Priest, just nominated for a 2008 Edgar award, is a wonderful book, with, I think, some differences from the others in the Jack Taylor series.
The writing, still economical and fraught with emotion (often rage), has a different rhythm to it, with, it seems, longer sentences and paragraphs and more description. Some of the verbal ticks and tricks, like
the spaced lists,
the far-ranging quotes,
the extremely terse dialogue,
are somewhat less evident. At times Jack seems more reflective, softer. Friendship seems more important to him, and he manages to really connect with several new characters– a desolute priest who appears only briefly; the young policewoman Ridge, who becomes more than a source of information to Jack: and, most importantly, Cody, an appealing twenty-something Jack begins to regard as a son. There is an elegiac tone to his thinking of some of his dead, particularly Mrs. Bailey and his father. He thanks some people; he cuts at least one character a break. It’s only a sometime thing, but Jack does change.
Of course, this isn’t the Disney channel and Jack’s edge, his rage, and his violence are still there. Some of that he seems to attribute to his current stage of sobriety. Many of the themes in earlier novels are repeated– the betrayal of trust; the diminishment of the church; the Irish economic tiger which leaves Jack’s generation bereft and isolated; the importance of the written word; and the lure of dark side. The guards remain a tantalizing regret and a menace to Jack. The biggest problems unresolved at the end of The Dramatist, such as Jack’s future relationship with Jeff and Cathy, remain unresolved. In fact, the last page of this book is the inciting incident of a next. With Jack, just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does.
The story itself here involves a decapitated priest found in a confessional, a backlog of destroyed lives in his wake. There’s also stalker, a sniper, and the usual suspects. It’s a page-turner; not because of the murder, but what the events show us about Jack. His story remains compelling, however brooding and depressing the emotional landscape.
