The latest novel in Ireland's most distinctive crime fiction series, In the Galway Silence, finds former cop Jack Taylor up against a vigilante assassin who goes by the name 'Silence'--and the consequences quickly become personal.
Bruen has a distinctive style, comprised of both short and run-on sentences that dip and swirl throughout Jack’s first-person past tense narrative. That worthy text is not a stream-of-consciousness technique, but occasionally comes close ... I assure you that no one other than Ken Bruen is producing books quite like this, or quite this side of wondrous. He writes like an angel, a fearsome one such as he describes here, but one that you will want to keep and have close to you in order to appreciate your quiet and blessed life. A stunning experience from beginning to end, In the Galway SIlence surpasses even Bruen’s usual superlative standards.
Taut plotting, a staccato first-person narrative, deeply flawed yet sympathetic characters and the windy, wet Irish milieu conspire to put Bruen’s novels into a class by themselves.
There’s a definite yeast extract (Marmite or Vegemite, you choose) element to Bruen’s writing. You’ll love it or hate it. He has a legion of loyal fans for good reason ... he prose is stripped right back to the bare bones, descriptions are brief and taut. Dialogue is only used when absolutely necessary and we spend as much time in Jack’s head as out of it. The narrative is gritty, bleak and full of black humour. Sometimes it’s written like a list with one word per line ... a relatively quick read. Although the 14th in the series it can be read as a standalone.
