I don't hail from Middle Earth, as one of the previous reviewers, nor do I even care to vacation there, but I am a fan of both noir and quality writing. Ergo, I think this is one terrific book. The great thing about noir (well, all novels really) is that plots do not necessarily need to be complex to be gripping. It is the characters, especially the protagonist, who need to be complex. And, oh, my, is Jack Taylor one complex,...
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The second novel in Bruen's series about the down-and-out Jack Taylor, ex-cop, sometime private detective, fulltime alcoholic, reading addict--with the new addition of coke to his arsenal-- practically starts where THE GUARDS left off without much of a break. It's almost as if you were reading a continuation of the previous novel. Taylor is hired this time to find the killers of a group of tinkers; his second assignment is...
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Believable, in-your-face, and real; you are there, sitting across the table, eavesdropping at the next bar stool. It leaps off every page and makes you part of Jack Taylor's world. I was grabbed from the first sentence of the first page by the self-destructive soul of Jack Taylor; a soul that could only be cauterized by alcohol and cocaine. Yes, that's dark. But it's too narrow an assessment. If you have a dark side ( and...
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"Leaving Galway, I'd left behind a string of deaths.... The investigation had led to.... Three murders. Four, if you count my best friend. My heart being hammered. Tons of cash. Exile."Jack's back. Wisecracking ex-Garda Jack Taylor is back in Galway after a spell in London. He's brought little more than a coke habit back with him. Now, hanging out at his new favorite pub (defined: one that still allows him in), he tries to...
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