Review: The Ghosts of Galway

The Ghosts of Galway by Ken Bruen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“It’s not that the Irish are cynical. It’s simply that they have a wonderful lack of respect for everything and everybody.” – Brendan Behan

Jack Taylor returns in “The Ghosts of Galway” with the “lack of respect” to which author Ken Bruen alludes in his Behan quote, but also with a healthy dose of cynicism. The all-weather Garda coat and the hurley return too along with “newish 501s, and the scuffed Doc Martins. You never knew when you might need to kick someone in the face.” And, as always, kicking is only the beginning of the violence meted out, and suffered, by Jack as the story proceeds and he deals with a strangely named Ukrainian; a Ron Hubbard wannabe and his enforcers; dead animals being dumped in Eyre Square; a girl with an imaginary brother; his former best friend, and now sworn enemy, Garda Ridge; and, most troubling, the return of “Emily and her diffuse weirdness” who made Taylor’s life such a “Green Hell” in his last outing. As Jack muses,

“…a thriller writer would throw out all these strands and then, presto, wrap them all up with a rugged hero, battered but unbowed, heading into an award-winning future.”

Of course, Jack Taylor, often battered, is not the traditional ‘rugged hero’ but then Ken Bruen is anything but a typical ‘thriller writer’…. There really is nothing like a Ken Bruen novel – the lyrical, poetic prose; the wry commentaries on current affairs (this time the 2016 deaths of musical heroes, the rise of Trump and Brexit; water charges…); the humour in the darkest of dark noir; the unique way he uses language, not only in the words he chooses to use but also
The
Way
Bruen
Puts
Words
On
The
Page
No other novels read like Ken Bruen’s. Brutal realism collides with stream of consciousness surrealism, commentary on the Kardasians with extreme bloody violence. The dialogue is rhythmic and musical… And profane.

For avenging angel Jack Taylor there is little redemption but, for the reader, there are few experiences to rival these books. I couldn’t put this down. Said,
“I can’t put this down.”

Unfortunately, it was over far too quickly.

“The Ghosts of Galway” is not published until November and I thank Mysterious Press and NetGalley for the early review copy and look forward to doing it all again on publication date.


View all my reviews

Review: Bloodstream

Bloodstream by Luca Veste
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was my first Luca Veste and I enjoyed it. Yes it is a little clichéd and a little ITV Crime Drama-like but Veste is very readable and his Murphy and Rossi team are likeable. The plot concerns the murder of a Liverpool-based celebrity couple and the subsequent investigation which reveals the existence of a serial killer targeting couples who have been keeping secrets from each other. It is a competent police procedural which has something to say about the way social media and the tabloid press exploit both celebrity and victims of crime. Veste could perhaps have explored this aspect of his story more but there was enough here to make me read more of the series and, on Whispersync, John Keeble's Liverpudlian narration really captured the Scouse wit.

View all my reviews

Review: A Dark So Deadly

A Dark So Deadly by Stuart MacBride
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Welcome to Mother’s Misfit Mob”

Stuart McBride’s new novel, “A Dark So Deadly”, is a standalone, separate from his Logan McCrae or Ash Henderson series although set in the same fictional town of Oldcastle as the latter. DC Callum MacGregor has ended up on a squad of police officers that no-one else wants, suspected of contaminating a crime scene but without enough evidence to have him sacked. His fellow ‘Misfits’ are similarly tainted and together they have been side-lined, unlikely to see a decent case again. When a mummified body is found in a landfill site the team are tasked with ringing round museums to find out from where it has been stolen. Then the discovery of another mummy and some strange post-mortem results suggests that the bodies are not in fact centuries old but the result of more recent experiments and that the Misfit Mob has a serial killer on their hands.

The novel is full of McBride’s usual dark humour and some characteristically Scottish descriptive terms.

“The old station house in Castleview had a weird sour coconutty smell, as if it’d got blootered on Malibu the night before and vomited all over itself. Maybe the Security Monitoring and Analysis Department liked to lube themselves up with suntan lotion of a Saturday morning?”

Initially like a dysfunctional family, we see the Misfit’s pull together as the strange case develops. Callum, who because of events in his childhood has little sense of self-worth, proves to be a capable investigator, even as his personal life gets messier. The characters, fr all their issues, become real and likeable.

In the background of the investigation is a music festival and the narrative is accompanied in places by a cheesy radio DJ advertising the event. McBride has great fun capturing the inanity of such local radio personalities as he does with the band names of those appearing at the concert – new album from ‘Overture for a Riot’ anyone?

This is a long book for a police procedural but the story rattles along. There are a few missteps – I could have done with less bad poetry from what was otherwise a really interesting character; there are a few convenient coincidences – but the book is thrilling, scary in places and very, very entertaining. I hope we see more of the Misfits and that this ‘standalone’ is the start of a new series.

I thank NetGalley and HarperCollins for the advance copy.


View all my reviews

Review: A Game of Ghosts

A Game of Ghosts by John Connolly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

John Connolly is currently one of the best writers, and the Charlie Parker novels one of the best series, in any genre. In what genre these books sit is debatable; they are thrillers, detective stories, mysteries, horror stories. What is not debatable is that Connolly writes poetic, lyrical, haunting prose and dialogue which compares favourably with Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald or Elmore Leonard.

If you know these books, you know just how rewarding, if disturbing, an experience each addition to the series is. If you don't, then put down what you're reading and pick up 'Every Dead Thing', the first Parker novel.

'A Game of Ghosts' is the 15th in the Parker series. It is not a jumping on point. The books really need to be read in order and to do so is one of the most intense and satisfying journeys in modern fiction.

I envy you....

View all my reviews

Review: Bloodstorm

Bloodstorm by Sam Millar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this. I didn't hate it; I just didn't love it. "Bloodstorm" is a Private Detective novel set in Belfast; I am from Northern Ireland and I love PI books. When we met it should have been murder....

The idea is a good one - take a traditional, hard-boiled, wise-cracking gumshoe and put him on the mean streets of post-troubles Belfast. Unfortunately, this could be set anywhere, Belfast never becomes a character, there is no sense of uniqueness of setting and, worst of all, people just don't speak like that, not least the people of Belfast. The dialogue is stilted and unnatural for the most part; there is no rhythm to it and in key scenes is reads like poor actors reading a laboured, expositional script.

As I said, I didn't hate it. There is a decent plot although it would benefit from a good editor; sections could have been streamlined or left out altogether, wild dogs become confused with wild pigs (both appear on Belfast's Cavehill at times in the novel), and, while I love Billie Holiday, her voice was anything but 'flawless'. I may pick up other work by Millar. His bio certainly suggests that he should have an authentic voice but it just doesn't come through in "Bloodstorm"...

View all my reviews