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kathydavie's review against another edition
4.0
The Chronology of the Series
Eighth in the Jack Taylor suspense-mystery series set in Galway, Ireland involving an ex-Garda turned private investigator.
The Story
The economy is so far down the tubes in Ireland with unemployment and anger over the non-nationals snagging all the aid and free medical for which the locals don't qualify skyrocketing and who should show up to ensure it all goes to the dogs…at least, those that manage to keep their heads. The Devil. Mr. K. Seems he's pissed off at Jack for spoiling so many of his little side entertainments: the swan killer, the nun, the gypsies, all of it. And he's taking out people for whom Jack cares. Heck, he's taking out people to whom Jack even speaks! Even as he stalks Jack, tempting him to leave, to drop off his soul, to take that final step.
Only Jack takes a step the Devil didn't expect whereas the Devil takes a step Jack had hoped against…when a single black candle burning on a special someone's bedside table is discovered.
The Characters
Jack Taylor is an alcoholic and addicted to various forms of medication…besides the Jameson and Guiness. He believes in the power of the gun as well as the power of setting things right. You can't corrupt him…he's pretty much taken care of that himself. His life is full of regrets but not for doing what he believes is right. Kicked off the Garda, Jack has made a living as a PI, doing right for people who can't buck against the powers that be.
Ridge is a Garda with whom he's still a friend. She's suffered through a radical mastectomy and is working for a better chance at promotion and suppressing her gay side by marrying into what amounts to gentry in Galway.
Stewart is probably Jack's best friend. An ex-drug dealer whom Jack put in prison even though he'd supplied enough to Jack. He's out now and deep into Zen, doing research for Jack, and still wearing his thousands-of-pounds suits driving expensive cars.
My Take
This was weird. So not like the usual Jack Taylor installment that Bruen normally writes. Jack is not the character I would ever have thought would be involved with the supernatural. And Bruen usually includes a lot more insight with the books Jack reads. In some ways, Bruen has mellowed Jack out…must be all that Xanax that Jack is popping, trying to stay off the drink and the cigs.
In some ways, Bruen's treatment of the Devil is scarier than the usual Lucifer-infused tales if only because the Devil is in everything that we tend to see as normal human behavior. He sees all and uses his abilities/power to so easily force people into doing what they would never consider. It makes me wonder just where God is. It's not like Mr. K is allowing most of the people he's hurting in Bruen's Devil a choice or to exercise their free will. He only chooses those who are talking to Jack, wishing him well, warning him, attempting to help, acting as a sounding board.
And, the odd thing is, the Devil's interference seems to be making Jack a better man…
The Cover
Okay, the fanciful side of me sees this cover as a positive: Jack ascending a staircase with a gradient background of sunlit yellow rising through orange to blood-red to black. As though he's beginning to walk in the light although his head is not yet there. The title…ooh, yeah, the title, The Devil is simply accurate as Jack is up against the Devil himself.
Eighth in the Jack Taylor suspense-mystery series set in Galway, Ireland involving an ex-Garda turned private investigator.
The Story
The economy is so far down the tubes in Ireland with unemployment and anger over the non-nationals snagging all the aid and free medical for which the locals don't qualify skyrocketing and who should show up to ensure it all goes to the dogs…at least, those that manage to keep their heads. The Devil. Mr. K. Seems he's pissed off at Jack for spoiling so many of his little side entertainments: the swan killer, the nun, the gypsies, all of it. And he's taking out people for whom Jack cares. Heck, he's taking out people to whom Jack even speaks! Even as he stalks Jack, tempting him to leave, to drop off his soul, to take that final step.
Only Jack takes a step the Devil didn't expect whereas the Devil takes a step Jack had hoped against…when a single black candle burning on a special someone's bedside table is discovered.
The Characters
Jack Taylor is an alcoholic and addicted to various forms of medication…besides the Jameson and Guiness. He believes in the power of the gun as well as the power of setting things right. You can't corrupt him…he's pretty much taken care of that himself. His life is full of regrets but not for doing what he believes is right. Kicked off the Garda, Jack has made a living as a PI, doing right for people who can't buck against the powers that be.
Ridge is a Garda with whom he's still a friend. She's suffered through a radical mastectomy and is working for a better chance at promotion and suppressing her gay side by marrying into what amounts to gentry in Galway.
Stewart is probably Jack's best friend. An ex-drug dealer whom Jack put in prison even though he'd supplied enough to Jack. He's out now and deep into Zen, doing research for Jack, and still wearing his thousands-of-pounds suits driving expensive cars.
My Take
This was weird. So not like the usual Jack Taylor installment that Bruen normally writes. Jack is not the character I would ever have thought would be involved with the supernatural. And Bruen usually includes a lot more insight with the books Jack reads. In some ways, Bruen has mellowed Jack out…must be all that Xanax that Jack is popping, trying to stay off the drink and the cigs.
In some ways, Bruen's treatment of the Devil is scarier than the usual Lucifer-infused tales if only because the Devil is in everything that we tend to see as normal human behavior. He sees all and uses his abilities/power to so easily force people into doing what they would never consider. It makes me wonder just where God is. It's not like Mr. K is allowing most of the people he's hurting in Bruen's Devil a choice or to exercise their free will. He only chooses those who are talking to Jack, wishing him well, warning him, attempting to help, acting as a sounding board.
And, the odd thing is, the Devil's interference seems to be making Jack a better man…
The Cover
Okay, the fanciful side of me sees this cover as a positive: Jack ascending a staircase with a gradient background of sunlit yellow rising through orange to blood-red to black. As though he's beginning to walk in the light although his head is not yet there. The title…ooh, yeah, the title, The Devil is simply accurate as Jack is up against the Devil himself.
greenblack's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jeffrossbooks's review against another edition
Ken Bruen is an amazing writer. This one I don't know was going on. There is no mystery, really, which is fine. Then the Devil shows up and gets angry about a bunch of Jack Taylor's old cases. Then the devil starts killing anyone Jack talks to. Then Jack kills the devil. Then the devil shows up somewhere else quoting Rolling Stones lyrics. Add in some heavy drinking, Xanax, and a return to smoking, diatribes about non-nationals and repeat. I truly love Ken bruen's writing, and will read anything he puts out. And being with Jack Taylor for a couple of days again was great. But I honestly have no idea what Bruen was trying to do here. Battle the greatest evil? Reference all his past books? If you've read the rest of the Taylor series, you'll need to read this one too. And then sit back and wait for the next installment and hope it's as good as Cross or Sanctuary.
I
I
yorugua1891's review
5.0
"So, the Devil is hanging out in airports, looking for poor bastards who get refused entry to America?"
When I started reading this book and realized that Bruen had decided to introduce the character of the Devil into the story I tried not to like it. The main reason for this was that it was taking the plot to a completely different place, incorporating fantastic elements in it. I swear I was ready not to like it, ready to take the smallest defects I could find and harp in them. But then it happened, with his usual ability, Bruen drew me in and I was hopelessly lost. Whether Jack Taylor is fighting against his inner demons, or dealing with the Devil himself, we still get a mesmerizing story, with outstanding writing, and from which I could not peel my eyes off until the final page.
As has been the case in the previous books in this series, Jack Taylor is trying to finally make it to America, but at this point it does not surprise us that something gets in his way. When he meets an unusual character after the failed attempt at the airport, things get really interesting and horrifying in a jiffy.
Of course, there is the usual battle with addiction that Jack fights, in some cases harder than in others. There are the support characters that we have come to cherish, Ridge and Stewart. We also find the lists Bruen likes to include in the middle of the narrative and that readers of this series enjoy and look forward to. the one main difference with previous installments in that instead of getting a variety of side plots, here all the lights are on the main story. Jack vs. the Devil, let the fight begin!
When I started reading this book and realized that Bruen had decided to introduce the character of the Devil into the story I tried not to like it. The main reason for this was that it was taking the plot to a completely different place, incorporating fantastic elements in it. I swear I was ready not to like it, ready to take the smallest defects I could find and harp in them. But then it happened, with his usual ability, Bruen drew me in and I was hopelessly lost. Whether Jack Taylor is fighting against his inner demons, or dealing with the Devil himself, we still get a mesmerizing story, with outstanding writing, and from which I could not peel my eyes off until the final page.
As has been the case in the previous books in this series, Jack Taylor is trying to finally make it to America, but at this point it does not surprise us that something gets in his way. When he meets an unusual character after the failed attempt at the airport, things get really interesting and horrifying in a jiffy.
Of course, there is the usual battle with addiction that Jack fights, in some cases harder than in others. There are the support characters that we have come to cherish, Ridge and Stewart. We also find the lists Bruen likes to include in the middle of the narrative and that readers of this series enjoy and look forward to. the one main difference with previous installments in that instead of getting a variety of side plots, here all the lights are on the main story. Jack vs. the Devil, let the fight begin!
csdaley's review
3.0
I love the Jack Taylor novels and like the ones in the past the writing is beautiful in this book. However, I really have no clue why Bruen introduced a supernatural element into the 8th book of a series. There is part of me that thinks the next book is going to start with him in a hospital bed having overdosed on cocaine and this book never happened. If you took Taylor out it would have been a more entertaining horror novel but me thinking about Taylor kept getting in the way. I am probably going to pretend like this book never actually happened.
eush's review
1.0
Far and away the worst of the Jack Taylor novels. If I wanted supernatural elements in my detective novels, I would not be reading Jack Taylor.
kfrench1008's review
2.0
The Jack Taylor series, which peaked with #3, The Magdalen Martyrs, limps into #8. Bruen is mostly repeating himself here (sometimes within this book itself) while adding a preposterous supernatural plot. What's next for Jack? A visit from aliens? Bruen should go back to his Sgt. Brant series, which is much better.
angrygreycatreads's review against another edition
3.0
The Devil is the 8th book in the Jack Taylor series and goes in a completely different direction, the supernatural, than the other books. The Devil of the title is the actual devil, whom Jack Taylor goes head to head with in a battle where Jack, alcoholic, drug addicted, half deaf and lame, represents hope (a horrifying concept in and of itself) and the devil is, well the devil. The writing, the prose itself, is as always hauntingly beautiful. I am just not so sure how I feel about this change of course in the series. I will have to read the next one and see.
5wamp_creature's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoy the cast of characters orbiting Jack Taylor. They keep things interesting. This episode has a metaphysical element and is a little less quality. It works well but not great.
stanl's review against another edition
5.0
Brutally brilliant. KB, at least in his titles, indicates a theological quest. Jack Taylor equals Job on the ash heap in trying to put together his world.