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Interviews | June 19, 2009

All posts by Dave Jim Lynch Makes Landscape Art... Out of Text

3 comments By Dave

If Carl Hiaasen set one of his novels on a residential stretch of boundary line between British Columbia and Washington, or if Richard Russo's characters had relatives in the Pacific Northwest, the result might be something like Jim Lynch's Border Songs. Continue »

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Killing Floor

by Lee Child

Killing Floor Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

From its chilling opening page, you know 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 just passing through. But Reacher is not just any drifter. He is a tough ex-military policeman, trained to think fast and act faster. He has lived with and hunted the worst: the hard men of the American military gone bad. When authorities learn the first victim was someone from Reacher's past, and he cannot convince them of his innocence, his patient self-defense becomes a raging crusade of revenge. With two cops who believe in him — a thoughtful black detective and a woman named Roscoe — he closes in on a ruthless conspiracy hiding behind Margrave's rural charm. But closing in on him is a team of killers so careful and efficient they are almost invisible.

Step by step, the two teams circle — waiting to see which will be the first to walk onto the killing floor.

Review:

"Child writes with a hand as strong and steady as steel." Publishers Weekly

Review:

"Child...stretches coincidence outrageously in this would-be noir outing, whose hero is creepily amoral, violent, and generally unpleasant." Library Journal

Review:

"Despite the crude, tough-naif narration, debut novelist Child serves up a big, rangy plot, menace as palpable as a ticking bomb, and enough battered corpses to make an undertaker grin." Kirkus Reviews

Synopsis:

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.
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About the Author

Lee Child is the author of eleven Jack Reacher thrillers, including the New York Times bestsellers Persuader, the Barry Award Winner The Enemy, and One Shot, which has been optioned for a major motion picture by Paramount Pictures.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 4 comments:
Erica Horne, April 9, 2009 (view all comments by Erica Horne)
Wow, what a book! Lee Child has given us perhaps the most interesting and complex hero in some time. Jack Reacher is Clint Eastwood, John Wayne and Arnold Schwarzenegger rolled into one...but with much more personality and pizzazz! I'm only sorry it's taken me so long to read Mr. Child's book!
The story is a riveting one, focusing on Jack's involvement in a crime in a small town in Georgia. Boy, does he make a mistake in deciding to stop off in this little burg, just to find out about a blue singing legend named Blind Blake. But, what a story unfolds. The dialogue is brisk, economical, and very involving! Along with Jack, there are a ton of characters that are so remarkably fleshed out and described, you would think this was a true crime story!

There are scenes of nail-biting action; very graphic and disturbing scenes of violence; and amidst all this some really well-written scenes of sensitivity and poignancy. Jack's meeting with an old lady who once knew the old blues legend is outstanding in its emotional punch! Paul Hubble, the neurotic banker; Roscoe, the beautiful policewoman; Finlay, the chief of detectives; and the evil villains are some of the best written characters in recent mystery fiction.

What is so amazing about this book is the way Lee Child has not only woven a complex murder mystery, but also a chilling tale of greed, madness, and lost loves and lives.

This is an emotional, wrenching debut, and I cannot wait to start in on the rest of this series!

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Dan Culver, January 13, 2009 (view all comments by Dan Culver)
Great first novel, gripping.
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redrockbookworm, July 22, 2008 (view all comments by redrockbookworm)
Driving along Interstate 15 and enjoying another adventure with Jack Reacher made the miles just fly by. Didn't realize that "The Killing Floor" was the inception of the Jack Reacher character and series since I had either read or listened to other books by this author that featured this tough ex-military cop character and the stories are such that they do not have to be read in any particular order to be enjoyed. I did notice that a lot of the Reacher adventures seem to begin with our heroic drifter sitting in a restaurant enjoying a cup of coffee or eating breakfast when a chance occurrence pulls him into yet another crime situation awaiting his particular brand of expertise. This one is no exception.

Jack takes us down south for this thrill ride, to a sleepy little town called Margrave, Georgia. A murder has been committed and of course our hero is arrested for the foul deed since he is the only "stranger" in the area............and of course none of the upright town folk could have possibly committed the dirty deed. It appears that everyone has a part to play in this escapade from the local police chief and his assistant (a black cop who has relocated from the Boston area) to a couple of ancient town barbers, to a bank executive and even the FBI.

The story is liberally peppered with vicious bad guys committing brutal acts, damsels in distress, slimy town fathers, an ingenious scam, and enough action and surprises to keep you interested and on your toes (like the identity of the victim for whose murder Jack has been arrested).

Our fast thinking hero's abilities are put to the test, and of course he passes with flying colors. Give Jack and his creator, Lee Child, a B- on this one. 3 ½ stars.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780515141429
Author:
Child, Lee
Publisher:
Jove Books
Subject:
Georgia
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - General
Subject:
Private investigators
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Mystery fiction
Publication Date:
April 2006
Binding:
Mass Market Paperbound
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
419
Dimensions:
7.58x4.34x1.14 in. .66 lbs.
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