Such a wretch! I'm quite impressed at the author's willingness to push toward anti-hero. ( )

Jack Taylor drunk and drugged fails to realize Irish gangster is using him as part of revenge on former attendant in home for wayward girls

My third Jack Taylor. No one writes like Ken. ( )

I heard about Ken Bruen's books from another person on LibraryThing. Since Bruen is Irish and sets his books in Galway I was immediately interested as I like all things Irish. Unfortunately this particular Irish writer choses to portray the dark underbelly of Ireland using a main character that constantly fights the demons of alcoholism and drug use. One of those attributes might have worked for me but together I felt like I was drowning in filth. The only redeeming feature, to my point of view, is that the main character is a reader and frequently quotes from books he has read. Also each chapter starts off with a book quote. That's not enough to convince me to pick up any more books from this writer. ( )

This is the third book in the Jack Taylor series, and we find that not much has changed with Jack. He's still living in the same third rate hotel and being looked after by the octogenarian woman who owns the establishment. He is still drinking, smoking and taking all kinds of drugs. And he keeps finding himself in personal danger as he pursues his lines of enquiries. Jack is fully aware of his shortcomings, and he has oodles of coping mechanisms to help him deal with his self-loathing. For example he is a voracious reader, and he retreats to his books whenever he needs to find time to think. Only the best for our Jack - books from his favourite used bookstore, clothes from the charity shops and a full pharmacopia of drugs in the floorboards of his room. I love these books. Bruen's writing is spare and to the point. He says more in such few words than most novelists can manage in large tomes. We see the dark underside of Galway, Ireland through Jack's jaded eyes (and usually through an alcoholic fog). In this book we pursue some of the history and the horror stories from the now-closed Magdalen Laundry in Galway. Many young girls were left here and forgotten when they found themselves unmarried and pregnant, or on the wrong side of the law. The establishment opened in the 18th century and were finally closed sometime in the mid-20th century. The stories that come from these Catholic institutions are horrendous and heartbreaking and Jack finds himself drawn into them while he's trying to find someone who used to work in the laundry at one time. This is a quick read, but a very good one. Kept me turning pages for sure. ( )