Galway Confidential: A Jack Taylor Mystery

At the start of the satisfyingly complex 17th entry in Bruen’s Jack Taylor series, the Irish PI has just awakened from a two-year coma caused by the climactic assault in Galway Epiphany. As Jack tries to adjust to the impact Covid-19 has had on daily life in Galway while he was comatose, two major cases are thrust into his lap. First, he’s asked to find the perpetrator behind a series of savage physical attacks on two local nuns. Then a man living on the streets asks Jack to stop two young thugs who have been setting fire to homeless people at night. Though he’s initially hesitant to take on the jobs, the sheer viciousness of the acts pricks at Jack’s conscience, and he agrees. His investigations are soon hampered by the intrusion of a ruthless vigilante group and a self-appointed friend who runs a local crime podcast and claims to have saved Jack’s life on the night of his assault. All the usual elements of a Jack Taylor novel—terse prose, muscular action, and plenty of Jameson—are on offer in spades, and though the conclusion is less bone-crunching than usual, it tees up the next entry nicely. This will more than satisfy series fans. Agent: Lukas Ortiz, Philip G. Spitzer Literary. (Mar.)