Praise for Ken Bruen:
"Ken Bruen is hard to resist, with his aching Irish heart, silvery tongue, and bleak noir sensibility...[Bruen] writes with extraordinary delicacy." --Marilyn Stasio, "The New York Times Book Review"
"Bruen exploits the dark potential of the mystery form to its fullest." -"Washington"" Post Book World"
"Dazzling. Bruen's style is clipped, caustic, heartbreaking, and often hilarious."--"Cleveland Plain Dealer"
"Bruen is a brilliant, lyrical, deeply moving writer who can make you laugh and cry in the same paragraph and whose characters are so sharply portrayed that they almost walk off the page at you. If you like Ian Rankin, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, and the like, Bruen is definitely a writer to reckon with." --"The Denver Post"
"Bruen's furious, hard-boiled prose, chopped down to its trademark essence, never fails to astonish....among the finest noir stylists of his generation." --"Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
"Bruen's tommy-gun prose, lacerating dialogue, and hard-boiled worldview combine to provide entertainment of high order in dealing with low instincts." --"New York"" Daily News"
"The next major new Irish voice we hear might well belong to Ken Bruen." --"Chicago"" Tribune"
"Bracing, eccentric, hard-boiled, unforgettable." --"New Orleans"" Times-Picayune"
"Spare and unforgiving, Bruen's novels are among the best." --"Rocky Mountain News"
"Bruen has established himself as a master of hard-boiled noir." "--Miami Herald"
Advance Praise for ONCE WERE COPS:
"An acknowledged master of contemporary noir, Bruen touches all his usual themes in his trademark clipped postmodern style, a deft shorthand that enables him to romp at will through genre cliches to quickly reach deeper and more dangerous depths. No one is safe as this shocker spins wildly toward a violent finish." --"Publishers Weekly"
"Bruen, poster boy for noir, keeps you guessing until the denouement...An unlovely tale impossible to put down. Readers asked at year's end to list the nastiest, most violent cop novels of 2008 will certainly remember this one." --"Kirkus Reviews"
"Shea is an otherworldly malevolence who makes ONCE WERE COPS a chilling and deeply creepy read. That Bruen renders such a remarkable character in what be called clipped free verse is further proof of his writing talent." --"Booklist"
"[Shea] is all about in-your-face provocation. So is Bruen in this stand-alone thriller. Suggested for public libraries as an example of first-rate nouvelle cuisine a la noir." --"Library Journal"
"Bruen tells the story brilliantly...the pacing is intense...one of the darkest portrayals of policing since James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential." -"The San Francisco Chronicle"
"Bruen, a master of modern noir, render his prose in short staccato bursts, which is curiously mesmerizing--and, at the book's gruesome end, downright terrifying. A-" --"Entertainment Weekly"
"[A] stripped-down dark thrill ride...No one is safe as this shocker spins wildly toward a violent finish." --"Publishers Weekly"
"Shea is an otherworldly malevolence who makes ONCE WERE COPS a chilling and deeply creepy read. That Bruen renders such a remarkable character in what be called clipped free verse is further proof of his writing talent." --"Booklist"
"Bruen tells the story brilliantly. The dialogue captures both Irish and New York accents. The pacing is intense. And the prose is at once vivid and as tight as anything this side of a haiku." --"The Salt Lake Tribune"
"Bruen tells the story brilliantly...the pacing is intense...one of the darkest portrayals of policing since James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential." -"The San Francisco Chronicle"
"Bruen, a master of modern noir, render his prose in short staccato bursts, which is curiously mesmerizing--and, at the book's gruesome end, downright terrifying. A-" --"Entertainment Weekly"
"[A] stripped-down dark thrill ride...No one is safe as this shocker spins wildly toward a violent finish." --"Publishers Weekly"
"Shea is an otherworldly malevolence who makes ONCE WERE COPS a chilling and deeply creepy read. That Bruen renders such a remarkable character in what be called clipped free verse is further proof of his writing talent." --"Booklist"
"Bruen tells the story brilliantly. The dialogue captures both Irish and New York accents. The pacing is intense. And the prose is at once vivid and as tight as anything this side of a haiku." --"The Salt Lake Tribune"
Bruen tells the story brilliantly the pacing is intense one of the darkest portrayals of policing since James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential. "The San Francisco Chronicle"
Bruen, a master of modern noir, render his prose in short staccato bursts, which is curiously mesmerizing--and, at the book's gruesome end, downright terrifying. A- "Entertainment Weekly"
[A] stripped-down dark thrill ride...No one is safe as this shocker spins wildly toward a violent finish. "Publishers Weekly"
Shea is an otherworldly malevolence who makes ONCE WERE COPS a chilling and deeply creepy read. That Bruen renders such a remarkable character in what be called clipped free verse is further proof of his writing talent. "Booklist"
Bruen tells the story brilliantly. The dialogue captures both Irish and New York accents. The pacing is intense. And the prose is at once vivid and as tight as anything this side of a haiku. "The Salt Lake Tribune""
Bruen tells the story brilliantly the pacing is intense one of the darkest portrayals of policing since James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential. The San Francisco Chronicle
Bruen, a master of modern noir, render his prose in short staccato bursts, which is curiously mesmerizing--and, at the book's gruesome end, downright terrifying. A- Entertainment Weekly
[A] stripped-down dark thrill ride...No one is safe as this shocker spins wildly toward a violent finish. Publishers Weekly
Shea is an otherworldly malevolence who makes ONCE WERE COPS a chilling and deeply creepy read. That Bruen renders such a remarkable character in what be called clipped free verse is further proof of his writing talent. Booklist
Bruen tells the story brilliantly. The dialogue captures both Irish and New York accents. The pacing is intense. And the prose is at once vivid and as tight as anything this side of a haiku. The Salt Lake Tribune
"
"Bruen tells the story brilliantly...the pacing is intense...one of the darkest portrayals of policing since James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential." --The San Francisco Chronicle
"Bruen, a master of modern noir, render his prose in short staccato bursts, which is curiously mesmerizing--and, at the book's gruesome end, downright terrifying. A-" --Entertainment Weekly
"[A] stripped-down dark thrill ride...No one is safe as this shocker spins wildly toward a violent finish." --Publishers Weekly
"Shea is an otherworldly malevolence who makes ONCE WERE COPS a chilling and deeply creepy read. That Bruen renders such a remarkable character in what be called clipped free verse is further proof of his writing talent." --Booklist
"Bruen tells the story brilliantly. The dialogue captures both Irish and New York accents. The pacing is intense. And the prose is at once vivid and as tight as anything this side of a haiku." --The Salt Lake Tribune
