- Paperback: 160 pages
- Publisher: Serpent's Tail; New Ed edition (24 Mar 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1852427817
- ISBN-13: 978-1852427818
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13 x 1.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 630,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
"'The most startlingly original crime novel to emerge this decade' GQ 'The reading equivalent of a boxer's sharp jab to the solar plexus. It's fast-paced, tough, and pretty sexy' Pulp 'Boiled harder than salad eggs and much more likely to leave a nasty taste in your mouth' Big Issue"
Product Description
In South London, an unlikely gang of kidnappers hatch a plot. Nick, an ex-bouncer, Dex, a charismatic sociopath, and Lisa, a motor-mouth junkie femme fatale. Their prey is a powerful, local businessman with an obsession for the poet Rilke. 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. Rilke on Black is an eerie, crooked tale of sex, obsession and betrayal. Ken Bruen's dark contemporary thriller matches a razor sharp vernacular with a country music soundtrack to create a truly intoxicating and original mix.
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First Sentence
I'm not a criminal. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
I'm not a criminal. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A true original,
By Pulp Pusher "Pulp Pusher" (Edinburgh, Scotland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rilke on Black (Five Star Paperback) (Paperback)
Nick is an ex-bouncer with a father in the gutter; Dex, a class-A nutter; and Lisa, a druggie femme fatale with a bad mouth. When they decide to take hostage a club owner who has a taste for the poetry of Rilke, the ensuing chaos was like nothing I'd read before. Every page burst with style and substance, poetry and street patois, anger and adrenaline. All of it told with an ease of skill that is the mark of a true original.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.9 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews) 10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sleeper,
By Dan Kinney - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Rilke on Black (Mask Noir) (Paperback)
I picked up Rilke on Black in a remainder lot somewhere and read it months later on a whim. For it's faults, this is a first novel of tremendous intensity by a writer whose works I now intend to hunt down. It's certainly energised me to track him and end up dashing this off.Stylistically, Bruen throws so many punches so rapidly in this first novel that it's hard to track down influences. Certainly he's read and studied the classics, from Hammett to Ross Macdonald. For California, tho, substitute working class London. And the story is told by a guy Lew Archer didn't get to when he was a troubled adolescent. Having mentioned faults, I should say that the rythmn of this book seems a bit off to me at times. The sheer impact of the narrative, however, tends to obscure the problem. I've come away feeling Bruin's peers are more along the lines of Lou Reed and Iggy Pop than any literary school, and this is certainly no slur. Rilke on Black is a short slam dance of a book that casts a rather long shadow, a small canvas with details that emerge long after you've finished the book. Certainly this isn't mass market stuff. If you appreciate precise, focused prose in a deceptively tight plot with disturbing undertones left and right, however, give Rilke on Black a shot. I feel this is something of a find. 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Early Bruen,
By Tony Mastrogiorgio - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Rilke on Black (Five Star Paperback) (Paperback)
Raymond CHandler once said to an editor that cut a description, claiming that the reader didn't care about that sort of thing, that he was wrong. Atmosphere, observation and feeling were ALL the reader cared about. They just didn't know it.
Which is something to keep in mind about Ken Bruen. Once in a while his plots can feel contrived (and sometimes they are great) but his sense of atmosphere - whether in London or Galway, always among hard men and tough women - never waivers. Rilke on Black is far superior to the similar Her Last Call to Louis McNiece. All Bruen's strengths are on display here. Characters are drawn effortless, with just a few strokes, and feel true to life. It's great to see Inspector Brandt show up late in the novel, too. He's not yet the full blown creation that is Bruen's best achievement, but this book is a great sign of the things to come. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good stuff,
By Noirguy - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Rilke on Black (Five Star Paperback) (Paperback)
Bruen is someone who has such high regard right now I was curious to see what his early work was like and I love this little book. Simple, well told, hard boiled as all get out and with that distinctive Bruen voice. A really great fast read.
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