Ken Bruen

[GFS3]

Any Ken Bruen fans out there? I just finished "The Guards" and loved it. I've decided I'm going to read every novel in Bruen's Jack Taylor series because of it. But lots of mystery fans don't like him and I'd love to hear from both sides -- those who like Bruen and those who don't.

[frankie]

I bought Priest in a sale last summer and before that I hadn't heard of Ken Bruen before. I started reading the book the day before yesterday and so far I'm having mixed feelings about the book. I like Jack Taylor's character, and I like the storyline. Otherwise the book is a bit difficult to read at times. The author is Irish and the story is set in Galway, Ireland. I don't know if it's Bruen's own style or if the language is very Irish, but it's sometimes difficult to follow. Some of the political terms and/or attitudes are also hard to identify, me not being all that familiar with Ireland, like, at all. For instance, hurling is an Irish sport and does not refer to vomiting I had to resort to checking that on Google, among other things. Now, I don't mind learning about new cultures, but it seems like this novel could also serve as a guide book to Irishness: on every other page Bruen seems to be explaining some Irish traits or underlining the very Irishness of something. It becomes rather exhausting after awhile. Having said that, I would probably read more of Bruen's Jack Taylor novels if they were easily attainable.

[Mysterioso]

I've recently read 'American Skin' by Mr B and it was great! Disturbing, dirty and violent- think Cormac McCarthy crossed with The Coen Brothers with a large slice of Stephen King- fabulous.

[dave165]

I am a huge fan of Ken Bruen and have read everything he has written. I particularly enjoyed his Inspector Brant series starting with A White Arrest and also the 3 books he has written for Hard Case Crime with Jason Starr.