As an avid reader, I have come across many stories that I love, many whose paper copies are dog eared and worn. The Ghosts of Galway was that kind of book...I stayed up way past my usual early bedtime and read it in one go. SO good. I cannot wait until November comes and I can recommend this book to every person I can possibly get to read it. Thank you for the chance to read this book before publication...I loved it.

"A failed suicide is a sad, sad *****"

So begins "The Ghosts of Galway," dropping the reader right into the action, as Jack Taylor, former Garda member and failed suicide, ends up, not kinder or wiser, but as a security guard, which he calls "Suicide by boredom." Only things don't stay boring long. Soon Jack has been yanked from his relaxing tedium as a security guard and sent off to find the Red Book, a possibly real, possibly fake relation to the Book of Kells. And while he's haring off after the book, dead animals keep turning up in the town square, and there're rumors that it's the work of ghosts.

I haven't read any of the previous books in the series, so I wasn't completely up to speed with what was going on with the characters beforehand, but essentially Jack Taylor's life has been on a downward spiral for some time, which makes him just the kind of bitter, life-hardened cynic you need as a PI-ish sort of character in a detective novel. The fact that the action takes place in small-town Galway, rather than the mean streets of Boston or Chicago, only enhances the effect. People can be just as miserable and desperate in the green and beautiful Irish countryside as they an anywhere else.

Potential readers should be aware that the writing style is unorthodox and the language is salty, to say the least. In his ruminations Jack's thoughts come out as Mayakovsky-esque ladder and column free verse, e.g.:
Emily
Em
Emerald
A goth-like crazed girl who had blasted into my life two years ago and left me
Bewildered
Burned
Bewitched.
So if that's the kind of fancy dancing you disapprove of, you might just want to move on. However, while it could be an affectation, it works here, graphically representing Jack's fragmented thought processes, liberally sprinkled, in the best Irish tradition, with the f-word and other strong phrases. Readers will probably either like it or hate it, but it certainly stands out.

As for the plot itself, it's full of so much crazy action I won't even attempt to describe any more than I already have, other than to say that the body count is high. While not super-gory, this is not a novel for fans of cozy mysteries where everyone gets off with nothing more than a little scare. By the end of the book, the character list is significantly depleted, and Galway is filled with even more ghosts than before. All in all, an unusual but highly compelling hardboiled detective novel that is likely to polarize readers into "love it" or "hate it" camps.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

THE GHOSTS OF GALWAY by Ken Bruen is the 13th book in the Jack Taylor series, and finds Jack working as a security guard, and bored to tears until he gets a call from the big boss to look into the disappearance of a valuable book belonging to the church and allegedly stolen by a priest named Frank Miller, who is also missing.
Jack has an acquaintance named Emily, a Goth girl who’s associated with the color emerald green and is quite disturbing, seemingly having multiple personalities.
Emily is an interesting character, and seems to have an unusual fixation on Jack (in a way most unhealthy for Jack), and becomes involved in Jack’s attempts to recover the book and locate the priest.
Apparently an old secret group known as “ The Ghosts of Galway” could be involved, and soon things become dangerous for all involved in the case, including Jack’s friend/nemesis Ridge from the guards.
Several hilarious quotes and thoughts by Jack make this book very entertaining, and Ken Bruen has done a wonderful job of making an older Jack still relevant, part of the success of this is Jack’s ability to make fun of himself as well as others with no holds barred, even or especially when it involves the church.
4 stars.

My first Bruen. I've already ordered The Guards. Will probably be reading Jack Taylor as deeply and quickly as he enjoys "the Jay". Loved everything about this book!

“It’s not that the Irish are cynical. It’s simply that they have a wonderful lack of respect for everything and everybody.” – Brendan Behan

Jack Taylor returns in “The Ghosts of Galway” with the “lack of respect” to which author Ken Bruen alludes in his Behan quote, but also with a healthy dose of cynicism. The all-weather Garda coat and the hurley return too along with “newish 501s, and the scuffed Doc Martins. You never knew when you might need to kick someone in the face.” And, as always, kicking is only the beginning of the violence meted out, and suffered, by Jack as the story proceeds and he deals with a strangely named Ukrainian; a Ron Hubbard wannabe and his enforcers; dead animals being dumped in Eyre Square; a girl with an imaginary brother; his former best friend, and now sworn enemy, Garda Ridge; and, most troubling, the return of “Emily and her diffuse weirdness” who made Taylor’s life such a “Green Hell” in his last outing. As Jack muses,

“…a thriller writer would throw out all these strands and then, presto, wrap them all up with a rugged hero, battered but unbowed, heading into an award-winning future.”

Of course, Jack Taylor, often battered, is not the traditional ‘rugged hero’ but then Ken Bruen is anything but a typical ‘thriller writer’…. There really is nothing like a Ken Bruen novel – the lyrical, poetic prose; the wry commentaries on current affairs (this time the 2016 deaths of musical heroes, the rise of Trump and Brexit; water charges…); the humour in the darkest of dark noir; the unique way he uses language, not only in the words he chooses to use but also
The
Way
Bruen
Puts
Words
On
The
Page
No other novels read like Ken Bruen’s. Brutal realism collides with stream of consciousness surrealism, commentary on the Kardasians with extreme bloody violence. The dialogue is rhythmic and musical… And profane.

For avenging angel Jack Taylor there is little redemption but, for the reader, there are few experiences to rival these books. I couldn’t put this down. Said,
“I can’t put this down.”

Unfortunately, it was over far too quickly.

“The Ghosts of Galway” is not published until November and I thank Mysterious Press and NetGalley for the early review copy and look forward to doing it all again on publication date.

Nobody does dark Irish noir like Bruen. This short but intense novel explores his series protagonist. Jack Taylor's demons and the troubles in Galway through the prisms of violence and crime. Characters from previous novels make appearances and the ending will shock you. As they say, Bruen never disappoints.

Jack Taylor could use some good luck. The poor guy has been suffering after getting the wrong diagnosis from his doctor and has tried to kill himself. He’s also badly in need of an infusion of cash. That’s where the Ukrainian comes in. He wants Jack to track down The Red Book, something that could knock the Vatican for a loop. At last best guess the book was in the possession of a priest who’s run away from the Vatican and is now hiding out in Galway. Jack has a serious dislike of the Church, and priests in particular, but money is money. The whole thing gets even more complicated when the woman Jack has loved for years also gets involved in the search for the book, leaving him wondering who he can trust and if he will live to see another sunrise. This is a tense and sometimes violent story and one that grabbed me from the first page. Jack is the hero you know you shouldn’t like, but you can’t help yourself