Review of "Galway Confidential: A Jack Taylor Mystery" by Ken Bruen

This review was first posted on Mystery & Suspense Magazine. Check it out for features, interviews, and reviews. https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/ga...

3.5 stars

Jack Taylor was an officer in the Garda Síochána (Irish Police) until he was dismissed from the force. Jack is now a private detective in Galway, known for his addiction to Jameson Irish Whiskey and for his skills as a private investigator. Still, when a client approaches Jack he always insists, "Cases got solved around me, very rarely did I actually find the solution."



As the story opens Jack is awakening from an 18-month-long coma, the result of being knifed on a bridge during his last case. When Jack opens his eyes, a stranger named Raftery is there, and Raftery explains that he witnessed the attack on Jack, threw the perpetrator off the bridge, and saved Jack's life.



Raftery, who hosts a crime podcast called 'Galway Confidential,' seems to believe that old saying about how if you save someone's life, you're responsible for them, and he becomes a fixture in Jack's life.

In between bouts of physical therapy and counseling, Jack studies the Internet, to learn what's happened over the last couple of years. In addition to reading about sports, politics, people, and television, Jack learns there's an ongoing Covid pandemic, which is a shock.



After Jack is released from the hospital he's approached by a former nun named Sheila Winston. Sheila explains that someone is attacking local nuns with a hammer, the Garda isn't making progress with the case, and she wants Jack to investigate. Jack is skeptical about his chances, but he pursues the culprit with Raftery's help.



Meanwhile, two sadistic juvenile delinquents called Scott and Tony are setting fire to homeless drunks.



A derelict boozer named Geary asks Jack to help the vagrant community.....



.....and Jack, who can't go five minutes without a shot of Jameson, goes undercover as an alkie to catch the hooligans. This ends up causing all kinds of trouble.



As Jack works his two cases he tries to help a priest get sober; consults with an Irish Guard called Owen Daglish; and is persuaded to adopt an orphaned Shih Tzu pup called Trip.



Author Ken Bruen sprinkles recent cultural references through the story, such as Serbian tennis ace Novak Djokovic not being allowed to play in the 2022 Australian Tennis Open because he wasn't vaccinated;



the guilty verdict on sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell;



Russia's invasion of Ukraine;



the attack on novelist Salman Rushdie;



people selling T-shirts that say: Guns don't kill people; Alec Baldwin does; and more.



Also included are fun aphorisms about confidentiality like: the Irish feel that confidentiality is really little more than a notion not to share; and keeping something confidential in Galway means you only tell two people instead of three.

It's good to see Jack Taylor going strong and interesting to get a peek at the ambiance of Galway, with it's Roman Catholicism; Irish slang; bars and pubs; and street justice.


Galway

Thanks to Netgalley, Ken Bruen, and Mysterious Press for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Princess of Las Vegas: A Novel" by Chris Bohjalian

Las Vegas is rife with tribute shows, and visitors can enjoy ersatz versions of Mick Jagger, Frank Sinatra, Janis Joplin, Prince, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Lady Gaga, the Carpenters, and more.



In that group of entertainers, Crissy Dowling is unique because she does a tribute show to Princess Diana. Crissy looks remarkably like Diana, and though Crissy grew up in Vermont, she's perfected a posh British accent......which often creeps into her everyday speech.



Crissy has a residence at the Buckingham Palace Casino (BP), a less than stellar venue that's 'off the strip', where high rollers DON'T stay. Still, Crissy's show - in which her Princess Diana tells stories and sings tunes by Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield, and Bonnie Tyler - is VERY popular. In fact many fans see the show multiple times and send Crissy gifts.



Conversely, in her real life, Crissy is a mess. Crissy had a difficult childhood; her stepfather committed suicide; she's semi-estranged from her younger sister Betsy; she recently lost her mother; she's bulimic; and her adulterous senator boyfriend has decided to go back with his wife. Crissy copes with her situation by drinking and popping pills like Adderall and Valium. In fact, there's not a minute in the day when Crissy is stone cold sober.



Nevertheless, Crissy is fairly happy with her situation since she has a satisfying job, a decent apartment in the BP, a personal cabana at the BP's pool, and people she can rely on.



Crissy's friends include Nigel Ferguson, who plays Prince Charles in her show;



and Eddie Cantone, the entertainment director at the BP.



Unfortunately, Crissy's situation is now threatening to go downhill. A consortium called Futurium, which deals in cryptocurrency, is determined to buy the BP. Futurium is really a group of gangsters who'll do anything to get their way, including murder.



Futurium arranges for the death of BP's owners; buys corrupt cops, lawyers, and judges; and has plans to get a 'friendly' politician elected as a senator. In a roundabout way, this nefarious project involves Crissy.

Crissy's sister Betsy, who's just adopted a 13-year-old girl named Marisa, decides to move to Las Vegas with her boyfriend, a Futurium investor called Frankie Limback.



Crissy is less than thrilled to have Betsy living nearby, and things get even worse when Betsy - who looks almost identical to Crissy except for her hair - gets drawn into a scheme to impersonate Crissy and benefit Futurium.



The novel is compelling, kept my attention, and made me eager to see how things turn out. My major criticism is that Betsy, who's an educated social worker, is rather naive with respect to Futurium. On the other hand, Betsy's adopted daughter Marisa is a computer prodigy and math whiz who has her head screwed on right.



I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to fans of suspense novels.

Thanks to Netgalley, Chris Bohjalian, and Doubleday for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "Dead Lions: Slough House #2" by Mick Herron

This is the 2nd book in Mick Herron's 'Slough House' (Slow Horses) series, about British MI5 agents who've made a bad mistake and are relegated to working in a dilapidated building called Slough House. The agents, called 'slow horses', are given nothing but monotonous paperwork to do, and are itching to get back in the game.

The slow horse brigade consists of Catherine Standish - a recovering alcoholic who's well organized and capable.



Louisa Guy - a sharp young woman; and Min Harper - a headstrong young man. These two agents have become romantically involved.



Roderick Ho - a computer whiz;



River Cartwright - an ambitious fellow whose grandfather was an MI5 agent;



Marcus Longridge - a forward-thinking newcomer to Slough House;



and Shirley Dander - a clever woman who's just joined Slough House.



The man in charge of Slough House is former spy master Jackson Lamb, an offensive slob who hurls insults at people, smokes too much, eats too much, and needs to shower and use deodorant. Regardless, Lamb feels compelled to look out for his 'joes' (agents), even those he worked with decades ago.



Thus when a long-ago informer called Dickie Bough is found dead on a bus, Lamb investigates.



Lamb believes Bough was murdered, and his suspicions are confirmed when Lamb finds Bough's cell phone between the bus seats, with an unsent text reading 'Cicadas'.....a word used for Russian sleeper agents. The slow horses are given the task of scanning CCTV footage to look for Dickie Bough and whoever was following him, and to determine where the perpetrator went after killing Dickie.

This eventually leads the investigators to an isolated country town called Upshott, which was built near a military base that has now closed down. The one outstanding feature of Upshott is a flying school and tiny air field, with several residents who fly small planes.



River Cartwright goes to Upshott undercover as a writer, and he mingles with the residents and tries to sniff out skullduggery. River gets involved with a pretty female pilot, which leads to trouble.



While all this is going on, an agent called Spider Webb - who works at Regents Park (the REAL MI5 headquarters) - recruits slow horses Louisa Guy and Min Harper for his own project.



Spider has arranged for a meeting between a Russian oil baron and British representatives, and Louisa and Min are in charge of security for the Russian. Spider believes the oil deal will benefit Britain and result in Spider's own professional advancement.

It turns out that there's a connection between Dickie Bough's death, the town of Upshott, and the Russian oil baron. All this leads to an exciting climax, with the slow horses getting in on the action.

For me, this story - with lots of Russian names - got a little confusing, but Heron's characters and humor make the book worth reading. I keep hoping that miserable worm Spider Webb and his manipulative self-serving boss Diana Taverner will get thrown out of Regents Park, but we'll have to see about that.



The Slough House books have been adapted into mini-series that can be seen on the small screen. However the 'Dead Lions' episodes depart somewhat from the story in the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "Pushing Ice: A Science Fiction Novel" by Alastair Reynolds

 

By the year 2057 worldwide corporations, under the aegis of the United Earth Entities, are mining the outer solar system. One mining ship called Rockhopper.....

.....captained by Bella Lind, extracts ice from comets.



Rockhopper is going about its business when Janus, an ice moon circling Saturn, abandons its orbit and heads for outer space.



As the ice sloughs off Janus's surface it's clear the 'moon' is an alien craft, perhaps put in place to spy on our solar system.



Rockhopper's corporate owners instruct Captain Lind to follow Janus as far as is practicable, sending back reports along the way. To accomplish this Bella must determine how much fuel Rockhopper has, so she knows when to terminate surveillance and return home.



There's a fly in the ointment however. Chief Engineer Svetlana Barseghian thinks the corporation is digitally finagling the fuel data, so Rockhopper will follow Janus for a longer time and send back more valuable data.



Rockhopper would then be stranded in outer space, with insufficient fuel to get back to Earth.

This situation turns into a major conflict between Bella - who wants to continue the mission, and Svetlana - who wants Rockhopper to turn back immediately.



Bella and Svetlana have a HUGE falling out over this, and the women - who were once good friends - become bitter enemies. The resulting conflict is threaded through the remainder of the novel.

As things play out Rockhopper gets caught in Janus's 'slipstream' and CAN'T turn around. The mining ship therefore lands on Janus, and the crew tucks in for the long haul as Janus heads for the star Spica.



I don't want to say more about the plot because it's fun to see the story unfold bit by bit.

Skirting spoilers, there are still some things I can divulge.

♦ A Chinese spaceship also sets out to follow Janus.



♦ A large black cube inscribed with Leonardo DaVinci's 'Vetruvian Man' is found in outer space.



♦ Various alien species make an appearance, including 'Fountainheads' - who can rejuvenate living creatures and make them younger; 'Whisperers' - invisible creatures who make their presence known by manipulating objects; the 'Uncontained' - malevolent beings who cause chaos and death; and 'Musk Dogs' - creatures that look like assemblages of misshapen canines. They urinate and slobber everywhere they go.



The novel is essentially about establishing a society in hostile surroundings with no advance preparation and minimal supplies.



The book contains an array of interesting, but somewhat two-dimensional characters.



Reynolds does better with depictions of technology, and the narrative contains imaginative descriptions of spaceships; ice mining; alien habitats; exotic machinery; light speed space travel; cryostasis; and more.



On the downside, the story has abrupt shifts in time, which are confusing, and a murky finale that doesn't quite satisfy. Still it's a good tale, recommended to fans of hard science fiction.

Rating: 3.5 stars