Ken Bruen 's The Guards

reviewed Charlie Stella

What a read, what a writer! Great stuff! It’s a one of a kind but for those in need of some reference, The Guards presents some of Ellroy’s style, more sophisticated cynical wit than Parker, and Bruen’s Jack Taylor is a more convincing drunk than is Block’s guy. Think about that … The Guards is at par with (if not better than) three of crime fiction’s best.

Quite frankly, for me it was the Charles Bukowski-like touch I found most compelling. Any man unafraid to describe his wake-up retching is a man I’ll follow 300 pages (at least). As I already said in a previous article, after I had just started reading The Guards, if the author is as good a drinker as his protagonist, he’s my new best friend.

The plot isn’t earth shattering (but an interesting, well-told story never need be) … a former Guard (The Republic of Ireland has a national police force called the Guarda Siochana), Jack Taylor is a most cynical drunk with a good ear and better thirst for what goes on around him. He was tossed from the force after countless/numerous warnings/reprieves … back when his thirst had become too disgraceful to his brethren in uniform (who also like to partake but on a less public stage).

Thus, a P.I. was born.

When a woman approaches him about her young daughter who committed suicide (the mother was told but doesn’t believe), Jack finds himself with an envelope of money and too much of a conscience to let sleeping dogs lie.

But just what brought Jack to be so smartly cynical and so conscientious? Libraries, for one thing … against his mother’s best wishes (and with his father’s blessing), Jack fell for words in books in a library. The other catalyst for Jack’s destiny was hurling (the sport, not the upchuck). I looked this up on the net because I had no clue: Hurling is a game similar to hockey, in that it is played with a small ball and a curved wooden stick. It is Europe's oldest field game. It’s a physically demanding game and Jack "got big" from it.

Bruen sets up most chapters with a little quote or mini-epigram and they are all clever choices. I had a few favorites, including one from Elmore Leonard’s Be Cool, where Chili Palmer and Linda discuss "using each other."

Jack, with one of his best friends (Sutton), does some dirty stuff before going on a bender that lands him in an abuse treatment joint. It’s the kind of dirty stuff we’ve all dreamed of doing at some point in our life (I think), taking down a piece of shit deserves it, but our dreams never come to fruition. Maybe if we were juiced just enough, though …

How the demons come to haunt poor Jack afterward is convincing. Just take that dream one (or two) steps further and you’re there.

When Jack is confronted by a fellow boozer named Bill, a drunk too used to the treatment game, (you know, the overly friendly sort of chap you want to punch but can’t [or shouldn’t—not yet anyway]), he describes the end of their encounter thus:

"And, to my absolute horror, he (Bill) fucking winked. If I live to be a hundred, doubtful thought that be, I’ll never forget it. Stands as one of those moments of pure unadulterated awfulness. Fighting to keep my face in neutral, I said …"

The story doesn’t move too quickly (although the book does) … and I never mind it at all … Jack is too interesting to worry about plot/story anyway … like I said, I’d follow this guy for at least 300 pages before I even wondered about the rest of "the details". He does sleep with the dead girl’s mom and they seem to have something going for them right before the aforementioned drinking demons land Jack back on his back. But a good man doesn’t stay down long and we find Jack on the trail again (after the new woman in his life brushes him off for the trouble she assumes most drunks eventually become—skip this part, Principessa). And when another young girl is found drowned (#10 officially), Jack’s buddy (Sutton) reappears at Jack’s new digs (he’s been evicted from his previous crib), an old hotel in Galway described so well you wanna live there (at least visit). Add a wino’s tip on a horse, some Knucks’ Preakness-like winnings, and Jack finds himself mourning the death of the tipster and once more once, finishing what he’d started so long ago …

Here the plot twists a bit and I won’t tell what happens next … a few cleverly subtle surprises, and you can add a Tom Waits quote (always a huge plus for me) and what I thought was the best narrative (and sentence) in a book full of great narrative (and sentences).

"The heat was ferocious. Story of my life, the hordes head for the beach, I’m going to the graveyard. Sunshine bounced off the headstones like calculated revenge. I knelt at Sean’s and said, …"

The other plus to this novel is you get a taste of Ireland (a place I know too little about). Ken Bruen is a guy I’ll be adding to the short list of crime writers I don’t skip.

Like my son Charles (not Charlie) would say: "The Guards is phatty bombastic and way cool in the ‘03".

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Copyright © 2003 Charlie Stella

CHARLIE STELLA writes most of his novels extremely fast. He is an opera fanatic and a theatre lover at heart. He relies on dialogue to tell his stories and is currently working on screenplays as well as new novels. After enthusiastic reviews for EDDIE’S WORLD, Carroll & Graf bought JIMMY BENCH-PRESS (Carroll & Graf, December 2002) and CHARLIE OPERA (Carroll & Graf, December 2003). CHEAPSKATES will be published by Carroll & Graf in March, 2005. Charlie looks forward to a day when writing and teaching are all he might do to earn a living.