I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Killing Floor
by
Lee Child
It is part of the Jack Reacher #4 series and is a thriller in Paperback edition that was published by Jove on April 25, 2006 and has 552 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Die Trying, "Second Son", Tripwire, Running Blind, Echo Burning, Without Fail, Persuader, The Enemy, One Shot, The Hard Way, Bad Luck and Trouble, Nothing to Lose, Gone Tomorrow, 61 Hours, Worth Dying For, The Affair, A Wanted Man, "Deep Down", Never Go Back, "High Heat", Personal, Make Me, "Small Wars", Night School, MatchUp, The Midnight Line, Past Tense, No Middle Name, The Hero, Blue Moon, "Cleaning the Gold"
Fourth (and first publication-wise) in the Jack Reacher thriller series revolving around Jack, a drifter recently discharged from the military.
My Take
Child intrigued me from the get-go with his unique approach. A drifter accused of murder who couldn’t possibly have done it. Intelligent. With a gift for playing music in his head and changing keys to suit the situation. I loved it.
The man is twisted. Child has come up with a nasty, twisty plot that is, unfortunately, believable. I started reading this and forgot everything around me.
Interesting information about the money situation in the United States. Makes it so much more understandable as to why the Treasury is so concerned with counterfeiting. Cool ideas Child provided about cutting back the practice at least in the states.
I am definitely looking forward to reading more about Jack Reacher…if only to find out where he drifts to next…
Definitely a buy.
The Story
It’s six months since Jack was discharged from the Military Police. In his wandering the countryside, he decides to hop off the bus at Margrave in Georgia. His brother, knowing how much he loves music, had mentioned Blind Blake, a guitar player who was murdered in Margrave some 60 years ago. So Jack wanders into Margrave and gets arrested for murder. Only to find he’s stumbled across a counterfeiting ring his brother Joe was trying to shut down.
The powers-that-be think Jack would make a nice scapegoat, but there’s too much evidence that clears him. Jack’s summing up of the crime scene grabs Finlay’s respect and, when Jack learns the identity of one of the dead men, there is no way he won’t stay on to help.
Only, there aren’t that many Jack can trust on this. Seems as though the whole town and police force are in on the gig and their way of discouragement is…messy…to say the least. Jack’s hoping that Finlay and Roscoe are trustworthy.
The Characters
Ex-Major Jack Reacher is drifting. Just exploring the countryside after spending his entire life as first a military brat and then in the Military Police. Someone always telling him what to do and where to go. Now, now his time is his own. Joe Reacher was Jack’s older brother. Growing up they always had each other’s backs. Now Joe is working Treasury. Molly is a coworker of Joe’s and his girlfriend. She’s able to fill us in on the background and why international counterfeiting is so dangerous.
Captain Finlay is the chief of detectives. He took the job to escape his broken marriage. Kick back from the intensity of policing in Boston. Chief Morrison claims he saw Jack at the crime scene. Officers Baker and Stevenson are well-trained at least in tactics. Jack realizes Assistant Warden Spivey is somehow hooked up in all this when he puts him and Hubble on the wrong floor in the prison for the weekend. The lifers’ floor. Worse when the Aryan Brotherhood attacks him after pointing him out as “the one”. Spivey just didn’t expect these results! Officer Roscoe believes in Jack. It’s just too bad for the Kliner kid that Jack likes her right back.
Kliner has set up a huge set of warehouses outside Margrave. Most of his textile operation is in South America, but he’s spending money here in Georgia with his Kliner Foundation. The foundation is a sweet deal. It works 24/7 keeping Margrave looking pristine with grants going out to every businessman. Every week. His kid has some boundary issues and too fierce a liking for hurting people.
Paul Hubble is a banker with a nice, big house and the stereotypical family. Charlie is his lovely and intelligent wife. Two Bentleys in the driveway. And his mobile number on a scrap of paper on the murdered man’s body. It’s Charlie who asks Jack for help in finding her missing husband. Professor Walter Bartholomew at Princeton and Professor Kelstein at Columbia University were both working with Joe.
Sherman Stoller is the second body. A truck driver who seems to have come into a lot of money. Special Agent Picard with the FBI is helping his old buddy Finlay and Jack with this case. Hiding witnesses. Getting documents. Mayor Grover Teale is one bad man. He’s been bad ever since he was a boy and got a blind musician killed.
The Cover and Title
The cover is all white with a bloody handprint.
The simplest interpretation is that the Killing Floor is the warehouse at the end when everyone is blazing away…literally in some cases. A less simple interpretation could be that it all comes down to one thing on the ground floor where the killing gets done.
