Reviews

The Emerald Lie by Ken Bruen

greenblack's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

heybender's review against another edition

3.0

started strong, fizzled out at the end

chukg's review against another edition

3.0

Okay, this is weird -- this book showed up in Libby as a suggestion, so I read it only to see that it's book 12 in a series that I had read the first book of 9 years ago and then not followed up on. I am actually not sure if I can be arsed to get around to the rest. I like the setting and it was a page turner, but kind of unsatisfying with the main character more of a punching bag/observer than one of the drivers of the action, plus the author does weird things with the text formatting and sometimes punctuation. I guess I will put book #2 on the bottom of my to-be-read pile.

tommyro's review against another edition

3.0

The Jack Taylor series so incredibly entertaining. The mix of brutality, hard-boiled detective noir, literary references and just plain outright humor, is thrilling. For example, here is Ken Bruen at his observant best:
How come word ABBREVIATION so long?

flogigyahoo's review against another edition

5.0

Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor is a private detective. His rants, quips, remarks are so much fun to read, they take over the story. In this one, a serial killer is taking out people who use bad grammar, Emily from Green Hell is back and ready to do what Taylor needs doing. There's also a peodofile who beats up Jack and we wait patiently for Jack to get revenge. A book which will make you laugh despite Bruen's tackling very sad issues. I am ready for his next. Bruen never disappoints.