London Boulevard

I don't know what makes Ken Bruen's books so appealing to me, but they certainly do.

With this book he uses Sunset Boulevard by Billy Wilder, one of my favourite movies of all-time, as the perfect canvas for a wonderful book. Everything is almost right.

After meeting the infamous Lilly Palmer in the book, we understand that she's quite diferent from Nora Desmond, the Diva in Wilder's movie. After a few more pages, the book and the movie diverge almost completely. I'd say the movie serves as an inspiration for the book. Only that. The aging actress isn’t the major character that she is in Sunset, though she and her devoted butler do still play a critical part in the story.

Bruen successfully takes the spirit of Sunset Boulevard and show more turns it into something that’s new and different…and altogether wonderful. It has all the grit of a down-and-dirty pulp thriller. It twists and turns, and you’ll never really know who can be trusted and who can’t.

But is it the story itself that makes London Boulevard such a noteworthy novel? That's a definite no. What made my day while reading it was his prose, which is like a round of machine-gun fire: quick and sharp and to the point. And although his style is simple and clipped, it’s also strikingly lyrical—heavily seasoned with references to literature (almost all of my favourite crime fiction writers are represented: Derek Raymond, Charles Willeford, James Sallis, etc), music, and even philosophy.

Bruen grabs you by the throat and this story is nothing short of asskicking at its finest.

Pulp poetry and it’s sheer fun to read.
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To be honest, I'd read Ken Bruen's to do list, shopping list, just about anything he writes. (I live with this odd fantasy that his to do list would be terse, pointed, poignant, unapologetic, tense and yet hilarious... but I don't get out much and my mind tends to wander into odd places).

As is also normal with any Ken Bruen book LONDON BOULEVARD is not for the squeamish. Unapologetic, brutal, violent and very in your face, it is as always, equally touching and somehow hamfistedly gentle. Mitch, fresh out of prison, has a soft side, particularly when it comes to his sister Briony, a fragile creature. Whilst he comes out of jail to an apartment, creature comforts and the small complication of a job with a local loan sharking outfit, Mitch show more prefers to look after himself. He branches out into the role of handyman to the glorious, Norma Desmond copycat Lillian Palmer. Hence LONDON BOULEVARD is also not a book for the prudish - as sex with elderly, slightly bats actresses is one thing; but to be honest the close attention that butler, caretaker, bodyguard and more, Jordan, pays to his mistress's every need was ... weird from the start.

Life for Mitch meanwhile gets more complicated as his sister's desperation, betrayal, the desire for revenge and the madness of just about everybody around him means that he is caught between a rock and a very very hard place. LONDON BOULEVARD is another classic Ken Bruen novel - sharp, brutal, funny, touching, discomforting - delivered at break neck pace, not guilty of the use of an unnecessary word.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/london-boulevard-ken-bruen show less

Mr. Bruen obviously knows his tradition. At one point in his reworking of Sunset Boulevard (hence the title, saucy!) James Ellroy makes an appearence, yeh, Ellroy himself appears just off stage. References are made in almost every chapter to some noir classic. Such a homage creates its own set of problems, namely that the narrative is crowded out by the hall of fame tour. Whie I was frustrated as hell during the first half of the novel detailing the protagonist's release from prison and his efforts to reorient himself in society, the second proved easier to swallow. Bruen does affect a style which often literarly cascades down the page. I can't say I hated such technique, I only wish there was more on display.

What can you say other then, it's Ken Bruen. Those of you unfamiliar with this writer need to warned. Reading Bruen books will ruin you for mediocre crime fiction. It'll be almost possible to enjoy James Paterson, Stuart Woods or any of their ilk after reading this. A further bonus is the way that Bruen name checks other authors through out his book. I've got to go get a highlighter and start some research.

This is a fast read, more of a crime-world romp in which the narrator is a killer and a thief, just about as bad as the thugs he interacts with, so while he comes across as someone the reader can relate to or at least sympathize with, he's hardly a good guy. Newly released from prison, he quickly reconnects with his criminal buddies, and immediately finds himself with new enemies, including some he never expects.

A quick read. The book breezes along. Clearly not intended to be heavily weighted, but it would have been improved with the addition of some more "whys" for all of the action.

4/4.5

Disturbing, depressing, couldn't put it down, couldn't shock it off.
I did feel, at times, like something is missing, I think I needed more. More of a book less a movie (a dark, creepy in great way, movie). It was so fast and intense and I wanted to stop a look at some scenes for a few moments, but wasn't alowed.
So, not perfect but very very recommendable.