Killing Floor was published by Putnam in 1997, Lee Child’s debut novel and the introduction of Jack Reacher — a character who would become one of the most commercially successful creations in thriller fiction, generating twenty-eight novels, multiple film adaptations, and a television series.
Reacher is a former Major in the U.S. Army Military Police, now a drifter — no home, no possessions beyond the clothes he wears (which he replaces rather than launders), no connections. He arrives in Margrave, Georgia, because he once heard that a blues musician he admired died there, and within hours of stepping off the bus he is arrested for murder. The murder connects to a counterfeiting operation, and Reacher — who has nothing else to do and a personal connection to the crime — applies his military investigative training and his considerable capacity for violence to dismantling the conspiracy.
The novel won the Anthony Award for Best First Mystery and established every element of the Reacher formula: the first-person narration (later books alternate between first and third person), the precise technical detail about weapons and combat, the satisfaction of watching an extraordinarily competent man dismantle an organization that has terrorized ordinary people, and the moral simplicity that distinguishes Reacher from more conflicted thriller protagonists. Reacher knows who the bad guys are and destroys them without guilt, hesitation, or legal process.
Collecting Killing Floor
First edition (Putnam, New York, 1997): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First US edition in dust jacket: $200–$800
- Signed first edition: $500–$1500
- UK first (Bantam Press, 1997): $100–$400
- Without jacket: $30–$60