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The White Trilogy

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Irish author Ken Bruen is a leading practitioner of what has been called "postmodern noir." Three of his novels from the late 90's (A WHITE ARREST, TAMING THE ALIEN and THE McDEAD) have been collected in trade paperback format and entitled THE WHITE TRILOGY. Raw and violent, darkly humorous and, at times, poignant and moving, THE WHITE TRILOGY may be compared favorably to James Ellroy's "LA Quartet." While Bruen's books perhaps lack the scope of those latter novels, they more than match them in gut-wrenching intensity and inventiveness. To read this book is to tour a decadent and decaying London that tourists and visitors can only pray they never encounter.

The three novels that comprise THE WHITE TRILOGY trace the exploits of Detective Inspector Roberts and Detective Sergeant Brant as they track a gang of urban vigilantes who prey upon East End drug dealers. Simultaneously, they seek to identify the psycho who is murdering the members of the English National Cricket Squad and attempt to avenge the brutal murder of Robert's estranged brother at the hands of Irish gangster Tommy Logan. In the process the lines between right and wrong, good and bad, and between the coppers and the criminals gets more than a little blurred.

Roberts plays cool and calculating opposite the vicious and troglodyte Brant. Together the two represent a kind of twisted law enforcement yin and yang. But upholding law and order is less a priority for them than is maintaining an edge, getting ahead, punishing the "punters" and just plain surviving another day on the streets and at "the nick." Are these two buggers hardboiled? You'd need an ice pick to even put a dent in their collective persona. It's a good thing that Roberts and Brant are cops. If they weren't they'd make public enemy number one look like a bloody boy scout by comparison.

Bruen tells his story with clipped, staccato prose that jumps rapidly from scene to scene, often with only minimal transition. The net effect is a bit like looking at the world through a kaleidoscope with a broken lens. And this is a world in which loyalty has very little meaning, where retribution is the coin of the realm and where redemption - although theoretically still possible - is in very short supply.

THE WHITE TRILOGY can be read easily in one or two sittings. Indeed, it seems designed to be read in just that way - the literary equivalent, perhaps, of the proverbial weekend "bender." You won't have a hangover when you're finished but you will surely be gasping for air. Oh, you'll probably also be aching for a bit of the "hair of the dog" ... at least in the form of Bruen's next remarkable novel!

This book was unreal and just served to reinforce my belief that when it comes to hard-boiled crime nobody does it better than the Brits! Bill James Harpur and Isles series, John Harvey's Charlie Resnick books, Russell James, Derek Raymond and Peter Turnbull's Glasgow P Division procedurals-the list goes on and on and is just breathtaking as one works through these writers. Anyway, The White Trilogy is dark, funny, cynical, tough,uplifting and hard to put down once you start. Let me put it this way, if you went to see the movie "Bad Lieutenant" and didn't walk out and are glad you didn't-get your hands on The White Trilogy. As much as I am into diversity in my reading material, after reading this book I am straight into Bruen's The Guards. Trust me on this-better yet take the "Bad Lieutenant" test by renting it and you'll know whether to invest in this gem.

Rhythm and Blues, Chief Inspector Roberts and Sergeant Brandt, R&B, serve the Queen and the nation in southeast London, a very tough part of the world. They face a variety of professional issues and personal crises. Not to say the least of which is a murdering criminal force that they are asked to keep in check.

These are three short stories written between 1998 and 2000, joined together in 2003. The stories relate to eachother and while the joinder is not seamless, Bruen's writing is sufficiently jolting so that the stories feel contiguous.

Bruen writes like the fifties. You see Mickey Spillane and Phillip Marlowe. Tough stuff. Great dialogue. He writes sharply. There are vigilante assassins, cheating wives, men suffering from vainglory, cheating husbands all along with pugnacious prose and teary endings.

There's a sense of humor between the two men and the other characters. When Inspector Roberts is asked by Brandt how long it's been since he gave up smoking, Roberts says "five years, four weeks, two days and [looking at his watch] nine hours. More or less."

There's no morality here. In fact some have criticized Bruen and the Trilogy for that but I submit he gives us a series of freeze frames on the south and east of London, and morality is but an also ran.

Brilliant, brilliant stuff. I can't recommend him enough. Larry Scantlebury

This novel is billed as a trilogy, but it's really a three-part narrative. No matter. It's set in Southeast London where the mean streets are about as mean as they get. It's where everyone is at least a little bent and everything is suspicious, rife with double meanings. If you're looking for a little redemption or perhaps one character who is pure, this is not the crime novel for you.

Here the cops are bugging each other, ratting on each other, and taking bribes right and left, and not just cash or merchandise. Here's a neighborhood in which the worst low-life gang leader seriously entertains dreams of rising to the heights of the social ladder; here's a place in which the turbulence of routine daily life is so loud and riotous sleep is nearly impossible.

THE WHITE TRILOGY follows the antics and the actions of several police personnel through attempts to make major arrests of horrendous local criminals and gang leaders. There's even an abortive international chase. The title comes from police jargon in which the solution of a major crime is termed a white. It certainly doesn't refer to the process of detection. Or to any of the major characters if white is your color of goodness. These stories embrace a vast cast of characters, few of whom are principal but all of who make major contributions to the narrative and none of whom can be considered on the side of the angles. It's all a matter of degree.

Chief Inspector Roberts, nearing retirement, is hanging on to his administrative post by hook or, mostly, by crook. He is a venal, incompetent man who hates his cheating wife and would undoubtedly murder her if he could find the time to set it up. One of his major problems is Detective Sergeant Brant, an out and out Irish thug who forces bribes from every merchant he encounters. Brant appears to have a single saving grace. He has a complete collection of Ed McBain novels, a hero of his. And he does try to apprehend criminals who commit worse crimes than he perpetrates. The female constables, chief among them, Susie Falls and her chum Rosie, are no better in the constant struggle just to stay alive and avoid apprehension.

Bruen writes a fast, muscular book. You have to pay attention. Apart from the British argot and unfamiliar organizational structure, Bruen's style is not your typical American crime novel. But it's fun, in a nasty sort of way, enthralling, thought-provoking and surprising. All in all a cracking good novel.

These 3 novellas are just classic. The pacing, writing style, and point of view are a wonder to behold. All Bruen's characters have strengths, warts, and vulnerabilities; we see the mix of good and bad as a continuum with varying shades of grey, not black and white(of course, there are "white" arrests, and a liberal dose of noir.)

The large menu of characters and the omniscient point of view prevents Bruen from developing the personality quirks as thoroughly as (say) an Ian Rankin, but this is not to say they are 2 dimensional. Strangely, even Bruen's characterizations of the foibles of the criminals, and how they got these foibles, makes for vaguely sympathetic reading. How do you draw the line between a criminal who cannot find the handle to overcome weaknesses of personality or DNA, and the coppoers who have many of the same flaws, but manage, by accident, to channel these weaknesses? not always clear. A great read. i truly regretted finishing it. If anything, I think this series is even stronger that the Guards.

Ken Bruen's real gift seems to be the wedding of extremely dark, violent British noir & the shining transcendental themes of human redemption. A remarkable achievement & my favorite series by Ken Bruen.

Enjoy!
-Steve.

I read this book 5 years ago and even after the hundreds and hundreds of books I have read since, this one remains one of my all-time-favorites. I love crime novels and am especially drawn to authors not in mainstream-USA. I had ordered a stack of used books from Amazon and this was the last in the bunch I had left to read. I couldn't remember why I had bought it, so I scanned the blurb, only to find it was about a serial-killer??? I hate books about serial- killers!!! What made me purchase this??? I decided to read the first chapter and, if it was not appealing, to close-it-up. SHOCK! It was fabulous and SO funny I could't put it down. I immediately ordered the other four.....(making 5 books in the "Trilogy"?) and they were all equally fantastic. The White Trilogy is now hard to find but it is necessary to read it first. It establishes the characters and gets you ready for where they take you. My only complaint is why-oh-why can't there be more books like these? You are lucky if you are about to start The "Trilogy" of books. Enjoy.

After reading "The Guards", book that made Ken Bruen famous in the USA, I discovered his Ch. Inspector Roberts-Sgt. Brant series. And wow...These filthy, pathologicaly violent London streets are light years away from the genteel murderers of the Midsomer murders variety.Even when they play cricket, their white uniforms turn to blood red pretty fast.
These are vile, horrible people, and I use the term people loosely.
This is a world of thugs and predators both in the police and in the criminal world. These three short novels are the darkest operas of the darkest noir. Ken Bruen's world doesn't offer much, if any hope. It is a dark maze, without the exit.
Brilliant writing, and addictive characters, like a bad acid trip, which we can't say no to.