Horrific crimes take place around Galway and once again, Jack Taylor finds a way to get directly involved. A boy is found crucified and his sister burned to death shortly thereafter. When Jack is approached to look into things, he becomes wrapped up with many troubled and dangerous characters.

This is Irish noir at its best - Bruen's portrayal of such tragic characters is brilliant and the Galway setting allows the reader to picture how things are and were in one of Ireland's treasures.

Bruen delivers again! ( )

Bruen is a little too noirish for me but he does evoke the culture, atmosphere and sense of place of Galway and Ireland. Since Galway is one of my favorite places in the world, I love reading about it. ( )

If there is any such thing as Irish Noir, Ken Bruen is surely near the top of the list of its finest creators. His latest is Cross, the sixth novel in his Jack Taylor series and, though readers of the other five books in the series may find it hard to believe, this is perhaps the most dismally brutal book of the lot. Those in charge of bringing tourists to Galway, Ireland, may not be too happy with Mr. Bruen, I suppose, but Jack Taylor fans will want to get their hands on Cross as soon as they can.

Jack Taylor has never been what anyone would call a social success. He has few friends, no long term relationship, and very little real desire for either. And now that his mother is dead, not that his relationship with her was ever a very healthy one, he has no family. It says a lot about the man that the closest relationship in the world that he has is a love/hate thing that he has going with Ridge, a lesbian member of the Guard, a relationship that has gone on for a long time with neither of them ever expressing much in the way of feelings for the other. Sadly, each of them seems to feel the relationship to be more of an inherited obligation than a choice.

As Cross opens, Jack is still blaming himself for the accidental death of a little girl, something that understandably killed his long friendship with the child’s parents. To make matters worse, the young man Jack had come to love almost as a surrogate son after reluctantly taking him on as an investigative partner, is still in a coma after taking a bullet that Jack believes was actually intended for him instead. It is little wonder that most of Jack’s waking hours are spent in a constant struggle with himself to avoid falling off the wagon again. He knows that he may have already used up the last “recovery” he had in him and that if he gives into the bottle he may never be sober again.

Things are so bad, in fact, that Jack is strongly considering abandoning his beloved Galway in favor of a move to Florida of all places. But there are a few things he needs to do first. Like helping Ridge in an investigation that she hopes might finally earn her a promotion – by identifying those responsible for crucifying a young boy and leaving him for dead. And maybe, if he takes it seriously, finding out who is responsible for a rash of dog disappearances in one Galway neighborhood, or perhaps even trying to gain some closure with all those whom he has hurt and those others who haunt him even from their plots in the cemetery.

Jack Taylor is indeed a haunted man. His problem is that he knows himself well enough to understand that he has no one to blame but himself for all the failed relationships in his past. But recognizing one’s problems is the easy part; doing something about them is a bit harder.

Ken Bruen novels are about human nature as much as they are about criminals and their crimes. Bruen’s real story, one that continues from book-to-book, is about the evolution of Jack Taylor, a man who has been physically and mentally beaten up by life itself. None of us wants to be Jack Taylor but we surely cannot help but be fascinated by the man.

Readers new to the work of Ken Bruen would do well to read the Jack Taylor books in the order in which they were written because Jack’s story is a complicated one and in order to really appreciate the struggles of a man like him it is best to understand how he got to be the man he is today.

I am already looking forward to the seventh in the series but I almost wish I were just discovering the books and that I had the first six sitting in front of me ready for a marathon reading experience. They are just that good.

Rated at: 4.5 ( )

When Cross opens, we hardly recognize Jack Taylor. He's sober, relatively lucid, and has been offered an absurd amount of money to sell his Galway apartment. It's not all sunshine and light, though. Cody, the young man Jack has come to see as nearly an adopted son, lies in a coma from a bullet meant for Jack, who feels deep remorse and guilt. Bruen revels in guilt throughout the Taylor novels and Cross is no exception. Irish guilt and Catholic guilt all play a part, with the ghosts of Jack's past haunting him even as he makes plans to leave Galway forever and move to America.

Jack's sort-of friend Ridge, a local policewoman, asks his help in solving a perplexing and brutal murder. A young man has been murdered by crucifixion, a method of death deeply symbolic in Catholic Ireland. Jack stumbles along the first half of the novel, dealing with personal demons before he gets around to attacking the case in question, but Bruen's deeply sympathetic portrayal of Taylor and modern Ireland in general is gripping in its own right. The real action takes place in the final third of the novel, where Jack solves the murder in his own unique way. It wouldn't be a Ken Bruen novel if there weren't a few maddening twists to the tale, this used to frustrate me, but know I know it's just part of his story-telling style. Like John Burdett and James Lee Burke, Bruen is one of the finest and most unflinching crime novelists of today, and this is one of his best stories to date. It is a dark tale not for the faint of heart, but the good stuff never is. ( )

I picked up Cross during a recent vacation to Ireland and Scotland. Whenever I travel, I like to pick up a book or two (fiction or non-, no preference) by a local author. As a person who loves to read, I feel it gives me a bit more flavor of the area I'm visiting. Our stay in Ireland was based in Galway, current home of Ken Bruen. I picked up his book in a local store after perusing for about an hour. I was in the middle of Trinities by Nick Tosches, a brutal mob book, and was intrigued by the cover for Cross. I suppose Trinities had me in the mood. I was tipped over the edge when I read a review that stated something like, "Bruen is Ireland's match for Ian Rankin". I like Rankin so, SOLD!

Cross is a novel in Bruen's Jack Taylor series that revolves around some recent murders in Galway that started with a crucifixion in the center of town. (Before you shout at me for spoilers, that's the first chapter of the book.) I found the writing to be engrossing albeit simple and straightforward. I liked its simplicity as I don't see a need for a flowery-written crime novel. Bruen builds a solid image of his characters and of Galway itself. Taylor and his sketchy friends/acquaintances were a lot of fun to envision.

All in all, I really enjoyed the book. It's a VERY quick read as it appears that the font used is larger than most. It really looks like a large print book. Now having six other Bruen books, it appears to be the norm. I suppose he just writes novellas that the publisher wants to put out as full novels.

I ended up passing my copy of Cross on to my father-in-law who in turn gave me five Bruen novels he'd already read. Nice trade! If you're a Bruen fan, or just a fan of crime novels in general, Cross is well worth your time.

*****SPOILERS HEREAFTER*****

The plot is one that tracks the tales of a two characters whose lives eventually cross. There's the daughter of the family that is performing the killings and there's Jack Taylor. Jack's now sober but struggling to remain so. He's even debating a move to the U.s. because he's so frustrated with the modernization of Galway and it's rapidly depleting traditions.

The mother of the family was lost to a driving accident several years prior. The young man who was responsible for the accident fled from Ireland to London. The daughter of the family has become psychotic and is leading her father and brother in brutally murdering the siblings of the AWOL man to draw him home. Taylor's friends (former co-worker, former drug dealer, etc.) and enemies (priest) get involved in the detective work along the way.
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