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Summary
Summary
Inspector Brant is on the trail of a serial killer obsessed with sending Londoners an important message in this lightning-paced, hard-boiled noir from Ken Bruen, Calibre .
Somewhere in the teeming heart of London is a man on a lethal mission. His cause: a long-overdue lesson on the importance of manners. When a man gives a public tongue-lashing to a misbehaving child, or a parking lot attendant is rude to a series of customers, the "Manners Killer" makes sure that the next thing either sees is the beginning of his own grisly end.
When he starts mailing letters to the Southeast London police squad, he'll soon find out just how bad a man's manners can get. The Southeast is dominated by the perpetual sneer of one Inspector Brant, and while he might or might not agree with the killer's cause and can even forgive his tactics to some degree, Brant is just ornery enough to employ his trademark brand of amoral, borderline-criminal policing to the hunt for the Manners Killer. For if there's one thing that drives the incomparable inspector, it's the unshakeable conviction that if anyone is going to be getting away with murder on his patch, it'll be Brant himself, thank you very much.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In Bruen's superb new pulp-inspired novel featuring Inspector Brant (after 2005's Vixen), the Southeast London Police Squad is plagued by a serial murderer who's determined to give his victims a lesson in manners. Taking a cue from Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me, the "Manners Killer" believes that anyone who behaves rudely in public (e.g., verbally abuses a store clerk, slaps a child) is fair game. He soon finds that he's no match for Brant, Bruen's amoral, sociopathic brute of a detective ("He was heavily built with a black Irish face that wasn't so much lived in as squatted upon"). While his methods may be questionable, Brant gets results, and we find ourselves secretly cheering him on. Meanwhile, Brant is writing his first crime novel, Calibre, and aspires to become the English Joseph Wambaugh. Of course, he doesn't let the fact that he can't write deter him; Brant just nicks the stories from his cop buddy Porter Nash. Bruen's furious hard-boiled prose, chopped down to its trademark essence, never fails to astonish. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
That Iago in bespoke tailoring, Detective Sergeant Tom Brant of the SE London Met, returns to chase a serial killer straight out of Emily Post. His colleagues universally agree that "Brant was a pig," a man absolutely incapable of behavior not directly beneficial to DS Tom Brant. Typically, now, he sidles into the splashy case of London's lethal monitor of manners, convinced it will prove an easy, self-aggrandizing bust. Letters have begun arriving at police headquarters announcing an anonymous citizen's crusade against incivility. If the "manners killer" observes a mother unduly chastising her child, or a shopkeeper treating his customers boorishly, deadly mishaps loom: a stumble from a train platform, a tumble from the window of a high-rise apartment building. Aided by a big-time lead from his personal snitch, Brant happily plots to corner his prey. Meanwhile, his less accomplished Met sidekicks pursue other miscreants and their own elusive demons. In the process, Chief Inspector Roberts gets beaten up, WPC Falls falls for still another in a dismal list of nightmare mates, while PC MacDonald, once a Met golden boy, turns an appalling shade of yellow. Only Brant, cruel as Caligula, amoral as a wharf rat and totally undeserving, emerges unscathed to collect the glittering prizes. Sadly, this time Bruen (The Dramatist, Mar. 2006, etc.) crosses the thin line between noir and sour. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Bruen is so prolific that there is mounting evidence he could supply his own book-of-the-month club. It doesn't seem to affect his quality, though: if you like him, you'll still like him; if you don't, you still won't. Switching gears from his Jack Taylor series ( The Dramatist, 2006), Bruen returns to cops-and-robbers London and the cast of characters last seen in Vixen (2005). This postmodern crime novel pits the Ed McBain-loving antihero Sergeant Brant against a new villain, the Jim Thompson--obsessed Manners Killer. Well, against is a strong word in this morally murky universe, but one of them does have a badge. Bruen has referenced McBain's 87th Precinct series often enough that it's clear he is writing his own version, though the brutality, cynicism, and racism of the characters almost guarantee they won't reach as wide an audience. Bruen is so stinting on description that it's hard to keep some of them straight--but the completely corrupt, satanically funny Brant probably could carry the whole thing on his shoulders. Here's to the next Bruen-of-the-Month. --Keir Graff Copyright 2006 Booklist