In Once Were Cops, Ken Bruen brings Mick cop Matthew O'Shea to the NYPD through a police work exchange program. O'Shea is paired with Kurt Kebar Browski, a brutal cop who does not play well with others and does not want a partner. Kebar is a good cop who is also on the take but for an understandable reason, and his conflicting interests cause problems for he and O'Shea and unwanted attention from Internal Affairs. O'Shea enjoys the ability to carry a gun and the women available to NYPD officers, but he has a dark and violent secret to hide as well.
Once Were Cops is written in Bruen's more minimal style, which is more similar to the Jack Taylor series than the Brandt books. This book is a fine example of how dialogue almost exclusively can be used to bring characters to life, and Bruen manages to immerse the reader in a dark and violent world without saying too much about what it looks like; Bruen says just enough to set the tone and the reader can infer the rest. I love his economy of words.
Bruen's books are not for the faint of heart, as his world is filled with violence and psychopaths. But those who appreciate how good and evil can reside in the same person and fans of hard-boiled crime know that Bruen can't be beat.
Once Were Cops is written in Bruen's more minimal style, which is more similar to the Jack Taylor series than the Brandt books. This book is a fine example of how dialogue almost exclusively can be used to bring characters to life, and Bruen manages to immerse the reader in a dark and violent world without saying too much about what it looks like; Bruen says just enough to set the tone and the reader can infer the rest. I love his economy of words.
Bruen's books are not for the faint of heart, as his world is filled with violence and psychopaths. But those who appreciate how good and evil can reside in the same person and fans of hard-boiled crime know that Bruen can't be beat.
