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Killing Floor

(Jack Reacher #1)

Lee Child (Goodreads Author)

4.05 · Rating details · 260,953 ratings · 10,960 reviews

Ex-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. All Jack 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. ...more

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Mass Market Paperback, 424 pages

Published April 25th 2006 by Jove (first published March 17th 1997)

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Average rating 4.05 ·

Rating details

· 260,953 ratings · 10,960 reviews

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Jul 06, 2009 Kemper rated it did not like it

Shelves: jack-reacher, crime-mystery, craptacular, thriller

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 politicians. - Check.

Hero finds a few trustworthy allies, but ...more

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Jan 03, 2017 Khurram rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is not the first Jack Reacher book I have read so I did already knew who Jack Reacher is. Lee Child's creation is the modern day Conan. Meaning he is fully clothes, an expert on modern weapons (guns, switchblades, he could probably use a sword but does not yet), as well as unarmed combat. He is a big battle scared and tested fighter. He lives his life as a wonderer a leaf in the wind blown from one place to another usually finding adventure/trouble where he lands. The slight twist on the Ja ...more

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Sep 02, 2011 Chris McGrath rated it did not like it

Shelves: abandoned, thriller

I could not read this. The prose is terrible. Commas are rare. Periods are abundant. It's hard to read. I got through one chapter. I checked later books. They are the same. I had heard good things. I cannot get past this. I am not exaggerating. It's actually worse than this. These are all sentences. Full sentences. Not fragments. There we go. It's like this. Reading a Reacher novel. I considered powering through. But I don't want to waste my time.

I bought the whole series for $1 a piece. I regr ...more

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Aug 25, 2011 Stephen rated it liked it

Shelves: 1990-1999, audiobook, crime, hardboiled-and-noir, kings-of-badassia, mystery

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 hardboiled fa ...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Jeff rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: thrillers-suspense-spys

On the Flintstones, whenever there was an indoor chase scene, the background in the house never varied, it would be the same window, table, lamp running repeatedly behind the action, and the chase would go on seemingly forever - a veritable cartoon mile/1.6 kilometers. Watching the show as a kid, it was almost more than my sugar-fueled addled brain could handle.

Reading this book was the same type of existentially empty experience. Grafting a promising storyline onto a series of humorless, mind-n ...more

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Feb 09, 2009 Danielle The Book Huntress (Back to the Books) rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Fans of action suspense with tough heroes

Shelves: action-adventure, part-of-a-series, scary-sexy-cool-dangerous-hero, corrupt-officials, southern-setting, small-town-slice-of-life, character-grieving-loved-one, 2011-reading, hero-i-loved, tough-as-nails-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 of book that I would love to see as ...more

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Mar 23, 2010 James Thane rated it really liked it

Shelves: crime-fiction, suspense

This is the book that introduced Lee Child's popular character, Jack Reacher in 1997. Reacher is a former military cop who's been made redundant by the end of the cold war. After spending his entire life in the military (Reacher grew up in a military family), he's now completely on his own, footloose and fancy-free. After spending much of his life abroad, he's wandering about the country, getting to know the U.S. up close and personal. As will continue to be the case, Reacher travels light, with This is the book that introduced Lee Child's popular character, Jack Reacher in 1997. Reacher is a former military cop who's been made redundant by the end of the cold war. After spending his entire life in the military (Reacher grew up in a military family), he's now completely on his own, footloose and fancy-free. After spending much of his life abroad, he's wandering about the country, getting to know the U.S. up close and personal. As will continue to be the case, Reacher travels light, with nothing more than the clothes on his back, paying cash, traveling by bus and staying off the grid.

On a whim, Reacher has a bus driver drop him off at the interchange for tiny Margrave, Georgia. Reacher has heard a story about an ancient Blues man who once spent time in the town and decides to check it out. He walks fourteen miles into town, orders a cup of coffee in a diner, and is promptly arrested for murder.

Reacher knows that he hasn't killed anyone, at least not in Margrave and not for some time, so he's obviously mystified. He soon discovers that there are a lot of weird things going on in this tiny, pristine town where the townfolk, or at least a good number of them, are harboring some strange secrets. Reacher couldn't care less. He just wants to get clear of the murder charges, get back on the bus, and resume his wandering life. But he quickly develops a personal stake in the murder case, which is decidedly bad news for the evildoers.

Before long, the bodies are piling up left and right, and Reacher is contributing more than his fair share to the carnage. This is a cleverly-plotted book, although it does depend on a coincidence that's almost too huge to swallow. Still, it's a fun read that sets the template for the future books in the series. This is essentially "Shane" brought forward into the Twentieth (and now the Twenty-first) century. Jack Reacher is the mysterious stranger with something approaching mystical powers, who rides into a troubled town, albeit on a Greyhound rather than a horse. He cleans up the town, disposes of the bad guys, dallies briefly with a beautiful, sexy woman that he will have to abandon in the end, and then, once his job is done, he rides off into the sunset.

What's not to like? The formula has worked very well through sixteen books now, and Jack Reacher has become an international favorite. Those who have somehow missed him would do well to start with Killing Floor. ...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Dirk Grobbelaar rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, mystery-thriller

Suspension of disbelief required

I was a policeman of sorts for thirteen years and I can smell a worried man a mile away.

The reviews for this one are all over the place. It seems that Jack Reacher is one of those “either you love him or you hate him” protagonists and Lee Child is one of those “either you love him or you hate him” writers. It’s also clear that these books rely heavily on action. In fact, as some reviewers have already mentioned, there is a bit of the 80s Action Hero about Jack Rea ...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Jane Stewart rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-star-other, mystery-suspense-thriller

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 severance pay, buying cheap clo 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 severance pay, buying cheap clothes he can throw away rather than wash, no ID, no Driver’s License, no credit cards, using cash, being anonymous. He travels by bus and train.

Jack gets off the bus and walks into the small town of Margrave, Georgia, out of curiosity about a singer who lived there sixty years ago. Someone was killed around the time Jack arrived. The local cops arrest Jack for questioning. In the next few days the police chief is killed and someone else disappears. Jack begins investigating. Multiple attempts are made to kill Jack.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
Wow! This was good! When Jack hears the details about the first murder, his analysis was amazing. I was pulled in and didn’t want to stop reading for almost the entire book. I can’t wait to keep going with this series. The plotting is great. No one is being stupid or incompetent – well, maybe a little by some of the bad guys who are not as competent as Jack. Jack is put into circumstances where I think how is he going to survive? But he does neat things and survives and wins. I loved what he did when he was wrongly put into the section of a prison with the worst of convicted murderers. I like seeing revenge and justice for bad guys. So I liked seeing Jack hurt or kill them without worrying about their civil rights. Cops can’t do that.

Roscoe is a female police officer. She and Jack fall for each other so there is a touch of romance and several sex scenes. The sex scenes are told not shown.

There were some gruesome torture scenes that might bother some readers, but they are described after the fact, not shown, which may help a little.

LOGIC AND COINCIDENCE COMMENTS:
Some reviewers complained that the author wasn’t technically accurate about weapons, procedures, and other things. I don’t care about that. This is fiction. I don’t require “fiction” to educate me. If it’s entertaining with good action, I’m happy to accept “technical fiction.” I do agree some things were too coincidental. Jack’s ability to guess someone’s alias and location was too far-fetched for me. Even Sherlock Holmes couldn’t have done that. But the rest was such a good ride I didn’t mind.

Jack did not have a Driver’s License, but he spent a lot of time driving someone else’s car. The local cops didn’t mention it, apparently since he was helping them. He also took a flight to New York. I don’t know if the airlines required ID back in 1997, before 9/11, but I guess it doesn’t matter because this is fiction. Anyway, it unsettled me at first, but I became more comfortable with it in subsequent books. He drives and flies frequently without an ID in subsequent books.

NARRATOR:
The narrator Dick Hill was great. He has an amazing range. He did a deep black male voice so well that I thought it was another actor. And his female voices were fine.

DATA:
Unabridged audiobook reading time: 14 hrs and 48 mins. Swearing language: mild, as far as I can recall. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: 7 told not shown. Setting: 1997 mostly Margrave, Georgia, with a few scenes in Atlanta, Alabama, Mississippi, and New York. Book copyright: 1997. Genre: mystery suspense thriller. Ending: Very feel good, a winning feeling, bad guys got it. ...more

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Jun 30, 2019 James Tivendale rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller

Killing Floor is an excellent first entry into the brutal world of Jack Reacher. Violent, addictive, complex, unpredictable, and personal. Reacher has deduction skills Sherlock Holmes would respect and is such an expert in the art of war that it makes him a perfect modern-day superhero in the terrible modern-day world he finds himself returning to after leaving the services. For thrillers such as this, I haven't read any characters better suited to the genre than those of Jack Reacher or Alex Cr ...more

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Mar 20, 2018 Lyn rated it liked it

A good action / mystery.

To be clear, the real success here is that writer Lee Child introduced us to his ultra-cool, badass drifter hero Jack Reacher. Described as 6’5, lean and strong, this former Army MP has left the service, taken his severance pay and is just walking the earth, kind of like Jules from Pulp Fiction. And like Jules and Jedi Knights the galaxy over, he finds adventure, beats the crap of bad guys, solves problems with Sherlock Holmes grandeur and generally has a big time doing i ...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Bill rated it did not like it

Shelves: mystery-suspense

Some very minor spoilers in this...

Okay, I don't get it.
There is mass appeal for the Jack Reacher series, there's been a movie made, Lee Child is making a gazillian dollars off it.
I also heard a pretty reputable BBC book review panel podcast where they were going absolutely bonkers over the series.
Well, I'm at 320 pages and the thought of plowing through 204 more has about as much appeal as chewing toenails.
First off, I'm sick of reading about this guy who, as a vagrant, wanders into town, gets ...more

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Sep 23, 2011 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: No One

Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Shelves: contemporary, mystery, fiction, novels, crime, ultimate-reading-list, suspense

I disliked this novel, maybe because I'm missing a Y chromosome. First, the style of the prose and voice of the first person narrator, Jack Reacher, really irked me. The style reminded me of irritatingly faux Hemingway. Spare, choppy with lots of short declarative sentences and sentence fragments. Here's a sample paragraph from fairly early on that's typical:

I stayed leaning up on the bars, motionless. Baker signaled Hubble to walk with him around the far side of the squad room. Toward the rosew I disliked this novel, maybe because I'm missing a Y chromosome. First, the style of the prose and voice of the first person narrator, Jack Reacher, really irked me. The style reminded me of irritatingly faux Hemingway. Spare, choppy with lots of short declarative sentences and sentence fragments. Here's a sample paragraph from fairly early on that's typical:

I stayed leaning up on the bars, motionless. Baker signaled Hubble to walk with him around the far side of the squad room. Toward the rosewood office in back. As Hubble rounded the end of the reception desk, I saw his feet. Tan boat shoes. No socks. The two men walked out of sight into the office. The door closed. The desk sergeant left his post and went outside to part Baker's cruiser.

It's pretty much all like that--unvarying and that style doesn't wear well. Imagery? Great description? Actual sentence: It was about as distinctive as the most distinctive thing you could ever think of. The other problem I had with the voice (and character) was that, as the blurb from Jeffrey Deaver put it, Jack Reacher is one of those "tough guy heroes." The kind that has not a trace of a sense of humor and all the affect of a Vulcan purged of all emotion at Gol. The kind of guy that has the first pretty woman in view have the hots for him and sleep with him within two days of meeting him (almost all of which he spent in jail) even though she's a police officer who met him when taking his prints, he's been living like a vagrant and he's a murder suspect. The kind who kills with his own hands without a ripple of remorse or queasiness. And the violent streak got worse as the novel went along--at first it was justifiable self defense, even if ruthless and brutal. (In an early encounter Reacher gouges out an eye.) But it eventually became Mike Hammer-like cold-blooded murders--only justifiable to fans of Death Wish.

The part I did like was that Reacher is a former military policeman who has a Sherlock Holmes touch about him at times. Such as when he dazzles Detective Finley with deductions about his background. (Except, please, there's no such thing as "Harvard tones." There's a Boston accent among natives of the area, but that's different. Child supposedly has a British background, so maybe superimposing Oxford in his mind unto Harvard explains that piece of bizarreness.) It was also entertaining how even when he had been arrested for murder and was being questioned, Reacher was treating Finley more like a colleague investigating the murder with him than his interrogator. That had a kind of cool about it I appreciated in the beginning.

But coincidences pile up (two brothers who haven't met in years cross paths by chance in a small Georgia town they had never before visited even though one is based in D.C. and the other is a drifter criss-crossing the country), plot holes yawn as wide as canyons (a treasury agent is investigating a case that threatens the United States economy; he's reported killed and it's ignored by the Feds), implausibilities stack (Reacher, a West Point graduate who reached the rank of major by 36 has been involuntarily demobilized out of the army because of budget cuts) and as mentioned above, Reacher begins to kill in a way that would make Rambo proud, giving me testosterone poisoning. So, unless someone tells me this series or author got way, way better, this will be my last Lee Child novel. Hell, to be honest, after this experience no matter what anyone tells me this will be my last Lee Child novel. ...more

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Mar 15, 2008 Gina rated it it was amazing

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

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Jun 02, 2017 Supratim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller

A friend had “very highly” recommended Jack Reacher novels to me a long time back. I had add a few Reacher novels to my TBR but never got around to reading one. A few weeks back, during the Goodreads Mystery & Thriller Week – I saw Killing Floor in the top 100 mystery & thriller novels list. It renewed my interest in the series and luckily I found the book in my library.

I can sum up the novel in two words: ENTERTAINING POTBOILER!!!

The book introduces us to Jack Reacher, formerly of the US Mli A friend had “very highly” recommended Jack Reacher novels to me a long time back. I had add a few Reacher novels to my TBR but never got around to reading one. A few weeks back, during the Goodreads Mystery & Thriller Week – I saw Killing Floor in the top 100 mystery & thriller novels list. It renewed my interest in the series and luckily I found the book in my library.

I can sum up the novel in two words: ENTERTAINING POTBOILER!!!

The book introduces us to Jack Reacher, formerly of the US Mlitary Police. He has now become a drifter and on a strange whim arrives at a small town in Georgia. A bad time to arrive – he is soon arrested as a murder suspect. So begins the adventure…

First, a few words about our protagonist – he is the quintessential action hero. Big (or rather huge) & tough – not a man to mess with if you have any brains. But, there is more to him than just brawn. He is quite a detective too – some of his deductions are a bit too farfetched though. There is no rule which states that a huge man can’t have brains but the deductions should have been more logical. The author has tried to portray Reacher as the Rambo-meets-Sherlock Holmes type. Like James Bond he can easily attract women.

Anyways, something dangerous is afoot in the little town and as the blurbs of thrillers love to say –“the bodies keep piling.” Reacher makes allies in the police force ( he also manages to hit it off with the only female in the force) and is involved in solving the mystery.

The novel is pretty fast paced and full of action, suspense and excitement. Just imagine a novelization of any action movie. Plenty of fistfights and gunfights – there are hired thugs, dangerous prison gangs, psychotic murderers, FBI agents, a mysterious foundation which literally owns the town etc. to keep you turning the pages.

I have to say that the solution to the mystery was pretty good.

Now let’s go the flaws in the book.

Trust! Trust is a very big thing. People don’t trust strangers that easily. But, in the book the police detective trusted Reacher so easily. He started discussing the case with a man – who was a murder suspect sometime back. Difficult to digest!! Roscoe – the lone lady cop also fell for a stranger just like that!!! At times, Roscoe was also shown as a bit too weak.

The story was good. I wish the author had executed it better. He did succeed in creating an atmosphere of suspense though.

This is just an action adventure thriller meant to provide some thrills and excitement. Do not expect anything more out of it. If you like your crime thrillers to be realistic then this book is definitely not for you. However, if you want to enjoy some escapist action then you can give it a try. I myself would like to try out a couple of more books in the series. ...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Julie rated it really liked it

I kept hearing about this series, but never started it because I had the impression it was men's fiction, like Rambo or something. But, I noticed a lot of women were reading it, so I decided to try it. It was a book everyone would enjoy, not just men. The plot was interesting, involving counterfeiting. I didn't trust anyone! There's many twist, a lot of action, a little romance. There were some things though that were over the top. Reacher was invincible. One guy against four and he doesn't even ...more

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Aug 01, 2017 Adrian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: recommendation, zz-owned-books, adventure-thriller

So my friend who was having a clear out, said "when i see you, Ive got a few books I reckon you will enjoy", "ok" I said. So when we meet up he gives me 3, yes 3 of those bag for life supermarket carrier bags full of virtually brand new books, It seems about 30 (are there that many) were Jack Reacher, and some more of a similar ilk, plus assorted other books his wife had read. Now he says to me, "you'll enjoy these as we both did" meaning him and his wife, which did surprise me as she usually li ...more

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Jul 07, 2019 Peter rated it it was amazing

Absolutely compelling and pageturning thriller on a mysterious murder case. Jack Reacher, ex-miltitary policeman, stays in the little town of Margraves to gather some information on a blind Blues musician. He is drawn into a murder case that gets bigger and bigger. What triggers his decision to become active in this case? What is at stake? And what is behind that mysterious Kilner foundation? Great characters (Finlay, Roscoe, but also the bad guys), precise description and a fine main character, ...more

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Jan 07, 2016 Alp rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, suspense, crime-mystery

No wonder Lee Child is a bestselling author. Killing Floor is a good mystery-suspense book with lots of action and many twists and turns. The thing I liked most about this book was that there were plenty of fight scenes, which made my heart jump and my adrenaline pump. But there were some unrealistic things in the story that made me feel like I was having a very big question mark on my forehead all the time while reading this. Too many coincidences that didn’t make sense to me, but I already put ...more

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Feb 16, 2014 Paula rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: suspense-thriller, favorite-books, read-in-2014, re-read, e-book, award-winner, favorite-authors, series, military-war

Love The Jack Reacher series. Went back and re-read the first of the series, and enjoyed it tremendously. Good research and detail from Lee Child. He knows the working of the military. Lots of fun action.

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Apr 20, 2017 Michael rated it it was amazing

I'm not that into pure blockbuster genre books, but this is actually quite well done. The opening chapter is a master class in building tension using detail and perspective--when the police storm into a small-town diner, our main character, Jack Reacher, deduces that they must be coming for him, but he's cool and collected as he catalogs their mistakes and all the moments he might have taken advantage of them. In less graceful hands this might have devolved into pointless violence, but Lee Child ...more

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Sep 26, 2018 Meags rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: war-and-military, crime-mystery-suspense, law-enforcers, audiobook, borrowbox

4 Stars

As far as crime-thrillers are concerned, this one was pretty damn good.

As a fan of the Jack Reacher films starring Tom Cruise, I’ve had my eager eye on this book series for years. Thankfully, my library app recently went all out and made available all the ebooks and audiobooks in this long-running series. I went borrow crazy and now here we are - a new reading addiction has been born.

The book began kind of slowly, but once the unfolding mystery got its hooks into me, there was no lookin ...more

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Nov 25, 2013 Jim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, mystery

A lady of my acquaintance is addicted to watching crime shows on TV. You know the shows I am referring to...the crime labs with the lights turned down low, staffed by bikini models who strut around in power suits and stiletto heels, which same prove no hindrance in chasing down fit young men who are highly motivated to evade capture. The same shows in which police torture and trick suspects with no regard for the evidentiary value of the information obtained, and car chases and explosions are th A lady of my acquaintance is addicted to watching crime shows on TV. You know the shows I am referring to...the crime labs with the lights turned down low, staffed by bikini models who strut around in power suits and stiletto heels, which same prove no hindrance in chasing down fit young men who are highly motivated to evade capture. The same shows in which police torture and trick suspects with no regard for the evidentiary value of the information obtained, and car chases and explosions are the order of the day. It's all bullshit, with no relevance to the real world, and anyone with even a passing familiarity with police procedure can tell you that it's all a bunch of hooey. Reading this book was an experience similar to watching one of those shows.

To begin with, the Reacher character is flawed...perhaps it's better to say that the concept is flawed. Reacher is a Military Police Major who retires to a life of vagrancy after 13 years on the job. Mr Child suggests that Reacher is a West Point graduate who is widely experienced in commando tactics and routine law enforcement procedures, having made scads of arrests of errant military personnel. The truth is that any field grade officer is a pretty squared away individual, highly unlikely to be alienated from anything, and certainly not to the point of vagrancy. Furthermore, the bulk of investigation in any Military Police organization is conducted by senior non-commissioned members. A Major might investigate the golf course, or the Officers' Mess, but you will not find him on patrol on a Friday night. The Major does not investigate. Chances are he doesn't even supervise investigators....he'll have a Captain for that. Why bark when you've got a dog? If Reacher had been a drummed-out Sergeant, he would have been more believable.

Child basically asks the reader to suspend all common sense and accept on faith that modern police officers would share information with a vagrant recently arrested on suspicion of murder. Then he wants you to believe that Reacher beds the department's only female and is provided with armament by the same. It was too great a stretch for my poor old imagination to handle.

I believe that a writer should write about what he knows, or at least know something about what he writes. I came to the conclusion that Mr Child knows little about the Military Police trade and less about firearms. He attributes them with magical qualities and his descriptions are shaky. As an example, a .22 calibre pistol is referred to as 22 gauge (now that would be a unique handgun) and apparently in Mr Child's world a .22 silenced subsonic round will pass right through your head, no problem at all! And the devastation that he imagines can be wrought by a shotgun...Yikes! I could go on, but why belabor the point?

The only reason I didn't rate the book lower is that Child is a decent writer and had the potential to get me as a return customer if he had kept to a plausible story line. This one was all about double-digit body count, car chases and explosions. I don't need all the loud noises and flashing lights; give me some substance. ...more

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Jun 30, 2016 Edward Lorn rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Third time is not the charm. I tried reading the ebook twice and put it down both times because I didn't like the writing. Figured I'd try the audiobook, because some styles work better in audio. That was not the case here.

Jack Reacher, starring Our Lord and Savior Tom Cruise, is the only Cruise movie in which I can stomach Cruise. With the sequel coming, I wanted to give this another go. My bad. Guess I'll be sticking with the films.

In summation: Child might be a fellow pantser, but it doesn't ...more

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Jan 04, 2020 A. rated it it was ok

Shelves: cops-in-any-shape-or-form, _mystery-thriller, eye-roll-inducing, pov-1st-person, small-town-setting, yeah-sure-totally-believable, kinda-meh, crime-solving-plot, soldiers-protectors-n-such, touch-of-romance

Pretty good start but then it went downhill.
The guy was too everything - too perfect, too clever, too tough, too hot, too cool, too badass, too nonchalant. It grated on my nerves.
Not to mention the story was farfetched and over-the-top. ...more

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May 31, 2011 Robert rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This story has the frenetic pace of a six-year old boy that consumed two pounds of Halloween candy, gone into hyperglycemic shock, been revived in the middle of the operating room with paddles, and given a shot of adrenaline and a Snickers bar. Jack Reacher, the ultimate man’s man, leads the charge. He carries nothing but the clothes on his back, a wad of cash, and a toothbrush jammed in his pocket. After use, he tosses his clothes in the trash, and visits the local thrift store. While they may ...more

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Oct 22, 2015 Ken rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Meet Jack Reacher, a loner with no ties. He drifts from place to place whilst inevitably finding trouble.
He arrives in a small town in Georgia and within the hour he’s arrested for murder.

Reacher is a fascinating character. Having recently been released from the military, he’s roaming without a purpose.

It’s a great action packed mystery that instantly hooked me straight away.

If people are interested in this series, it’s the best place to start. The first book perfectly encapsulates what the whol ...more

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Jan 25, 2018 Gary rated it really liked it

Shelves: action-adventure-crime

This book was not bad. I read review after review that was negative so I hesitated. The main character, Jack Reacher, clearly has a fan base and enough popular support to spawn a couple of movies with A list actor Tom Cruise so I thought what the heck.
Overall, it felt like a 80s action movie. I understand why that would irritate some people, especially if you are used to having a steady literary diet of skillful and original plots, deft use of words and cleverly devised characters. This definite ...more

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Sep 16, 2013 Jim rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 3series, 2fiction, mystery-thriller, 1audio

I read this as a paperback & it didn't wow me. I hadn't planned on reading any more in this series, but several of my friends really like the series, so I thought I'd give it another shot. Maybe I'd like it better as an audio book or now.

I didn't. Probably liked it less. Child's writing is repetitive. Often he seemed to be trying to make the point that much more exciting, but it just bored me. He writes like his readers are idiots & can't keep a point in mind for a few paragraphs. He also spends I read this as a paperback & it didn't wow me. I hadn't planned on reading any more in this series, but several of my friends really like the series, so I thought I'd give it another shot. Maybe I'd like it better as an audio book or now.

I didn't. Probably liked it less. Child's writing is repetitive. Often he seemed to be trying to make the point that much more exciting, but it just bored me. He writes like his readers are idiots & can't keep a point in mind for a few paragraphs. He also spends a lot of time describing the obvious & minutiae, but skips inconvenient details like Reacher's hygiene.

Reacher is too much in charge too often, & the constant build of him over other characters just got old. (view spoiler) I guess the women were impressed by his manly smell because he wandered around in the heat for days without a change of clothes or a shower & they still seemed to like him. There were a lot of other examples & they steadily eroded my appreciation of his character.

Child did the same thing with the shotguns making them into some sort of magical killing machines. (view spoiler)

Several plot holes were just too glaring, especially at the end. (view spoiler)

There were some good points in the book. Some of the scenes were well done & the story was a good one overall. I liked the way the odd, main coincidence was worked in. I have the 2d audio book in this series. I think I'll try to listen to it. I've heard the series gets better. It has to. ...more

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Jun 12, 2013 Mike (the Paladin) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, skimmed

I tried reading some of the Jack Reacher books some years ago and don't have any clear idea of them except that I wasn't blown away and didn't follow up the series.

I still feel the same way really. I got interested in the story here right away. It's well set up and the lead in gets your mind involved. There are some odd things even there. It seems to me that jack with his background and experience (which a big deal is made of and plays heavily into the story) at the very beginning could have do I tried reading some of the Jack Reacher books some years ago and don't have any clear idea of them except that I wasn't blown away and didn't follow up the series.

I still feel the same way really. I got interested in the story here right away. It's well set up and the lead in gets your mind involved. There are some odd things even there. It seems to me that jack with his background and experience (which a big deal is made of and plays heavily into the story) at the very beginning could have done things that would have made things go a bit smoother. He seems to aggravate the situation before he does anything to start handling it...still not a big thing and I suppose it's supposed to be "character building".

Throughout the story I don't think that the Reacher story stayed "coherent" if you get my meaning. He's not a character who stays true to himself...at least not yet. His views tend to have a wide spread and I'm never sure where's he's coming from in the "ideological" realm. He moves from responsible to selfish and back. He's violent but then gets almost passive. He may settle in and explain this over the length of the series (as this is the first in the series)...so, maybe just my take.

The plot here is good (and we have the sub plot that sort of ties in) and it's also well written. I just think that there's more "book" here than there is plot. The book begins to drag and run on a bit.

Also there are a few gratuitous sex scenes that really add nothing to the novel (except of course for gratuitous sex which is sometimes a goal in itself and I suppose is a big draw for some readers...look what happened to Laurell K. Hamilton's books...and they seem to sell "a bunch").

I just (again) found the story beginning to drag (at least for me) and there was a feeling of "finally" when I got to the end. Don't know if I'll pick any more up or not... I don't plan to for now.

So, pretty good book with a descent story and a popular character that I think is just beginning to grow here. Not enthused don't hate it...a little "blah" for me.

Maybe you should see what you think. ...more

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About Lee Child

Lee Child

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Lee Child was born October 29th, 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 pr ...more

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“I'm not a vagrant. I'm a hobo. Big difference.” — 83 likes

“Evaluate. Long experience had taught me to evaluate and assess. When the unexpected gets dumped on you, don’t waste time. Don’t figure out how or why it happened. Don’t recriminate. Don’t figure out whose fault it is. Don’t work out how to avoid the same mistake next time. All of that you do later. If you survive.” — 56 likes

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