Killing Floor: Review

I just finished reading Killing Floor, by Lee Child, after quite a lengthy hiatus from reading. I'm not sure if I'm back to reading consistently yet, I have so much else on my plate, but I'll still try to write up reviews of everything that I read.

Overall, I enjoyed the book for what it was.

Summary

Killing Floor is a thriller novel featuring the famous Jack Reacher character. Reacher is a male wish-fulfillment fantasy: a muscular tank of a man, six and a half feet tall, wicked smart, and a maverick, too. That's not a critique, I'm just stating what it is. In this book, Reacher is six months out of his job in the military, traveling around the world with no rhyme or reason. He eventually comes upon an isolated and quiet town called Margrave in the state of Georgia. After being there for only a short time, he is suddenly arrested for murder, which he knows he did not do. From there, he is sucked into a massive conspiracy that expands well beyond the town of Margrave.

Strides (Spoilers)

As I mentioned, I enjoyed the novel, and this was for a number of reasons.

The first thing that caught me was the prose. The style of writing is very distinctive, with the descriptions being short and to the point. Most of the sentences are shorter than one line along the page, and many of the sentences lack a subject. This prose style reflects Reacher's clear and precise approach to life. He is not the loquacious sort, or the sort to drift off into his imagination. He is very perceptive and aware, making him the ideal sort of detective.

This leads to another point, which is Jack Reacher, himself. As he is the titular character, he is one of the defining parts of the book. I mentioned before that he is male wish-fulfillment, and that this wasn't meant to be a critique. His character probably won't appeal to everyone, as Reacher fits rather neatly into a trope, and because male power fantasies obviously target a particular demographic, but the execution of the trope worked for me. The best parts of the book are when Reacher wrecks some people like the walking tank he is, and while the book is a bit fantastical, the way in which the scenes are presented are plausible enough to entertain the reader without making things too absurd.

Reacher's detective skills are also incredibly important to his character and to the plot. The overall execution of the mystery and how all of the pieces are put together over the course of the novel was very well done. I don't think everything was perfect, and I will discuss those things down below, but here I will look into the good parts:

There were two things that I appreciated about the mystery in this book. First, the way that small details of the town were tied into the conspiracy at the center of the story. Reacher would fixate on the refreshed and well-kept nature of the town, which seems like a simple description of the town, but you quickly begin to realize that this is indicative of something greater. The second thing has to do with how the investigation progressed. As the pieces of the conspiracy came together, the characters would put together a theory to explain it all, and while the theory would approximate the truth, they would have to update their theory as it failed to fit all of the data. This shows fallibility and brings realism to the story, and it keeps the reader guessing as to whether there may be another twist down the road.

Another thing that I liked was how Reacher and Roscoe did not end up working out in the end. It is too common, seeing characters instantly fall in love. While Reacher and Roscoe did have a fling that happened rather suddenly, this was framed as a one night stand (or a couple night stand) more than anything else, with them choosing to separate in the end.

Finally, I like the crux of their scheme and how the mystery of how they counterfeit so effectively is set up. The question is centered on how they create paper that is so alike with real currency. Child manages to send the readers down a red herring by discussing the complexities of replicating currency, and this allows for the reveal at the end to be that much more impactful.

Missteps (Spoilers)

The book also has its problems, however. I can start by talking about the ways in which the detective skills of Reacher were exaggerated. These exaggerations did not permeate every aspect of the story, so I do not think that it is fatal, but they still exist. One example that comes to mind is when Reacher manages to track down Hubble in the very end of the novel, in the matter of hours. Reacher explains his thought process and the resulting explanation is a good example of how something sounds feasible in hindsight; the problem is that there are so many different ways in which his reasoning can fail. He made numerous assumptions, some that he consciously admitted were assumptions, and they all ended up working out for him. The convenience makes the whole sequence absurd. Usually, you want to make the story inconvenient and show the characters overcome the inconveniences, and in this case, the story did the opposite.

Something else that caught my attention was how Hubble apparently ran off into hiding after realizing that he was about to be killed, but he left his wife and children behind. This is an odd decision that is never really addressed in the book. Did Hubble abandon them for death? I have no idea, because Reacher never comments on it, even gaining respect for the man, while Hubble never expresses regret. Maybe I missed something; I don't know.

Another thing that I don't understand is how the operation was at risk until the coming Sunday. This was meant to be a time limit for Reacher to operate within, but I don't see how it makes sense in the context of the actual plan. The idea made sense for the original version of the story, where they had a massive stockpile of cash in the warehouse, which would be there until that Sunday. But once their theory updated, that stockpile was being built up until Sunday, where they could then start sending the money out. But, if that was the case, the stockpile would still be there well after the Sunday. It's not like they can get rid of it all at once, right? Or maybe that was the implicit suggestion. Who the fuck knows?

Finally, I thought the Picard twist was a bit ridiculous. I remember thinking to myself beforehand that Picard being the mole on the inside would be a shocking twist but was too convenient for the villains. Why would it be him, of all people, given that he isn't even living in their town? His connection to the town was through one of the good guys. But apparently, he was also in cahoots with the badies, too.

Conclusion

Overall, the book was enjoyable. I will give it a 7/10.