SANCTUARY, the seventh book in Ken Bruen’s dark and brilliant Jack Taylor series, picks up immediately where the previous novel, CROSS, left off. As it progresses, Taylor rights some serious wrongs, discovers some painful truths and comes close to dying as a result of his actions, as well as his addictions.
Taylor — an ex-Guard (Irish police) officer, reluctant private investigator and devoted alcoholic and drug addict — is about to board a plane to America and a new life, when his cell phone rings. It’s his friend Ridge. She’s been diagnosed with breast cancer, is scheduled for surgery, and is deeply frightened. So, of course, Taylor forgets his travel plans to be at her side.
But something else is troubling Taylor. He had earlier received a letter containing a list of intended murder victims, from someone signed “Benedictus.” Taylor has no idea why he’s been so alerted, but recent news reports confirm that Benedictus is true to his word. So he enlists the help of both Ridge and his former drug supplier, Steward — who’s recently released from a prison sentence and now heavy into Zen — to uncover the identity of Benedictus and stop the killings before they reach their climax.
As he gets deeper into the case, Taylor learns of an unexpected and personal tie to the killer. And this, along with other personal revelations, send him seeking the numbing comforts of his reliable shots of Jameson with side pints, and his new favorite drug, Xanax.
SANCTUARY is more plot-driven than most of the previous series’ titles. Those earlier stories always had their cases, but were mostly occupied with Taylor’s deadpan memories of his failed career and relationships, his caustic observations of his evolving hometown of Galway and country, reviews of his eclectic tastes in books and music, and his constant battles with booze and drugs. These are all here, but kept at a noticeable minimum. Instead, we see him racing headlong toward the resolution of the Benedictus case, solving a few sideline problems along the way, fueled by the lethal combination of drink, drugs and his seething rage.
But Taylor’s unmistakable, first-person voice is as strong here as any of the earlier novels. The prose is not as abrupt as some of the previous works. So we get to luxuriate in all the dark humor, gut-twisting ironies and despair that have made this series a standout in contemporary noir crime fiction. Buren brakes away for a few instances to follow Benedictus’s progress. But knowing that readers are more concerned with Taylor, he wisely keeps these interruptions very brief.
Bruen tries valiantly to explain Taylor’s past so new readers will understand the newly revealed truths of this novel. But in reality, they are best appreciated by those who have followed Taylor through the entire series.
If, for some reason, you haven’t yet experienced that, it’s high time you immersed yourself in this bleak and searing chronicle, starting with THE GUARDS and working you way up to this one. Bruen continues to honor the best of noir tradition while adding his own unique touches, and nowhere is that more evident than the stories of Jack Taylor, his most memorable creation. —Alan Cranis
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• BUST by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr
• THE MAX by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr
• ONCE WERE COPS by Ken Bruen
• SLIDE by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr
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