Novel set in Overijssel 1961
Crime mystery set in GALWAY CITY
15th May 2025
Galway Confidential by Ken Bruen, crime mystery set in Galway City.
This novel came into the TripFiction offices on the day that the author died, 29 March 2025 and the book was due to be published just a couple of days after his death.
This is the first book by Bruen that I have read and have discovered he has been a prolific writer in his lifetime and there are already several titles in the Jack Taylor series. His character is a PI based in Galway City, a man with a distinct alcohol problem (Jameson is his tipple of choice). As the book opens, Covid is still ravaging the populace and economy, and he awakens from a lengthy coma after suffering a knife attack. The world has significantly changed during his incarceration. He is hardly out of hospital and he is prevailed upon to look into assaults that are being carried out on nuns. The violence seems to be increasing with each attack and the fear is that it is only a matter of time until a death occurs.
This story evolves in quite a random way, with several rabbit holes. Early on there is a quick chapter thrown in highlighting the horror of the mother-and-baby homes, discovered by an amateur historian, Catherine Corless. Jack then gets involved briefly in a second case, whereby delinquents are setting fire to homeless people and he deals with them in his inimitable way. He also has to have a “talk” with a woman who is pestering one of his associates….
Throughout the story the author rambles on about current events, to pinpoint the trajectory of the evolving story (I imagine, why else would he do this?) – from Djokovic being denied access to Australia and the Australian Open, through Boris Johnson’s resignation to the death of the Queen – 2022 was clearly a busy year for news. And the on-going invasion of Ukraine, of course. If I am honest, the cited events felt more like padding for what is a very thinly-drawn storyline. It is a book of of around 250 pages that is sparsely composed, comprising staccato, functional dialogue, short sentences and arbitrary quotes, which sort of make sense but… (from people like Sylvia Plath: I desire / The things / That will / Destroy me / In the end). And yet, it is really quite an engaging style. It took me 2 hours thereabouts to read this hardback, which initially felt like it would be a good-sized read. In fact it has quite a large font (which actually is very nice and makes for easy reading) and if the typeface were reduced to the more usual size, the book would be extremely slim – with an obvious issue of quality and quantity, given the retail price of £20. Overall the style is interesting but it is one that does not really encourage connection. It’s like watching the main character stagger through a haze of alcohol.
Jack has “..a reputation for finding answers where the situation seems impossible..” but he does flail around looking for resolution, invariably buoyed by the bottle. There are some nice touches of peremptory, dark humour.
Setting is reasonably well portrayed, which includes a visit to The Galleon in Salthill, and Jack takes his little dog (bequeathed to him by a nun) for walks around the area, but it really isn’t overly strong on location.
Overall, this book really wasn’t altogether for me but the author is very popular and has several accolades to his name. Elsewhere this novel has some stand-out reviews.
Tina for the TripFiction Team
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