After collecting each and every Jack Reacher books tirelessly over the years one by one from the mountainous book piles of used bookstores, and after always hearing this or that about the all powerful Jack Reacher, yesterday I finally finished reading this first book from Lee Child. Was it worth while? Was it as good as I was expecting after all the hype? Well, I did read the 520+ pages of this one in just over 3 days, inspite of my insane workload and tight schedules, so you can say, yes...mostly. There are many positive points I would give, but there are some shortcomings there as well. I'll to come to that.I had a misgiving that Reacher books are mainly action thrillers with a bit of mystery thrown in, but that was not true. Only by judging Killing Floor, it is mostly a crime-mystery thriller with a very, very few short action sequences mixed in 2-3 places. But that was totally fine in the context of the book. The story was predictable and there's absolutely NO surprises as to who the bad guys were from the beginning, but still the book sucked you in from the very first line, and keeps your attention (mostly) for the running length of the book. For this I'll give full credit to Lee Child's unique writing style and the wonderful characterization of our hero Jack Reacher. The choppy, short sentenced, overly descriptive writing style may seemed to some people as off-putting (and many people who didn't like Child's books were exactly for this very reason, I checked), but to me, it felt perfect. As every thing we saw or heard or felt was through the 1st person narrative of Reacher, it felt right that he would observe and noticed EVERYTHING, even the seemingly unnecessary tiniest of details. And because he was a tough-as-nails ex military man, its also very reasonable that he'd describe his internal monologue with as little, shall I say, "flowery" expressions as possible. Next, I mentioned earlier that the story was predictable without almost any twist and turns, in fact I'd say the ONLY twist came about 1/4th of the book, and that's about it. But that's not a bad thing. Predictability also made it comfortable, and the real driving force was the age old "Good versus Evil" plot. Because our hero was noble, righteous, strong and well, super-badass, and the bad guys were particularly nasty and psychotically evil, I had the overwhelming need to see the final triumph of Reacher in the end. In comparison, I can say that reading Killing Floor was like watching a Clint Eastwood movie....We know who the big bad is, and the hero is the ultimate tough guy, there's no big reveal, but the triumphant of Reacher like Eastwood's The Man With No Name, or Dirty Harry, or William Munny against all odds is what made the book satisfying. I'd go on to say that the book was almost like a modern day western, all the ingredients were certainly there: Lone drifter was in the wrong place at the wrong time in a mysterious town, which was controlled by a powerful family, and only a couple of town people would rise up to help the hero in his inevitable clash with the villain. There's no need of unpredictability in a western, only the process is what makes it interesting, doesn't it? There's another reason Killing Floor worked for me, and that was its absolute linear, step by step story progress, everything unfolding from only one perspective. Before starting the book, I was very indecisive as to what to read next, but almost anything I started either had an overly complex storyline, or there were many characters shifting viewpoints one after another. Don't get me wrong, I love those complicated techno thrillers too, but that would need your full attention and a clear head. As I said earlier because I had a very busy schedule & workload, I was yearning for a comparatively easy read, which should still be very attention-grabbing. As it can be seen, this one came through to me with that exact requirements. No to mention, I'm a sucker for 1st person narrative from an interesting character....And Reacher is off course as interesting and rootable a character as they come!Now, its not like it was a perfectly smooth, bumpless ride...There's some shortcomings too. After about 250-60 pages suddenly the story came almost to a grounding halt, and wouldn't had any noticeable progress until after 320-330 pages. That 60-70 pages made the story really drag and almost lost the momentum. Plus, in a few places the deductive power of Reacher also came as a bit of a mystery, as from the very first chapter he was deducing one thing after another in such efficiency that I think would even made Sherlock Holmes proud, but in the second half of the book there were some very VERY obvious answers that were almost on your face, but Reacher couldn't see it till conveniently just before the final act.All in all, I'd say it was a very good entertainingly quick read, and even though I think a 100 page less would make the book much tighter and evenly paced, It still gets a solid four stars from me. I've already started Die Trying, the next adventure of Jack Reacher, and happy to know that there are 16 MORE Reacher books for me to go through yet!
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.
What do You think about Killing Floor (2006)?
Jack Reacher isn't your typical hero so don't look for that in this story. He's a bit scary but the guy you want by your side when things get rough. He finds himself charged with murder almost minutes after coming into the town of Margrave, Georgia. It is one tense situation after another for Jack as he navigates through each, trying to figure out who he can trust and how to shake off this town. It doesn't take long to be drawn into this intricate web of lies and mystery. The writer uses a first person narrative to tell the story, which allows you to track Jack's reasoning and strategies in real time. The writing style took some getting used to and made it a slower read for about the first half of the book. Once I adapted to the style, it became synonymous with Jack.The pace of the story was swift even when the writing style slowed me down. While there were some predictable moments, there were some things that happened I never saw coming with a pretty exciting finish. I still have some unanswered questions about Jack and am intrigued enough to continue reading this series. Great first book in the series.
—Jonetta
I used to peel through adult hard-boiled detective stories like oranges before entering the children's lit world. Now my hard-boiled detectives come in the form of geckos and cuteness such as Chet Gecko and Nate the Great. Ruby Redfort reminded me of what I was missing so when my friend, Angela, plopped this book with tough-guy Jack Reacher on my desk and said in her down-under accent, "Yah gonna love Jack," I was ready for some fast-paced escapism. Giddy-up Ange. Jack is a hoot.Jack Reacher does not belong to any one place. He has no commitments. No permanent job. No permanent address. No permanent girlfriend. He grew up with his brother as a military brat in more countries than he can remember (well he can, but I can't). School meant making friends every 6 months.His adult career was spent working as a military policeman which meant his arrests were with military lawbreakers. Those lawbreakers were trained killers such as Rangers, Green Berets, and Marines. Men like Jack had to be trained better than your average policeman. This makes Jack "Better with weapons. Better unarmed." However, Jack's had it with bureaucracies. He shook the dust off his police boots, hit the road, and didn't look back.Jack uses music as a way to deal with his situations or control his emotions. The author weaves different types of songs throughout the entire book. I didn't know half of them but enjoyed the connection. Hit the Road Jack, kept tinging in my head but Lee Child never threw that one in the mix. I suppose that's too corny. Or uncool. Jack's left his murky, dark past behind and is roaming the countryside with no responsibilities or commitments. He washes his clothes by tossing out the old ones every four days and he never stays in any one place too long.When Jack stumbles into the town of Margrave he is accused of murder and sucked into an investigation he has no intention of solving. He's left that world behind. When he discovers he knows the murder victim, He makes a 180; now he's out for blood and revenge. He wants justice and is motivated by loyalty to the dead man. Jack will stand up for what's right or best for a community but he won't go by the book anymore. He kills people with the detachment of someone who has spent too much time in combat and he doesn't have much internal dialogue or conflict about it afterwards. He's a trained lethal weapon and the body count in this novel is close to a dozen people. He stalks the bad guys just as they stalk him. He turns the tables and can kill a man by knife, rifle, crushing his larynx or breaking his neck to name a few. He has no problems with poking out eyes, head-butting, or using any means to stop the bad guys. No remorse for Jack. Just justice. Even if justice is taken into his own hands.The writing didn't transport or delight me like some prose souffle... but the action, strong characters, and plot twists did. I was flipping through the pages in quick succession like a hyperactive librarian. Or someone wanting to escape from the humdrum of everyday routines. It's great being able to pretend that I'm something that I'm not in the hero archetype found in the character of Jack. For a brief moment I am brilliant, tough, wise-cracking, tall (over 6 feet), detailed, have an awesome memory, can wield a weapon of any kind, and never make mistakes or if I do I can fix them. I wrote that sentence right after figuring out I had been using my inhaler upside down for the last three months - a lot more juice squirts out of that puppy when it's held upright... Jack Reacher would NEVER do anything so stupid. He'd find some cool way to take his meds. I'm sure a karate-chop would be involved. Or he'd use the inhaler for target practice.The murders are quite grisly in the book with nasty villains, plenty of good guys, and plenty of not-so-sure if they are good or bad guys. Jack becomes attracted to another woman in the novel but their relationship is mostly physical. I liked this female character. She's strong-minded and smart. There's only one macho scene where she makes Jack promise to protect her. I thought it was out of character because I didn't think one policeman would ask another policeman to make such an impossible promise, but I could be wrong and she is in a small town where violent crime is nil. She just struck me as too self-sufficient. I did see how the author used it to advance the plot at the end - the author couldn't exactly have the character leave town and live with a relative. If I get more specific I'll give away the ending. The other plot twist that seemed somewhat thin was how Jack found Hubble. I liked the deduction but in actuality it was a bit of a stretch. Still fun because it showed how unbelievably smart Jack was. Maybe a little too unbelievable, but still fun. Just like him killing all those bad guys.When I get tired of reading Ace Lacewing, Bug Detective and Max Minnow (Wiggle Eyes) in Mystery in Bugtown, I know who what to reach for... Jack Reacher. Thanks, Ange.
—Barb Middleton
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)[When he figured out how the counterfeiting was being done & told Finnley is one example. It's also an example of treating his readers like idiots. There were half a dozen obvious clues pointing to this revelation. (hide spoiler)]
—Jim
