"A cross is only agony if you are aware of it." Still haunted by the death of a special child, and tortured by the shooting of his surrogate son Cody, who lies in a coma unlikely to survive, Jack Taylor has his own cross to bear. He definitely feels the agony in this sixth installment in Shamus award winning author, Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor series, published in 2007 by St. Martin's Minotaur Books.
Jack Taylor
Jack Taylor is a former Guard (cop) turned investigator, from Galway, Ireland, who has just crawled out of the bottom of a bottle and a stay in a mental hospital. He has been through hell, and caused it.
Ridge
Feeling the weight of the world and the hatred of just about everyone he know, Jack's only friend is a lesbian "Ban Gardai" or female cop, named Ni Iomaire, a.k.a. Ridge. They have a love-hate relationship. They love to hate each other, but can't break free from the weird bond that has been forged between them.
Trying to keep her sometimes friend; whom she currently hates for saving her life, from drowning in alcohol and or despair, Ridge asks Taylor to help her on a case that is going nowhere, and would surely make her career if she could just catch a break.
The Victims
The victim is an 18-year old male from a respectable family, with no known criminal connections. His body has been found crucified-nailed to a cross and mounted on the hill above the city dump. There are no leads; no one saw a thing.
Taylor is a man teetering on the edge of the abyss -trying to stay sober while tracking down a psychopath. One madman seeking another, this case takes precedence over an early request to find a missing dog. This job Taylor foists off unto a new acquaintance who has recently begged for a job. Eoin Heaton is a fellow suffer. Another former Guard who lost his career because of alcohol, he thinks his dt's will end and his salvation will begin if he can just get back on a case.
The next victim is found burned alive in her car. She is Maria Willis, teenage sister of the previous victim, John Willis. The pieces begin to fall together as Taylor continues to fall apart.
Things really begin to get hot-literally, when Jack gets a little to close to the truth and his most prized possessions, his books, are left in a smoldering heap in the middle of his tiny sitting room, and the body of Eoin Heaton is found drowned, with a dog tied around his middle. Will the resolution of the case be an outcome that Taylor can live with?
Ken Bruen wraps up this thriller in a way only he can. Bruen is Noir. His style is black, bleak and brutal.Cross is 288 pages of pain and punishment Sometimes it’s hard to tell who is the criminal and who is the ex-cop as the lines between law and justice are blurred.
2007 ST Martins Press Minotaur Books
ISBN-13:978-0-312-34142-8
ISBN-10:0-312-34142-3
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