Helpful Score: 1
First Line: It took them a time to crucify the kid.
Jack Taylor, free for the moment from drugs, booze and nicotine, would also like to be free of any sort of human involvement. He has a good reason for feeling this way: he brings pain and death to everyone he loves. His surrogate son, Cody, is lying in the hospital in a coma, and Jack visits everyday-- touching Cody, talking to him, trying to coax him back among the living.
In the meantime, dogs are going missing in a Galway neighborhood and one of the residents wants to hire Jack to find out what is happening. Ridge, his old friend from the Guards, lets her hair down. It seems she has a lump in her breast, and she's having a horrible time coping with all the males in the police force. When Jack says something about helping her, she then tells him that a boy has been found crucified, and if he could steer her to the killer, it could mean a promotion and better working conditions, and Jack can't say no.
It seems that everyone wants something from Jack, and he isn't sure he has anything left to give. At this point, the thought of disappearing sounds wonderful.
I normally have little patience for characters who are alcoholics or druggies. I can find alcoholics in my own family, and I have never ever understood the allure of drugs. However, depression I can understand, and Jack has more than his share. Through everything, his books have been the only friends who've never deserted him, and I can understand that, too. Perhaps that's why I cut Jack Taylor slack when I won't so many other characters in the same situation. I honestly don't know.
"As the barman put the drinks down, I wondered if I should ask him his name. But then we'd probably get friendly and something terrible would happen to him."
If Jack Taylor can get you hooked, then your emotional involvement can be very high. The ending of one of the books in this series had me cry out loud in pain and shock and despair. I just don't do that... but I did do it when reading about Jack Taylor.
One of the plot threads in Cross was a bit too predictable, but it's still a lean, mean, beautifully written book. At this point, I simply have to know what happens to Jack.
Jack Taylor, free for the moment from drugs, booze and nicotine, would also like to be free of any sort of human involvement. He has a good reason for feeling this way: he brings pain and death to everyone he loves. His surrogate son, Cody, is lying in the hospital in a coma, and Jack visits everyday-- touching Cody, talking to him, trying to coax him back among the living.
In the meantime, dogs are going missing in a Galway neighborhood and one of the residents wants to hire Jack to find out what is happening. Ridge, his old friend from the Guards, lets her hair down. It seems she has a lump in her breast, and she's having a horrible time coping with all the males in the police force. When Jack says something about helping her, she then tells him that a boy has been found crucified, and if he could steer her to the killer, it could mean a promotion and better working conditions, and Jack can't say no.
It seems that everyone wants something from Jack, and he isn't sure he has anything left to give. At this point, the thought of disappearing sounds wonderful.
I normally have little patience for characters who are alcoholics or druggies. I can find alcoholics in my own family, and I have never ever understood the allure of drugs. However, depression I can understand, and Jack has more than his share. Through everything, his books have been the only friends who've never deserted him, and I can understand that, too. Perhaps that's why I cut Jack Taylor slack when I won't so many other characters in the same situation. I honestly don't know.
"As the barman put the drinks down, I wondered if I should ask him his name. But then we'd probably get friendly and something terrible would happen to him."
If Jack Taylor can get you hooked, then your emotional involvement can be very high. The ending of one of the books in this series had me cry out loud in pain and shock and despair. I just don't do that... but I did do it when reading about Jack Taylor.
One of the plot threads in Cross was a bit too predictable, but it's still a lean, mean, beautifully written book. At this point, I simply have to know what happens to Jack.
Absolutely love this series. Bruen's writing is exceptional, the characters and setting are so rich and well drawn. I only have two more books to read before I'm up to date with the series and then will have to wait for a new one just like the rest of his fans. Very highly recommend.
"Cross" is an excellent installment in Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor series, continuing the saga of a quite unique private investigator. Taylor's unaffected machismo, wittiness, and literary/pop culture references make him a likable character. Bruen's pitch-perfect dialogue and stream-of-conscious thinking easily pulls you in to this book and the ghastly Galway Taylor describes.
If you have never read Bruen before, start with "The Guards" which is the first book in this series (and also a Shamus Award Winner). There are no duds in this series. Ken Bruen is easily one of the best writers honing his craft today, and picking up a new Bruen book "is like sitting down with a good friend" - the quote is my Dad's. And it's true.
This is not Ed McBain-type crime fiction. I would call it literary crime fiction. Bruen's writing is sublime at times, you can't help but feel for his well-drawn characters, and soon enough an hour or so has gone by since you lifted your head from the book! I highly recommend this book, this series, and the writing of Ken Bruen -- you, too, may find a friend.
If you have never read Bruen before, start with "The Guards" which is the first book in this series (and also a Shamus Award Winner). There are no duds in this series. Ken Bruen is easily one of the best writers honing his craft today, and picking up a new Bruen book "is like sitting down with a good friend" - the quote is my Dad's. And it's true.
This is not Ed McBain-type crime fiction. I would call it literary crime fiction. Bruen's writing is sublime at times, you can't help but feel for his well-drawn characters, and soon enough an hour or so has gone by since you lifted your head from the book! I highly recommend this book, this series, and the writing of Ken Bruen -- you, too, may find a friend.
