The Killing Floor - Lee Child

Last month's Thrill Me! Book Club read was The Killing Floor by Lee Child. Since I'm new to the thriller/mystery genre, I had never heard of Lee Child. Well, once I let loose that I was reading the book, A LOT of Jack Reacher fans came out of the woodwork to tell me how excited they were that I was reading the book. Because of their enthusiasm, I became more excited about reading the book myself.

The story is about Jack Reacher, an ex-military policeman who has become a self-styled hobo of sorts travelling from town to town with just the clothes on his back. While on his way through Georgia, Reacher asks the bus driver to pull over and let him off on the outskirts of a small town called Margrave so that he can explore the town where famed blues musician Blind Blake died. He goes into the local cafe to eat a meal and during that time, the police storm the cafe and arrest him on suspicion of murder. After proving that he could not possibly have been the culprit, he decides to investigate the murders himself.

The book was a pretty fun read. I really enjoyed looking up some of the blues music referenced in the book on YouTube. The story itself was not a very believable one, but at the same time it was entertaining enough that I enjoyed myself. I have to admit that the story kept me guessing as to who was the murderer which is a plus when you are reading any murder mystery. Oddly enough, at my book group, the biggest complaint was about how dirty Jack Reacher must have been with all the action scenes and just his one change of clothes. Of course there is romance (more man-style than woman-style--meaning that the story wasn't taken over by a mushy love story), but one of the group members felt really turned off that Jack Reacher's involvement with a female character wouldn't have happened simply because he probably smelled too bad! It was rather funny because I hadn't thought about it at all.

I will definitely try another Jack Reacher novel at some point. It was fun enough that I wanted to keep reading on the series at least for now. Here is a Blind Blake video I found on YouTube because his name actually came up a few times in the book. He was a rag time blues guitarist and I found myself enjoying some of his music.