A GALWAY EPIPHANY by author Ken Bruen is the 16th book in the “Jack Taylor” series that covers the rough and tumble lifestyle of the ex-Guarda, who has battled demons throughout his lifetime that has been made up of personal and professional setbacks that in past has sent him down a path of self destruction that usually involves him turning back to the bottle to block out the pains of the past.

Jack once again is pressured to take on a case that he’d rather not get involved with, but is eventually persuaded to look into the disappearance of two young children that are the focus of a highly publicized occurrence that involves them and causes a stir throughout Ireland.. and also included Jack being struck by a truck and left unconscious at the scene.

Keefer is Jack’s best friend and has lived a charmed life as a roadie for The Rolling Stones but now lives on his secluded farm where he spends his time with his falcon, and Jack has taken interest in falconry and the quiet seclusion afforded by his friendship with the former road warrior.

Can Jack find out the whereabouts of the young pair that has gone missing and the truth about the group he’s been hired by, and once things get dangerous can he again survive in doing so?

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of the books that I’ve read in this series by author Ken Bruen, and I hope he continues to write new books that give a window into the cynicism Jack displays in his thoughts and words in regards to current local and world trends, but especially those witticisms that display his love/hate relationship with the Catholic Church and government.

5 stars.

One of my favorite characters is Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor. He first appeared in 2001's "The Guards" as (maybe) Galway's first private eye, an ex-guard who drinks too much and has no trouble speaking his mind or resorting to violence to settle things. He is haunted by the ghosts of his past, ghosts he feels responsibility for in one way or the other. On the surface Jack can seem mean and sarcastic but he has an unrelenting conscience pushing him to do the right thing. This is often his Achilles' heel as characters will exploit his trust to his detriment.

"A Galway Epiphany" is the sixteenth appearance of Jack Taylor. It opens with him being in a relatively good place, for once. The trauma of the recent death of his young daughter is ever present, but he is coping with it the best he can with his recent buddy Keefer and life in the countryside. In Galway a reported religious miracle is suddenly all the rage and Jack is literally shoved into the hoopla. The Church sucks Jack into investigating the children who are involved and there are other players looking to use Jack for their own ends.

Jack occasionally drops the names of his favorite writers and books and will quote lyrics from songs or poems. He often frames the time period with the current social topics like Brexit and his loathing and abhorrence of Trump. He has humor and personality-- this is not just your wooden vigilante or Dirty Harry. Then, as you are pulled into his world, you are stung by the violence and death which are always just one shot glass away.

"A Galway Epiphany" is a great continuation of the Jack Taylor journey, but one has to wonder where things go from here. Jack is like the friend or relative who you always worry about, the one who seems to be his own worst enemy. There are a few jaw dropping developments near the end that have you wondering where Ken Bruen will steer us. I will be there waiting to see.
#AGalwayEpiphany #NetGalley

I thought this book was ok at best. Not noteworthy is how I would describe it. Disappointing at best.

Another winner from author Ken Bruen. Disgraced former Garda Jack Taylor is back reluctantly helping rid Galway of evildoers. We meet some old and some new characters as Jack struggles to deal with what violence and loss has dealt him over the years. Though a deeply damaged and often brutal man, Jack has always been a character I feel for and worry about. Short snappy sentences with many literary and musical references gives Bruen a unique voice.

A Galway Epiphany is the 16th book in the popular Irish PI-noir series by Ken Bruen. Released 3rd Nov 2020 by Mysterious Press, it's 256 pages and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

This is a well established series by a well established author picked up for film production to a wider public. In many (most) instances, this would cause the entire production team from author to writers and producers to play a safe bet and appeal to a wider audience (thus often gutting the appeal to the base audience). This is, very happily, not what has happened here. Former cop, turned irreverent cynical PI, Jack Taylor is his irascible unapologetic damaged self. A near death accident soon has him drawn back into his tenacious bulldog ways after he regains consciousness from his coma.

This is a sharply written book in a clever and very well written crime series. It's redolent with barely constrained violence. It often positively vibrates with menace. One drawback should be mentioned. I was dismayed to see this version (?) heavily edited for North American audiences with American vernacular (cigarette, apartment, truck). It's quite jarring and a mistake I think. I missed the Irish ambience and found it distracting. After checking my other editions, I see that they have similarly Americanized vernacular. I found it distracting.

I enjoyed this read very much and found that it works moderately well as a standalone. I recommend the entire series - the author is supremely talented at his craft. I'm not entirely sure if there is a UK edition (the publishing info is unclear), but if there is, I would seek it out.

Four stars. A gut punch of a read with a diabolically shocking denouement and sublimely well written characters. Rough and tension filled.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Fast paced book, sharp witted and at times takes sudden shocking turns and that's the reason I loved it. I took this book everywhere with me so I could continue the journey with Jack Taylor, this is definitely not a boring book
#AGalwayEpiphany #NetGalley

What can I say? The New York Times reviewer has trouble with Mr. Bruen's prose. This isn't my kind of storytelling nor is Jack Taylor my kind of guy. I didn't finish.

Published by Grove Atlantic/Mysterious Press on November 3, 2020

A priest has an incurable disease that will ravish him before it leaves him dead. He wants to speed the process but it’s bad form for a priest to commit suicide. The priest asks Jack Taylor to kill him. When Taylor argues that murder is a mortal sin, the priest responds, “You have so many sins, will God notice?”

Taylor weighs the decision to kill the priest after a different priest confesses that he intends to kill a satanic child who, for a time, befriended Taylor. Such is Jack Taylor’s life. Those are only two of the plot threads that weave together in A Galway Epiphany.

Children are at the heart of the novel, both as abuse victims and as abusers. One of the villains in the story is burning down buildings, including one that might be occupied by kids. Another villain is a man who beats his six-year-old daughter. Another is a child whose bullying caused another child’s suicide. The remaining villain — the murderous child — is creating fake miracles that the gullible are only too happy to believe.

Taylor makes clear his disgust with a religion that fails to protect children from its priests. Still, he decides to go on something like a religious retreat where he will try to recharge while avoiding contact with nuns and priests. To the nun in charge, avoiding contact seems like a fine idea.

Taylor’s relationship with Catholicism is both strained and ambiguous. He is inclined to believe that all miracles are fake until he experiences one of his own. He’s hit by a car, wakes up from a coma with no serious injuries, and actually feels better than he has in years — until the novel’s end. Rarely does a Jack Taylor novel end well for Taylor. This one is no exception. Taylor might actually be on the verge of an epiphany until the last page. Like many of Ken Bruen’s last pages, it changes the narrative entirely.

Along the way, Taylor makes jaded and pithy comments about politics and praises a variety of crime writers, some of whom I’ve read and some I haven’t. Reading a Jack Taylor novel always makes my reading list grow.

I could complain that Taylor novels are formulaic but I like the formula. The books always move in sprints, occasionally pausing for Taylor to drink and exchange cross words with, well, everyone who speaks to him. Taylor’s dark struggles with whiskey and evil make him philosophical without being pedantic. He is one of the most troubled characters in crime fiction and, for that reason, among the most interesting. The Galway Epiphany is about average for a Jack Taylor novel, making my recommendation virtually automatic.

RECOMMENDED

another incredible book in the jack taylor series. personally i believe this is the best one in a few years. back to form with this one. easy five star book

The blurb:"In the newest novel in Bruen's thrilling series, ex-cop turned private eye Jack Taylor is pulled out of his quiet new life on a farm by three mysteries that soon prove dangerously linked."

Jack Taylor, the loveable rogue who is more rogue than loveable, seems to finally be at peace with himself and the world, at least to the extent that Jack is capable of being at peace with anything. Life in the country, surprisingly, agrees with him. He returns to the city to tie up a few loose ends and almost immediately gets hit by a Mack truck. Things just get worse from there.

When he awakens from a coma weeks later, without a scratch on him, he finds himself at the center of a frenzy over the so-called "Miracle of Galway". People want to touch him and hug him to share in his devine blessing. Jack doesn't like to be touched. Hugged? Not likely.

Add a couple of street urchins who may or may not be the hand of Devine intervention (but most likely not), an arsonist villain almost worthy of a James Bond film, and half a dozen other minor distractions, not to mention Jack's ongoing animosity towards "The Church" (and Its reciprocation of that sentiment) and you've got yourself a pretty good page turner.

Warning: This story - in fact much of this series - is not just dark, gritty, noir, it's downright bleak more often than not. The winners get to continue their miserable existence, sometimes the losers do, too.

If you're not already familiar with the Jack Taylor series this is probably not the place to start. It will work as a standalone, but there are a lot of things that are mentioned more-or-less in passing that will seem odd at best (after all it's number 16 in a series). Plus the style it's written in is sort of... well... disjointed. Not quite stream of consciousness but not your typical linear narrative, you kind of get accustomed to it over the course of the series and to jump in at this point, with no preamble, I think might make for a tough read.

I absolutely recommend it to people who have enjoyed other books in the series or those willing to try something different. I think, perhaps, readers of James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series might enjoy it because they are told in a somewhat unusual way as well.

*This is an R-rated title. Strong language, violence, etc. Most definitely not for the sensitive reader.

***I received a free digital copy of this title from NetGalley.

I tried but this one was just not for me. To give it a rating would. Be unfair as I never made it past the first 50 pages. It is rare that I put aside a book but the writing was wrong at the wrong time and on the shelf it went.

A GALWAY EPIPHANY: A Jack Taylor Novel
Ken Bruen
The Mysterious Press
ISBN 978-0-8021-5703-4
Hardcover
Thriller

There is a point in A GALWAY EPIPHANY where Jack Taylor compares his life’s miseries generally and one in particular to those visited upon Job, who is regarded by a number of the world’s major religions as a man tested by God. Taylor’s woes, as chronicled by author Ken Bruen over the course of what is now sixteen novels, at the least give Job a run for his money, even though some of those trials and tribulations are the result of Taylor’s self-inflicted friendly fire. His life is a train wreck that you cannot help but watch, in great part because of Bruen’s beautifully bruised prose which careens across the page in a stream-of-consciousness of sorts where Bruen and Taylor --- the lives of both seem conjoined at times --- maintain at least a finger on the wheel if not a grasp. The result has been, and remains, one of the most unique series of contemporary genre fiction avail.

Taylor is a former garda --- he is not exactly popular with his former comrades in arms --- turned Galway private investigator of sorts who has a reputation for helping people in need. A GALWAY EPIPHANY finds Taylor well and good surrendering to substance abuse and in no shape to effectively help anyone, though that does not stop him from attempting to do so, however grudgingly at least at first. Taylor finds himself with four problems here. He involves himself with a father whose daughter committed suicide as a result of cyberbullying. A brilliant but deranged arsonist is running loose in Galway and taunting Taylor in the meanwhile. The most significant problem of all, however, is a girl who is at the center of a religious miracle but who may not be she appears to be. Taylor solves one of these matters quite quickly and handily, finds that another is expeditiously taken care of by a friend. A third is ended by a deus ex machina of sorts that is ironically created by the target. The fourth...let us say that there may be divine intervention there, or not. All of these stories play out gradually in one way or another over the course of A GALWAY EPIPHANY. If those were not enough to fill three books, a longstanding acquaintance --- as opposed to a friend --- of Taylor’s is stricken with a debilitating disease and asks Taylor to kill him, a request that Taylor is reluctant to fulfill, and not due to fondness, either. The narrative, almost all of which is provided by Taylor, also takes several side alleys into music, literature, politics, and social commentary, all of them interesting and diverting (as opposed to distracting) as the plot(s) continue to move along at Taylor’s staggering pace toward an ending that is foreshadowed but nevertheless chilling.

At least one longrunning character --- at least one --- bites the moose in A GALWAY EPIPHANY, as do a couple of characters introduced in the recent past. Bruen has no qualms about taking characters off of the board, no matter how beloved, and no doubt hears the shrieks of his readers in his ears at night upon the publication of each new book. We keep coming back, however, and for excellent reasons. Bruen’s battered, broken, and troubled protagonist will crawl toward the finish line if need be, a grim rejoinder on his lips, and is an inspiration to us all, even if he is in a way the best of all bad examples. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Strongly recommended, as is Bruen’s entire backlist.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2020, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

Jack Taylor is trying to escape his violent past by moving to the Irish countryside. But...just when he thought he was out, they drag him back in. After being hit by a truck, he lapses into a coma. When he awakens without a scratch, the locals think it is A Galway Epiphany (miracle) performed by two kids. Many people with questionable motives chase the children. Jack encounters violent people and the mood is dark, almost pitch black.

Dear Jack,
Maybe it is the times—but I just wasn’t feeling the atmosphere. When life is shite—you don’t order in shite sandwiches. I adored the previous book in your series, Galway Girl, and rated it 5 out of 5 stars. Unfortunately, A Galway Epiphany was only a 3 star read for me. Again, I think it really was me and not you, Jack. You still have the great twists and book references. I just wasn’t feeling it. Sorry. Maybe I’ll see you around next year and we can try again. After all, no matter what kind of trouble you find yourself in, you always somehow survive.
Your friend,
Diane

Thanks to Mysterious Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Meh. Scored a copy of A Galway Epiphany by Ken Bruen from Netgalley, but found myself frustrated after the first few pages. Perhaps it was because I was reading an e-galley, but I couldn't tell what was what! No quotation marks, which I can usually get past, yet it was too difficult to decipher what was going, who was talking, where any preface began and ended, it all just ran together. Disappointed because I love the idea of starting a new series; might be better served to start from the beginning. DNF.

EXCERPT: 'Your name came up in another case.'

I said, 'I have the perfect alibi: a coma.'

He asked, 'You ever meet . . . wait, I'll check my notes. 'Took out a battered Garda notebook. I felt the familiar pang of regret at having been thrown out of the force. He double checked, then continued, 'Renee Garvey?'

It sort of rang a bell, but elusive. I said, 'Why?'

He said, 'She has a young daughter who is obviously a victim of abuse but is in some sort of shock and not talking. The mother, Renee, was apparently thrown through a third-floor window, worse, a closed window.'

I asked, 'Did she survive?'

He gave me a withering look, said 'No miracle for her, she's dead as dirt.'

I felt terrible. Now I remembered her desperation and how flippant I had been. More points on the guilt sheet.

I said, 'I failed her.'

ABOUT: 'A GALWAY EPIPHANY (JACK TAYLOR #16) Jack Taylor has finally escaped the despair of his violent life in Galway in favor of a quiet retirement in the country with his friend Keefer, a former Rolling Stones roadie, and a falcon named Maeve. But on a day trip back into the city to sort out his affairs, Jack is hit by a truck in front of Galway’s Famine Memorial, left in a coma but mysteriously without a scratch on him.

When he awakens weeks later, he finds Ireland in a frenzy over the so-called “Miracle of Galway.” People have become convinced that the two children spotted tending to him are saintly, and the site of the accident sacred. The Catholic Church isn’t so sure, and Jack is commissioned to help find the children to verify the miracle or expose the stunt.

But Jack isn’t the only one looking for these children. A fraudulent order of nuns needs them to legitimatize its sanctity and becomes involved with a dangerous arsonist. Soon, the building in which the children are living burns down. Jack returns to his old tricks, and his old demons, as his quest becomes personal.

MY THOUGHTS: All the time I was reading A Galway Epiphany by Ken Bruen, I was writing the review in my head. It was a blinder, probably the best thing I have ever written. By the time I closed the cover on Jack Taylor in the early hours of this morning, it consisted of two words: I'm speechless.

I'm still kind of speechless; all the thoughts I'd had, vanished. I feel like I have been dropped down the laundry shute, put through the washer, the wringer, the dryer, then, instead of being neatly folded and put away, I have been tossed in a heap in the corner.

Jack Taylor can in no way be considered 'ordinary.' He is irreverent, yet strangely obsessed by religion. At one point he recites the Our Father daily, even adding the Protestant rider to it just in case God does, in fact, turn out to be Protestant. He is the child of generations of superstition, belief in seers, omens, signs, second sight and the seventh son of the seventh son deeply ingrained. He knows how pathetic it is, but as he says, 'When you're hardwired to this shite, it's difficult to shake.'

He is a devotee of the 'good stiff drink', Jameson, no ice, a nice frothy pint of Guinness, and the occasional, or sometimes more frequent, Xanax. He is not a fan of being hugged, which everyone seems to be doing these days and which, he concedes, makes a change from being shot at and beaten, although he is somewhat more comfortable with the latter.

Jack is not good at personal relationships. Just like his behaviour has no bounds, his mouth has no filter, and what he is thinking more often than not is said. He is angry at the world, and not afraid to show it.

In A Galway Epiphany, Taylor has two 'miracle' children to find, an arsonist who needs extinguishing, an asshole husband who killed his wife, a cyber bully to locate, and Father Malachy to contend with.

Interspersed with the 2019 storyline are world events, literary, and musical references, and even a reference to box sets.

Bruen has never been a smooth writer. It's just not his style. It works, usually. And usually I love it. But A Galway Epiphany seems even choppier than usual. More disjointed. Almost frenzied in places. A little harder to read. In the past I could hear the voices of Bruen's characters in my head. It didn't happen. And yet I enjoyed (if that's the right word; I can't at the moment think of another) A Galway Epiphany, despite the choppiness, despite the cliffhanger ending.

Is there going to be more Jack Taylor? I don't know. I hope so.

Btw, Mr Bruen, I thought the killer eating his scrambled egg with the murder weapon was a brilliant touch.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.2

#AGalwayEpiphany #NetGalley

'It is said that an epiphany is most likely to occur in a cemetery, though it helps if you're the mourner rather than the deceased.'

'The power of positive drinking.'

THE AUTHOR: KEN BRUEN was born in Galway, Ireland in 1951. The award-winning author of sixteen novels, he is the editor of Dublin Noir, and spent twenty-five years as an English teacher in Africa, Japan, Southeast Asia and South America. He now lives in Galway City. (Amazon)

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Grove Atlantic via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of A Galway Epiphany by Ken Bruen for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

A Galway Epiphany by Ken Bruen is the latest release in the ever popular Jack Taylor series. What can I say about Jack, the Jameson drinking ex Guard with a keen sense of justice, even if it's not the justice dispensed in a court of Law, and a taste in books that can only be described as eclectic? I can say that he makes for an addictive protagonist, something that can be attested to by the sheer number of books in the series. It is important to note that the book can be read as a stand alone, but that readers who are already familiar with Jack's story will probably gain more enjoyment. The book feels very current, there are numerous references to real world events that give it a strong sense of time and place, if you like your crime thrillers firmly grounded in reality this is definitely a book for you.. The writing style is an unusual but effective blend of sparse and poetic , and feels completely suited to the gruff main character. It is difficult to say much about the plot without giving away anything, but suffice to say that Jack encounters an evil unlike anything he has dealt with before, and the consequences with be far reaching. That of course means that I am now eagerly awaiting the next book, but until then I highly recommend checking this one out.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Fans of Jack Taylor know that there's not a chance he's going to retire quietly to a farm with his friend Keefer. Nope. If you aren't familiar with the series (or the tv series), know that Taylor is an alcoholic/addict former law enforcement officer turned pi with a foul mouth and a love for Ireland and literature. Here, he's hit by a Mack truck, seen to by a pair of kids while waiting to be transported, and then in a coma. He's asked, once out, to find the children- Sarah and Salazar- who have their own mysterious and ugly back story, This takes him along the back alleys of Galway and into the world of- of all things- fake nuns and miracles. Nothing is as it seems but Jack zips along and through the mess he sometimes creates. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Bruen is the dean of Irish noir and this latest is no exception - a fast entertaining read with a smart aleck of a protagonist.

Not my type of book. I think I’ve come to the series too late to appreciate it. A shame. I like the Ireland setting.

3.5 stars rounded up for another story in the Jack Taylor series. Jack Taylor is a man with demons, and he uses drugs and booze to quiet them. He is now living a quiet life on the farm of his friend, Keefer. Keefer has a hunting falcon, and Jack enjoys time with the falcon. but then goes on a day trip into Galway and is hit by a Mack Truck. He is in a coma for several weeks and miraculously awakens with not a scratch--stretching reality just a bit. This seems to happen a lot in this series, where Jack is attacked and beaten, but recovers completely. Locals call this a miracle--A Galway Epiphany. Jack is a man of violence and he thought that he was over that when he went to live on Keefer's farm. But he is drawn back into violence, when he comes into contact with a lethal arsonist and an evil woman pretending to be a teenager.
Bruen's stream of consciousness style of writing coupled with poor formatting on my ARC(Advanced Release Copy) kindle edition made this book hard to read--sentences would drop to the next line mid sentence and new paragraphs didn't drop to the next line.
This series has Jack drinking, using drugs and profanity. It is not suitable for cozy mystery fans.
However, if you are a fan of this series, you will like it. Jack is a reader and frequently quotes from various authors/poets. He also has some sharp comments on Irish/world politics and the Catholic church.
Some quotes:
"The miracle of Jack Taylor. It is perfect, a former lost soul, an alcoholic, a drug addict, prone to extreme violence, the cause of grief to so many, and God chose you, the most wretched of his creatures to bestow his grace upon."
Jack on the world: "I think the world is so f**cked. Trump has America literally shut down, Brexit is a mess beyond belief, Venezuela is becoming the new Syria in the worst way, so people are desperate for something miraculous."
Jack again: "Sherry is what you drink in Lent, for bl**dy penance."
#AGalwayEpiphany #NetGalley
Thanks to Grove Atlantic/Mysterious Press for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.

Another dark nasty entry in the Jack Taylor series. I'm biased in that I know I'm going to love this novel prior to requesting it. And I was not disappointed in the least. A Galway Epiphany not only offers insight into evil minds and the moral ones who confront them but you, the reader, also receive a recommended reading and viewing list from the main character. Win, win. Highly recommended and please, Mr. Bruen, keep writing!