Tue 12 May 2015
KEN BRUEN – London Boulevard. Minotaur Books, US, hardcover, November, 2009; softcover, November 2011. First published in the UK, The Do-Not Press, hardcover, 2001. Film: 2010, with Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley, directed by William Monahan.
If you’ve been thinking about trying out Ken Bruen, London Boulevard is not a bad entry point. You’re not committing to the Jack Taylor or Brant/Roberts series, and you’ll be avoiding the broad parody of his “Max” collaborations with Jason Starr (that’s the absolute WRONG place to start with either writer).
London Boulevard is a sort-of adaptation of Sunset Boulevard displaced to (guess) London, and it’s a well-written, fast-moving, and stylish neo-noir. I guess the only strike against it as a starting point for Bruen is that it’s set in England not Ireland, but Bruen seems comfortable in both locales, and this book offers much of what you’ll either really like or dislike about Bruen as a writer: quick, telegraphed prose with lots of white space on the page; melancholy interior monologues; wise-ass dialogue; lots of hip pop culture references; and a dark brooding Irish pessimism about life and human nature.
This is not the best Bruen I’ve read (I am soon going to get back into the Taylor series), but is a solid and pleasing work of crime fiction and a real page-turner. (I have yet to see the film, but now I can.)
May 13th, 2015 at 12:47 am
I’ve read several of the Jack Taylor novels and was impressed. I’ve been meaning to read LONDON BOULEVARD and I’m looking forward to it since SUNSET BOULEVARD is one of my favorite movies.
May 13th, 2015 at 12:23 pm
This didn’t do anything for me really and the movie with Colin Farrell and a miscast Keira Knightley (half the age of Lillian Palmer in the book!) was not much better. I expected some clever riffs on the Norma Desmond/Joe Gillis pairing but there wasn’t much there other than making the whole thing about insatiable sex. The bloody slaughter and comic book style gunplay in the ending was a huge turn off.
May 13th, 2015 at 1:31 pm
John
Your last sentence was what I have been afraid of. I bought a copy of the movie for one cent on Amazon, but I haven’t watched it yet. I may later, but with so many other DVDs in the queue, I am going to lower the priority on this one.
I haven’t read anything by Bruen himself either. This one does sound like one to start with, but whenever I see the description “neo-noir” attached to a book, my tendency is to take that as saying “gruesome violence.”
I go through stages in what I pick up to read, but at the moment serial killers, child molesters and yes, gruesome violence I can pretty much do without.
Unfortunately most books in the hardcover portion of the local Barnes & Noble’s mystery section fit that description, while the mass market paperbacks are over 80% cozies, which I can’t read either.
May 13th, 2015 at 4:36 pm
I’ve had mixed results with British neo noir, some brilliant, and too many suffering from Stephen King syndrome, gruesome violence ala EC comics and just about as mature as the 12 to 15 year old readers many of those comics were aimed at.
I tire easy of the total evil bastards, no heroes, and shop worn femme fatales that pass for realism in these. If I wanted to live in the slums I’d move there.
I may try Bruen based on this, but frankly my experience with this genre has been sadly mixed.
May 13th, 2015 at 4:41 pm
Bruen is awesome. It took a little while to get used to the prose style. But now I get anything I can by him. Wasn’t aware of this title, so thanks.
May 13th, 2015 at 7:28 pm
I loved the Brandt & Roberts books, he’d sometimes have you laughing out loud one minute and in the next minute something terrible would happen. Very unique writing style, and enjoy his references to the McBain books, who he seems to have great respect for.
His later books seemed more gory, read the jacket of American Skin (non-series book) and thought I didn’t need to go there.