The lyrical prose and the perfect Galway patter were seductive but in the end, I couldn't find it in me to like this drunk with a habit of violence and a passion for books.

 

I'd heard good things about the Jack Taylor series. They made a TV series about it so I thought, it can't be all bad if it's been on the tele now, can it?

 

 

"The Guards" starts well enough. The style is a kind of Nineties Philip Marlowe, if Marlowe had been an alcoholic from Galway who was well-read, didn't think much of himself or anyone else, constantly took the piss out of himself and was pretty hopeless at investigating things.

 

Jack Taylor's main achievements in life so far have been drinking and getting himself thrown out of the Garda (although not for drinking).

 

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Gerry O'Brien, and found myself enjoying listening to Jack's self-mocking description of his first case as an unlicensed PI investigating the suicide of a teenage girl.

 

Let me share the close of chapter one with you. It'll give you the flavour of the thing. Jack is on his way home from too many glasses of Back Bush to recall and has stopped to pick up some chips, with a cod thrown in to make it seem more substantial.:

Is there anything more comforting than doused in vinegar chips? The smell is like the childhood you never had.

 

As I approached my flat, I was in artificial contentment. Turning to my door, the first blow caught me on the neck. Then a kick to the cobblers. For mad reasons, I hung on to the chips. Two men, two big men, they gave me a highly professional hiding. A mix of kicks and punches that came with the rhythm of precision.

 

Without malice but with absolute dedication. I felt my nose break. Would swear it made a crunch sound.

 

One of them said, "Get his hand. Spread the fingers." I fought that. Then my fingers were splayed on the road. It felt cold and wet. Twice the shoe came down. I roared for all I was worth. They were done. The other said, "Won't be playing with himself for a bit." A voice close to my ear, "Keep your nose out of other people's business."

 

I wanted to cry, "Call the Guards", as they headed off. I tried to say, "Buy your own chips!" but my mouth was full of blood.

I thought that was wonderful.

 

Sadly, Jack turned out to be the kind of man you sometimes meet, usually while consuming alcohol in a public place, who at first seems both charming and wise. His voice is soft, his bright verbal plumage is borrowed from the finest writers and he's happy to share the wisdom that his suffering has won him. By the fourth or fifth pint, the shine wears off, the borrowed feathers moult and you start to see that the charm is there to hide a man addicted to drink and prone to violence who knows in his heart that he's broken.

 

If your response to such a man is, "Well he is who is and he could be worse. Good luck to him." then I think you'll be reading the whole series. If, like me, you cannot find it in yourself to like this self-harming drunk with a habit for violence, then you'll be stopping after the first book.

 

The book itself is not so much about solving a crime as about seeing the kind of man Jack is, the kind of man he might be if he were able to stay sober and to understand the childhood that produced such flawed potential.

 

It's many decades since I last spent any time in Galway but Ken Bruen seems to me to present a credible version of the place and its people and that alone is reason enough to read the first book.

 

Decide for yourself. Click on the SoundCloud link below and let Gerry O'Brien cast Ken Bruen's spell over you.

 

https://soundcloud.com/ulverscroft/the-guards-by-ken-bruen

 

 

The story of Killraven began in Amazing Adventures #18 (May 1973) and carried on until issue # 39 of that magazine. Then there was Marvel Graphic Novel # 7 and then… Killraven # 1. This latter pair of stories were doomed attempts to revive the title.

The original idea by Roy Thomas was a good one. After their failure to conquer Earth in 1901, as told by HG Wells, the Martians went off and made themselves immune to all bacteria and tried again in 2001. This time they succeeded and Jonathan Killraven was captured as a child and raised to be a gladiator for the amusement of his big-eyed, tentacled masters. The Martians could enslave humans to serve them, though some served willingly. Killraven broke out of the arena and lived by raiding and piracy without any real purpose except staying alive. Then a Keeper, one of the Martian’s servants, told him how he had been taken as a child and informed him that he is special. Imbued with a sense of destiny, he decides to free Earth.

The strip was drawn by Neal Adams for the first eleven pages and then by Howard Chaykin for the next nine pages of his first adventure and all of the following issue. Adams designed a kinky sort of costume with lots of bare flesh, thigh length boots and a bit of lace over the belly. Herb Trimpe changed it slightly and added a bit of off the shoulder chain mail in Amazing Adventures # 20. Gerry Conway scripted the first two issues, Marv Wolfman the next and they did a good enough job, but the strip really hit its stride when Don McGregor took over in issue # 21.

Cleverly, he immediately gave names to Killraven’s band of freemen and started the process of character interaction. Previously, only M’Shulla had been given due recognition. Now Hawk and Old Skull were bought more fully into the story and other characters followed. The diversity of race, creeds and colours served to emphasise the fact that they were fighting for all humanity. The costume designs continued to be impractical but this looked okay on Mint Julep and Volcana Ash. McGregor’s scripts tend to be verbose and must have made letterers weep. It would be interesting to count the words in Killraven # 28 and compare it to the number in say Captain America # 119, a Stan Lee script with big panels by Gene Colan. It’s the quality that counts, however, and certainly the first part of the ‘Death-Breeder’ episode, ‘The Death Merchants’ in Amazing Adventures # 28 is one of the better stories in comic book history. Reading the issues one after another, McGregor’s wordy narrative begins to get annoying. I found myself pining for a good old Stan Lee caption that said ‘Later’ or ‘Meanwhile’. To be fair, this would not have mattered if you were reading them as they came out, once every month.

McGregor’s scripts were drawn by P.Craig Russell who is very much of the Barry Windsor-Smith school of comic art. Occasionally, especially in Marvel Graphic Novel # 7, his figures are a bit wonky, the heads too big so they look like children but mostly the pictures are well done. Unfortunately, perhaps because the pair each took a long time to do each issue, there are several fill-in stories. The variety is sometimes pleasing when Gene Colan pencils a yarn about cereal killers, sometimes a bit Herb Trimpe not at his best or Keith Pollard not at his. In fairness, I suspect they were rush jobs to fill a deadline.

Some ‘Marvel Essentials’ should be snapped up as soon as they come out because the second-hand price soon exceeds the new price as they become less available. ‘Essential Killraven’ is one of these. I paid about £12.00 for it and it’s now used price is £16.00 on one major internet site. This is a testament to the high esteem in which the series was held by many. Alas, quality didn’t translate into sales, which is why it was discontinued.

Quality almost never translated into sales in the seventies. What was wrong with the audience? Fantastic series like ‘Doctor Strange’, ‘Howard The Duck’ and Kirby’s ‘New Gods’ saga were discontinued for commercial reasons. Now they are rightly prized. Some issues of ‘Killraven’ are definitely classics. Others are a bit duff. You get both here but, overall, this edition is well worth the money.

Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/

Scarlett was sick of feeling like a victim. She had plenty of time to heal her mind and body. Nothing to be afraid of here- no knife wielding psycho was going to jump out of a doorway and drag her into a van like…. Scarlett walked into the tattoo shop- Amuse tattoos and talked to Casey the woman she had already talked to on the phone. Scarlett had to get rid of the evidence of that hellacious day and move on.  The psycho had carved his initials into her butt cheek. Bit when Casey went to start doing the tattoo Scarlett’s mind flashed back and she jumped off the table and pulled up her jeans and ran out of the shop. She went into an unlocked door with a closed sign on it. He wouldn’t find her there/ Than she heard a man’s voice behind her.and she said she was calling 911 and he said and tell them you broke into my bar? He said his name was ethan Calhoun and could he help her? Then she said but her a drink-Tequila.. Scarlett warned him she was a head case. He got her a glass and had a drink with her. Scarlett than said she had to go back next store -Ethan offered to hold her hand but Scarlett said it was something she had to do herself but asked if she could call him if she needed moral support. Than Ethan said yes and also  tapped his phone and said he wanted her number. Ethan’s mother -Missy- had tried to kill his half sister cassidy that Ethan hadn’t known about until after his death. Cassady hadn’t pressed charges. His older sister Shannon had married one of the sharpest lawyers in Houston - Billy Pagan. Billy was already working on a way to keep Missy out of prison since she left the court ordered time at Fair haven for her “ mental health issues.” It had taken some work for Billy to get a plea deal to get her there and now she was on the loose. He was already working on a way to keep her out of prison whens she was caught. With her on the loose the prosecutor could forget the old plea deal if Missy pulled one of her stunts and put her behind bars. Ethan looked Scarlett up on line the psycho had made Scarlett his victim during an attempt at Industrial espionage. Ethan wondered what Zenon Industries where Scarlett was an Office Manager- owned that could be so valuable. Scarlett’s brother rhett who was an author ended up at her door from Boston wanting to know why she had not told her family what happened to her.  He also said he knew enough about PTSD to know she was suffering from it. Rhett and Scarlett were both phobic about binding themselves to anyone for the .long haul. Scarlett got a call from Mike and Simms ahd escaped and left a cop in critical condition if he died Simms would be a cop killer. Mike thought he was far away by now but he was wrong. Scarlett called ethan and accepted the job to be hos bar manager after she told her biss ron she needed that leave of absence at Zenon Industries after all and why. After spending the morning going over plans with Ethan they went out to lunch nearby. Scarlett was attracted to ethan and she was pretty sure she was in trouble. The man was just about irresistible. Leroy Simms girlfriend was ramona and she had worked at Zenon Industries also. She was ron’s executive secretary and held it over people that worked there also. She actually had things criminally the way she wanted them until Scarlett came in and changed things and she hated her for it. She had also been in with Crane who had bought Leroy in to get the project from Anne. But crane was now dead. She helped leroy but she was the one who was computer savvy to get Crane’s millions of dollars hidden in a bank in Cayman. But leroy would kill her of he had to even though they had been together on and off since HS. She helped Leroy change his appearance so no one would easily recognize him.

I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the suspense, danger, and intrigue in this read. I also really liked the new romances that sprang up in the book. I loved the pace and plot. I loved that Mike, Rhett and Ethan wanted to keep Scarlett save no matter what. I felt bad that Ethan was pulled into the  bs with Missy and Lisa. I loved Etham and Scarlett together and how they interacted. I loved how close rhett and Scarlett were. There were a lot of errors were words ran together that interrupted your reading some. I loved the characters and the ins and outs of this book and I recommend it.

 

She followed a job and a friend to Texas which cost Scarlett hall more than she bargained for but she’s determined to get past one of the worst days of her life. Covering the physical scars is easy, but the emotional scars are proving harder to handle…until she meets Ethan Calhoun who just might be what she needs to start a new chapter in her life. It soon becomes clear that danger will be in her life no matter how many changes Scarlett makes and as she comes face to face with her worst nightmare.

 

This ‘Lone Star’ romance is an emotionally gripping, sweet and passionate romance with strong, convincing characters that readers can easily connect to and they can really understand what motivates them. The romance is sweet and the chemistry sizzles between Scarlett and Ethan with exuberant abandon. Scarlett’s past is a real hindrance to moving forward with her life which causes lots of emotional turmoil to flow from the pages and Ethan’s care and determination in romancing Scarlett warms the heart.

 

The plot is steady to fast paced and keeps readers on the edge with thrilling suspense as Scarlett’s nightmare reappears in her life, but this story has double the suspense because Ethan has quite a bit of excitement and danger going on his life as well as family comes calling. Readers can’t help but get caught up in this thrilling, suspenseful and passionate read.