How Will Jack Taylor
Survive His Latest Calamity?
PRIEST
By Ken Bruen
St. Martin's Minotaur
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-34140-4
Reviewed by Sharon Greer
That old booze-hound, Jack Taylor, is back in full force in Ken Bruen's recent novel, Priest.
This time he manages to keep away from the alcohol albeit using strange methods. One of them is to go into a bar, order a drink, let it sit there without consuming it, then leave. It seems to work for Jack.
Just released from a mental institution because of a shattering personal loss, a new investigation opens up for him. A paedophile priest, Father Joyce, has been found decapitated in the confessional box.
Taylor's goal is to find out who was behind this macabre act. But there are a number of former altar boys with plenty of motivation to destroy this priest so Taylor needs to dig deep to solve the case.
Added to this situation are the descriptions of the nightmarish alcohol withdrawal symptoms that Taylor has to withstand. Bruen has truly created a unique character in Jack Taylor. The Philadelphia Inquirer called Taylor's persona a, "Celtic Dashiell Hammett."
Ken Bruen's series on Jack Taylor always elicits a piercing experience of the "new" Ireland. And in this latest story, a sense of the chaos and confusion of the Irish culture that once held the Catholic church in such high esteem.
This biting social commentary is good to the astonishing finale, leaving readers speculating
on how Taylor will survive the latest calamity.
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