First published in 2001
I bought The Guards while stranded at an airport, knowing nothing about Ken Bruen. I'm glad I did. Bruen's writing style is concise, forceful, sometimes lyrical, and unusual in the sense that he peppers his prose with lists and with quotations from other authors (some of which have led me to discover those authors). Bruen's protagonist, Jack Taylor, is a down-and-out former Guard (i.e., an Irish ex-cop) who is doing his best to cope with pain ... and nobody should have to endure the kind of pain that plagues Taylor in this novel and others in the series. Bruen paints Taylor in dark colors but manages at the same time to make him noble, to make him aspire to decency if not perfection.
Taylor dabbles in private investigations from his seat at the bar run by his friend Sean. A woman who believes her daughter was murdered hires him to prove that she didn't commit suicide. The plot, however, is secondary to the drama of Taylor's life: his attempts to stop drinking, to make peace with his dead father and abusive mother, to forge a relationship with the woman who hired him, and to pursue his dream. The investigation comes to a satisfying end; Taylor's struggle with his life continues in subsequent novels, fortunately for readers like me who want to see more of him.
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