Killing Floor is the first book in the phenomenal best-selling Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. It introduces Reacher for the first time, as the tough ex-military cop of no fixed abode. Trained to think fast and act faster, he is the perfect action hero for when times get tough.

Margrave is a no-account little town in Georgia. Jack Reacher steps off a bus and walks 14 miles in the rain to reach it, in search of a dead guitar player.

But Margrave has just had its first homicide in 30 years. And Reacher is the only stranger in town. He seems the obvious fall guy. As the body count mounts, only one thing is for sure: they picked the wrong guy to frame for murder.

Now a major Prime TV series starring Alan Ritchson.

Although the Jack Reacher novels can be read in any order, Killing Floor is the first book in the internationally popular series.

Listening Length

15 hours and 51 minutes
Author

Lee Child
Narrator

Jeff Harding
Audible release date

9 November 2017
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Audio
ASIN

B076HYK6CP
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	15 hours and 51 minutes
Author	Lee Child
Narrator	Jeff Harding
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	09 November 2017
Publisher	Penguin Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B076HYK6CP
Best Sellers Rank	297 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 1 in Modern Detective Mysteries 9 in Hard-Boiled Mystery 15 in Crime Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

5 star		56%
4 star		29%
3 star		10%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from Australia

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lils57

My Partner is Hooked!

Reviewed in Australia on 21 November 2021

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I haven't actually read this book yet, but my partner was so intrigued after reading the Super Colossal Reacher Universe Bundle Volume 1, (which I purchased on a special deal a while back), that he decided to lash out and buy the first Jack Reacher book. Both as e-books. He's not into writing reviews, but from what he has told me about the book, it rings true to most of the very positive reviews already on here.

We're not big on paying (big bucks) for books when there are so many reasonable and often free offers out there. 😉 However, there are exceptions to every rule. Especially where Mr Child is concerned!

Since he was completely wrapped, (he finished the bundle and Killing Floor in record time!) but still not keen enough to pay up, 🙄 I have ordered the Jack Reacher Boxed Set (real books!) for Xmas on yet another great Amazon deal.

One person found this helpful

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Lee Davis

Interesting style. Great story

Reviewed in Australia on 26 November 2018

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Jumped onto the Jack Reacher series after attending an evening with Lee Child at Brisbane City Hall. I really enjoyed the characters (particularly Jack), the pace and the overall story. At the interview with Lee Child one question was about his 'punchy' writing style and the minutes you start reading this book you feel it. It's quite bizarre with few sentences being longer than 4-5 words. But the way Child described it is Jack Reacher is a man of few words and this is the way he might speak, so he wrote the whole book in that style. It's initially a bit of a distraction and a few reviewers here were quite turned off by it, but if you persevere, then you get into the flow and it disappears. A little.

One person found this helpful

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Pure Escapism.

Reviewed in Australia on 24 January 2022

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There is no doubt Lee Child is among the best when it comes to thriller writers. This narrative keeps you turning the pages as the indestructible Jack Reacher blazes through the story. Eventually many die as we approach the final showdown.

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John Rohde

Great Read

Reviewed in Australia on 28 February 2021

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Book one of twenty six (so far). Thought I’d start at the beginning. I might read book two soon. The whole series is going to be a big task. Before this I read L.E. Modesitt Jr’s 22nd book in his Saga of Recluse series. Two great writers. Two different genres. Two great reads.

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Brutal but exciting from start to finish

Reviewed in Australia on 13 December 2018

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Jack Reacher may not be everyone's cup of tea. He is more anti-hero than hero. His motive is pure revenge. But Lee Child is an excellent writer and the plot is tight and powerful and the novel well written in a sparse style that is just right for the story. It is one of those novels that love or hate the protagonist, you won't be able to put it down.

One person found this helpful

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Susan Hands

Made into a TV series

Reviewed in Australia on 1 July 2022

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What a great story. Lee Childs is a brilliant Author & the main character, Jack Reacher is fabulous. This story was made into a Television Series that I hope is just the first of many for the Jack Reacher franchise. I read the book well before it was made into a series for TV. I then binge watched the series.

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A C Bennett

Great

Reviewed in Australia on 13 January 2019

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The first in enjoyable series, which had me looking for the next book . I know everyone who's a Jack Reacher Fan doesn't like the image you get to look at in the movies that have followed but the books are great and this will be a must to start the whole series off.

One person found this helpful

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N Laws

fantastic novel and great for autism

Reviewed in Australia on 9 August 2022

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As a heavily autistic male, I loved this book. Reacher may be different to me as he is physically opposing and a genetic specimen compared to myself, although he possesses many autistic charms similar to mine. His relentless focus and tunnel vision compliments his disconnect to other people.

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Top reviews from other countries

Nick Brett

Reacher - back to the start

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 November 2017

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I’ve read all the Reacher books, but on conclusion of “The Midnight Line”, I thought it might be interesting to go back and compare to the first.
Killing Floor does present a less refined Reacher but also reminds us that some basic themes (town in the middle of nowhere, a secret, an attractive lady cop) started from book one.
For want of nothing better to do, Reacher stops off in a small town as a famous blues singer was reputed to have died there. Instead he finds himself arrested for murder and a town with too much money and a dirty secret. A personal element keeps Reacher there trying to find out what is going on while the body count mounts up. Reacher comes over as a dangerous man and a killer in this, not a man to cross and quite prepared to exist outside of the law. There are hints of the character he would develop into and also of the style that Lee Child would develop. This is a longish book at over 500 pages, so the abrupt style is not in place yet. The story works as do the twists and you can see why this series developed into something that has often been very special.

85 people found this helpful

CloselyObservedEnglish

Overblown

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 May 2019

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Having seen both Jack Reacher films (which I must confess to having enjoyed), I thought it only right that I take a look at one of the books that started the whole Reacher empire. I found a cheap copy of 'Killing Floor' on Amazon, and read the whole thing in about a week.

At first, I was mightily impressed. The hard-boiled prose spoke to me in a voice similar to Dashiell Hammett's, and the in-depth knowledge the writer possesses of his field really came to the fore. I think I enjoyed this book right until Reacher and Hubble come out of prison - those first passages, when nobody seems sure what's going on or who can be trusted, really worked well.

The problems began around that time, starting with a rather ridiculous plot device. Reacher, for whom nothing and nobody really seems to matter, discovers that the man whose murder he has been arrested for - SPOILER ALERT - is his brother. Now, the action all takes place in some tiny town in middle America, and Reacher only chose to stop off here at random during his peregrinations around the country; add to that the fact that the two brothers had barely spoken in years, and you have a particularly odd contrivance to work as motivation for what follows.

And then, the hard-boiled writing starts to work against Lee Child. It's not sufficient to support a book of this length. My favourite sentence in the whole book (and pretty much the reason I'm giving this two stars) came when Reacher takes his date out to dinner in a restaurant at the airport, and describes the place (or the food - I forget) with this: "It was OK." Thanks for that, Reacher/Child. Whole sections of the book could have been skipped if this is the language we're going to be treated to.

I'm not sure if I'd want to read another Reacher book after this one. I was entertained, more or less, as I read, but not to the extent that I would want to accompany Reacher on another of his adventures. I get the feeling that this is the prototype, and anything that follows will be something of a rehash - which might be an unfair analysis, but since I haven't read everything of Penelope Fitzgerald's or EM Forster's, I might prefer to invest my time there.

29 people found this helpful

Gil

Not for me.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 April 2018

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I looked forward to reading this, my first of his books, by the good reports, but was very off-put early on by a completely unnecessary , really sickening description of prison violence (not related to the plot at all)., so if you like that sort of thing, fine, but it's not for me.

38 people found this helpful

Peter Lee

Silly and overlong, but oddly enjoyable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 September 2016

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This was the second Jack Reacher book I've read, and in my usual "do it the wrong way" style the first one I read was the most recent book, "Make Me", and the second was this, the first in the series. I thought "Make Me" was enjoyable but descended into farce towards the end, and I'd heard that the earlier books were better, so I decided to go back to the beginning.

The books starts well. Reacher arrives in a small town in the middle of nowhere after walking in the rain for several hours and is eating breakfast in a diner. The police enter and he is arrested for a crime he didn't commit. Hauled off to the local police station he is thrown into a cell and the accusations begin to pile up against him. Eventually he is taken to the local prison for the weekend, but there appears to be a mix-up and he is placed in the lifers' wing, and from then on things really start to look bleak.

It's a page turner, but personally I thought it was way, way too long, probably by 200 pages or so, and the whole book is utterly unbelievable but remains strangely enjoyable. Having read two Reacher books now my suspicion is that they all follow the same template, as both of the ones I've read have had very similar story arcs, but I've got a few in my pile still to be read so I'll reserve judgement until I've worked my way through those.

38 people found this helpful

Ivan Kinsman

Nearly as good as James Bond!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 December 2018

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Lee Child (real name James D. Grant) has a very successful formula.

I first came across him being interviewed by Stephen Sackur on BBC's Hardtalk. He was making a lot of sense about his role as an author whose duty is to serve his readers what they want. And so I decided to read his first book.

The short sentences take some time to get used to but you soon get into the rhythm. Jack Reacher is an interesting hero and Child has a very observant eye for detail in small town America. Combine this with a good action plot with a lot of twists and turns and you have a book that is a real page turner.

I finished this very quickly and was straight onto the second one - Die Trying - about a white separatist group in Montana. Again unputdownable! Will now take a break, and then onto no. 3 - Tripwire.

15 people found this helpful

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