Purgatory
Written by Ken Bruen
Narrated by Gerry O'Brien
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Someone is scraping the scum off the streets of Galway, and they want Jack Taylor to get involved. A drug pusher, a rapist, a loan shark, all targeted in what look like vigilante attacks. And the killer is writing to Jack, signing their name: C-33.
Jack has had enough. He doesn't need the money, and doesn't want to get involved. But when his friend Stewart gets drawn in, it seems he isn't been given a choice. In the meantime, Jack is being courted by Reardon, a charismatic billionaire intent on buying up much of Galway, and begins a tentative relationship with Reardon's PR director, Kelly.
Caught between heaven and hell, there's only one path for Jack Taylor to take: Purgatory.
A Random House UK audio production.
Ken Bruen
Ken Bruen has been a finalist for the Edgar and Anthony Awards, and has won a Macavity Award, a Barry Award, and two Shamus Awards for the Jack Taylor series. He is also the author of the Inspector Brant series. Several of Bruen's novels have been adapted for the screen: The first six Jack Taylor novels were adapted into a television series starring Iain Glen; Blitz was adapted into a movie starring Jason Statham; and London Boulevard was adapted into a film starring Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley. Bruen lives in Galway, Ireland.
More audiobooks from Ken Bruen
Bibliomysteries Volume 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Purgatory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Green Hell: A Jack Taylor Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Headstone: A Jack Taylor Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Purgatory
Related audiobooks
The Lucky Cat Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ace of Clubs: Part 3 of the Red Dog Conspiracy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Superhero's Death Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAin't Misbehavin' Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus Betrayal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Moon and Stars Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Gatsby (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Enemy Within: Mission Earth, Volume 3 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Party Crashers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Earl of Mine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Charlie Cobb 1-5: The Complete Series Boxset Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Firestorm: A Garrett Kohl Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Buy a Bullet: An Orphan X Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Piccadilly Jim (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeadwood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Best Man to Die Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5She Stoops To Conquer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Net Will Appear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Trail of the Red Diamonds: Golden Age Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wilde At Heart (The Wilde Girls Series, Book 2) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCatriona (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFallen: A Cassidy & Spenser Thriller Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Crime Thriller For You
The Godfather: 50th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mystic River Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hit and Run Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stillwater Girls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Woman in the Library, The Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crooked House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder on the Orient Express: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Club: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cleaning the Gold: A Jack Reacher and Will Trent Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Win Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notes on an Execution: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Colorado Kid Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death on the Nile: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5River Wild: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hallowe'en Party: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifth Suspect Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murderer's Maid: A Lizzie Borden Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two for the Dough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plain Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5These Silent Woods: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fractured: A Will Trent Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Devil's Song Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Purgatory
38 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bruen has matured and does more than shovel despondent wretchedness at you as he ages Taylor (complete with hearing aid). Many lit, music, contemporary references, murders, binges, and Dublin on its last legs, but hope is not completely lost as in the earlier books. I need a star on the horizon to keep me going in life, and in books. Maybe it's just me, but I don't want a crapworld rubbed in my face all the time. Sometimes that seems to be Bruen's goal.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a Jack Taylor novel, and I enjoyed the tv show on netflix, so I was looking forward to trying out some of the novels. While some of Bruen's writing style bugs me, overall I enjoyed this one. I wish the TV show included a homosexual female cop like the one Taylor relies on in this book. Perhaps such inclusiveness would have hurt ratings, especially in more conservative parts of Ireland, but I like the dynamics in this book with such a character involved.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack Taylor is one of the most original characters in fiction. He is an ex-guard, a crusty and dark and cynical individual, a good friend to a few, bad news to those who cross him or the ones he loves, he loves to read and a friend keeps his apartment stocked with novels. Though he once had every bad habit known to man, in this novel he has quit drinking his beloved Jameson's, in fact he has quit drinking period, he has quit smoking and other bad habits that threatened to shorten his life. He has quit taking cases, but of course, someone close to him gets him involved. Fate has other plans for him. Not everyone will like Bruen's staccato style of writing, his witty observations and one-liners, his irreverence but those of us who do hope this author keeps writing these novels for a long time. In fact I liked one of his lines so much I just have to repeat it, Jack Taylor is a recovering Catholic. She laughed, Jesus wept.ARC from publisher.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack Taylor is in a relatively calm place. Recovering from events of the previous book he’s off the drink and drugs and he’s even given up smoking. Those that have spent time with Jack previously will know that things are about to change and not for the better. This 10th instalment in the series sees the eponymous hero receiving notes from a vigilante killer who wants Jack to join in on the fun. But the notes find Jack in a can’t be bothered kind of mood, even telling a potential client “No.” before she even opened her mouth. So the vigilante moves on to Stewart, Jack’s sole remaining true friend, and start sending notes to him instead while still trying to get Jack involved. Meanwhile, there’s a new player in town, Reardon is looking to buy up all of Galway and also takes an interest in Jack and this introduces him to Kelly, Reardon’s PA, the wrong sort of woman that Jack always seems to get involved with. So who is the vigilante known as C33 and why are they determined to get Jack involved?This is a brutal series and this book may be the worst so far but only if you’ve been following along with Jack’s story to date. Don’t ever become friends with Jack Taylor, don’t fall for him and don’t even do a job for him. In fact, don’t even talk to him if you know what’s good for you. Best stay away altogether. The darkness that surrounds Jack is still an ever present as is his caustic put-downs, often at the expense of those closest to him. Lots more recommendations on the book front when Jack’s bookshelves are once again filled by his local dealer. This time around he’s on a women crime-writers kick. He’s also trying to increase my to watch list as well when he re-organises his DVD shelves.Another fine entry into an excellent series which I would urge you not to be the first one you pick up otherwise you might not read another Ken Bruen book again.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I like narratives with a distinctive voice. That said, I find narrators with a truly distinctive voice can take a bit of getting used to. My first perusal of the opening pages of Ken Bruen's 'Purgatory' didn't inspire me to read further and I let most of a month slip by, reading other things, until the deadline presented by my crime reading group came sharply into focus.== What's it about? ==Someone calling themselves C33 is killing crooks in Galway. Ex-guard Jack Taylor isn't interested in getting involved, despite receiving personal notes from the killer suggesting he might like to 'play'. Jack's friend, Stewart, is interested and courting danger. Will Jack help him solve the case?Meanwhile, Reardon, a billionaire determined to buy up Galway, is intent on turning Jack into his pet, and Jack begins a relationship with Kelly, Reardon's assistant. But what do these two really want with Jack Taylor?==What's it like? ==Unsurprisingly, considering its positioning as noir fiction, the tone and content is dark, miserable and violent. Bruen isn't afraid to maim and / or kill off his characters and those who survive seem to mostly spend their time drinking and drugging themselves into oblivion. Jack in particular begins the book 'on the wagon', but it isn't long before he's stumbling along beside it.This is the tenth book in Bruen's 'Jack Taylor' series so fans will doubtless be used to their anti-hero's rather sweary nature and ability to survive anything the city's mad men and semi-corrupt cops can throw at him. In a previous outing he has evidently lost some fingers and his desire to be a PI - his ostensible trade. In fact, it is not until page 253 of 283 that Jack notes laconically: 'Finally did a detective thing'. Clearly, Bruen recognises that his character's role up to this point has been more passive drunk than active investigator.This hint of metafictionality grows throughout 'Purgatory'. Each short chapter is prefaced with one or two quotations, taken from literature, Irish sayings and songs, celebrities and, um, characters from this book. In the final chapters, Jack, our first-person narrator, begins to refer to old cases by the names of earlier books in the series. Somehow this feels quite appropriate in a story already littered with cultural references: Jack's life seems to partly consist of watching a string of drama series that were axed after one or two seasons; Kelly has a thing for Oscar Wilde; and these two characters visit a bookshop that happens to have a display of noir fiction in the window. Perhaps Jack's cultural engagement is meant to show the reader that, despite his professed skill with the hurley, he is redeemable.The frequent references to political and sporting events root this novel firmly in a particular time period which feels relevant now but will mean it dates quite quickly. Given Bruen's success and that of the hit TV series based on this character, I doubt that's a concern. There is also a very strong sense of place, though not necessarily a place you'd want to live in. Galway is vividly rendered through its population: the Guards, the drunks, the bartenders and baristas who adopt new customs that horrify Jack.Bruen writing as Jack Taylor adopts an abrupt style which is somewhat lacking in verbs. This is a typical extract:Before she could speak, I said'No.'Knocked her back.Her mouth made a small O of surprise. I knew the gig.The touching photo.Some heart-kicking story.Her son/daughter/husbandmissingwas a great/caring/loveable individual,andcould I find them, what happened to them?The whole usual awful parade of misery.It took maybe fifty pages for me to acclimatise to this style, which isn't as long as it sounds; if all the sentences in this book were bundled into regular sized paragraphs, the book itself would be at least two thirds shorter. Once I had adapted, Jack's distinctive voice and dark humour were a good enough reason to keep reading, despite a rather slim plot.As a hard-boiled anti-hero, Jack succeeds brilliantly. He is persistently blind to his friends' predicaments, though usually at least partly responsible, always ready to sink into alcohol and / or narcotics induced oblivion, and cavalierly unconcerned about his own welfare. Flashes of morality twinkle at readers, signalling a decent man at heart, but I hope in future additions to these series he might actually, y'know, actively attempt to solve a crime or two. (In fairness, he does solve this one, though it's largely by accident.)The ending is a little frustrating as Bruen throws in a last minute shock, evidently designed to bait the hook for book eleven. Yawn. Presumably regular readers will now be clamouring to know the next publication date, but I have always found such last-second dramas off-putting and thought its inclusion here was a bit of a shame. Doesn't Bruen trust his readers to seek out the next instalment?== Final thoughts ==I didn't feel at any disadvantage for not having read (or watched) the series previously, and clearly Bruen didn't expect me to experience any difficulties; there are no recaps at all. Recurring characters are introduced very briefly and, aside from a few references to previous history, nothing from previous books intrides into the action of this one. I found this quite refreshing actually, as most series require the reader to develop at least a rudimentary understanding of several recurring characters and key relationships. Jack's nature ensures this isn't necessary!Chapters are very short - just a few pages long - which makes this easy to read. The overall book is clearly structured with a prologue and kind-of epilogue bookending the action. I felt all the quotations were rather unnecessary, but if you like exercising your mind by considering how they fit in with the plot etc. then you'll have plenty of opportunities to enjoy doing just that.Overall, this is a good example of the noir genre with sufficient world-weary gone-slightly-bad-and-mad-ex-upholder-of-the-law antics to keep readers interested. The £12.99 RRP (for a paperback?!) seems a tad expensive for something I'm unlikely to read more than once, but it may be worth the cost for fans who want to collect the series.Read this if:- you enjoy reading about hardboiled, world-weary (not quite) detectives in noir narratives;- you enjoy reading novels written in a very distinctive voice;- you enjoy reading books with a strong sense of time and place, especially contemporary time and place.Avoid this if:- you dislike reading a lot of swearing or about a lot of drinking and drug abuse;- you like crime stories with a strong sense of plot, clues, red herrings...typical crime stuff;- you like conventional narratives and prefer reading about heroes, not anti-heroes.