Priest

Starred review from January 22, 2007
Recovered from incapacitating guilt over the death of a child on his watch, Jack Taylor is released from the loony bin at the start of Shamus-winner Bruen's searing fifth book about the alcoholic Galwegian ex-cop (after 2006's The Dramatist
). Jack's friend Nio "Ridge" Iomaire picks him up from the hospital and mentions the gory headlines: a pedophilic priest, Father Joyce, was beheaded. At the request of another frightened priest, Jack launches an unofficial investigation with the assistance of an eager, younger partner, Cody. All the while fighting his constant ache for a drink, the maverick PI also helps Ridge ward off a stalker. Jack is a keen and literary narrator, and Bruen's latest Irish noir makes for a kind of savage poetry, at once exhausting and exhilarating. Bruen has been a finalist for Edgar, Anthony and Barry awards.

March 1, 2007
The fifth installment in the Jack Taylor series (after "The Dramatist") is typical Bruenbrooding and depressingyet irresistible. Taylor is a P.I. in Galway, Ireland, who has seen enough trouble in his life for a dozen men. After checking himself out of a mental institution, he agrees to look into the gruesome murder of a local priest. Taylor seems to catch a break when an old acquaintance bequeaths him a home and some money. But Taylor's demonsalcohol, cigarettes, loneliness, regret, and shame, among othersare always there and in constant need of attention. His investigation into the priest's murder reveals grim insights into life in modern-day Ireland not found in any tourist brochures, as well as the dark secrets the priest took to his grave. With any Bruen novel, you get the feeling that the author has poured his soul into the pages. Recommended for most mystery collections. [See Prepub Mystery, "LJ" 11/1/06.]Ken Bolton, Cornell Univ. Lib., Ithaca, NY

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2007
Jack Taylor has spent the last five months in the loony bin, recovering from the horrific tragedy at the end of " The Dramatist" (2006). Maybe it's his new frame of mind--most of his friends are dead or have become his enemies--or maybe it's something else, but Ireland seems to have become even more foreign to the cranky ex-Guard in that short time. His head is clanging with thoughts about the increasingly commodified Irish soul as he finds himself, barely prepared, sucked into three new cases: finding out who beheaded a child-molesting priest; catching his last remaining friend's stalker; and locating his missing ex-best friend--the father of the girl who died while Taylor was babysitting her has disappeared into skid row. Dark days, even for Taylor, though he still finds time for ruminations on literature, music, and pop culture. If you like this cup of tea, it's brewed about the same as the last one. But Bruen, a writer of talent and originality, has yet to push himself to the next level.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)