Depressing.

Jack Taylor is changing. Shattered by the shooting of Cody, the young man who came to him for a chance, Jack feels for Cody like a man would for his natural son. Cody is comatose in hospital and even though he didn't pull the trigger, Jack feels responsible for Cody's fate. This has given him a real reason and he's given up drinking, smoking and drugs. Jack's not pretending - it's hard, and he's not found an exactly “normal” way of resisting a drink, but he's serious and he's really trying.

As usual with Jack he's pulled into strange events and strange places. A young boy was crucified in Galway City and despite everyone's shock and horror, despite the Church being scandalised and vocal, no action is ever taken by the Guards. His old friend Ridge comes to him to ask him to investigate – she can't live with the idea that nothing is being done about this boy, and when his sister is burned alive, Jack's not able to leave well enough alone as well.

There's something about Jack that makes stuff happen around him, and the main theme, the murder of this young brother and sister, is only part of what is going on in Jack's life. As he roams Galway on the case, he finds himself in his old haunts, rubbing up against old combatants and associates, glimpses of his old life and the starkness of a sober future in less than sober circumstances. The ghosts of Jack's past are never adverse to giving a good scaring or an even bigger beating.

Finding the answer to who kills so horribly isn't so hard. Deciding what to do about it isn't so easy. Choosing his own future is even harder.

CROSS continues many of the storylines that started out in PRIEST. Reading PRIEST first will give you a little context to what is happening with Jack Taylor, but if you haven't read it, then don't use that as a reason not to pick up CROSS.

Ken Bruen's books are not the easiest reading in the world – they are confrontational, Jack has a self-destructive streak which can be frustrating and the world that he comes from is bleak and violent, inhabited by some damaged and brutal people. But there is also kindness, friendship, care and concern for others. There's brutal reality.

Ken Bruen's books are, however, fantastic reading and CROSS raises that tradition just that little bit higher. I cannot recommend this series highly enough – if you like stark reality, if you can handle one man making his own decisions about his own life, contrary to what everybody else thinks he should do (including the reader), then do yourself a favour and read CROSS.

Another page turner from Bruen.

Jack Taylor can't catch a break; everything keeps turning south in his life. After finally embracing a new protege in the previous novel, and opening up his heart to him, he had to face reality again when his new friend was shot down an put in a coma. Now Jack has to deal with the pain of losing another close person in his life and with the brutal fear of finding out the reason behind the shooting and whether it was caused by his previous actions or not. Of course, while this is going on, he is still battling with remaining sober and walking a tight rope knowing a false step will send him to the abyss.

In this installment, Bruen takes huge strides forward in terms of character development and in expanding the plot lines that involve some of the main characters in the series, such as Ridge, the guard, Stewart, a drug dealer, and Jeff and Cathy, the parents of the girl that died under Jack's care. This was good enough for me to find this book fascinating, but add on top of that a mesmerizing case, involving a couple of brutal murders and you end up with one of the best novels in the series so far.

I have been under a spell lately, finding myself unable to stop reading this books, jumping from one to the next. Now I am just dreading the time when I will run out of Jack Taylor books. If you have not read this series, go back to the beginning, with [b:The Guards|298920|The Guards (Jack Taylor, #1)|Ken Bruen|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1314809323s/298920.jpg|290013] and I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as I have.

Um...I was a bit disappointed with this, it wasn't as good as I expected it to be especially after reading the blurb on the back cover. It was the first Ken Bruen I've read, but I think I may go and try one of the others in the Jack Taylor series just to give Bruen the benefit of the doubt. Having said that he did give a really good "travelogue" of Galway, I suppose if you were going there you could use the book a s a bit of a tongue in cheek guide.

Cross is book 6 in the Jack Taylor series and Jack is in a particularly dark place dealing still with repercussions of the earlier books and the effects of trying to remain sober. The crimes are particularly brutal and somewhat senseless which make them seem even worse. The book is just steeped in hopelessness even right to the ending where it seems like things should be looking up for Jack with a new start. There is also a side plot here that involves animal cruelty, which I had to sort of skim through as I have a difficult time reading anything like that. This was not my favorite book in the series but certainly in keeping with with the darkness that surrounds Jack Taylor.