- Hardcover: 294 pages
- Publisher: Minotaur Books (28 Oct 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312384408
- ISBN-13: 978-0312384401
- Product Dimensions: 23.3 x 14.8 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 791,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Matthew O'Shea (known as Shea (and called Michael on the inside flap of the book!)) is an Irish policeman. Right at the start he tells us he's a split personality - a good cop/bad cop thing. Well, he's wrong. He's bad cop/worse cop. From time to time he zones out, to a place "covered in ice and fierceness." When he's in that place he does bad things - very bad things. Many of them involving women with beautiful long necks. He manages to get picked as part of an exchange program to go to New York, where he is teamed up with Kebar - a brutal and unstable cop whose partners either get hurt or ask to be transferred. Brrrrrrrr. Shea is one of the most chillingly psychopathic characters it has ever been my pleasure to meet. In fact, there are more than a couple of stone cold characters in this book. And Ken Bruen is brilliant at making monsters palatable. You might not like his characters, but you sure as hell want to find out what happens to them. His writing is lyrical, brutal and ferocious.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Once Were Cops is my first book by Ken Bruen but it won't be my last. If you like your thrillers lean-and-mean, very hard-boiled and where the characters' prose generates maximum emotional impact than Once Were Cops is a book for you. Without going into a lot of detail, the plot kicks off when Michael O'Shea, a member of Ireland's police force and (oh yeah, a sociopath) joins the NYPD as part of an exchange program and is partnered with Kebar, an extremely unstable cop with a reputation for heavy-duty violence. This is a team you won't soon forget and the havoc they create is gripping. While sparse in its writing style and length, Once A Cop is jam-packed with excitement and surprises. Be aware that once you start Once Were Cops you won't be able to put it down until you finish it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
First Sentence: "Where do I begin?'
Matthew Patrick O'Shea, knows as Shea, lives in Glasgow and is a member of the Guarda. He always wanted to be a decent human being and a cop. But he has a dark side that keeps him from being that decent human; a long a way from it.
He transfers to New York City as part of a police exchange and partners with Kebar, someone almost as out of control as Shea. They go from being partners and almost friends to enemies, with innocents damaged along the way.
Bruen is an exceptional writer. His writing is crisp and spare. Full paragraphs are the exception rather than the rule. Not a word is wasted or superfluous. He conveys more in a sentence that others do in a chapter.
He is the only author I know who can write a book about thoroughly despicable characters and make me love the book. And Shea is a thoroughly despicable character. It was, however, nice to have Jack Taylor put in a cameo appearance and there be a link to a Jack Taylor book.
This book is definitely not for everyone. It is dark, profane and brutal. It is also excellent.
Matthew Patrick O'Shea, knows as Shea, lives in Glasgow and is a member of the Guarda. He always wanted to be a decent human being and a cop. But he has a dark side that keeps him from being that decent human; a long a way from it.
He transfers to New York City as part of a police exchange and partners with Kebar, someone almost as out of control as Shea. They go from being partners and almost friends to enemies, with innocents damaged along the way.
Bruen is an exceptional writer. His writing is crisp and spare. Full paragraphs are the exception rather than the rule. Not a word is wasted or superfluous. He conveys more in a sentence that others do in a chapter.
He is the only author I know who can write a book about thoroughly despicable characters and make me love the book. And Shea is a thoroughly despicable character. It was, however, nice to have Jack Taylor put in a cameo appearance and there be a link to a Jack Taylor book.
This book is definitely not for everyone. It is dark, profane and brutal. It is also excellent.
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