Book Review: Cross

Reviewed By: Ali Karim - RAM

Cross     Amazon UK HC
Ken Bruen
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Jack Taylor # 6
Transworld Publishers £17-99

Has it been a year since the prolific Ken Bruen released ‘Priest’ ? And now we have the 6th in the award-winning Jack Taylor PI series set against the backdrop of a changing Ireland and a developing Galway City.

A little recap for those not familiar with the Jack Taylor series, as Taylor is not your normal P.I. and Bruen not your normal crime-writer. As Bruen holds a PhD in Metaphysics, you will find surreal insights into the human condition all seen through the troubled and cynical eye of his alter ego – Jack Taylor, a man displaced from his former position as a ‘guard’ [an Irish Policeman], now etching a living as a private-eye of sorts. Bruen’s Jack Taylor novels are not plot driven, but character driven tales of the darkness that lurks in the heart of the changing society that we find ourselves in.

‘Cross’ starts right where ‘Priest’ left off, where P I Jack Taylor is still seeking redemption from the death of a child that fell from a Balcony and the case of the decapitated priest who had the shadow of child abuse hanging over him. The wonderfully terse writing style of Bruen means that even if you’ve not read the preceding novels in the series, it’s what the Irish would call ‘No Bother’, because your thrown right slap-bang into the story. Taylor is mooching around his haunts, the bars of Galway city, buying drinks, suffusing himself with the aroma of alcohol and the atmosphere of the pubs, but not letting himself drift back into the grip that alcohol had on his life. Ridge, his old friend from the Garda [aka Guards / Irish Police] tells him that a young boy has been found crucified, while another contact wants to hire him to track down a missing dog. Stark contrast is always a fixture in this P.I.’s life. Taylor is at a crossroads. The city he called home – Galway is changing fast, like the rest of Ireland. No longer is it a sleepy backwater in Europe but now a bustling gateway, where the tiger-economy, finance, property speculation has transformed completely what was home for Taylor. An influx of immigrants from all over the world is making Irish society bristle from what was a land where people fled to survive; now the Irish see strangers come to their shores to share in the new found wealth. And as a consequence to the changes comes crime in the most brutal of all guises. Bruen’s writing has a beguiling quality, written in very intimate first person, we get inside the mind of Taylor and his thoughts. I must admit at the scenes that he describes like walking into the pub and ordering a pint of Guinness and a shot of Irish Whiskey made me do the exact same act. While Taylor leaves his drinks on the bar, I had to sip mine while I read Bruen’s words.

Meanwhile Cody – the kid Taylor considers his surrogate son lies in a hospital ward in a coma, and all the while we peer into Taylor’s existential thoughts about life, death and what the word humanity means. I can tell you that happiness is not something that crosses [pardon the pun] Taylor’s path because as he tackles these cases which take over his life, a dark shadow is cast over Taylor’s friends. Watch out for the last page, because it is a real kick in the guts

If you like your crime thrillers to challenge the way you think – Bruen’s your man. I predict ‘Cross’ to be a big mover this Easter, and not because of the religious angle, no, because this fine writing is released this April – Ali Karim

Ali Karim - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Ali Karim - RAM

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