The Devil

As if Jack Taylor didn't have enough demons of his own, he is hounded by the Devil in this mystery, although mysterious applies too as the story has a touch of the supernatural. I love Bruen's spare style of writing, frequent music and literary references, and that Ireland itself has a strong presence, where it is evident that times are changing and Taylor's old Galway is fading. Although he can be a bit of a train wreck, Jack is the best person to have on your side in a jam.

This was strange. I feel like if the author wanted to introduce a supernatural opponent for Jack, (which I really question why he would!), it would have been far better for him to have Jack go up against a demon rather than the actual devil. I can’t imagine how Jack’s solution in the story would really resolve anything, so none of it made sense even if you bought into the supernatural aspect. I’m imagining that the series will probably just go on from here more normally, so perhaps this won’t be the shark jump it seems, but it was bizarre to begin with, and then didn’t seem to bother with making sense even in the new parameters it had created.

I've been trying to catch up on my Jack Taylor, and this was book 8 in the series. I have to admit that this book was not recognizable as part of this well-loved series. Since when does Jack Taylor get mixed up in the supernatural? Doesn't he have enough real-life enemies to be getting on with without bringing in supernatural ones? Jack is dealing with all of his own demons as well--booze, drugs and now again cigarettes. Because he is coked or Xanexed up to the eyeballs, maybe that's why he jumps from problem to problem with no connecting bridge. The plot of this book is almost non-existent. Anyway, I've finished this book, and it was a quick read, so hopefully we can go onto bigger and better things, and please God with no supernatural show more elements. show less

Ken Bruen is one of the true masters of noir. The man’s writing style, some kind of cross between outright poetry and weirdly formatted prose, is a nice visual representation of the genre – and private detective Jack Taylor is the perfect noir character. It just does not get any darker than Jack Taylor.

As this eighth novel of the series begins, Jack is disappointed (but not surprised) to learn that he has been denied passage to the States because of his past run-ins with the law. Always moody, the deeply introspective Taylor stops at the first airport bar he sees to load up on Jameson and Guinness before heading back to Galway. There he makes the casual acquaintance of another bar patron he will come to know as “Mr. K” – and show more will regret that encounter for the rest of his life.

Jack Taylor is a contradiction. On the one hand, he can be as physically vicious with Galway’s criminal element as is required for him protect the innocent from them – even if the thugs end up floating face first in the river. On the other, he has a soft spot for children and their mothers, so when asked to find a missing university student by the boy’s mother, Taylor feels compelled to take the case. But when the boy’s mutilated body is discovered, and it appears that Mr. K might have something to do with the horrible death, all hell (literally) breaks lose.

When Jack Taylor begins to wonder if Mr. K might be the incarnation of Satan himself, The Devil veers wildly from the solid footing of the seven previous Jack Taylor novels. At this point, the novel becomes not so much a piece of detective fiction, as a beautifully written supernatural thriller. This development will probably disappoint some Ken Bruen fans at least a little, me included, but there is enough of Jack Taylor in The Devil that this is still a must read for regular readers of the series.

Jack Taylor aficionados will always welcome another chapter of the Irish detective’s life story and “be-jaysus,” we can’t wait for the next one. show less

I love the Jack Taylor novels and like the ones in the past the writing is beautiful in this book. However, I really have no clue why Bruen introduced a supernatural element into the 8th book of a series. There is part of me that thinks the next book is going to start with him in a hospital bed having overdosed on cocaine and this book never happened. If you took Taylor out it would have been a more entertaining horror novel but me thinking about Taylor kept getting in the way. I am probably going to pretend like this book never actually happened.

Jack Taylor is a sad sack one can’t help but love. He is a former member of the Irish Guard who refuses to give up the Guard coat, a recovering alcoholic who seems to only be able to stay clean for six months, and a sometime P.I. whose acerbic rhetoric is cutting but funny as hell. Speaking of hell, Taylor’s latest nemesis appears to be the devil himself. When Jack is refused entrance to the U.S. because of a prior arrest, he seeks solace at the airport bar. A man known only as Curt/Kurt tries to strike up a conversation. Strangely, Curt appears to know a lot about Jack. But it isn’t until a grieving mother hires Jack to find out who murdered her son, that the name of Mr. K keeps popping up. Too many people Jack encounters meet a show more fate worse than death after he talks to them. A case like this is when Jack needs to keep his head on straight. Instead, he turns to liquor and keeps popping Xanax to deal with reality. He is Ireland’s answer to Dr. Gregory House (TV’s fabulous House series). He’s always on the verge of self-destruction. Stewart is his somewhat trusty friend, former drug dealer/convict turned zen guru who adds just the right dose of humor to irritate Jack. And Ridge is back, a Guard trying to hide her lesbianism by marrying a wealthy businessman who just happens to being working out a deal with Kurt/Mr. K. The reader is kept guessing at the true identify of Mr. K and wondering whether Jack’s drug use has him hallucinating a little too much. Unfortunately, we will have to wait for Book #9 for answers. Ken Bruen is one of the best writers from across the pond, along with Mo Hayter, Peter James, and Stephen Booth. I am a series reader so if you haven’t read a Jack Taylor book, start with #1. show less

Refused entry to the US, Jack is back in Galway and is asked to look into the disappearance of a student. Initial investigations point to an occultist and when the student turns up dead with an inverted cross gouged into his skin this seems to confirm that belief. So who is this mysterious Mr. K and why does everyone who has a friendly conversation with Jack seem to be ending up dead all of a sudden? Is it all coincidence or has Jack finally met the worst adversary there is?