Rilke on Black

By Ken Bruen

A poorly planned kidnapping turns bloody.

Lisa is too good-looking not to be trouble. Nick falls for her as soon as he meets the lithe young black woman, and though their drug-fueled relationship quickly turns toxic, he can't stop wanting her. In a flash, she's burnt through his savings and cost him his job, so she proposes a kidnapping scheme to reinvigorate their bank accounts. Nick is too smart to think it's a good idea, but too stupid to say no.

The target is Ronald Baldwin, a local businessman of moderate wealth and infinite pretension, whose obsession with the poet Rilke borders on madness. For backup, Nick invites along Dex, his psychopathic across-the-street neighbor. With three amateur criminals as unhinged as those in this group, there's no doubt that blood will be shed. The only questions are, who will fire the first shot, and who will fire the last?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784083267

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.

Reviews for Rilke on Black

[ahs7wolfy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nick is a bouncer in a London club and it’s while working that he meets Lisa who soon becomes a fixture in his life. Providing him with a steady stream of sex and drugs it’s not long before the latter has an effect on his employment when he is let go for not performing his duties properly. As Nick has become accustomed to always having some cash on hand he eventually succumbs to Lisa’s suggestion to get some quick money. Her proposition is to kidnap and ransom a local businessman who now owns a string of establishments similar to the one Nick was recently fired from. He also travels around without any bodyguards for protection so it should be a simple job. To accomplish the job they’ll need one more person so they enlist Nick’s neighbour and friend Dex to assist. When they proceed with the kidnapping each of the three does so for a very different reason. Can they work together to get what they want or will their differences impact their chances of success and will their poetry espousing victim be compliant enough to pull it off?This is classic noir albeit set in London and written by an Irishman. It’s harsh and brutal (probably more so than his Jack Taylor books) with not much in the way of light relief. There’s a bit of sex and a lot of violence to accompany the snappy dialogue. It’s a short nove, weighing in at just 150 pages and a quick read. It is one of the author’s early novels and while not as accomplished as his later ones it definitely shows signs of promise to come. Not one I’d recommend as a starter for his work but for those looking for a quick Bruen fix without the entanglements a series brings then this might just fit the bill.