Product Description

Two guards; one nun; one judge. When a letter containing a list of victims arrives in the post, PI Jack Taylor is sickened, but tells himself the list has nothing to do with him. He has enough to do just staying sane. His close friend Ridge is recovering from surgery, and alcohol's siren song is calling to him ever more insistently. A guard and then a judge die in mysterious circumstances. But it is not until a child is added to the list that Taylor determines to find the identity of the killer, and stop them at any cost. What he doesn't know is that his relationship with the killer is far closer than he thinks. And that it's about to become deeply personal. Spiked with dark humour, seasoned with acute insights about the perils of urbanisation, and fuelled by rage at man's inhumanity to man, this is crime-writing at its darkest and most original.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #220181 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 336 pages

From the Back Cover
Two guards; one nun; one judge.
When a letter containing a list of victims arrives in the post, PI Jack Taylor is sickened, but tells himself the list has nothing to do with him. He has enough to do just staying sane.
A guard and then a judge die in mysterious circumstances. But it is not until a child is added to the list that Taylor determines to find the identity of the killer, and stop them at any cost.
What he doesn't know is that his relationship with the killer is far closer than he thinks. And that it's about to become deeply personal.
Spiked with dark humour, and fuelled by rage at man's inhumanity to man, this is crime-writing at its darkest and most original.

About the Author
Ken Bruen was born in Galway, Ireland. After turning down a place at RADA, and completing a doctorate in Metaphysics, he spent 25 years as an English teacher in Africa, Japan, South East Asia and South America. An unscheduled stint in a Brazilian prison where he suffered physical and mental abuse spurred him to write, and after a brief spell teaching in London, he returned to Galway, where he now lives with his daughter. Sanctuary is the seventh novel in the award-winning Jack Taylor series.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant!!
First Sentence: Dear Mr. Taylor, Please forgive the formality.

Jack Taylor has sold his apartment and is ready to head to the US when his friend, Ridge, announces she has malignant breast cancer, so he stays to help her. He then receives the letter stating two guards, one nun, one judge and a child will die and he is to be witness.

His once friend, now enemy, Guarda Superintendent Clancy, doesn't give it any credence, but Jack does follows up, with the help of now-recovered Ridge and other friends.

I begin each new Bruen book afraid the quality won't be has high as the last. I had nothing to fear. Bruen is not for everyone: Jack is a character you don't necessarily like, but about whom you do care.

The story is hard-edged, violent and emotional. The alternating voices of conversational first person and chilling third person is extremely effective.

Bruen's descriptions of the city, observations on the changes prosperity have wrought on Galway, as well as dark humor and sensitivity make him a remarkable writer. The story and writing are spare, brutal, physically and emotionally harsh, tragic and brilliant.

illustrates the complexity of the human mind -the power to hate, to love and to forgive.
Jack's sold his apartment and he's off to warmer climates, where he can lie in the sun. He's sitting on his suitcase waiting for a cab when his mobile rings....

So Jack stays, and then the letter arrives, the one that alerts him to the proposed killings of - two Guards, one nun, one judge and one child. Jack is unperturbed by the first three, he's sure they deserved it, but the last one - no.

After the death of a guard and a judge, Jack attempts to speak with Superintendent Clancy, but getting nothing but abuse, eventually sets out to find the killer before he/she goes too far.

This episode is a milestone in Jack's life as he receives information that changes everything for him , and dramatically illustrates the complexity of the human mind -the power to hate, to love and to forgive.

As ever, the book is full of humour, sadness, despair, rage and human weakness.. Maybe it's my guilt at being brought up a Catholic, but a Ken Bruen book always makes me feel better. Recommended.
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Lizzie Hayes