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A review by bookish_benny
Killing Floor by Lee Child
4.0
Jack Reacher is one hell of a character.
Normally I primarily read SFF books however a friend recommended this book and so I took the chance to read something different in the hope that it would pull me out of a reading slump I'd been experiencing across December. It worked.
This story tells of a man called Jack Reacher who is travelling across America. As he arrives in a small, quiet town in Georgia, he gets arrested for a murder he didn't commit. Jack has to prove his innocence but just as he does he finds he is connected to the deceased and needs to help solve the heinous crime.
Jack Reacher is a great character. A man with special skills from serving in the army, he breaks the mould of the typical hero in a thriller story. He will shoot the bad guys when he says he won't, he will hit you before he reaches a count of three and he doesn't mind being vulnerable in front of the right people which is refreshing as you get to see a very human character within the pages.
Lee has written characters that you can get behind. They're people you want to root for and I really felt for them. In times where the main characters were in danger, I was eagerly whizzing through the pages to find out what happened. Yesterday I blasted through 1/3 of the book while on the train because each chapter brought a new problem for Jack to solve and I just had to know what was going to happen.
Lee's prose is simple but effective. He doesn't use purple prose and just delivers the story to you directly. It could be perceived as basic if you're making the switch from elaborate, sweeping epic fantasy stories but I didn't think this and thought the direct, punchy delivery of Lee's chosen words works really well in giving you the story as raw as possible.
The story is written in first person from Reacher's POV. At first I wasn't a fan but actually this worked extremely well for this character to help get you directly into his headspace. I've heard that this POV changes for the next book, Die Trying, so will let you know once I've got through it.
With thriller stories it would be fair to expect some twists and turns and Killing Floor won't disappoint you. I won't provide any details because that would ruin it but I didn't see the twists comin and one of them made me put the book down mid-chapter to message my friend!
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Jack Reacher is James Bond without restrictions. I thought it was paced really well, built up the characters nicely and the story itself was well written, researched and stitched together to deliver maximum impact to the reader. If you're looking for something different to read alongside your other stories then you've found it.
Normally I primarily read SFF books however a friend recommended this book and so I took the chance to read something different in the hope that it would pull me out of a reading slump I'd been experiencing across December. It worked.
This story tells of a man called Jack Reacher who is travelling across America. As he arrives in a small, quiet town in Georgia, he gets arrested for a murder he didn't commit. Jack has to prove his innocence but just as he does he finds he is connected to the deceased and needs to help solve the heinous crime.
Jack Reacher is a great character. A man with special skills from serving in the army, he breaks the mould of the typical hero in a thriller story. He will shoot the bad guys when he says he won't, he will hit you before he reaches a count of three and he doesn't mind being vulnerable in front of the right people which is refreshing as you get to see a very human character within the pages.
Lee has written characters that you can get behind. They're people you want to root for and I really felt for them. In times where the main characters were in danger, I was eagerly whizzing through the pages to find out what happened. Yesterday I blasted through 1/3 of the book while on the train because each chapter brought a new problem for Jack to solve and I just had to know what was going to happen.
Lee's prose is simple but effective. He doesn't use purple prose and just delivers the story to you directly. It could be perceived as basic if you're making the switch from elaborate, sweeping epic fantasy stories but I didn't think this and thought the direct, punchy delivery of Lee's chosen words works really well in giving you the story as raw as possible.
The story is written in first person from Reacher's POV. At first I wasn't a fan but actually this worked extremely well for this character to help get you directly into his headspace. I've heard that this POV changes for the next book, Die Trying, so will let you know once I've got through it.
With thriller stories it would be fair to expect some twists and turns and Killing Floor won't disappoint you. I won't provide any details because that would ruin it but I didn't see the twists comin and one of them made me put the book down mid-chapter to message my friend!
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Jack Reacher is James Bond without restrictions. I thought it was paced really well, built up the characters nicely and the story itself was well written, researched and stitched together to deliver maximum impact to the reader. If you're looking for something different to read alongside your other stories then you've found it.