Customer Reviews

The Hackman Blues (Bloodlines) (Bloodlines S.)

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Tony Brady is not a nice man, which sets him apart from many crime/thriller/suspense novel protagonists. He's not even particularly likeable. Further, he's manic-depressive, and walks a fine line between being able to exist in the world with the rest of us, and being carted off to the nearest padded room. He is, however, smart and cynical, with a wickedly funny take on the world around him.

Hackman Blues is as much an essay on modern life as it is a crime novel, and works terrifically well on both levels. Tony Brady is asked to find the daughter of a local 'businessman' (i.e. crook). He enlists the aid of his friend and former prison mate, Elias Rasheed Mohammed, and the adventure begins.

The novel doesn't give the reader much chance to catch their breath from beginning to end, and includes many plots twists and a heart-breaking ending.

It's not for those who like everything wrapped up in a neat package, or who have trouble with violence or profanity. But Tony Brady has a moral code of sorts that he's determined to live by, and watching him struggle to do the right thing is a great read.

Read any interview by the amazingly talented Ken Bruen and you'll discover that he has plenty of demons that need out. In THE HACKMAN BLUES Bruen certainly releases plenty of them onto the page. In this early novel, we follow one of the most unsympathetic characters in modern crime fiction, and yet, somehow, we still like him despite all his evils. Perhaps even because of his dark nature.

Here's a street-wise PI of sorts given the job of tracking and finding a wealthy man's (with a Gene Hackman fixation) young wife, who appears to be shacking up with a local drug dealer. Our anti-hero not only finds her but decides to kidnap her and ransom her off--to both her husband AND the drug dealer boyfriend. Although a number of his friends are put into awful danger, our anti-hero forges ahead through blood, bullets, bombs, and other gut-wrenching carnage.

Unlike Bruen's more recent novels, THE HACKMAN BLUES is thin on motivation and emotion. It's simply a short, full-throttle crime novel populated by one kind of villain or another, and it'll keep you turning the pages in spite of your revulsion and keep you nailed to your seat. Bruen's exorcism of personal demons can be seen on every powerful, blood-soaked page.

Some interesting possibilities (gay, bipolar, tough guy, criminal- detective as lead, Brixton-centered plot, oddball crime boss) don't really gel into anything that interesting. The con is asked to find a white girl in Brixton, which sounds simple, but causes all kinds of complications. The whole bipolar thing wears thin quickly, and the style isn't quite on.