In the Galway Silence
Ken Bruen
Publisher: The Mysterious Press
Summary
Ex-cop Jack Taylor, with all his rogue poetic charm and Jameson-fueled riffs on pop culture, is one of the most iconic characters in crime fiction. This series has a devoted readership, with fans including critics like Adam Woog (Seattle Times) and David J. Montgomery (Strand Magazine). In the Galway Silence picks up after a spectacularly bloody ending to The Ghosts of Galway, which involved the death of a character who had prominently featured in the last few books in the series. This is an intensely plotted new installment which reveals much about Jack’s personal life—including that he has a daughter he never knew about. In Bruen’s typical cleverly playful fashion, In the Galway Silence also features a cameo by a crime writer who very closely resembles Bruen himself (“in his fifties but looked older; an alleged stint in a South American jail had given him preternaturally totally white hair”). The first Jack Taylor novel, The Guards, Bookscans over 17,000 in paperback, was shortlisted for the Edgar, Barry, and Macavity awards, and won the Shamus Award for Best Novel. The fifth book, Priest, was also a finalist for the Edgar and Barry awards. The Jack Taylor series has been adapted for TV in a series starring Iain Glen (Game of Thrones), available for streaming on Netflix. Two Bruen novels have also been made into feature films: London Boulevard (starring Colin Farrell) and Blitz (starring Jason Statham). In 2016, Ken Bruen was awarded the iBAM! (Irish Books, Arts, and Music) Literature Award, presented in Chicago.