person by Jack. He was a homicide investigator in the military police for thirteen years, hunting trained killers gone bad. He had to be able to outthink them and fight them. He retired as a major six months ago at age 36. Now Jack just wants to wander, living off his severan...more
Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress"
rated it
Recommends it for:
Fans of action suspense with tough heroes
Are you having a bad day?
Do you need an Action Pick-You Up?
Do you sometimes wish that the bad guys would get exactly what they deserve?
Then I have a quick solution. Read a Jack Reacher novel!
Jack Reacher is the kind of guy who will kick some serious butt in the most brutal fashion, and it ain't pretty. I admit that I wince when I see someone die violently on tv and in movies. But I love action movies. Yeah, I know it makes no sense. Killing Floor is the kind ...more
Do you need an Action Pick-You Up?
Do you sometimes wish that the bad guys would get exactly what they deserve?
Then I have a quick solution. Read a Jack Reacher novel!
Jack Reacher is the kind of guy who will kick some serious butt in the most brutal fashion, and it ain't pretty. I admit that I wince when I see someone die violently on tv and in movies. But I love action movies. Yeah, I know it makes no sense. Killing Floor is the kind ...more
I had seen these books listed in a few 'guilty pleasure' booklists. The beginning of the book promised a lot of momentum (its protagonist, Jack Reacher, is being placed under arrest)and the pacing of its plot and development of its characters kept me reading. However, I am pretty certain I'm not going to read any further in this series. It's mostly because I found myself quite unsettled by the book's brutal revenge scenes and the way Jack cooly exalted in fulfilling that whole "take them...more
Right from the beginning, I was hooked! How can you possibly put a book down when the main character is arrested for murder in the first chapter? LOL, I don't know anyone who could. I liked this! Written in the first person, I felt like I was seeing everything through Jack's eyes. His opinions and his takes on his surroundings and the predicament he found himself in was different from what I've read before. It was weird how I knew exactly who the bad guys were, including one no one would ever su...more
"Killing Floor" (Jack Reacher 1) by Lee Child has a couple meanings, one the prison level where our innocent hero faces a painful end. X-rated. A cop's smile leads to a bedroom invite. Foreign counterfeiters gruesomely obliterate leads, always one bloody grisly (and gristly) step ahead of our guy. He's a killer, but like Schwarzenegger in True Lies, only the bad guys, avoids collateral damage of bystanders. Every loose end is tied off, including solution to decades-old needless murder ...more
This is really a 3.5, but I enjoy Jack Reacher so much, I'm bumping it up.
Jack Reacher! Jack Reacher is so incredibly awesome! I've heard a ton about Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, but it wasn't until a critic on Hit Fix (http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/motion-captu...) was going on and on about how horrible it would be if Tom Cruise played him that I really thought I should pick up the first one. And it was a lot of fun. Told in 1st person (which I guess changes from book to book)...more
Jack Reacher! Jack Reacher is so incredibly awesome! I've heard a ton about Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, but it wasn't until a critic on Hit Fix (http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/motion-captu...) was going on and on about how horrible it would be if Tom Cruise played him that I really thought I should pick up the first one. And it was a lot of fun. Told in 1st person (which I guess changes from book to book)...more
In The Killing Floor, Jack Reacher, the itinerant ex-homicide investigator for the military becomes too much of a vigilante for my taste. There is also a series a coincidences that stretch credulity. The beginning will definitely hold your interest, however.
Minding his own business while having breakfast, Reacher is arretsed in a small town in Georgia and accused of a particularly vicious murder. After establishing his alibi, he learns that the dead man is his brother. (Jack was arre...more
Minding his own business while having breakfast, Reacher is arretsed in a small town in Georgia and accused of a particularly vicious murder. After establishing his alibi, he learns that the dead man is his brother. (Jack was arre...more
I have read these books out of order, which isn't how I like to read a series... but not a huge deal. However, THIS book - the first in the series - I think was my favorite so far. THAT is saying alot because I LOVE these books. I am going to have to rethink my "no book gets a 5 star rating rule."
I don't know how anyone that reads this "type" of book can't love this series. If you aren't into the genre, then OK, I will give it to you... But Child does a great j...more
I don't know how anyone that reads this "type" of book can't love this series. If you aren't into the genre, then OK, I will give it to you... But Child does a great j...more
Margrave is a no-account little town in the Georgia Sunbelt. The busiest it ever gets is at the end of ther schoolday. But there's something strange about Margrave: it's completely perfect. So perfect, it's frightening. The lawns are like velvet and the trees look like they've just had a manicure. And from the laid-back barbershop to Eno's state-of-the-art diner, the local businesses thrive without customers.
When drifter and ex-military policeman Jack Reacher hits town, he plans to be gon...more
When drifter and ex-military policeman Jack Reacher hits town, he plans to be gon...more
KILLING FLOOR (Suspense-Unlic. Invest.-Georgia-Cont) – G+
Child, Lee – 1st in series
Putnam, 1997-Hardcover
Jack Reacher is on his own for the first time after spending his life on military bases. While having breakfast in a small Georgia town, he is arrested for murder. At first it's a misunderstand but when he realizes the victim was his brother, a U.S. Treasury Agent, Reacher is determined to find out why his brother was in this town and who killed him.
*** I had not rea...more
Child, Lee – 1st in series
Putnam, 1997-Hardcover
Jack Reacher is on his own for the first time after spending his life on military bases. While having breakfast in a small Georgia town, he is arrested for murder. At first it's a misunderstand but when he realizes the victim was his brother, a U.S. Treasury Agent, Reacher is determined to find out why his brother was in this town and who killed him.
*** I had not rea...more
Reading Killing Floor felt like watching an old movie narrated by Tom Selleck -- if Tom Selleck were a killing machine. The ULTRA-uber-cool protagonist tells you the story. In short sentences. He's efficient, calculating and has no time for that pesky little thing called 'emotion' which just gets you killed. Oh, and he scores a hot chick.
The plot was quite clever/interesting -- but Child's idea (the 'key' to it all) has been used since, in at least one movie, so instead of feelin...more
The plot was quite clever/interesting -- but Child's idea (the 'key' to it all) has been used since, in at least one movie, so instead of feelin...more
have heard very good things about this series, and comes highly recommended in More Book Lust
Well I've finished it now, and quite quickly!
Good thriller, does what a thriller is supposed to do, and keeps the reader turning pages at a cracking pace. Very violent as I had been warned by Nancy Pearl , some moments made me go 'eeew..' but I was grossed out in a good way. Reading the book was sort of like watching an engaging action movie (I'm thinking "True Lies" here...) - y...more
Well I've finished it now, and quite quickly!
Good thriller, does what a thriller is supposed to do, and keeps the reader turning pages at a cracking pace. Very violent as I had been warned by Nancy Pearl , some moments made me go 'eeew..' but I was grossed out in a good way. Reading the book was sort of like watching an engaging action movie (I'm thinking "True Lies" here...) - y...more
I was a bit disappointed with this novel. I don't know why but I expected more. There was nothing wrong with the plot, in fact that was good and it was different to anything that I have ever read. What disappointed me was the execution of the novel by the author. I thought that it was very cliched, which was a shame as it wouldn't have taken very much to turn this into a great novel. This is the first book that I have read by this author. I may try another one just in case this was a fluke....more
good dialogue, descriptions and keeps intensity throughout
excellent book - will read more of Child's books
excellent book - will read more of Child's books
This was a fantastic book! My first time reading a Lee Child book, but definitely not the last. This was the first book in the series of Jack Reacher by Lee Child and I will definitely be reading through the whole set after reading this book. It had a good mix of wry humor, thrill and suspense which kept my attention through the end.
Publisher's Summary
All is not well in Margrave, Georgia.
The sleepy, forgotten town hasn't seen a crime in decades, but within the span of three days it witnesses eve...more
Publisher's Summary
All is not well in Margrave, Georgia.
The sleepy, forgotten town hasn't seen a crime in decades, but within the span of three days it witnesses eve...more
This is the first in a series with more than a dozen novels in it, all featuring the ultimate strong silent type, Jack Reacher. I won't pad my book list by listing each individually. You have to imagine a man 6'5" tall, who can kill five or six opponents in a hand-to-hand fight, survive severe wounds, outsmart consistently the worst criminals, and who kills without guilt whenever it's the quickest way to solve a problem. If you can imagine it, and not gag, these are the airport thrillers fo...more
I'm going to read this entire series!!!
Reacher is a drifter because he is a drifter. He is a Ramboish ex-military policeman who is lost in the civilian world. He drifts because that's all he has done since he was a military brat. He's rarely had a fixed location for long and just wants to see much of the USA that he missed growing up and serving overseas.
This novel was, unlike the others I have read thus far, was written in the first person. I read on Child's websit...more
Reacher is a drifter because he is a drifter. He is a Ramboish ex-military policeman who is lost in the civilian world. He drifts because that's all he has done since he was a military brat. He's rarely had a fixed location for long and just wants to see much of the USA that he missed growing up and serving overseas.
This novel was, unlike the others I have read thus far, was written in the first person. I read on Child's websit...more
This book is the first book or the Jack Reacher series and is, generally a good read. The enjoyment of the book depends on the reader making several allowances for the author as the coincidences that occur in the story are extremely improbable, if not so far fetched that they are silly. The main character is also a bit of a jerk, which is done on purpose by the author and is supposed to be endearing. Eventually, it is. Unfortunately, it is a bit hard to take in the beginning. It also is very lon...more
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OK, decided I needed to know why Lee Child gets excellent reviews, and this book came into my shop this week so I nabbed it to read.
For a first book some (now) 14 years old, this is an amazing thriller of a read; lots of nasty people; some super secondary characters (Finlay and Roscoe); and an almost anti-hero in Jack Reacher. OMG, he is hot! and hard! and not without some faults! But, incredibly, he thinks things through, works out the pros and cons, makes a decision, and deals with...more
For a first book some (now) 14 years old, this is an amazing thriller of a read; lots of nasty people; some super secondary characters (Finlay and Roscoe); and an almost anti-hero in Jack Reacher. OMG, he is hot! and hard! and not without some faults! But, incredibly, he thinks things through, works out the pros and cons, makes a decision, and deals with...more
I got this book in search of another Mitch Rapp. Dop.
This is the first book in the Jack Reacher series. My Mitch Rapp expectations were way too high. Jack Reacher is no Mitch Rapp. Lee Child is no Vince Flynn. In Killing Floor, everything was just OK: plot, characters, writing style, everything. Jack Reacher is a 6 and a half foot tall brute who, when he gets into trouble, just beats the crap out of people. OK. Killing Floor is written in first person, which is fine. But Jack Reacher r...more
This is the first book in the Jack Reacher series. My Mitch Rapp expectations were way too high. Jack Reacher is no Mitch Rapp. Lee Child is no Vince Flynn. In Killing Floor, everything was just OK: plot, characters, writing style, everything. Jack Reacher is a 6 and a half foot tall brute who, when he gets into trouble, just beats the crap out of people. OK. Killing Floor is written in first person, which is fine. But Jack Reacher r...more
(For those who have not read the book, there may be spoilers below, but since the book is the first of sixteen and is more than a decade old, I'm not being as careful about that as usual.)
I'm not sure the three-star ranking I've given this book is entirely honest.
On one level I enjoyed this book--the evidence of that being that I couldn't wait to get back to it, and was willing to stay up late or defer other things to read it. I enjoyed the level of fine detail, found the ch...more
I'm not sure the three-star ranking I've given this book is entirely honest.
On one level I enjoyed this book--the evidence of that being that I couldn't wait to get back to it, and was willing to stay up late or defer other things to read it. I enjoyed the level of fine detail, found the ch...more
I am not going to provide reviews on all of Lee Child's Jack Reacher books but suffice it to say, I love reading these. They are formulaic without being redundant. He is a good writer, the stories are engaging and easy to read. Great fun and escapism. Honestly, I think these are almost similar in nature to romance novels but appeal to both men and women. The main character is charismatic and attractive to men because of his wicked 'manly' skills and to women for the same reason. Men want t...more
Do you remember the Batman series starring Adam West and Burt Ward that aired from 1966-1968? Okay, okay. Obviously, some of you won't remember it (because you were born way after that), but you might be familiar with the whole pop culture-ish aspect of it and references to it. Specifically, the comic book POW! ZAP! BOOM! graphics during the action sequences.
Seriously. If you haven't seen scenes from that series, it was like watching a comic book. Adam West's Batman would go all whup...more
Seriously. If you haven't seen scenes from that series, it was like watching a comic book. Adam West's Batman would go all whup...more
The waiting room at my local train station has a book case stuffed full of donated books, people are encouraged to take a book and leave a book. Idly looking through the shelves I spotted this first Jack Reacher novel. I had read it when it was first published but had never bothered to reread it. With time on my hands and a long train journey ahead of me I picked it up and started reading and was immediately caught up in the world of Jack Reacher.
Reacher is having breakfast in a sma...more
Reacher is having breakfast in a sma...more
All is not well in Margrave, Georgia. The sleepy, forgotten town hasn't seen a crime in decades, but within the span of three days it witnesses events that leave everyone stunned. An unidentified man is found beaten and shot to death on a lonely country road. The police chief and his wife are butchered on a quiet Sunday morning. Then a bank executive disappears from his home, leaving his keys on the table and his wife frozen with fear. The easiest suspect is Jack Reacher - an outsider, a man jus...more
I much enjoyed this "a hard man is good to find" thriller, the first of Lee Child's series featuring Jack Reacher. I read an interview with Lee Child and was surprised to discover he's from Birmingham in the UK, and that was before I read this book. I don't think Jack Reacher would have worked as well with a broad Brummie accent, and the West Midlands isn't quite as enticing a location as Georgia, but Jack is the classic, tough loner with a background that allows him to handle himself ...more
I live in Bristol but my PhD supervisor works over in Oxford. So once a week I hop on a train and head over to see him, then hop on a different train to come back. Outside of railway stations I don't really recall seeing any advertisements for newly released books. Inside of railway stations I rarely see anything else. It's no secret why of course: railway passengers have a lot of time to pass just sitting there; books were in fact invented to keep people amused on trains. "Book" ...more
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Lee Child was born in 1954 in Coventry, England, but spent his formative years in the nearby city of Birmingham. By coincidence he won a scholarship to the same high school that JRR Tolkien had attended. He went to law school in Sheffield, England, and after part-time work in the theater he joined Granada Television in Manchester for what turned out to be an eighteen-year career as a presentation ...more
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