Sunday, July 03, 2005

Rilke on Black -- Ken Bruen

I've read almost all of Ken Bruen's crime novels now, so I'm rationing the last two or three. Rilke on Black is pure hardboiled noir, a sort of Gold Medal novel for the 21st century, even though it was written way back in the 20th. Nick, a nightclub bouncer, gets mixed up not only with the wrong woman but with the wrong guy. Not that Nick is any prize, himself. The three of them kidnap a wealthy businessman, and (surprise, surprise) things go wrong. But not all of them are the kinds of things you expect, and when they really start rolling downhill there are plenty of genuine surprises in store. Violent, poetic, and funny. Check it out.

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