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Killing Floor is the debut novel in the Jack Reacher series written by Lee Child. First published in 1997 by Putnam, the book won the Anthony Award and Barry Award for best first novel. 

My name is Jack Reacher. No middle name, no address.

Description[]

The electrifying debut novel which introduces Jack Reacher, a drifter and ex-military policeman; a man of action unafraid to take justice into his own hands; a man of intelligence and cunning. Shortly after Reacher arrives in the sleepy town of Margrave, Georgia he’s arrested for murder. The next three days’ events leave everyone stunned.

Plot[]

Jack Reacher gets off a Greyhound bus at the road that leads to the town of Margrave, Georgia, because he remembers his brother mentioning that a blues musician named Blind Blake had died there. Margrave is a small town about an hour south of Atlanta. Shortly after making the 14 mile walk into town, he is arrested in a local diner for murder on the orders of Police Chief Morrison, who falsely claims he saw Reacher leave the scene.

While in custody, Reacher meets Captain Finlay, the chief of detectives, and Roscoe, a female officer who believes him to be innocent. Reacher persuades Finlay to call a number on a piece of paper found in the dead man's shoe; the number leads them to Paul Hubble, a banker who instantly confesses to the murder. Before Reacher can be released, he and Hubble are transferred to a state prison in Warburton, where Reacher manages to thwart an attempt on their lives by the Aryan Brotherhood. Suspecting that the deputy warden set them up, Reacher joins Finlay's investigation, while Hubble is presumed dead after vanishing from his house in the middle of the following day.

Reacher learns that the murdered man is his brother, Joe, who was running an investigation into a counterfeiting ring operated by Mr. Kliner and his son under the protection of Morrison, several dirty cops, and the corrupt mayor, Grover Teale. A second body, belonging to truck driver Sherman Stoller, is found, and Morrison and his wife are brutally murdered shortly thereafter. Roscoe theorizes that the Kliners are using Margrave as a distribution hub for a counterfeiting organization, but this is eventually disproven when Reacher searches one of their trucks and finds it empty. He then realizes that the opposite is true: the Kliners have been hoarding the money in response to a U.S. Coast Guard anti-smuggling operation that effectively cuts off their supply of bills from Venezuela, and plan to resume distribution once the Coast Guard's operation is shut down as a cost-saving measure.

After sending Hubble's family into hiding to protect them from Kliner, Reacher kills Kliner's son and several other associates after luring them into an ambush. He then informs Finlay of the secret behind Kliner's operation, which his brother had been trying to prove: to obtain the special paper required to make undetectable forgeries, the criminals had employed Hubble to collect hundreds of thousands of used $1 bills and send them to ports in Florida through Stoller and other drivers, whereupon they would be sent to Venezuela where they were bleached to remove the ink and then used to make forged $100 bills. When Reacher and Finlay return to Margrave, they are taken captive by Kliner, Teale, and Finlay's FBI contact Picard, who reveals that he's been keeping track of their progress, and has Roscoe and Hubble's family in his custody. Kliner reveals that Hubble isn't dead, but in hiding, and threatens to kill his hostages unless Reacher finds him.

Kliner has Picard accompany Reacher in his search for Hubble, however while en route, Reacher stages a distraction and kills Picard's escorts, before shooting and apparently killing Picard. He then locates Hubble in a nearby motel, and brings him back to Margrave. Finding the criminals gone, they spring Finlay from captivity in the police station and set it on fire, before locating the hostages at Kliner's warehouse. Reacher kills a dirty cop named Baker, kills Teale and Kliner, and Finlay sets fire to the rest of the money. A wounded Picard shows up and beats Reacher down, but Finlay distracts him long enough for Reacher to kill him. The group then escapes as the warehouse explodes. Reacher ends up spending the night with Roscoe, but realizing that his actions will attract a lot of unwanted attention from the authorities, Reacher decides to leave Georgia. Roscoe gives him one last gift: a picture of his brother that she had retrieved from Molly Beth's suitcase.

Adaptations[]

The novel served as the basis for Season One of the Reacher TV Series on Amazon Prime.

Appearances[]

Characters[]

Locations[]

  • United States

Organizations[]

  • United States Armed Forces
    • United States Army
  • Margrave Police Department (fictional)
  • Warburton Correctional Facility (fictional)

Weapons[]

  • Desert Eagle automatic, .44 magnum, 8 shot
  • Switchblade, unknown make, black ebony, 7" double edged blade
  • Ithaca Mag-10 shotgun
  • Ruger Mark II .22 auto with silencer

Vehicles[]

Events[]

Miscellanea[]

Body Count[]

  • Blind Blake - Killed by Grover Teale's father
  • Joe Reacher - Executed by Kliner's gang
  • Sherman Stoller - Executed by Kliner's gang
  • Unnamed Aryan Brotherhood member - Killed by Reacher
  • Sherman Stoller - Executed by Kliner's gang
  • Assistant Warden Spivey - Executed by Kliner's gang
  • Chief Morrison - Executed by Kliner's gang
  • Chief Morrison's Wife - Executed by Kliner's gang
  • The Kliner Kid's accomplice #1 - Hit on head by Reacher
  • The Kliner Kid's accomplice #2 - Hit on head by Reacher
  • The Kliner Kid's accomplice #3 - Hit on head by Reacher
  • The Kliner Kid's accomplice #4 - Throat slit by Reacher
  • The Kliner Kid - Drowned by Reacher
  • Molly Beth Gordon - Executed by Kliner's gang
  • Mayor Teale - Killed by Reacher
  • Agent Picard - Killed by Reacher
  • Mr. Kliner - Killed by Reacher
  • Officer Baker - Killed by Reacher
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