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

The Guards: A Novel (Jack Taylor Series) | Ken Bruen | Hard Boiled and Then Some

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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 42 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Still stinging from his unceremonious ouster from the Garda Siochana-The Guards, Ireland's police force-and staring at the world through the smoky bottom of his beer mug, Jack Taylor is stuck in Galway with nothing to look forward to. In his sober moments Jack aspires to become Ireland's best private investigator, not to mention it's first-Irish history, full of betrayal and espionage, discourages any profession so closely related to informing. But in truth Jack is teetering on the brink of his life's sharpest edges, his memories of the past cutting deep into his soul and his prospects for the future nonexistent.

Nonexistent, that is, until a dazzling woman walks into the bar with a strange request and a rumor about Jack's talent for finding things. Odds are he won't be able to climb off his barstool long enough to get involved with his radiant new client, but when he surprises himself by getting hired, Jack has little idea of what he's getting into.

Stark, violent, sharp, and funny, The Guards is an exceptional novel, one that leaves you stunned and breathless, flipping back to the beginning in a mad dash to find Jack Taylor and enter his world all over again. It's an unforgettable story that's gritty, absorbing, and saturated with the rough-edged rhythms of the Galway streets. Praised by authors and critics around the globe, The Guards heralds the arrival of an essential new novelist in contemporary crime fiction.

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Familiar and unique

Bruen doesn't reinvent the murder mystery - he just shifts it's phasing and phrasing. Reading this, you're always comfortable with the genre and shaken by the interpretation. If you love murder mysteries, detective novels, or Irish humor, you'll be at home with this book. A quick read, you find yourself slowing so as not to finish too soon. Can't wait to read the next one...slowly...savoring it like single malt or fine Irish.

Hard Boiled and Then Some

I've read dozens of hardcore crime and detective novels over the years, but Ken Bruen's The Guards stands out as one of the most unusual of the lot. I recently became aware of Ken Bruen, who lives in Galway, Ireland, and set this novel there, when I read The Triumph of the Thriller earlier this month. Bruen was listed as one of the best crime writers working in Europe today and The Guards was mentioned as a particularly good place to start reading him.

Jack Taylor, the novel's narrator, is a former member of the Garda Siochana, Ireland's police force, who has attained somewhat of a local reputation for being good at "finding things." He is the closest thing to a private detective that a highly suspicious Irish society will trust to even a small degree. Unfortunately for Taylor, one of the things that he is best at finding is his next bottle of booze and he spends a substantial portion of his waking hours in a less than sober state. Taylor's reputation as a "finder" results in a young woman asking him to investigate the supposed suicide of her daughter and what he learns in the process will forever change his life.

On the surface, Jack Taylor is little different from many of genre's most popular detectives. He is an alcoholic fighting to stay sober in a world that every day confronts him with readily available booze, a man with a history of failed relationships, one handy with sarcasm and wit even when in danger.

But two things make The Guards different from the bulk of crime fiction being written today, the first being Bruen's writing style. The novel's prose is sparse, relying on short scene after short scene to move the plot along rather than on surrounding action scenes with the details of an intricate plot. Each scene is presented through the eyes of Jack Taylor and the reader's sense of what is happening is limited to only what Taylor sees or remembers from his own past. Bruen doesn't always hold himself to standard punctuation and is very fond of producing lists in place of simple sentences. For example,

"My clothes were

Washed

Ironed

Folded

at the end of the bed."

Too, many of the scenes are preceded by one of the author's favorite quotations from the works of other crime writers such as Elmore Leonard, Walter Mosley, Ed McBain and George P. Pelecanos.

The second thing that makes this novel so unusual is how unimportant the plot really turns out to be in the long run. This novel is more about character development and the relationships of the characters than it is about the investigation that Taylor undertakes on behalf of the grieving mother. And it works beautifully. Jack Taylor is an unforgettable character who takes his rightful place among the Spencers, Robicheauxs, Spades and Marlowes of the literary world.

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Dark and brooding Irish crime novel

This is the first novel in the Jack Taylor series and is a most auspicious start.Taylor lives and works in Galway ,Irish Republic and was formerly a member of the Irish police ,the Garda Siochana .He was not a model employee and that is putting it mildly.A frequent subject of the force disciplinary procedure,an alcoholic and more than a tad Bolshie Taylor was eventually fired for punching an Irish Cabainet Minister caught speeding and then getting a little bit lippy when confronted by the law.Taylor is now-when the book opens-to all intents and purposes a Private Eye ,although since the Irish Republic does not recognise the profession he describes himself as a "finder" .He establishes a minor reputation and earns enough to get by and spens his time imbibing in the city's many hostelries .

He is engaged by Ann Henderson ,an attractive widow ,whose recently deceased daughter Sarah has killed herself.Ann wishes to know why ,and what lies behind the death.The case turns out to be linked to a prominent local businessman ,Planter,who is a golfing buddy and crony of the local head man of the Garda ,Superintendant Clancy a former colleague of Taylor on the force .When Taylor perisists in his investigation he is beaten up by off duty Garda for his troubles .He uncovers evidence of corruption within the Garda and is aided in his fight to get at the truth by the psychotic ex military man Sutton ,a man whose taste for violence is more a little excessive .

The mystery of Sarah's death and its unravelling is only the surface part of this very dark and brooding book .It is equally ,if not more so ,about Taylor's own spiritual and physical odysssey as he battles the demons of his childhood and seeks to rid himself of the burden of his drinking .It is tale of the londg dark night of the soul ,a journey to the other side of the night .Tayalor is death obsessed and haunted ,reading voraciously on the subject and also has taste for noir movies and American noir crime fiction .(The references to authors and their works makes this book a useful primer for people looking for writers in that genre ,new and more classical ).Taylor cannot sustain either love or sobriety for long and this makes him a tragic and bruised hero of the "down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean" variety ,He frequently haunts cemeteries ,and bars hanging out with the street people and winos who rather like Taylor himself must fight every day for what they have in the way of both dignity and money .
The book does not romanticise alcoholism and sees it for what it is -a disease and an illness that means booze ultimately ends up costing more than money as it devours his relationships with ann and the young English singer Catherine Bellingham .
Galway itself is a key figure in the drama -its quays,and back alleys and pubs .Most of all its characters -aplace where tramps can quote and write poetry and barbers converse about Joy Division .(Jack himself likes traditional country music -STOUT FELLOW!)
While not a comfortable read this is a taut and edgy book that lovers of the noirish type of crime writing will devour ,while cosy crime lovers are advised to give it a miss as they will not be happy with its profanity and violence

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Battle with the Bottle

Irish alcoholic and ex police officer, Jack Tyler, has made visiting bars and getting drunk his daily activity, and there was barely any room for anything else. Then one ordinary night, a woman comes in with a request for him, to solve her daughter's apparent suicide so it would be ruled as a murder. Jack takes the case, and when he is attacked because of it, he's sure there is more to the suicide story. While doing the few investigative activities that he could fit in between heavy drinking, he and Ann, the suicide girl's mother, share a short romance that goes up in flames. Jack goes clean and sober, but new challenges arise as a "friend" of his tries to throw him off the wagon.

When I started this book, it was confusing and hard to read, but it gets easier as it goes. Though I was highly unsatisfied with the mystery end of the book, the drama of it was relatively good. We get to see Jack's battle with drinking, while circumstances give him every reason to pick up the bottle. We get to get into his head and live his entire life, while also seeing the important people around him die of tragic deaths. The ending, which is rather predictable, is also enjoyable.

Considering that this is the first book by this author, I would give him a chance in a few years when his writing improves. After 10 years of writing, I'm sure he will be a huge bestseller, but for now, he still needs to learn what works in crime fiction and what doesn't.

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The Guards

Overall I enjoyed reading this book, but Bruen's writing style is different and I found it sometimes difficult to follow. Because I was a captive audience and it's all I had to read at the time, I plowed through it and actually enjoyed it. To be fair, this is his first novel I read so maybe the second one will be easier.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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