Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
At the start of Bruen's enjoyable if busy latest Jack Taylor novel (after Galway Confidential), the Irish PI is hired by a special envoy from the Vatican to dissuade Galway clergyman Kevin Whelan from joining a vigilante organization. Edge is a local group whose nominal mission is to administer justice when the law fails. In reality, its members use that aim as a smokescreen for all manner of shady dealings. Jack agrees to warn Whelan, but soon after they meet, the priest is found dead. Then two other Edge members are killed, suggesting that someone--possibly a powerful financier named Benson--is trying to hijack Edge for his own purposes. While Jack pursues Benson, a number of other matters demand his attention, including a woman's plea to get her police officer husband to stop beating her, the theft of a golden crucifix, and a stranger's request for Jack's assistance in killing himself. Though Jack is initially reluctant to take on each case, the needs of the petitioners draw him in; unfortunately, the preponderance of subplots weigh the momentum down. Still, Bruen's trademark clipped prose and knack for suspense serve the story well. Series fans will be satisfied. Agent: Lukas Ortiz, Philip G. Spitzer Literary. (Mar.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In Bruen's 18th Jack Taylor adventure (following Galway Confidential), there is no such thing as a good deed going unpunished, as private detective Taylor's usual work on behalf of Ireland's Catholic priests and nuns only causes more trouble for himself. The year is 2022, and the world has never felt more chaotic, or at least that's how things appear to Taylor, who provides a smidgeon of order in a chaotic landscape. A priest asks him if he can speak with another priest named Kevin Whelan, a member of a shadowy cabal known as Edge, whose members are rumored to administer vigilante justice to criminals who have evaded the law. Taylor is asked to get Whelan to cease his activities. Shortly thereafter, Whelan is found dead along with other members of the group. Taylor begins to look into a possible suspect, but this threatens grave consequences for him and those close to him. He remains a compelling antihero as his vices battle his virtues daily and the resolution of the case hangs in the balance. VERDICT Fans of the brilliant detective noir of James Ellroy and Jo Nesbø are in for a treat with the latest Jack Taylor novel.--Philip Zozzaro
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Private eye Jack Taylor goes up against the Galway chapter of the criminal combine Edge. And there's much, much more. Burly Father Richard, special envoy (read: hatchet man) from the Vatican, tells Jack that St. Joseph's parish priest, Father Kevin Whelan, is one of the movers and shakers in the local Edge, which has most recently killed a pedophile named Cleon, and that he needs to be neutralized. Although his diagnosis is correct, his prescription misses the mark, because someone hangs Father Kevin in his backyard before Jack can do anything. And he's not the only Edge member marked for death by hedge fund millionaire George Benson, who seems resolved to take over the local chapter and push it in a new direction. When Therese, the local Mother Superior, asks Jack to recover a jeweled crucifix that's been stolen, he goes to meet Benson, the presumed thief, in his office, asks him to return it, and gets thrown out for his trouble. In between times, a beaten wife whose husband breaks Jack's nose when Jack confronts him ends up sorry she ever approached him. So does Jordan, the thief Jack persuades to break into Benson's place and recover that cross. Benson's beefy head of security pays a visit to Jack's apartment to threaten him. A new client who's been diagnosed with cancer hires Jack to kill him on his birthday. Mother Therese asks Jack to find out who's been leaving dead cats at the nunnery door. And so on and on, with even the most important of these individual crimes and conflicts subordinated to the gently manic music of them all. A shaggy, wonderfully evocative lineup for a hero whose "modus operandi [is] to retaliate first." Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
