The Guards
1 journaler for this copy...

Book 1 of the Jack Taylor series.
From amazon.com:
Stark, violent, sharp, and funny, The Guards is an exceptional novel, one that leaves you stunned and breathless, flipping back to the beginning in a mad dash to find Jack Taylor and enter his world all over again. It's an unforgettable story that's gritty, absorbing, and saturated with the rough-edged rhythms of the Galway streets. Praised by authors and critics around the globe, The Guards heralds the arrival of an essential new novelist in contemporary crime fiction.
From amazon.com:
Stark, violent, sharp, and funny, The Guards is an exceptional novel, one that leaves you stunned and breathless, flipping back to the beginning in a mad dash to find Jack Taylor and enter his world all over again. It's an unforgettable story that's gritty, absorbing, and saturated with the rough-edged rhythms of the Galway streets. Praised by authors and critics around the globe, The Guards heralds the arrival of an essential new novelist in contemporary crime fiction.

This is the first Jack Taylor novel I've read and it is very dark! I have seen a few episodes of the British TV series so I knew it was dark, but the novel still took me by surprise and I was pleasantly suprised by the black humour.
Jack is a very troubled man, in every way possible. He drinks to excess-which cost him his career with the Garda Siochana, his best friend is a criminal, he mourns his father's passing and he's estranged from his mother and his God.
And yet...he has a gentle side. He has a poet's heart and he is a reader. I enjoyed the quotes from novels that headed each chapter and can say that Jack Taylor and I could share a bookshelf.
I didn't realise this was the first book in the series until I looked up the other novels. I think I will be on the look out for the subsequent ones.
I was also suprised by the lack of graphic violence - it is violent and coarse, make no mistake - but not in graphic detail which I appreciated. I don't think authors need to throw the picture in your face to make their point and I appreciated Bruen's subtlety.
Jack is a very troubled man, in every way possible. He drinks to excess-which cost him his career with the Garda Siochana, his best friend is a criminal, he mourns his father's passing and he's estranged from his mother and his God.
And yet...he has a gentle side. He has a poet's heart and he is a reader. I enjoyed the quotes from novels that headed each chapter and can say that Jack Taylor and I could share a bookshelf.
I didn't realise this was the first book in the series until I looked up the other novels. I think I will be on the look out for the subsequent ones.
I was also suprised by the lack of graphic violence - it is violent and coarse, make no mistake - but not in graphic detail which I appreciated. I don't think authors need to throw the picture in your face to make their point and I appreciated Bruen's subtlety.

Journal Entry 3 by
cestmoi
at LFL - Brenner Court in Burlington, Ontario Canada on Sunday, September 3, 2023


Released 1 yr ago (9/3/2023 UTC) at LFL - Brenner Court in Burlington, Ontario Canada
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