Killing Floor is the first book in the bestselling Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. It introduces Reacher for the first time, as the tough ex-military cop who now lives off the grid and doesn't even carry a mobile phone. He doesn't own a vehicle either. And he doesn't have a middle name. Ever since Reacher left the military, he's been travelling around the country on foot with only the clothes on his back.
Trained to think fast and act faster, he is the perfect action hero.
In Killing Floor, Jack Reacher visits Margrave, Georgia, by taking a Greyhound bus. His brother, Joe, mentioned that the blues musician Blind Blake died in this town. So, Reacher decides to visit.
He jumps off a bus and walks 14 miles in the rain to reach it, an arbitrary detour in search of a dead black guitar player.
Meanwhile, Margrave has just had its first homicide in 30 years. And Reacher is the only stranger in town. So he is a suspect and thrown into jail.
Not only do the local cops arrest him for murder, but the chief of police turns eyewitness to place him on the crime scene, even though Reacher was getting on a bus in Tampa at the time. Two surprises follow: The murdered man wasn't the only victim, and he was Reacher's brother Joe, whom he hadn't seen in seven years. So Reacher, who so far hasn't had anything personally against the crooks who set him up for a weekend in the state pen at Warburton, clicks into overdrive. He is out for revenge. As the body count mounts, only one thing is for sure - they picked the wrong guy to take the fall.
Banking on the help of the only two people in Margrave he can trust - a Harvard-educated chief of detectives, Finlay who hasn't been on the job long enough to be on the take, and a smart, scrappy officer who's taken him to her bed - he sets out methodically in his brother's footsteps, trying to figure out why his cellmate in Warburton, a panicky banker, Paul Hubbie, whose cell-phone number turned up in Joe's shoe, confessed to a murder he obviously didn't commit; trying to figure out why all the out-of- towners on Joe's list of recent contacts were as dead as he was; and trying to stop the local carnage, or at least direct it in more positive ways.
After the authorities believe Reacher isn't involved in the murder and free him, he decides to stick around to assist Detective Finlay and Officer Roscoe with their investigation.
Jack Reacher is written for fans of action flicks, the ones where the good guy does everything right, gets the girl, and defeats the villains.
The characters within this book are fairly forgettable. Reacher himself also lacks any real personality or massive back story. He simply doesn’t grab you like some of the other famous action heroes such as Mitch Rapp, Courtland Gentry and Scot Harvath. However, Child does just enough with the supporting characters to keep the book interesting as a whole.
The villains within the book, however, are sufficiently evil. Some of the companion characters are likeable enough and Child does give them enough difference within their dialogue and personal choices to make them feel believable.
A thriller that will captivate you as you proceed into the story.