Customer Reviews

American Skin: A Novel

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

AMERICAN SKIN by Ken Bruen is a dark, hilarious nightmare of a book that stretches genres and concepts. Bruen's work in general and this novel in particular mines the dark places in the human psyche where Cormac McCarthy so frequently visits, though from a different side of the mirror. While McCarthy's work is almost unrelentingly grim, AMERICAN SKIN is informed with a ferocious humor that has you screaming both with laughter and in horror.

Bruen is not a native of the United States, but he is a keen and canny observer of the landscape that most residents behold only from moving vehicles whose windows are up and whose doors are locked. AMERICAN SKIN is evocative of a number of novels --- everything from William Burroughs's NAKED LUNCH to Leonard Cohen's BEAUTIFUL LOSERS, from Norman Mailer's WHY ARE WE IN VIETNAM? to James Joyce's ULYSSES --- with Bruen bouncing characters dead and alive around time and distance in this tale of greed, love and revenge, and the unintended consequences that result from all.

Stephen Blake is the primary figure in this dark vision, a Galway native who has reached a decent if rough middle age. His life consists primarily of working in a CD store, romancing a lovely bank clerk and drinking at a local pub. When given the opportunity to participate in an IRA-related heist, Blake agrees, the result of a deathbed promise and a misplaced and reluctant loyalty. Things, we are informed early, go badly, but Blake and a conspirator gamely carry on, with Blake traveling to the United States to execute the rest of the plan in the somewhat unlikely locale of Tucson.

Blake's immigration is the first step that puts him on an unforeseen and unintended collision course with an American homegrown psychopath named Dade, a tightly wound chaotic force of nature whose instinct inclines toward random acts of spontaneous violence. Bruen goes deep into the psyche of each and all concerned in AMERICAN SKIN, with a canny understanding of the inclination of men toward violence and destructive relationships, and the connections linking acts that at first blush appear unrelated.

Ostensibly a stand-alone book, AMERICAN SKIN reaches a haunting conclusion that may well be a prologue to a future event. Regardless, this is a significant work loaded with memorable characters, electrifying incidents and walking nightmares. Very highly recommended.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

If Ken Bruen isn't the premier writer of noir pulp fiction today, he is certainly the most brutal. "American Skin" is Bruen's latest release, probably his most violent, and quite possibly his best - assuming you have a stomach for carnage and an appreciation for black Irish fatalism.

Yeah, this is darker than black, the nonlinear tale of Steven Blake, a Blake of infamous the Irish Galway Brakes, an ex-soldier and current drifter who unwittingly is drawn into an IRA bank robbery. Supporting Blake in Bruen's rush of halting prose that lurches and jags beautifully through 280 pages of despair and bloodshed are not one but three of the most despicable villains you're ever likely to encounter in a novel. There's Dade, the American psychopath who kills randomly for pleasure, Stapleton, and IRA terrorist with no remorse, and Sherry, a female version of Dade in a Dolly Parton skin. But there is much more to this tragedy than gore and butchery. Bruen's rendering on the friendship between Blake and Tommy - the link to the IRA heist - is painfully rendered with an unmistakably Irish sorrow. Likewise, masterful foreshadowing plots the course for a climax that can only end in despair, but with all great fiction, the payoff come alone the ride.

If you're looking for cardboard hero role models and happy stories, you've probably never heard of Ken Bruen, and should probably keep looking. But if, like an Irishman, "you're only happy when your melancholy", then "American Skin" is a must read.

Irish noir meister Ken Bruen offers his prickly, ironic, and often humorous view on what it means to wear "American skin". Stephen Blake who served in the English army does a bank heist with his Irish pal Tommy and IRA sniper Stapleton. The botched attempt sends Blake packing to New York City, and then west to Las Vegas and Tucson. Extreme violence and hard living are the currency in the modern noir (and sometimes real) world. The whacko Dade addicted to Tammy Wynette and dope is sure to become a classic villain like Hannibal Lecter. Fans of George Pelecanos and Bruce Springsteen should enjoy reading Mr. Bruen's seamless, satiric, and, yes, unsettling American Skin.

If you like your crime novels Irish and rough, this is one to go for. In this stand-alone novel, Bruen combines a lively plot, a protagonist with lots of people out to get him, and a whole lot of popular music references (starting with a nod to Springsteen in the title).

Ken Bruen is one of my favorite authors and I read avidly every book of his that I can get. This one was published a few years ago but I only saw it for the first time a week or so ago when I was in D.C., and I bought it. Having just finished it last night, I can once again say that Mr. Bruen is a master at his craft.

This is another of his tales of Irish criminals, but most of the plot takes place in America, hence the title. The main protagonist, and the narrator of most of the book, gets involved in a bank heist with a good friend of his and an IRA member. He ends up with all of the money and, his girlfriend being in the banking business, plans to transfer it into an account and use it to establish the two of them in America. While she remains in Ireland to complete the banking transactions, he goes to New York. That's where the plot really gets going, although it's been white hot from the opening pages.

There are a lot of bad actors in this book, and no real good guys as far as I could discern. There is murder and mayhem in New York and Tucson, and a stopover in Vegas. I don't want to ruin the book for those who haven't read it, but I will say that something grotesque happens on almost every page, and the body count continues to pile up as the story goes along.

The ending is rather enigmatic, and left me wishing that there were more to the story than the author related. To sum up, if you like Ken Bruen's work as much as I do you will certainly want to read this book, but be aware that it is gruesome and quite bloody.

American Skin is a great book with a lot of gritty storylines and characters. It explains the downward spiral that character goes through very well. You get a lot of backstory into most of the characters but the ending turns out to be very disappointing. It turns out to be an Irish No Country for Old Men. The first and second act is great and nicely done but you end up ripped off from a proper finale.

its like a graphic novel without the graphic.
and the cadence of the Jeruselem Bible without the religion.

The poet Rilke said that "fear is like dragons guarding us from our most precious treasures". Ken Bruen has no fear and this book is a precious treasure. I have read about sixteen Ken Bruen books and they absolutely mesmerize me. After each book I am momentarily melancholy, sad and searching for the next book to read. The protaganists are never hopeless but yet you never feel hopeful. As I read this novel and the relationships Stephen has with Siobhan and his best friend Tommy, I'm reminded of the lyrics by Matthew Ryan "

I loved music
And so did you
But you loved those loud guitars
And venom
That venom with a lost angry sadness
While i lived in the sadness

Ken Bruen's books live in that sadness and we are the richer for it.

Ken Bruen's AMERICAN SKIN is a raw lyrical gut-wrenching hunger for the rebellious bad soul of America, one that fascinates us as much as that other America that takes us to the moon and makes our heart soar with the music of the soul.

This one, in spots, is as brutal as they get. In other spots, it's equally insightful and melancholy. The references come in torrents -- poets, musicians, authors. I've never seen a book reference Rory Gallagher before so Bruen gets extra bonus points for that, right there. The mix of Irish attitude and the harsh American desert southwest, both Tucson and Las Vegas, make this a special read. How Bruen mixes so much plot into a brief, spare book is also a classic example of how less truly is more. This is not for the squeamish, though, and comes with a caution that the territory here is rough and the roads lead to some very bleak places.