Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin . . . finished

 Follows Sadie and Sam (Mazer) from childhood to mid-thirties when both are feeling old and a bit out of it in the gaming world.  Characters are well-rounded, develop throughout the novel in interesting way.  Plot is involved but sensible.  Not a single, "Oh, come on!" moment.  The book could have been faster paced. Odd, since the main topic is video games which are not for their speed of engagement and Gabrielle Zevin clearly knows her video games. Recommended by Michael Connelly in an interview.  He also has Bosch pick up the book in his novel, Resurrection Walk, as Bosch tails a possible witness to a crime as she moves through a bookstore. Sadie and Sam do not get together at the end, which is good.   Marx killed by homophobic nutcase who really wants to kill Sam, but Sam isn't there. Marx is father of Sadie's child. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Happy Valley Season 4

 Weakest.  Tommy is in prison.  His son, Ryan, is now 17.  Catherine the cop's sister, Clare, takes Ryan to visit Tommy in prison, without telling Catherine.  Not good.  Sisters have a break when Catherine finds out.   Plot two:  PE teacher, abusive to wife.  She is getting drugs from local Indian/Pakistani pharmacist. Husband finds out and has wife arrested!  Pharmacist worried . . . plots to kill husband.  Wife agrees, then changes her mind.  Pharmacist in a rage kills her. (All a bit of a stretch, as he is a mild mannered family man.) Tommy escapes from his court hearing, hides out, gets in touch with Ryan.  Plan is to go to Marabella, Spain together.  Tommy's "helpers" get worried about Tommy and decide to do him in.  Instead, he kills them . . . and is knifed himself.  He returns to Catherine's house, looks through a photo album showing Catherine took good care of Ryan, and decides not to kill her....
Post a Comment
Read more