The Emerald Lie

Title:

The Emerald Lie

Author:

Subject:

Description:

Ken Bruen is beloved for his black humor, verse-like prose, and irascible protagonist Jack Taylor, an ex-cop who is as addicted to trouble as he is to Jameson, pills, and pop culture. In The Emerald Lie, the latest terror to be visited upon the dark Galway streets arrives in a most unusual form: a Cambridge graduate who becomes murderous over split infinitives, dangling modifiers, and any other sign of bad grammar. Meanwhile, Jack is approached by a grieving father with a pocketful of cash on offer if Jack will help exact revenge on those responsible for his daughter's brutal rape and murder. Though hesitant to get involved, Jack agrees to get a read on the likely perpetrators. But Jack is soon derailed by the reappearance of Emily (previous alias: Emerald), the chameleon-like young woman who joined forces with Jack to take down her pedophile father in Green Hell and who remains passionate, clever, and utterly homicidal. She will use any sort of coercion to get Jack to conspire with her against the serial killer the Garda have nicknamed "the Grammarian," but her most destructive obsession just might be Jack himself.

Publisher:

Grove Atlantic

Date:

2016-09-06

Digital Format:

HOOPLA E BOOK

Summary

An Irish crime novel featuring ex-cop Jack Taylor from an author "among the most original and innovative noir voices of the last two decades" ( Los Angeles Review of Books ) .

In The Emerald Lie , the latest terror to be visited upon the dark Galway streets arrives in a most unusual form: a Cambridge graduate who becomes murderous over split infinitives, dangling modifiers, and any other sign of bad grammar. Meanwhile, Jack is approached by a grieving father with a pocketful of cash on offer if Jack will help exact revenge on those responsible for his daughter's brutal rape and murder. Though hesitant to get involved, Jack agrees to get a read on the likely perpetrators.

But Jack is soon derailed by the reappearance of Emily (previous alias: Emerald), the chameleon-like young woman who joined forces with Jack to take down her pedophile father in Green Hell and who remains passionate, clever, and utterly homicidal. She will use any sort of coercion to get Jack to conspire with her against the serial killer the Garda have nicknamed "the Grammarian," but her most destructive obsession just might be Jack himself.

"Nobody writes like Ken Bruen, with his ear for lilting Irish prose and his taste for the kind of gallows humor heard only at the foot of the gallows." --Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

Author Notes

Ken Bruen (b. 1951) is one of the most prominent Irish crime writers of the last two decades. Born in Galway, he spent twenty-five years traveling the world before he began writing in the mid 1990s. As an English teacher, Bruen worked in South Africa, Japan, and South America, where he once spent a short time in a Brazilian jail. He has two long-running series: one starring a disgraced former policeman named Jack Taylor, the other a London police detective named Inspector Brant. Praised for their sharp insight into the darker side of today's prosperous Ireland, Bruen's novels are marked by grim atmosphere and clipped prose. Among the best known are his White Trilogy (1998-2000) and The Guards (2001), the Shamus award-winning first novel in the Jack Taylor series. Along with his wife and daughter, Bruen continues to live and work in Galway.

Reviews (1)

Library Journal Review

The 12th entry in Bruen's Jack Taylor series shows the former cop nominally dealing with two cases-the first finds him approached by a devastated and well-connected father to look into the rape and murder of his daughter, while the second involves a serial killer, nicknamed "the Grammarian," who chooses victims based on their poor use of language. Also keeping Jack busy is Emily (Emerald, from Green Hell), and her return has an unsettling impact. Plot is relatively unimportant here, as the first case is wrapped up in the book's first third, and "the Grammarian" is identified before the halfway mark. Rather, this is a long, meandering novel with a worn-out, beaten-down man, who has lost all of his meaningful relationships and given into his demons, finding peace only in the form of his dog and musings on literature and popular culture. Jack is a memorable protagonist, and Bruen fleshes out minor characters to excellent effect. Less successful are the not-quite-credible interludes involving the Grammarian that distract from the narrative of Jack's decline. Verdict Readers unfamiliar with the series probably could start here without confusion but would be better served by reading earlier entries first. Fans of the series will be delighted, although the book ends with questions about where things will go next. [See Prepub Alert, 3/14/16; library marketing.]-Julie Elliott, Indiana Univ. Lib., South Bend © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.