Customer Reviews

The Devil

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a creepy and terrifying book, and possibly the best one in the Jack Taylor series. Jack is still stumbling around Galway, and a series of gruesome murders sets him on the path of discovering th e killer. What he discovers has his world turned almost upside down, for he comes to believe that the killer is the Devil himself. How he came to that conclusion I'll leave for the reader to discover.

Once he makes that discovery he sets out to combat this evil, but those he seeks for assistance tend to end up quite dead. The ending is brutal and shocking, but even though the reader, and Jack, believe that it's all over, something appears in the paper to shake his conviction.

Ken Bruen is a master of suspense and this book gives it in spades. It's a real page turner. I was so caught up in it that I finished it in just a few hours of reading, determined as I was to find out how it ends. I then gave it to my son, who is also a big Ken Bruen fan, to read, and he had the same feeling about the book that I had, and he finished it in rapid order. Do yourself a favor; if you enjoy Ken Bruen's writing don't miss this book!

Ken Bruen is back with a new noir masterpiece. My favorite character, Jack Taylor is continuing on adventures only Ken Bruen can think off. The story starts off with Jack wanting to go to America but he is not allowed to go and in the process meets his new adversary, the Devil. This new one is the darkest of them all. Taylor finally encounters real evil which is not to say that in some of his earlier exploits he did not also meet some pretty evil people. This new situation is his darkest and most helpless.
However, as Bruen points out, real Irishmen always have HOPE. It is a virtue that has sustained the Irish from earliest times. Once an Irishman loses hope then it is all over. Taylor may get himself in tight situations but he is a survivor. He is also not one to back down. In the politically correct world we live in it is enjoyable to see that not everyone conforms. Bruen knows how to satirize current society and points out where we have lost our humanity in our desire for materialism.
I enjoy Bruen's books for several reasons. I like the fast pace unpredictable action. You never know what is going to happen and you don't know if the situation is going to turn around or only get worse. Just like real life. I also like the Galway references. I lived in Galway for a time and my mother was born near Galway. I have walked past many of the locations he mentions and it brings back good memories. Many a day I wish I could walk to Supermacs knowing that things will only get better with the ingestion of a little natural grease. I also enjoy the religious references. Irishmen of my generation are indelibly marked by religion. Even if we try to get away we can't. Bruen's quotes such as: `Expect nothing, and by Christ, you're entitled to even less" hit home with me. For all of Bruen's skepticisms there is the deep mark of someone who is a seeker of belief. This seeking sustains characters such as Jack Taylor. While Bruen's characters such as Taylor may have fallen they have not given up. The same is true for Bruen's books. They never quite end. Just when you expect a conclusion we are off on a new story and we begin waiting for the next book.
I highly recommend this book and the others Bruen has written.

Bruen speaks best to the consciously damned nurturing nascent hope in their rebellious hearts, protagonist Jack Taylor a man so obviously degraded by appetites to sustain against the looming dark of civilization that his Irish soul glows with the effort. Time and loss have distilled DI Taylor into a potent cocktail of drugs and alcohol, Jameson neat with a pint of Guinness, a few Xanax for a kick. In perhaps his most descriptive struggle with the forces of light and dark, Taylor, ex-Garda to his very roots, lashes out with the usual ferocity at the senseless violence of students misguided enough to follow "the One" and the desecrated bodies of helpless victims who have offered words of kindness to Jack. It seems Taylor is besieged by "the Divil", or Mr. K, a malevolent force by turns seducing, taunting and torturing a man whose shabby life is banked on the fires of his ire on behalf of the helpless and the downtrodden. It is a battle perhaps of unequals, but don't count the boozy, Xanax-addled Taylor out, the grit and strength of the old country bred into the marrow of his bones.

In his scattershot of staccato prose, Bruen drives the narrative from Taylor's first encounter with Mr. K to the last, a blend of violence, the metaphysical, the deepest sorrow of a country on its economic knees but always up for a pint or a fight. This is Bruen at his best, pure and unadulterated, Jack a wounded human howling at a dismissive God and hurling himself at the gates of hell, but without any intention of entering there soon. No, this is a man who craves salvation like bitter mother's milk, a man who has chosen the hardest route to peace because it is the only way he knows, a protagonist who quenches the thirst and burns all the way through. Luan Gaines/2011.

Hey, I love Jack Taylor. And while the differences between the books are somewhat meaningless to me--I come for the great asides, the clipped writing, the great boozy observations, the harsh views of Ireland, Catholicism, and modern culture--The Devil had me turning the pages backwards a few times wondering, "Did he do that on purpose?" I'm referring to some very odd time-shifting that takes place near the end, when Jack says, "Ooops, I forgot to mention what had happened before that" which gives the book a weird feeling, as though he were dictating it and skipped an index card and left something out. But instead of going back and inserting it, he just said. "Wait a minute, I forgot something." He does it twice and perhaps it's a strange, post-modern narrative technique but for meit just felt clunky. But otherwise full of all the great JT stuff.

I do like Bruens style. Nevertheless I did not like the plot. I mean: The Devil is bothered by Taylors goodness ... come on!

Ok, here is my suggestion/my interpretation which did it for me: The book is Taylor's Jameson/Guiness/Xanax soaked dream. Taylors catholic upbringing left him with guilt en masse. For that consult the other books: Taylor left a road of destruction, grief and despair especially on his beloved ones. Now in this Dreamchannel (the book) Taylor seeks redemption/salvation from .... the Devil .... that is: the Devil did not like it that Taylor had the nerve to obstruct the Devil's plans ergo Taylor must have good sides if the Devil considers him a bother.

As I said: This view did it for me, otherwise the book makes no sense to me!

Conclusion: Strange for BruenFans, not to recommend for others.

There's something about Ken Bruen's writing that always draws me in, even though I can see its flaws, which can probably be summarized as "trying too hard to be hard boiled." And his changes in point of view, which occur only a couple of times (at least in the books I've read by him) usually seem inelegant - almost as if he didn't feel like making the effort to make those few pages conform to the rest of the book's point of view. Anyway--I say these things while acknowledging that I'm also a fan (and I'm not even Irish!).

That said, there's something half-baked about this one. I think the problem is one of expectations. It's truly creepy in the early part, where you are wondering whether or not the person (Kurt, a/k/a Mr. K - at least his name isn't an anagram of Satan or Devil) who's chasing Jack Taylor around is just some creep or really the King of Darkness. Other reviews have made clear which one it is, not that there was ever any doubt. I don't have a problem with philosophical discussions of good and evil, but the given reason for Old Scratch's singling out Jack Taylor for attention seems stretched to the breaking point--surely the Devil has bigger fish to fry?

And the ending - well, let's just say, don't expect anything metaphysical, or any great epiphanies or revelations - and you won't be disappointed.

Ultimately I think the problem with this book is that the concept is so deep, so complicated, that it would take more than a quick noir novel to deal fully with the characters' psychology and the issues surrounding Evil. Bruen's not up to the task, though he is usually one heck of a noir novelist. I'll classify this one as an ambitious departure that strives to be scary, and is - but really doesn't scratch below the surface much. Still, fans of Jack Taylor will probably enjoy the book. For the most part I did, which is why I give it three stars. I'm a little stingy with my stars. 4 has to be a book I recommend, and 5 has to be superior in all ways.

"The Devil" reads like a cocktail of Xanax and Jameson, with a side of Guiness. Maybe that's because Jack Taylor absorbs that combination on practically every page of the novel. Describing a book by Ken Bruen is no easy task, and the smart thing would be to not make any attempt to do that, but merely to write anything that comes to mind. But that would just about describe the novel, wouldn't it?

Taylor, at the outset, is denied entry into the United States because of his unsavory background. So what does he do? Naturally, head for the airport bar, where he meets what appears to be, throughout the rest of the book, the devil incarnate. It appears that the devil has a grudge against Taylor, who has interfered in the past with some of His plans. Along the way, various contacts of Taylor's meet their deaths at the hands of the supposed devil.

There is no way to describe a Bruen novel, except to say "far out." The writing is always interesting, albeit sometimes incomprehensible, the theme frequently unusual, as in this case. "Noir" in every sense of the word. But recommended.

Ken Bruen is a literary country unto himself. No one is writing books quite like his right now, or maybe ever. Bruen is arguably best known for his Jack Taylor novels, of which THE DEVIL is the seventh and latest in the series. Taylor is not an entirely likable or sympathetic character: he is quick to anger, inclined to backslide into his various substance addictions, an all-around "grumpy Gus," as he might be described. A former police guard and presently a Galway private investigator (I am not entirely sure if that status is official, but there you are), Taylor is a dark and brooding everyman who rarely walks away intact from his various sundry and sordid encounters. But he does walk away, which is more than can be said for his adversaries. At least in most cases.

In THE DEVIL, Taylor meets the man who will perhaps be his ultimate foil. The book begins with Taylor preparing to fly to the United States, only to be denied at the last minute due to an old transgression that has come back to haunt him at the worst possible moment. He retreats to the airport bar, where he proceeds to seek the type of faux clarity that can be found at the clear bottom of a cocktail glass. It is there that he is approached by a gentleman named Kurt ("with a K") who is just a tad too familiar with his past and a bit too aggressively friendly. Taylor shakes him off and returns to Galway. His imaginary friend, known variously as "Karl" or "Mr. K," begins to slowly insinuate himself into his life, or more particularly, into the lives of his friends and associates, all to evil and very ill effect.

Taylor all too quickly suspects that Mr. K is not an ordinary adversary, and the manner, width and breadth of his evil bespeaks a power that was not created on this earth. The rough hand behind the occurrence of past events in the series are called into question, as is a brief but extremely frightening moment when the issue of Taylor's heritage is raised. The novel's conclusion is extremely ambiguous; Taylor either wins this one, draws, or is being drawn into a loss where his life will be the least of the things he will forfeit. And perhaps there is a metaphor here as well: when we put our demons to rest, it is often a respite, but never a state of permanence.

Bruen's unique narrative style may take some getting used to for the uninitiated, but is so enveloping that it becomes a new normal. His longtime practice of dropping quotations authored by himself and others by the handful throughout his books is here as well and most welcome. There's one, from THE DARK FIELDS by Alan Glynn, that everyone of a certain age will appreciate. I actually stopped reading THE DEVIL long enough to call a number of friends and read it to them (but you will have to get the book and read it yourself!).

Bruen also cycles the series back in upon itself in a very interesting way. One of my favorite episodes of "The Simpsons" includes a very short vignette whereby the family is watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and giant balloons of Homer, Marge and the others float by. They all miss seeing it, of course, except for Maggie. Bruen does a similar thing to Taylor. Don't blink or you'll miss it. And don't miss THE DEVIL, yet another strong book in a series that simply gets better and better.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Ken Bruen's eighth novel to feature former Garda and private eye, Jack Taylor, titled, The Devil, pits Jack against a worthy opponent: the divil himself. Jack meets Mr. K. or Karl or Kurt, as he's stopped from leaving Ireland for America. Back in Galway, Jack and Mr. K. engage in a battle of trying to do good versus evil. Bruen's writing is spare and effective. Readers of previous novels have an advantage of knowing enough about the character Jack Taylor to best appreciate his current situation. That said, this novel stands well on its own, and is likely to be appreciated by those readers who enjoy character-based novels and clever writing.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)

What did I just read? I love Ken Bruen and the way he writes the Jack Taylor books. The cadence of the storytelling, the anguish, the pain, the drinking, the occasional glimmers of hope and redemption. And in The Devil all of these things are there, however, what's new is the introduction of the supernatural, the devil himself.

If there's one thing that keeps me coming back to crime novels it's the reality of the stories that are told. So looking back on this book I'm not sure if what I read is about reality or not. Taylor consumed enough Xanax, Jamesons and Guinness through the story that he could have imagined most of what we read, indeed this could be one of the great 'unreliable narrator' stories of all time. In fact there are a few things that Taylor seems to remember (and retell) well after the event that would support this conclusion. But I didn't finish the book convinced this was the case.

If Jack Taylor has lost the plot then this is a great book. If Ken Bruen has lost the plot then I am worried about the future of one of my favourite writers.