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5.0 out of 5 stars
by far the best "noir" novels in a long time, Mar 17 2004
By A Customer
These 3 novellas are just classic. The pacing, writing style, and point of view are a wonder to behold. All Bruen's characters have strengths, warts, and vulnerabilities; we see the mix of good and bad as a continuum with varying shades of grey, not black and white(of course, there are "white" arrests, and a liberal dose of noir.) The large menu of characters and the omniscient point of view prevents Bruen from developing the personality quirks as thoroughly as (say) an Ian Rankin, but this is not to say they are 2 dimensional. Strangely, even Bruen's characterizations of the foibles of the criminals, and how they got these foibles, makes for vaguely sympathetic reading. How do you draw the line between a criminal who cannot find the handle to overcome weaknesses of personality or DNA, and the coppoers who have many of the same flaws, but manage, by accident, to channel these weaknesses? not always clear. A great read. i truly regretted finishing it. If anything, I think this series is even stronger that the Guards.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow-The "Bad Lieutenant" of Books, Feb 28 2004
This book was unreal and just served to reinforce my belief that when it comes to hard-boiled crime nobody does it better than the Brits! Bill James Harpur and Isles series, John Harvey's Charlie Resnick books, Russell James, Derek Raymond and Peter Turnbull's Glasgow P Division procedurals-the list goes on and on and is just breathtaking as one works through these writers. Anyway, The White Trilogy is dark, funny, cynical, tough,uplifting and hard to put down once you start. Let me put it this way, if you went to see the movie "Bad Lieutenant" and didn't walk out and are glad you didn't-get your hands on The White Trilogy. As much as I am into diversity in my reading material, after reading this book I am straight into Bruen's The Guards. Trust me on this-better yet take the "Bad Lieutenant" test by renting it and you'll know whether to invest in this gem.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply marvelous!, Dec 2 2003
Rhythm and Blues, Chief Inspector Roberts and Sergeant Brandt, R&B, serve the Queen and the nation in southeast London, a very tough part of the world. They face a variety of professional issues and personal crises. Not to say the least of which is a murdering criminal force that they are asked to keep in check.These are three short stories written between 1998 and 2000, joined together in 2003. The stories relate to eachother and while the joinder is not seamless, Bruen's writing is sufficiently jolting so that the stories feel contiguous. Bruen writes like the fifties. You see Mickey Spillane and Phillip Marlowe. Tough stuff. Great dialogue. He writes sharply. There are vigilante assassins, cheating wives, men suffering from vainglory, cheating husbands all along with pugnacious prose and teary endings. There's a sense of humor between the two men and the other characters. When Inspector Roberts is asked by Brandt how long it's been since he gave up smoking, Roberts says "five years, four weeks, two days and [looking at his watch] nine hours. More or less." There's no morality here. In fact some have criticized Bruen and the Trilogy for that but I submit he gives us a series of freeze frames on the south and east of London, and morality is but an also ran. Brilliant, brilliant stuff. I can't recommend him enough. Larry Scantlebury
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