Cross -- Ken Bruen

Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor novels have become less about the plot than about the nightmare that is Jack Taylor's life. Although Taylor is a survivor, you can't say the same for his friends, associates, and companions. The guy is toxic, and it causes him more suffering than most of us can imagine.

I suspect that there are a number of spoilers in what follows. Just thought I'd warn you. You might want just to read the book and skip the comments below.

Cross picks up right where Priest left off, which the young man named Cody, whom Taylor had hired as an assistant and who took a bullet meant for Taylor, in the hospital. Taylor had come to think of Cody as the son he never had. This doesn't bode well for Cody.

Not that crimes are missing from the book. A young man has been crucified, and Ridge, Taylor's former associate (uh-oh) asks Taylor to help out. Meanwhile dogs have begun to disappear, and a client asks Taylor to look into things. Taylor hires a gent named Heaton (uh-oh) to do the legwork. These crimes are resolved, but the focus is on Taylor and his so-called life. It appears that he might have made the big score that will allow him to escape Galway forever. (While this isn't resolved, I'm betting he never does.) The back cover of the paperback claims that the book is a "trip to Hell, and back." Where the blurb writer got the last half of that comment is beyond me. Taylor never comes back. He just circles deeper into the inferno. As for me, I've followed him this far, and I'll follow him farther. I believe Sanctuary is the next book in line. I, for one, will be reading it.