The Hackman Blues

Rilke in Black, Bruen's first novel -- published in the U.S. by Serpent's Tail -- was a finalist for the First Blood award for Best First Crime Novel of 1995, and GQ (England) described it as "the most startling and original crime novel of the decade". Bruen's second novel is even darker, and more controversial -- brutal, violent, and edged with desperate behavior from his characters.Brady, our narrator, is fifty, gay, and a manic-depressive professional criminal of Irish descent, strung out on lithium and excessive drinking. Today he has neglected to take his medication, which makes him even more manic, violent, and unpredictable. Brady is hired to find a powerful Irish construction chief's daughter. Known as the "Hackman", the chief believes his daughter is in Brixton, a multi-racial part of London that is predominantly black.Brady recruits his former cell-mate, a black thug, and another "associate" to get the girl back.This doesn't please the construction chief, who's an out-and-out racist. The whole thing goes horribly wrong when Brady tries to play her black gangster boyfriend against the "Hackman" and his Irish heavies in a complicated ransom ploy. The Hackman Blues is "a masterpiece of London noir" with a "deliciously Dickensian atmosphere" (BBC Greater London Radio), the Urban Blues as they've never been sung before.