Mayhem, Murder, Mystery

Galway Writer Bruen Shows His Grace

By Steve Hintz

I got the call early the previous day. 

The disembodied editor’s voice at the end of the line announced, "Ken Bruen, in from Ireland, will be doing a reading of his Irish mystery, The Guards. We need somebody to cover the story." An Irish mystery, I thought. Someone’s missing a pint. Little did I know, Ireland has its share of heinous crimes. And Ken Bruen is the master capturer. 

The Guards, originally published in 2001, is now out in paperback, while the prolific Bruen’s new The Killing of the Tinkers has just hit American bookstores after making a "killing" in Ireland when it was released in 2002. Both novels trace the dark side dealings of ex-Garda officer/often drunk Jack Taylor who left the police in disgrace and becomes a "finder," an Irish nicety for "private eye."

Responding into the phone...the answer was easy. "Sure, I’ll do the story."

I met Bruen at the Waldorf Astoria the next afternoon in Midtown Manhattan for a brief chat before his hectic tour of New York kicked off. There was to be a reading at Rocky Sullivan’s pub later that evening. So I was lucky to catch up with him so quickly. 

A tall, thin man with bone white hair and a pleasant warmth about him greeted me in the lobby. But was this nice man the progenitor of some of the most wickedly alluring murder mysteries to come out of Ireland in recent years...the writer just announced in the running for the prestigious Edgar awards for producing the year’s outstanding mystery novel? 

Evidently, it was himself, in the flesh…and I figured that finer fellow for the job would be tough to discover. I learned a ton that afternoon over tea and a bagel in the nearest diner, one typical of Bruen’s favorite American eating establishments. His affection for diners is apropos. Diners have so much character. They’re real. 

In our extended chat, I became a student. Bruen taught me about his life of honesty, one that made him look himself in the eye and talk to himself in truths. When a person experiences things in life so traumatic that one will either die or live through the pain -- and he chooses to live -- he exudes honest emotion. 

Be bold and to be a warrior with your life, Bruen explained. You, who have seen so much and felt so much pain and persevered, has to be bold enough to lay it out there for the rest of the world to see your real world. 

I listened as he regaled stories about his travels to Africa, Southeast Asia and elsewhere while teaching English and taking the world head on. I was tempted to make the comparison to Frodo the Hobbit, leaving the shire to go on an adventure and emerge the timeless hero…but with Bruen, it was real life. 

Bruen hails from Galway. A village, he said, during his childhood, but one that is now a thriving metropolis. It’s a city creating more than enough fodder for murderous mayhem, ever since the Celtic Tiger software boom changed Ireland’s landscape of poverty into that of a rich country with all the resulting problems and challenges. 

As a youngster, Bruen admitted that he was shy and bookish. His introverted nature no doubt contributed to concocting wild stories and fantasies about faraway places, one that would later figure in his life and, later on, his published tales. After Ireland, Bruen lived in England and taught what else but English. 

His appetite for adventure, never sated, led him to South America in his late 20s, where he was wrongly accused of being in a bar brawl. The situation changed his life. Being one of a few foreigners in the tavern, Bruen was blamed for the fighting, subsequently arrested and then detained. 

Horrific months of being imprisoned followed. The extended physical and emotional trial allowed him to see how low the human condition can plummet. This ordeal and the healing that took place after his release, helped to shape Bruen into becoming an outstanding novelist. 

Bruen had looked deeply into the eyes of evil and was forever shaken by this experience. As he continued talked about his life, I could feel an understanding about what life was all about emanating from the man. Over his meal of eggs, Bruen pondered questions of existence. 

He regularly remarked how lucky was he to be alive. Even with the brevity, I knew his stories. Now Bruen writes about death, raw humanness, redemption, dealing with reality and hope. 

The ease with which he used to understand his own story was inspirational. He talked at length about his family, especially of the strong willed pillar of friendship provided by his wife Phyllis. Bruen’s eyes lighted when discussing their daughter, Grace. Her own life is an inspiration to her father, a man who has seen much challenge. Grace is nine years old, born with permanent developmental challenges.

When asked about her illness, Bruen said that his daughter replies it means that she’s special. To myself, I thought, "Grace, what a fitting name for a child that has become his life. Just like his novels, his other children." 

The interview lasted longer than we had planned for…nearly two hours…and we could have talked all day. 

As I walked him back to his hotel, we made plans to see each other later on that evening and continue our discussions. Bruen had some music that he wanted me to hear, I think it was his favorite: Bruce Springsteen. And I had a drink I owed him for the breakfast that he kindly paid for. 

Later in the evening, Bruen read an excerpt from The Guards to a full house at Sullivan’s, a small Irish bar on the Manhattan’s East Side. In his soft voice, he captured the audience with some of the same tales of his youth that he had told me. I understand he even mentioned our interview earlier in the day, moments before I entered the bar. I was a little late after missing the uptown "A" train. As his reading wound down, the room erupted in applause. Most of the audience had been fans since early in his career. 

A toast for Bruen went up in the back of the room from a group of young people. It was a fitting tribute to the author’s ability to bridge ages with his grimy tales, ones that capture the imaginations of the Playstation generation. 

The crowd of hangers-on and mixed bag of other authors who turned out to show their support kept up the flow of intimate conversation after the reading. By the end of the night, either by the strength of the Guinness or the passion of the subjects discussed, everyone was rightly fulfilled. 

They say that a butterfly that flaps its wings in the States causes a tornado in China. After conversing with Ken Bruen, a graceful warrior butterfly, there must be a mighty blow somewhere.