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Purgatory, Ken Bruen, finished 4/5

Gritty almost to the point of being over-the-top.  Jack Taylor is an intellectual version (and more interesting) than Jack Reacher, but they share a similar moral code.  Irish writer who is unrelenting in his analysis of the flaws of the Irish.  I'll definitely read another of his books, but I'm going to give it a rest.

Some spoilers follow:
The book is notable for killing off characters that are--conventionally--off limits.  So, Stewart is murdered by the psychopath he is shadowing.  Ridge (female cop) dies from a stupid act of violence--huge rock thrown on her car from the overpass.  The good-looking chick (Kelly) turns out to be the serial killer.  (How many serial killers are women?)  She's also married to the rich guy who is taking over Galway; in addition, she makes a play for Jack.


Jack, the vengeful, does not kill Kelly.  Instead, he visits her at her "psycho" ward where she is being treated (including memory suppressing) for her psychopathic traits.  Jack tells her that he will kill her some day . . . she just won't know when.  Effective ending -- it really would have been tough to pull off Jack shooting a woman as a "happy" ending.

Style:  Hard-boiled prose. 1st and 3rd person. Odd paragraphing and line breaks, but easy to get used to.  I read/listened to the book.  As usual the Audible reader was terrific.

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