Vixen

If you're a fan of intricate crime novels - arcane forensics and brainy CSI babes running around in lab coats - Ken Bruen's brand of bare knuckled police work in London's seedy southeast side is probably not your cup of, um, formaldehyde. In fact, about the only tools the rude and crude but bone-breaking-ly efficient Inspector Brant and his misfit cronies employ in reducing London's crime rate are brass knuckles and .38's. Likewise, Bruen's prose is about a subtle as a sledgehammer - raw edged stories told without apology, refreshing free of political correctness and daring to offend. "Vixen" is another gem of the author's twisted brilliance - a simple and stripped down story wrapped around Angie, as cold and heartless a female killer to hit the pages since Caleb Carr's "Angel of Darkness". Recently released from prison, the foxy Angie seduces a pair of small time criminal brothers who are soon blowing up buildings and extorting cops. Typical of Bruen, the plot is merely a convenient background frame the banter and antics of the southeast London's eccentric police force. As expected, this is a fast moving, hard hitting drama laced with black humor and told in Bruen's unique and quirky vernacular. He may not be for everyone, but he is fresh and uninhibited - that rare writer who eschews convention and sets his own course. If you haven't discovered Ken Bruen yet, "Vixen" is as good as any a place to start.

When I read VIXEN I kept thinking of the long running television police movie "NYPD Blue," which is not to say that this novel is in any way derivative, only that one work of art reminds me of another. The Vixen here is a cold-blooded murderer who will kill her partner in crime without batting an eye. The police officers are tough men's men and all too human as they use the N word to describe their black colleague and the F word to describe a gay police officer. Unfortunately some things are universal. Mr. Bruen's sparse prose is quick and deadly. You'll be through this little prize, if you start it at take-off, before your plane lands. Enjoy.

In London, Desk Sergeant Doyle receives the call about the bomb at the Paradise Cinema just before the explosion. The caller tells to cop to provide $300K or more bombs will ignite. The bomb was amateurish consisting of two sticks of dynamite and a simple timer with no one hurt. The second bomb a few days later proved a bit more sophisticated but still amateurish, but the extortion demand doubled. While the cops like crazy Detective Sergeant Brant search for the bomber, Angie James and her associates the Cross brothers keep the blitz on by raising the ante with each new explosive incident. Angie also works on recruiting disaffected cop P.C. Falls upset for not receiving a promotion. As Brant and James head towards a collision, no one knows who of these two who feel so much alike yet think so differently than most people will survive. The macabre fascinating Angie freshens the series with her inability to comprehend in terms of right or wrong but instead she feels life is for feeling good and to do that takes her into the realm of the criminal. Readers will enjoy her cat and mouse game with the cops with tough guy Brant her only competition. The story line is a combination of a police procedural enhanced by the sociopath subplot. Ken Bruen combines that into a terrific thriller starring two adversaries and a support cast burned by contact with either of them. Harriet Klausner

This is a continuation of White Trilogy/Blitz series. As always, there is Bruen's precise, spare writing, which remind me just a bit of McBain, which lets you get to know the characters without excessive description. He characters are not particularly likable, but always interesting. Not as dark as his Jack Taylor books but still very well done.

The Vixen is crazy as a loon, sensous as Garbo and lethal as black widow. She's a serial killer who is behind a serious of deadly explosions that have been rocking London. She's using her bombs as an attention getter and it's working. She's into extortion and she's looking for a grand pay off. However, the coppers on the Southeast London Police Squad might have a thing or two to say about that. Detective Sergeant Brandt, Inspector Roberts, Constable Falls and Serteant Porter Falls want to stop the bomber, but they've all got problems of their own that keep popping up in this thriller that is both fast-paced and well written. Buren never uses a twenty-five cent word when a nickel word will do, never uses more words than he has to and he nails every sentence. This is British noir written by an Irishman about policeman that are human, flawed, likeable and sometimes not so likeable. Mr. Bruen's characters, especially Brandt, are more real than some may care to admit. Yes, Brandt may have crossed over the line a bit, but that's exactly the kind of man you want on the trail of somebody like the Vixen. This is stay up all night reading at its finest.