JACK TAYLOR NOVELS Cross Priest The Dramatist The Magdalen Martyrs The Killing of the Tinkers The Guards BRANT NOVELS CRIME NOVELS MAX & ANGELA NOVELS THE GUARDS US Still stinging from his unceremonious ouster from the Garda Siochana (The Guards, Ireland's police force), and staring at the world through the smoky bottom of his beer mug, Jack Taylor is stuck in Galway with nothing to look forward to. He is teetering on the brink of his life's sharpest edges, his memories of the past cutting deep into his soul and his prospects for the future nonexistent. Nonexistent, that is, until a dazzling woman walks into the bar with a strange request and a rumor about Jack's talent for finding things. Odds are he won't be able to climb off his barstool long enough to get involved with his radiant new client, but when he surprises himself by getting hired, Jack has little idea of what he's getting into. Stark, violent, sharp, and funny, The Guards is an exceptional novel, one that leaves you stunned and breathless, flipping back to the beginning in a mad dash to find Jack Taylor and enter his world all over again. It's an unforgettable story that's gritty, absorbing, and saturated with the rough-edged rhythms of the Galway streets. Praised by authors and critics around the globe, The Guards heralds the arrival of an essential new novelist in contemporary crime fiction. Read an excerpt. Buy the book from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk or an independent bookstore. PRAISE UK The Guards ("Maderos") has won the Spanish prize "Premios Brigada 21" as the best novel translated to Spanish! "Hard-boiled, eccentric, darkly comic: Bruen bows to but doesn't just mimic James M. Cain and the other great noirists in a breakout novel not to be missed."    —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Outstanding. Bruen has a rich and mordant writing style, full of offbeat humor. Perhaps the standard bearer for a new subgenre called 'Hibernian Noir.'"    —Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Bruen is a brilliant, lyrical, deeply moving writer who can make you laugh and cry in the same paragraph and whose characters are so sharply portrayed that they almost walk off the page at you. If you like Ian Rankin, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, and the like, Bruen is definitely a writer to reckon with."    —Denver Post "The next major new Irish voice we hear might well belong to Ken Bruen."    —Chicago Tribune "Bruen is an original, grimly hilarious and gloriously Irish. I await the further adventures of the incorrigible Jack Taylor."    —Patrick Anderson, Washington Post "Bruen's astringent prose and death's-head humor keep this quest for redemption from getting maudlin, just as his 'tapestry of talk' makes somber poetry of the bar-stool laments that serve as dialogue. Even in barrooms, 'there are poets among us,' and sometimes their voices are fierce."    —Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review "The story is dark and the style is elegant, smooth, spare and silky as the best aged Irish whiskey. Sharp, swift and blackly comic."    —Portsmouth Herald "Bracing, eccentric, hard-boiled, unforgettable."    —New Orleans Times-Picayune "[Ken Bruen's] clipped, bleak writing style captures the pervasive brooding Irish landscape better than any author in a very long while."    —Bookpage An elegiac novel of despair and redemption. Bleak, amoral and disturbing, The Guards breaks new ground in the Irish thriller genre.    —Irish Independent While there is ultimately some form of resolution, Bruen makes no effort to tie everything up in a neat and happy ending. The writing is less hard-boiled than lyrical, with a definite edge that perfectly fits the story. This one should be popular... with fans of crime fiction, especially those who appreciate the art of good writing.    —Library Journal "The Guards blew me away. It's dark, funny, and moving - just for starters. With a sharp eye and a lyrical voice, Ken Bruen takes us on a powerful odyssey through the mean streets of Galway, straight into the Irish heart. Bruen's tale is a potent draft of desire and hopelessness, conviction and surrender, inadvertent heroism and unexpected grace. This is mystery writing of a high order."    —T. Jefferson Parker, author of Black Water and Silent Joe "The Guards is a wonderful book, wrenching and real, fast, funny and wise in every sense. Why the hell haven't I heard of Ken Bruen before? He's a terrific writer and The Guards is one of the most mesmerizing works of crime fiction I've ever read. I'm going to read the rest of his work now, so don't bother me for a while. And when he's got a new one, send it to me quick. This guy is the real thing."    —James W. Hall, author of Blackwater Sound "Ken Bruen is a wonder, and has developed a dazzling style of storytelling - call it White Hot Irish Blues - that sizzles on the page. His novels are gritty, funny, terse, and very, very dark - but also surprisingly compassionate. By far, the coolest books I've read this year."    —C.J. Box, author of Winterkill and Trophy Hunt "The Guards is raw, hard, bitter, and amazing. It's got that ancient feel to it, as of a primal story being retold with a fine, careless Irish swagger. It's as if Bruen made up his mind to tell us this story whether we wanted to hear it or not. Oh we do. For sure."    —Jon A. Jackson, author of Badger Games "The Guards is an astounding novel, a poetic account of a desperation as deep and cold as the North Sea, retribution, and resurrection. It's so good I can't think of it as a crime novel. It's a fine book with some crimes."    —James Crumley, author of The Final Country "The Guards is a pint and a half of perfect book. Make it this year's specialty of the house."    —Boston Teran, author of The Prince of Deadly Weapons "The Guards kicked my ass, it's up there with the best. If Elmore Leonard got together with James Joyce to write a Spenser novel, this is what you'd get!"    —David Means, author of Assorted Fire Events