Jack Taylor is in bad shape: his friends are dead or almost there, his doc says he will die if he starts drinking again and he's a stage 9 alcoholic, he was thrown out of the Guards long ago but they won't forget, and his country has changed so much he doesn’t know it. And that’s before the book starts laying layer upon layer of crap on our failed detective Taylor.
Bruen has a crisp, clean style, but the book is padded with white space. The never-ending quotations and references are more under control these days. He nails the underside of Ireland. But he is the most depressing writer I have ever read--so depressing that he makes you feel lucky even with your mucked-up, not-good-forrmuch life.
( )

Another page turner from Bruen. ( )

[Cross] by Ken Bruen
Jack Taylor series Book #3
4.5★'s

Jack Taylor used to be cop...a very good cop... and then life got in the way and Jack's life unraveled. Along with a Cody...a young man that refused to take no for an answer...they set out on the next best thing than being a cop that Jack could find... being a private investigator. Jack's personal life gets in the way in this endeavor also and [Cross] opens with Cody in a coma in the hospital barely hanging onto life and Jack taking up residence at any local Galway pub. It seems there are times when Jack is merely reacting to events and appears lost in a world he no longer understands.

Ken Brune's writing is like no one else's that I can think of. He brings his characters to life with such imagination. Jack Taylor reminds me of a train wreck on it's way to happen. You don't want to watch but you can't turn away. My grandmother and mother came from Ireland and I can see where the author gives the reader a real sense of the Irish...the religion...the cultural and the historic influences on their lives. This series and the characters are diffidently unique. ( )

Jack Taylor is a washed-up, alcoholic (but off the booze for the moment) ex Guarda who makes a living looking into things.
He's at the end of his rope from the beginning of the book because he feels responsible for a young boy who was shot and is in a coma because of him. His one friend is undergoing medical test and asks for his help looking into a nasty murder of a young boy.
Jack stumbles his way through various investigations, basically mucking up just about everything he touches.
This is a grey, grim, violent book touched with humour and despair and very jaundiced views of life and Irish society in particular. ( )

Just recently I watched the Jack Taylor series on television for the first time. Set in Galway, Ireland, this hard-boiled mystery series prompted me to seek out Ken Bruen's books. I'm happy to say they are just as enjoyable. I admit it - I'm in love with Jack Taylor, a loveable (in my opinion) rogue who wants to take care of everyone even though he can barely take care of himself. Iain Glen, the actor who played Jack Taylor, could quite well be the origin of my swooning but he had great material to work with. If you enjoy emerald noir - hard-boiled Irish mysteries - you'll love Bruen's creation.

Added in 2019: I did the smart thing and went back to the beginning of the series, re-reading this one in 2019 when it made more sense in context with the whole story. Highly recommended series. ( )