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Recovered from incapacitating guilt over the death of a child on his watch, Jack Taylor is released from the loony bin at the start of Shamus-winner Bruen's searing fifth book about the alcoholic Galwegian ex-cop (after 2006's The Dramatist). Jack's friend Nio "Ridge" Iomaire picks him up from the hospital and mentions the gory headlines: a pedophilic priest, Father Joyce, was beheaded. At the request of another frightened priest, Jack launches an unofficial investigation with the assistance of an eager, younger partner, Cody. All the while fighting his constant ache for a drink, the maverick PI also helps Ridge ward off a stalker. Jack is a keen and literary narrator, and Bruen's latest Irish noir makes for a kind of savage poetry, at once exhausting and exhilarating. Bruen has been a finalist for Edgar, Anthony and Barry awards. (Mar.)
Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.\The fifth installment in the Jack Taylor series (after The Dramatist) is typical Bruen—brooding and depressing—yet irresistible. Taylor is a P.I. in Galway, Ireland, who has seen enough trouble in his life for a dozen men. After checking himself out of a mental institution, he agrees to look into the gruesome murder of a local priest. Taylor seems to catch a break when an old acquaintance bequeaths him a home and some money. But Taylor's demons—alcohol, cigarettes, loneliness, regret, and shame, among others—are always there and in constant need of attention. His investigation into the priest's murder reveals grim insights into life in modern-day Ireland not found in any tourist brochures, as well as the dark secrets the priest took to his grave. With any Bruen novel, you get the feeling that the author has poured his soul into the pages. Recommended for most mystery collections. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ11/1/06.]
—Ken Bolton\
Former Guarda alcoholic Jack Taylor remembers why he ended up in a Galway mental institution. He was watching Serena May, the Downs Syndrome child of friends Jeff and Cathy when he opened up the second floor window to allow some air inside the sweltering apartment he lost focus and she fell out the open window to her death. He also knows he was cold sober though he blames himself for negligence. --- He feels powerful guilt though he is freed from the institution but continues to avoid alcohol. Father Malachy surprises Jack when he visits him in his new digs as the two loathe one another. Malachy asks Jack to investigate the murder of Father Joyce. Meanwhile Ni Iomaire better known as Ridge, who picked Jack up from the hospital, asks Jack to find out who is stalking her. Finally ¿his¿ Cathy requests that he locate her husband, amidst the homeless with a guarantee that if he fails she will kill him. With a new partner Cody, Jack begins his inquiries to help him forget his causing a wrongful death by neglect. --- The three cases take a back seat to the dark somewhat depressing changing Ireland where the Church is losing its hold to the new affluence. The story line is filled with non-stop action as Taylor perhaps too easily solves his cases with the assistance of Cody. However, the star of his fifth thriller is present day Ireland where the tradionalists and the modernists battle for supremacy. --- Harriet Klausner
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Posted January 25, 2010
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Jack Taylor's complex and anguished character and the shifting social values in the setting make this much more than a plot-driven detective tale. Bruen's writing is literary, powerful, and painfully honest.
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Overview
Ireland, awash with cash and greed, no longer turns to the Church for solace or comfort. But the decapitation of Father Joyce in a Galway confessional horrifies even the most jaded citizen.
Jack Taylor, devastated by the recent trauma of personal loss, has always believed himself to be beyond salvation. But a new job offers a fresh start, and an unexpected partnership ...