Craig,
I've read three of Bruen's books: LONDON BOULEVARD, THE
GUARDS, and THE KILLING OF THE TINKERS and all three are
similar in style, and all have short paragraphs, unusual
sentence structures (in THE KILLING OF THE TINKERS, he uses
fewer items in series as individual paragraphs), and wicked
humor. The protagonists in these books don't really fit the
traditional detective mold. In the Jack Taylor novels his
drinking, and drug use play a role, but as the book mentions,
Irish culture plays a pretty significant role, as well. In
LONDON BOULEVARD, Mitch doesn't emerge from prison as a man
on a mission, but instead is more teased into the
investigation by one who has other motives. Not quite as much
drinking in LONDON BOULEVARD, but just as much violence and
even more unusual romantic entanglements.
I enjoyed Bruen's writing, and have THE WHITE TRILOGY on
order, and I noticed the Do Not Press and Amazon in the UK
have the fourth Jack Taylor book, THE DRAMATIST, available
for order.
Hope you find my comments helpful.
Steve
"The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of
ideas."
- Linus Pauling
Steven B. Singleton Professor DeVry University 11224 Holmes
Rd Kansas City, MO 64131
(816) 941-0430 ext.5231
ssingleton@kc.devry.edu
>>>
Craig.Larson@trinidadstate.edu 05/19/04 10:22 AM
>>>
I remember a flurry of emails a week or two back regarding
Bruen. I just finished his book _The Guards_ last night and
thought I'd post regarding it. It was a rather odd book, what
with the very short chapters and unique sentence structures
and so forth. Also, Bruen's detective, Jack Taylor, doesn't
really do a lot of detecting, but spends a lot of time
stumbling from one drink to another and alienating the people
around him. I was prompted to finally read the book after
seeing the recent film,
_Intermission_, sort of an Irish _Short Cuts_ or _Magnolia_
with crime thrown into the mix. I loved Colm Meaney's police
detective and hoped maybe I'd find something similar in
Bruen's novel. It wasn't a total loss, but I'm not really
sure if I'd want to read another Bruen. Are his books all
like this?
Craig Larson Trinidad, CO
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