The Guards: A Novel (Jack Taylor Series) | Ken Bruen

The Guards: A Novel (Jack Taylor Series) | Ken Bruen | Dark, funny and tragic

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The Guards: A Nove...

	The Guards: A Novel (Jack Taylor Series) Ken Bruen St. Martin's Minotaur, 2004 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 45 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Brutally good

If you like Ian Rankin, you will like Ken Bruen. Mr. Bruen is just a bit more...brutal, I think, although both really get into the dark aspects of their characters and subjects. I have read five of Mr. Bruen's books, and look forward to more, even though they make me afraid of what is possible in our world.

Dark, funny and tragic

More tragic poetry than mystery, it explores the pain of withdrawl, both from alcohol and society. Also, betrayal and murder. I loved this book and can't wait to start Tinkers....

No Guarded Humor

Ken Bruen's The Guards is an Irish noir narrated by Jack Taylor, ex-Garda and struggling alcoholic, who, in between pints, finds himself investigating the suicide of a Galaway teenager. Even though Jack spends very little time unraveling the mysterious cause of the suicide, the story is redeemed by its incredible dialog and dark wit.

Jack is funny. His interactions with other characters make his drunkenness and procrastination forgivable:

"The traveler is mid-twenties, bangled in every conceivable area. She says, 'Caffeine will kill you, man.'
I don't figure this requires a reply. She says, 'Did you hear me, man?'
'Yeah, so what.'
She scoots a little closer, asks,
'What's with the negative waves?'
A cloud of patchouli envelopes me. I decide to cut through the hippy pose, say, '%#@ off.'
'Oh man, you're transmitting some serious hostility.'
My coffee's gone cold and I put it down. She asks,
'Did you have red carpets in your home as a child?'
'What?'
'Feng Shui says it makes a child aggressive.'
'We had lino. Brown, puke-tinged shade. It came with the house.'
'Oh.'
I stand up and she cries,
'Where were you when John died?'
'In bed.'
'The Walrus will never die.'
'Perish the thought.'"

The above scene is typical of The Guards: well written, entertaining dialog that has nothing to do with a criminal investigation. Throughout the novel, we watch Jack drink, walk to the pub, move out of an apartment, and get a haircut--all of which stray from the book's main event. However, Bruen is such a remarkable writer that all of Jack's mundane activities seem engaging.

The Guards is a crime novel that does not focus on the crime. Instead, the author entertains readers with sharp dialog and a sarcastic narrator.

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Good "Kinda Detective but Mostly Drinking" Novel

A gritty, alcohol-fuelled private investigator novel set in Galway, Ireland. This is very much in the vein of the 'down and out" detective novels I have read, but transplanted to Ireland and better written than most. There are some differences however as the main character, does not really solve or investigate anything but rather just goes from one drunken, blacked-out binge to another stirring up trouble that eventually solves many of the problems itself. I enjoyed the literary interest of the main character and the author uses this to add some great background flavour to the story. The Irish setting also provides for some unique characters, interestingly different local practices and settings.

It's a short book. I don't think I've read a book this fast before but haven't said that much of the quick finish was that I didn't want to put it down, enjoying the bleak but real world the author had created.

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This Is Black Irish

As the other reviews have said, if you like noir private eye tales, you'll probably like this one. I did and I'm not even that fond of the noir genre. Jack Taylor, the "hero", is a man constantly battling (pretty much unsuccessfully)the bottle. He is a very human protagonist with elements of many other P.I.'s--the intelligence vs. the addiction; the toughness vs. the sensitivity (poetry, books, etc.)and so on. What sets this book apart in my view is its Irishness and it's easy readability. It seems to me to capture the Irish character particularly well-- the dark, brooding, violence juxtiposed with the witty, sardonic fatalism. It does help to know something about Ireland and the Irish because there are references and language you will miss if you don't. However, it is not fatal to enjoying the book if you are new to all things Irish. The writing style is spare and fast-moving and the hero, who is a disaster waiting to happen, some how very appealing. I'm looking forward to reading my second Ken Bruen book.

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