The Archbishop of the modern Irish crime novel Ken Bruen was kind enough to read Fifty Grand over Christmas and had nice things to say (below). It means a lot to me coming from Ken, a man who kicked serious Irish crime fiction from the 1950's into the 1990's. Mr Bruen, of course, is still firing on all cylinders, his latest American Skin is another in a long line of masterworks. Anyway here's what the swan feeding bard of Galway City had to say about Fitty G:“Adrian McKinty has been blowing us out of the mystery water for quite some time now. The Bloomsday Dead—superb, Dead I Well May Be, phew-oh, but he has totally taken over the whole field with Fifty Grand. Think Don Winslow’s masterly Power of The Dog combined with José Latour and the sheer narrative drive of Joe Lansdale and you'll have some idea of this amazing novel. It has riveting mystery, politics of just about every shade, thrills on almost every page and the most compelling heroine in a Havana female detective named Mercado. I've rarely read a novel that had it all—human and drug trafficking, Hollywood excesses, illegals, ferocious vengeance—but what I found most compulsive was the wondrous compassion of the book. It moved me in ways I never anticipated. This is going to be the BIG BOOK of 2009.”—Ken Bruen, author of The Guards
61 comments:
"'The Power of the Dog' told by Joe Lansdale let the Forsythe-Saga look old and lame."
I'd say Bruen rose the stakes to tremendous heights. No chance that I don't read the book.
PS. The Power of the Dog is in my opinion one of the best crime fiction novels of the century.
Bernd
Ken Bruen is absolutely right. Fifty Grand is amazing!
gb
Can't wait to get me some of that.
I'm a relative newcomer to your work Adrian (i should finish Dead Yard tonight), but from what little I've read I doubt Ken is overstating the case. Gerard's been telling me how good 50G is an' all.
This is fantastic, Adrian. Now we just have to hope that that review shows up where all sorts of crime fiction fans get to see it.
That's really a blurb to die for.Hope it will help when I start pitching it to Italian publishers-especially Bruen's.
Can't wait to read 50g now.
When will the galleys arrive,dammit!
And the fact that Bruen has been impressed above all by the 'wondrous compassion' that pervades the book is a bit of a surprise,but for me a good one.
Bernd
Funnily enough I really like titles with the word 'dog' in them.
Dog Years
Isle of Dogs
Dogs of God
Year of the Dog
Power of the Dog
Ger
Thanks man. Now if only that sequel were still around...
Liam
Hopefully in a coupla weeks
Mike
Thanks for that, stay tuned for Dead Yard's happy redemptive ending
Seanag
Well at the very least it should be on the back cover of all those books not selling in that crate in the warehouse in Jersey City.
Marco
A few weeks I think. I knew you'd be excited by the "compassion" remark. What are you European or something?
Wow. Sweet review. I'm like Pavlov's dog salivating all over the place anytime mentions 50G nowadays.
Aye, bloody dingo. What are the gun laws like over there?
gb
Brian
The ending's a bit of a letdown though. After a lot of drama the computer blows up because it cant compute Michael York telling it there's no Sanctuary...
er, I hope no one else has thought of that.
Ger
Way too strict mate, but I like your line of thinking.
You could also check out
Dog Soldiers, Urban Dog, The Junkyard Dog, The Dogs of Winter, White Dog, Rain Dogs,For The Dogs and Shoedog....all on my bookshelves I kid you not.
If you exhaust dogs there's also Horses Arse, Pigs Head and Donkey Punch to follow on with.
Re Dogs of God, it's a shame Pinckney hasn't had anything new out in about 10 years or so
oh and you could have Snoop's seminal Doggystyle album on the go, whilst reading any of the above
Colman
rain dogs - good album
Dog Soldiers - everything you always wanted to know about smuggling heroin but were afraid to ask. I liked this book a lot, havent seen the film starring Dr Who's son.
That's cool. At least it's not as much of a letdown as EVERY SINGLE STEPHEN KING ENDING EVER. Save but Shawshank Redemption.
Have you seen Dog Soldiers, the movie? It's a pretty cool werewolf flick by Neil Marshall, set in the Scottish highlands.
As if I couldn't wait to get my hands on it before, now I'm really anticipating the book's arrival.
Colman beat to Dog Soldiers, a great book. Haven't seen the movie, either.
The great thing about a Ken Bruen blurb is that he's not only a great writer, he's a great reader - Don Winslow (not just Power of the Dog but many underrated books - even those funny private eye novels he used to write were really good and The Death and Life of Bobby Z is terrific), Joe Lansdale AND José Latour (a neighbour of mine, by the way).
And he's right about Fifty Grand.
Colman beat ME to Dog Soldiers, a great book. Haven't seen the movie, either.
Sheesh, when will Blogger get to editing, I pay good money for... oh, right, never mind.
Rain Dogs - the album?
Tom Waits - my limited exposure to him has been the intro to The Wire series 2,
does he sound like he's strangling a cat on all his shit?
Rain Dogs - Sean Doolittle,
John - Colman beat to Dog Soldiers... - unless you got the photos I'm gonna continue to deny that scurillous rumour,
Continuing the dog theme...
Wolves Eat Dogs
God is a Bullet.....oops though I had that dyslexia thing under control......never lived down going to that toga party dressed up as a goat!
John McFetridge has read it too? How many people have read this book?
Perhaps not the best place to post this, but to anyone who's been following Yoani's Generation Y blog, there is a limited time to go to her website and find the best weblog Awards 2008 logo up in the right hand corner, click on it, and vote for her blog.
John
Thanks a lot, I appreciate that. and I've read John's next opus and its gonna be MASSIVE!
Lure him away from those folks from the telly, people.
Seanag
Thank you for that. Been there voted.
Generation Y is a MUST READ.
You hear me Sean Penn?
Read Generation Y!!!
Ian
Obviously you are not in the inner sanctum. But dont worry its easy to join. Remember that masked ball scene in Eyes Wide Shut? Yup its like that.
Anon
Listen to Tom Waits's Cold Cold Ground and tell me its not the greatest song ever! I'd link to it if I didnt have to go pick up Cousin Andrew from his hotel, he's on tour with his rock band and just stepping in for dinner.
No, really.
Brian
Word of advice, never diss Stephen King, the man has powers and minions everywhere.
I once said to his editor "You're Stephen King's editor? How long are they when you get them?"
The frosty silence could have chilled a vindaloo.
Adrian
(Eyes glazed over as if just lobotomized) Yes, you're right. I like Stephen King. We all like Stephen King. He's the greatest.
In all honesty, I've only read a couple of his books, which were okay. I should have made myself clearer--I was referring to the movie adaptations.
I truly believe Shawshank is one of those movies that's better than its source material. Not sure about the other adaptations re: if the plots are in keeping with King's vision or not. But most of the King movies tend to be anticlimactic, IMHO.
Lovely, lovely, lovely.
Fiddy G is a terrific novel, and fair play to Ken. 2009 is McKinty's year.
And McFetridge's.
Dogs: Dog Day Afternoon. "Attica! Attica!" Straw Dogs.
Tom Waits: Christmas Card from a Minneapolis Hooker. "I'll be eligible for parole / Come Valentine's Day ..."
Tom Waits and Iggy Pop fans should enjoy this
Dec
DDA hellofa movie.
Straw Dogs, I dont know, sure its Peckinpah but its pretty weird.
This is Cousin Andrew's Band . Yup that is that dude from Entourage.
Ah, youth. That Honey Brothers video was fun. Which one was Cousin Andrew?
Actually, Cousin Andrew would be a good name for a band.
Seanag
Oops, what I meant to say is that he's Dr Dorian in the video.
He liked Saint Kilda I think. We did a mini pub crawl, saw some drunks, a few bands.
They're off now playing in Sydney I think.
Did you watch the Iggy Pop Tom Waits thing? I found it hilarious but maybe that's just me.
Dr. Dorian. That would have been my guess.
I didn't watch the Iggy Pop/Tom Waits one, but I'll start downloading it now. Sigh. No one understands why I don't have DSL, least of all me. I do like Tom Waits though.
Oops, I got the doctors mixed up. I would have guessed it was Doctor Carl. But Dr. Dorian looks very nice.
Cousin Andrew sounds like something from The Addams Family.
I liked the video and song very much,but I'm still trying to figure out the meaning of the initial dream (3 inches long-4 feet wide?)
And what route you have to take to pass Iceland on your way to Holland?
And...
Did you watch the Iggy Pop Tom Waits thing? I found it hilarious but maybe that's just me.
Well...I had a mid-morning coffee so at least as a (not so) subliminal message it worked.
Do you like Iggy? there was a passage in TBD which seemed to imply that Michael wasnt a great fan or Iggy (or the Stooges,I don't remember) something like a guy with a Iggy/Stooges t-shirt and Michael commenting it didnt win him any points or somesuch
v-word:doufo
Marco
Yeah there was a whole section in the book which I cut about Michael's musical tastes in which I think he complains a little about the pretensions of punk killing the prog rock of his youth. Thats why when he gets the Zep T shirt in the third book its kind of a homecoming.
Thats not me though, I love Iggy. Esp Passengers - with its 4 chords (GADC I think) was one of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar.
The Honey Brothers has a kind of a Wheezer vibe if you ask me.
or should that be Weezer.
That scene cracks me up but no one I know likes that movie. Theres another good scene with Bill Murray and the Wu Tang Clan.
Weezer
I was trying to figure out who the HB reminded me of-haven't any of Weezer CDs but I remember some of their songs ("Buddy Holly") and I think you nailed it.
Adrian,
I've got a slight problem. I've already sent my book to Mecoy, but now I'm realizing a part toward the middle needs some changing. Do you think I should let him know or leave it. I might possibly affect whether or not he takes me on. Thanks.
Liam
hmmm,
I guess I'd said leave it and see what happens and then if he rejects it you could say would it make a difference if I change X and Y? Might give you another host.
Okay, thanks man. There's a coma scene and I think I have my protaganist coming out of it too quickly, not enough muscle atrophy, that kinda thing.
"... a man who kicked serious Irish crime fiction from the 1950's into the 1990's. "
That's an intriguing comment. What was Irish crime writing like before Bruen came along, say, between Liam O'Flaherty and Bruen?
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
That's a pretty nice blurb from Ken Bruen,although it's not surprising, can't wait to read Fifty Grand having just finished Dead I Well May Be/The Dead Yard/The Bloomsday Dead, three cracking books
Peter
Come on, you know I cant tell you that. We're trying to keep our powder dry for that book Dec, Ger and myself are stringing together.
But I suppose you're right, it wasnt all cozies, certainly not the ones we're going to be looking at.
Con
Thanks man. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Fifty Grand is in a sligthly different vein, but its not I repeat not, like Spinal Tap's new direction when they tried "Jazz Odyssey" before a festival crowd.
Ah, the book of essays. Did you notice that my favorite paragraph in The Assassin was immediately before the one from which Declan took the book's working title? Liam O'Flaherty must have had a good writing day that day.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
I did actually but I'm not one to brag of my powers of observation, at least not when its not about Nazi flying machines.
I considered pretending that I just now got done downloading Iggy and Tom to inspire your pity, but I realized quickly that that was unlikely to happen. No, I watched it last night, finally, but by that time I did really have to go to sleep. I agree that the clip was hilarious. I was going to say that watching Tom Wait's face would be hilarious enough in itself, but then remembered Iggy's expressions and have to say that, no, it's a two man show.
I wonder if the movie didn't work as a movie because there were too many vignettes. It might work better as a series of clever little spots around longer shows like you sometimes see on PBS.
Tom and Iggy together. They should do a show. Or yes little vignettes. Great chemistry I thought.
It took me a while to find the opening chapter of Fifty Grand. Boy, with my teeth chattering I can't wait for the rest. When?
Even the opening of the opening grabbed me by the eyeballs. Duct tape over the mouth at the edge of a frozen lake. Chilling to say the least. Powerful words 'duct tape' in that context. Like I always thought 'silencer' was (more because that's what the gadget did to the victim than the gun). Cold-blooded terror - great. I want all my (non-crime reading) mates to read your stuff now, and not just because you're from Carrick!
Thanks Phil,
Course the rest of the book doesnt have that level of intensity...
Apropos of nothing, Bloomsday Dead (and particularly its opening line) got a brief mention in the James Joyce Newestlatter.
What I really came to say was that as I mentioned a while back I just presented a paper on you and Bruen at the South Atlantic MLA. It's in presentation form (i.e. draft) but if you're interested I'll send a copy. My email ID is Jim Brown in PA (without spaces) "at" gmail.com.
Jim
Yeah I would love that.
Sounds very interesting and right up my ally.
A-
Read my first Ken Bruen yesterday, had a snow day from school. Read "The Dramatist" and was blown away. Just incredible stuff. I'd never heard of him before reading your blog so I thank you for turning me on to that. Gonna start "Once Were Cops" tonight.
I got my copyright and will be published in a few weeks. If you'd like to read the ms send an email to: love 4 bpt (no spaces) "at" gmail dot com. Anyone reading this can do that for that matter. The chapter about reading DIWMB to the kids in detention is called "Reading on the Block". Thanks for being out here. Can't wait to get a hold of "Fifty Grand"
G
Post a Comment