The Devil »

Ken Bruen has been a finalist for the Edgar, Anthony, and Barry awards, and has won the Shamus Award and the Macavity Award for books in the Jack Taylor series. He lives in Galway, Ireland.

America—the land of opportunity, a place where economic prosperity beckons: but not for PI Jack Taylor, who’s just been refused entry. Disappointed and bitter, he thinks that an encounter with an overly friendly stranger in an airport bar is the least of his problems. Except that this stranger seems to know much more than he should about Jack. Jack thinks no more of their meeting and resumes his old life in Galway.

            But when he’s called to investigate a student murder—connected to an elusive Mr. K—he remembers the man from the airport. Is the stranger really who he says he is? With the help of the Jameson, Jack struggles to make sense of it all. After several more murders and too many coincidental encounters, Jack believes he may have met his nemesis. But why has he been chosen? And could he really have taken on the devil himself?

            Suspenseful, haunting, and totally unique, The Devil is Bruen at his very best.

Publishers Weekly

In Bruen's atmospheric, metaphysically tinged eighth Jack Taylor novel, the Galway PI clashes with Satan himself--or so all the clues scream. Denied passage to America at the airport in Ireland, Jack decides Xanax isn't enough and hits the bar for a Jameson, where he meets the mysterious Kurt, who tells him that "evil hones in on those closest to redemption." Soon murder and suicide point to the involvement of a "Mr. K" and force Jack to revisit previous cases, including a session with a tinker fortune teller. Bruen's usual tour of Galway shows Jack finding comfort in "that vanished Ireland where people stopped in the streets, blessing themselves and said the prayer." In addition to drugs and booze, Jack starts smoking again and reflects, "The Sig was to hand. I was ready and be-jaysus, I was willing." Lots of such delicious moments for the legion of fans dot this outing for the beleaguered detective--one character even suggests Jack read Sanctuary (2009), the previous novel in the series. (Sept.)