Rilke On Black
Ken Bruen
Publisher:
Serpent’s Tail
ISBN: 185 242 781 7
Re- Published: March, 2006
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Rilke On Black
written
by
Ken
Bruen
Sometimes aspiring authors have to remove their hats and ask themselves:
“Why bother? You’re not going to top that?” Of course,
we bother because that’s the challenge. To get to the top –
or even to get on the ladder – books need to be read and learned
from and Ken Bruen’s Rilke On Black,
with its tight, clipped dialogue (that cracks both smiles and frowns of
concern for the characters in equal measure), detailed yet underplayed
descriptions and overall sense of powerful eeriness, is one novel from
which much can be learned.
In South London, an unlikely gang of kidnappers – Nick, an ex-bouncer,
Dex, a charismatic sociopath, and Lisa, a motor-mouthed, over-sexed
junkie femme fatale – hatch a plot. Their prey is a powerful local
businessman with an obsession for the poet Rilke and a beautiful wife.
Thing is, each kidnapper has a very
different agenda. Which means it's only a matter of time before the
joking stops, and the ever-threatening violence begins.
Its tempo is unrelenting and the author’s ability to take the
most ordinary of situations and imbue them with an overwhelming sense
of darkness and mystique, is inspirational.
Nick is a likeable guy, Lisa is trying
hard to escape and Dex is, well, a violent thug. What is most remarkable,
however, is that we as readers all know them because we’ve met
them and their like in reality and not just once or twice, but every
day.
Littered with highlights, Rilke On Black,
one of Ken Bruen’s first ventures into Crime
fiction and originally published in 1996, is an absolute “must
read” novel.
Order this book online - Linghams Booksellers
break the rules as I see fit.” - Chris High 2003.