The Emerald Lie: A Jack Taylor Novel by Ken BruenMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Jack Taylor. Somewhat akin to Marmite. You either love him or hate him. I am definitely in the former camp. The Emerald Lie is #12 in the series and there is just one more: The Ghosts of Galway (awaiting delivery). I have followed Jack's story since the very first - The Guards. Ken Bruen is the master of contemporary Irish noir with his gallows humour, weird typography (which so many reviewers dislike) and unorthodox wordplay.
Jack often appears to have hit the self-destruct button. He is not getting any younger. His battle with the booze is legendary. Jack is on a downward spiral. He receives another savage beating, not one but two. He is approached by a grieving father who wants Jack to help exact revenge on those responsible for his daughters brutal murder. Jack agrees to get a lead on the likely perpetrators and then Emily appears once again (AKA Em, Emerald) - a chameleon, passionate, clever and utterly homicidal. She coerces Jack to conspire with her against the serial killer the Garda have nicknamed The Grammarian, a Cambridge graduate who becomes murderous over split infinitives, improper punctuation and any other sign of bad grammar.
I wonder how much longer Jack will survive, particularly given the cliff-hanging ending in The Emerald Lie. Jack is at his lowest ebb. Will it all be over soon? I hope not but feel a certain inevitability.....
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