‘London Boulevard’, by Ken Bruen

Get your coffee dose of the day, and read my review of a crime noir book by Irish author Ken Bruen!

(If you’d like to see the description, or other people’s opinion: Goodreads Amazon)

Discovery:

This book has been on my shelf for about an eternity. I bought it on a sale years ago, and seems like I forgot about it completely for a huge amount of time. Then I discovered it’s still there (~~good morning, darling~~), and I decided to read it.

Brainstorm:

I have mixed feelings about this book. Reading it was a rather weird experience for me.

As for the style, it is very minimalist, which is something I usually don’t like, but Ken Bruen seems to pull it off. Moreover, I should state that it really suits the main character, Mitch who is a recently freed prisoner and definitely not the over-explaining poetic type. At first I liked that he reads a lot and refers to books and authors, though by the end it was starting to get tiring. I couldn’t even decide if I like him or not.

I am uncertain about the story itself as well. What I can mention as a secure positive point is that the writer was keeping up my interest from beginning to end. I was feeling like I would smash into an exciting happening with every turned page… I’m not sure it really happened, though. There were actions, a lot in fact, but after reading the whole book, most of them seem superfluous. They show us what underground, messy, crime-filled London life is supposed to be like, I get that. They simply do not have a point storywise. Knowing the ending, very few actions make sense as part of the novel. We get a closure, and with that, kind of a backstory, but it’s not a very satisfying one. Okay, it explains things. And all the other happenings are a background on which the writer paints his masterpiece, right? I don’t know… it’s alright, but why have I ‘assisted’ to all those crimes then, if they had nothing to do with anything?

Let’s give it a grade!

Story: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Style: 4/5
The Subjective Factor: 4/5

GPA: 3,5

Uniqueness:

I’m not sure what makes it different from other books, but somehow it has a different feel. I haven’t read anything else written by this author, but I suspect I could recognize his work.

Recommend to:

Those who like gangster stories might like this one, too. Noir fans.

Drink tip:

Beer. Nothing fancy, the cheap canned type.

Music room:

Heavy metal, maybe. Death metal? The rattling kind.

Future:

In spite of all of the above, this book made me feel something. It wasn’t ‘just another book’. I do not say I wouldn’t give a chance to another Ken Bruen novel.

Thank you for reading my review! If you have something to say, please, feel free to add a comment below, I’d be really happy to talk with you! 😉

Hugs 🙂