Headstone (2011) by Ken Bruen is a welcome entry in the Jack Taylor series that first introduced him in The Guards (2004). Jack Taylor is an ex-cop now practicing part-time private investigator. He’s an alcoholic and yes that had something to do with his leaving the Guards. The total of his life experiences between these pages is best described as days filled with binges, black-outs, anger, sorrow and loneliness. He tries to ground himself with his books and music.

What draws me to Ken Bruen’s work is his depiction of modern Ireland, its culture, crime, politics and social injustices, church corruption especially. As the lead protagonist of this series, Jack Taylor is a world-weary, fifty-something loner who’s had to tangle with hoodlums and extremists who are often people of the privileged class.

The group of four labeling/calling themselves “Headstone” are targeting the feeble and disabled. Their background is one of wealth and privilege. The doctrine behind their ethnic cleansing is their misinterpreted, twisted understanding of Charles Darwin’s work to target the weak. A priest, Jack’s chain-smoking nemesis, is beaten and left in a coma. That incident jump starts the wave of random attacks on the frail and the vulnerable. Included/targeted in those attacks are Jack and his two side-kicks Stewart, an ex-drug dealer/ex-convict now practicing Zen and Ban Garda Ridge, a lesbian cop who married a man to move up in her career while struggling with the day-to-day grief she gets from her male colleagues in the Irish police department. Continue reading →