American Skin

by Ken Bruen

Stephen Blake is a good man blown in bad directions. He and girlfriend Siobhan, best friend Tommy, IRA terrorist Stapleton, and a particularly American sort of psychopath named Dade, are all on a collision course somewhere between the dive bars of New York and the pitiless desert of the Southwest. This is the long-awaited American novel by Ken Bruen, the hard-boiled master of Irish noir.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Noir, Mystery, Irish Literature, Ireland, Mystery Thriller

280 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 2006

About the author

Ken Bruen was an Irish writer of hardboiled and noir crime fiction.

Reviews

[Still · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a huge Ken Bruen fan. Love every book I’ve read by him. The entire Jack Taylor series; most of the Inspector Brandt entries. The ones he wrote with Jason Starr… a couple of stand alones.

I don’t just read Bruen - I buy his books. I collect them.

I can’t begin to express my disappointment in this stand alone. It’s a mess.
It goes all over the place: flashback, flash forward. At one point a character we’ve come to know as “Bill” suddenly becomes “Bob”.

Woman mentions she’s from “Tallahassee” and Bruen’s male character unintentionally confuses “Tallahassee” with “Tallahatchie”. Responds with a reference to Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode To Billy (Billie?) Joe”… “Billy Joe McAllister’s jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge”.

This book’s not a total loss. Still, mighty passages abound. This just isn’t up to the dozens of other Bruen novels I’ve enjoyed so much.

Not Recommended For Bruen Newcomers

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those familiar with Ken Bruen’s crime noir books know that they are shockingly dark and filled with Tarantino style ultra-violence sometimes bordering on the satirical. It’s interesting to dig deeper, though, and look at all of the extra thought given to the literary, cultural and musical references Bruen carefully includes in his novels, it is a key to a whole world of the author’s thinking. Some other crime authors do this, George Pelecanos, in particular, heavily references the culture and music of the era and population of the settings of his novels. I think Bruen takes it a step farther, though, bringing in Charles Bukowski, Tammy Wynette, Alan Ginsberg, Andrew Vachss, Freud and probably dozens more to give insights into his characters*, even the title of this novel is taken from a Bruce Springsteen song (“You can get killed for just living in your American skin.”). Reading Bruen’s books makes me want to read an author or listen to a song he references and it adds an extra dimension to enjoying the book, but the stories he tells are wicked and not for the faint of heart or anyone disturbed by detailed descriptions of rampant alcohol/substance abuse.

*(For the record Bruen’s character did get the bridge reference wrong from “Ode To Billie Joe”, though, Billie Joe jumped off the “Tallahatchie” bridge, not the “Tallahassee” bridge”).

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

For fans of Bruen's Jack Taylor series, AMERICAN SKIN will feel out of place initially from the trademark prose of those books. Read a few pages and the same nihilistic noir enriched goodness seeps in. In jig time AMERICAN SKIN brings back that same feeling.

I love this book. It was a favorite of mine back when I read it in 2009 and nothing has changed in this re-read some five years later.

This is Breun's American noir with a distinct Irish flavor. We've got travelling criminals/murders/temptresses and a whole cast of characters which create a mixed dynamic of dynamite.

Blood flows like Jameson as the past catches up with all the characters. Headlined by Stephen Blake - a man with toxic friends, this tale of lust, loathing and lifelessness, AMERICAN SKIN is utterly gripping and a must read for fans of Bruen and noir.

Review first appeared on my blog: http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...

[Michael Martz · Rating 3 out of 5]

'American Skin' is, as far as I can tell, a standalone in Ken Bruen's catalog. He's a respected Irish mystery/police novelist who has written a couple highly regarded series. American Skin begins in Ireland and flashes back on occasion, but its setting is America and it doesn't get any more American than NYC, Vegas, and Tucson.

American Skin starts with a bang as an IRA-aligned gang is involved in a bank heist that doesn't end well for one of the criminals, leaving a bunch of money in the hands of Stephen Blake. Blake has a girlfriend who's helping him strategize how to keep the money and they decide America would be a good place to do it. Complicating things are a psycho redneck who manages to cross paths with some of Blake's contacts and a the 3rd member of the bank heist group, also a psycho who wants his cut of the money pretty badly.

The action travels back and forth in time, moving in the present day mostly westward from New York as Blake meanders his way to Tucson. On the way he manages to cheat on his girl who's still back in Ireland multiple times, get seriously messed up on drugs and alcohol, married in an Elvis-themed chapel in Vegas (and quickly divorced thereafter), and cleaned up in time to make it to Tucson just as the 2 psychos arrive. Lots of violence, sex, and debauchery along the way add to the fun.

Bruen's a fine writer with a good ear for dialogue. He does a nice job evoking the respective atmospheres of the cities Blake inhabits and his accounts of the activities of the redneck psycho are impressive. I can't say I was a fan of the plot- I liked the way he flashed back and forth to expose various aspects of the history of the different folks involved in the story, but there seemed to me to be a bit too much meandering, especially in the Las Vegas sections, that didn't contribute much to the story. Otherwise, American Skin is a nice, violent little novel.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Cross this bloody river to the other side"

If Ken Bruen isn't the premier writer of noir pulp fiction today, he is certainly the most brutal. "American Skin" is Bruen's latest release, probably his most violent, and quite possibly his best - assuming you have a stomach for carnage and an appreciation for black Irish fatalism.

Yeah, this is darker than black, the nonlinear tale of Steven Blake, a Blake of infamous the Irish Galway Brakes, an ex-soldier and current drifter who unwittingly is drawn into an IRA bank robbery. Supporting Blake in Bruen's rush of halting prose that lurches and jags beautifully through 280 pages of despair and bloodshed are not one but three of the most despicable villains you're ever likely to encounter in a novel. There's Dade, the American psychopath who kills randomly for pleasure, Stapleton, and IRA terrorist with no remorse, and Sherry, a female version of Dade in a Dolly Parton skin. But there is much more to this tragedy than gore and butchery. Bruen's rendering on the friendship between Blake and Tommy - the link to the IRA heist - is painfully rendered with an unmistakably Irish sorrow. Likewise, masterful foreshadowing plots the course for a climax that can only end in despair, but with all great fiction, the payoff come alone the ride.

If you're looking for cardboard hero role models and happy stories, you've probably never heard of Ken Bruen, and should probably keep looking. But if, like an Irishman, "you're only happy when your melancholy", then "American Skin" is a must read.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like American Skin much more than I did. Its (black) heart is in the right place, but it badly needs a good editor. The plot develops largely in flashbacks prompted by the free associations of its characters, and these sometimes redundant intrusions prevent the plot from ever gaining the momentum that it should. Perhaps more annoying, though, is the way that the book is slavered in pop-culture references for the sake of pop-culture references. For example, one of the book's major characters is so obsessed with Tammy Wynette that he will brutalize anyone who dares to insult her. We are told that he became a fan of "Tammy" (he thinks of her by her first name, just as another character is on a first-name basis with Bruce Springsteen) while in prison, but that is pretty much all we are told to help us understand the significance of his obsession with her. As well, we are given little help in understanding the resonance of the many Tammy Wynette songs whose names are mentioned in passing. Of course, the problem may be that my pop-culture IQ is too low to appreciate what Ken Bruen is up to--but I doubt it.

[Ian-John · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first Bruen novel, it wasn’t bad at all. The characters were all compelling enough to keep me reading, but it wasn’t an Ireland I recognised. Also Bruen has a habit of dropping pronouns and using paragraph breaks in a way that confuses and breaks flow. Nothing disastrous, just I did occasionally need to reread a section. Overall, though, I would be curious to read more.

[John of Canada · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical Bruen,nasty,good people getting killed,no real resolution.I listened to the songs as they were presented,which was enjoyable.

[Jake Scherzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this one for super-cheap while on a brief vacation in SF and kinda needed a brisk read to get me through the airport/plane trip. It was definitely brisk - almost felt as if the story blew by way too quickly without offering a chance for the reader to get to know much about the characters. Bruen seemed to be too busy making rampant pop culture references to Tom Waits, The Clash, Bukowski, et al to really get to anything resembling a solid narrative.

I LIKED Stephan, but didn't really feel for his character at all. Ditto with the others. It just felt like Bruen was trying to juggle too much at one time. The big climax really isn't much of a climax at all, and the book just sort of ends abruptly within 10-15 pages rather than having anything compelling attached to it. The protagonist's personal loss and essential call for vengeance happens so quickly that there's no emotional weight whatsoever, it's just a blip on the radar and then Bruen is busy zooming off to his next Springsteen reference. Things happen, but there's no real payoff to any of it save for a case of mistaken identity near the end that feels way more gimmicky than anything, almost as if Bruen just wanted to wrap shit up and get the narrative over with.

In short, it was totally worth the $5 I spent on it and was an interesting read, but its staying power is questionable at best.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, was this book ever a downer. Here's my main problem: I love Dennis Lehane's work, because even though there's horrid depraved shit in every book, Patrick Kenzie (the main character) is easy to like, as is Angie, his partner. They're fully-developed characters who we grow to care about. There's no character like that in this book. Stephen Blake is, truthfully, not that interesting. He doesn't do much, and most of what happens to him of note is told in flashback. Dade and Sherry are far more compelling (in that way that serial killers are), but I felt slimy wanting more about them, because what was there was horrific. I'm willing to go into the depths with an author, but I need someone there I can identify with. This is a well-written book, and I finished it, but three-dimensional sociopaths and a wooden protagonist don't make for an enjoyable read.

[miteypen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had heard of Ken Bruen before and I've seen the TV series based on his Jack Taylor books, so I wanted to see what his books were like.

The main reason I liked this book was that it gave me a taste of the author's writing; I had never read any of his novels before. This is probably not representative of the best of his work: it's set primarily in the U.S., for one thing, and I found the writing to be a little uneven. It did, however, make me want to read more by this author. The author does villains very well and is a master at putting his characters in difficult (to say the least) situations.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading Ken Bruen’s series featuring Jack Taylor so was looking forward to reading other books by him. “American Skin” is written very much in the style of the Jack Taylor books...fast, abrasive, shocking, murderous. When I first started reading I was hoping for a new style from Ken that I could get hooked on. By the time I finished “American Skin” I was glad Bruen’s style came shining through. He is the master when it comes to using so few words to say so much...creating a mood that resonates from the pages. Looking forward to reading more by this Word King!

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not Bruen's absolute best, American Skin stands out because Bruen steps out.
Not content to amlinger in galway or London, the hardbitten character Bruen has perfected for the last ten years walks that tightrope between American culture and tawdry reality. With locales such as New York City, Las Vegas and Tucson, Bruen tweaks the american mythos with a dangerous, shuddering appreciation.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stephen’s on the run following a successful bank job. He’s fled Ireland and made it to the States, leaving behind a mess: his best friend Tommy’s dead and a psychotic hitman he thought was dead isn’t and won’t stop until he’s caught up with Stephen. Meanwhile in the States, Dade, a sociopath with a taste for the music of Tammy Wynette, blazes a trail of carnage wherever he goes until he hooks up with his very own punk rock Bonnie to his Clyde, Sherry. Somehow, everyone’s paths will collide in a very bloody Tucson, Arizona.

This is my first non-Jack Taylor Ken Bruen novel and it wasn’t bad but it’s not as good as that series because Jack is such a fun main character and Stephen here is pretty crap. In fact, the only parts where American Skin becomes less than interesting are when the chapters focus on Stephen.

Bruen thinks the Irish are fascinated with all things America, and maybe they are, I wouldn’t know (there is a great deal of tedious pontificating on the nature of being Irish too), which is why there’s so much on Tommy and Stephen’s past in the States working menial jobs but also just enjoying being there. Not that all of the backstory is bad and I appreciated why we needed it given Stephen’s sole reason for being in the States and doing what he did all link back to his lifelong friendship with the doomed Tommy.

But once Stephen’s in America, he has precious little to do, either in New York or Arizona, and there isn’t anything all that interesting that Stephen and Tommy get up to either that’s particularly memorable or fun to read about in all of those flashbacks - the narrative noticeably slows down in these (far too many) chapters.

Weak “good” characters aside, when it comes to the villains, Bruen excels. That opening crazy sequence where we’re introduced to Dade terrorising a family is fantastic and pretty much every other scene featuring Dade is similarly entertaining. Sherry’s a compellingly poisonous creature and Stapleton, the psychotic hitman, seemed all too real in his cruelty, particularly given Ireland’s past.

American Skin isn’t the white knuckle ride that Ken Bruen’s capable of, in books like In the Galway Silence and Galway Girl, with stretches of boredom appearing throughout the narrative. But when it gets going, it’s really good. Bruen’s written other standalone novels which might potentially be better than this one, so I’d say American Skin is really only for Bruen fans rather than more casual readers on the lookout for a fun crime thriller to pick up.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another winner from this author, love everything I have read by him. This is not for the faint of heart. A tragic story moves from Ireland to New York and the southwest.
The action and the filling of dread never lets up
This standalone book deserves a follow up. I’m not finished with these characters. I want to know what happens to them all.

[Kurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. The master of punchy brevity and pop music name-dropping gives us a few exploding heads but not much else. Named his novel after a Springsteen song. Don't know it.

[Asher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bruen at his best

[Chris Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fecking beautiful mess of characters and language, a bipolar nightmare of a thriller!

Bruen never lets me down, just an amazing force of Irish wit.

[Maya Hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish it had been a bit more linear with the Tommy plot line. I did like how Stapleton and his crew were unhinged
Wellesley

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read but amateurish.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just this side of a waste of time

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the previous Bruen book that I read, The Guards, so was expecting a lot from this one. In the event I was somewhat disappointed: American Skin enthralled me a lot less than I'd anticipated, not (I concluded) because of the storytelling, which is trademark Bruen, but because there were -- and I know this sounds odd -- too many psychopaths in the tale. Stephen Blake and his best pal Tommy pull off a bank heist in Ireland with an Ulster IRA psychopath called Stapleton, who climaxes the heist by killing Tommy. Blake flees for the US, leaving financial-whizkid girlfriend Siobhan to launder the money preparatory to joining him, with it, in the US. But Stapleton has other ideas. In the US, Blake, who himself is not without psychopathic tendencies, guiltily boffs the psychopathic nympho wife, Sherry, of the psychopathic petty gang boss who used to be Tommy's friend, then offs the friend and flees again, now for Tucson. Sherry pursues, hooking up with another psychopath, sadistic serial killer Dade . . . Are you beginning to realize why my disbelief failed to stay fully suspended?

[Tom Donaghey · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMERICAN SKIN by Ken Bruen is a gritty noir of a book played out in Ireland, New York City and Tucson. Filled with loads of Mr. Bruen’s signature violence and determined characters, this outing follows a bank robbery gone bad, broken promises and death.
As in many of his books, Mr. Bruen offers a soundtrack to the action. Listen to Bruce Springsteen’s American Skin as you read for an enhanced experience. There are a dozen other songs mentioned and I suggested you give tham a listen also.
Stephen Blake tries to be a good man but life in Ireland is hard. When his good friend Tommy falls into a plot by a terrorist from the north to take a bank down, Stephen finds himself having to go along. But when things go bad and Tommy dies, it is Blake vs. the rogue IRA thug.
Escape plans evolve into laundering stolen money for good and fleeing to the American southwest, but a greater evil in the form of a murdering psychopath waits in the desert heat.
Thrilling from beginning to end, this is Ken Bruen at his best. More American readers should look into his books and find what they have been missing.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

For all the times I've really enjoyed reading Ken Bruen's books, there is another time I've actively disliked them. I found this book "meh" which means my reaction runs to the latter one. In this novel, Bruen has concocted a story that ranges from Ireland, New York City, and Tucson. I appreciate challenge that presents, but I just felt like I was reading a writing experiment rather than an actual novel. I suspect that men might enjoy this story more than I did. It's extraordinarily male identified. And the raucous stop in Las Vegas and the cowboy culture of Tucson will also probably appeal to many.

Briefly, an ex-soldier Irishman casts about post-military looking for a focal point. He has a close male friend and falls in love with a Maureen O'Hara type young Irishwoman. Misadventures happen, many misadventures. Crimes a-poppin' ensue and the body count rises.

Some of this book is also steeped in noir Irish humor and I'm sorry it did not appeal to me. Bruen has written some wonderful books (as well as some stinkers) and I'm sure many readers will also find this novel wonderful. Just not me.

[Ian Mapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dont think anyone alive writes like Bruen. He reminds me so much of Derek Raymond, but with better taste in music and culture. Bruens books are part take, part drinking stories but mainly him flexing his muscles about what music, fiction, films he likes. And it works.

This is a more expansive novel than we are used to seeing - both in locations and scope.

We have a heist in Ireland, committed by the hero - Stephen Blake. He loses his best friend in the heist and is persued by an ex IRA hitman for his share.

The take is non linear and jumps around making it dificult at first to pick up on.... We are introduced to a cartoonish american villian who simply likes killing people -dade.

Cue bars, motels, relationships and confusion and you have a nonsense of a story. But its so finely written that it keeps driving you forward.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are only a few Bruen novels on my shelf that I haven't read; this seemed like a good time to dive into another, and I wasn't disappointed. American Skin is, yes, an American novel, but it is just as much about Ireland, but mostly a portrayal of the bleaker side of the human condition. That said, there is plenty of passion, intelligence and warmth in Bruen's narrative. Part of this is because he peppers his prose with quotations from and citations of musician and authors. Part of it is his keen curiosity about what makes even the most dire people behave the way they do. We have people ranging from almost sympathetic to truly scary, but Bruen's careful sharp descriptions make them jump off the page. If you aren't reading Bruen, you are missing out on one of our better authors.

[Adam Rosenbaum · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time with Ken Bruen was a thrill. I now have another noir writer to look forward to reading. Part Hunter Thompson gonzo, and part Jim Thompson pulp, Bruen creates a dizzying array of memorable, merciless psychopaths. I found myself momentarily looking away from the page to digest the mahem. Being Irish, Bruen captures the singular zeitgeist of his country, including repressed emotions and despair. The actual story, a collision course of characters following the money is secondary to their actions and motivations. The allusions to popular music and books were an added treat. Writing style is "in your face" bold. I can't wait to read another.

[John Sheridan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book I've read by Ken Bruen and really a taster for me to help me decide whether to pursue the Jack Talor series which I will probably now do because after this I'm certainly interested to read more as this was a stylish noir novel that had characters packed with menace and a Pulp Fiction style storyline that had the characters crossing over into storylines that were previously unrelated. The mixture of American and Irish characters and settings works well for me and everything is conveyed with a sense of realism that is sometimes lacking in lesser novels.

[Herb Hastings · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it is quite possible, while reading this book, to burn a hole in your heart. Bruen is a powerful writer and American Skin, though written in a slightly different style than his usual machine gun approach, still drags you along with intensity. The story revolves around an Irish bank robbery gone wrong, an IRA fanatic ,an American psychopath, an Irishman trying to buy freedom with stolen money, his girl friend, and a raging angry lunatic who feels herself spurned. All these characters are on a collision course that will leave death despair and grieving in its wake.

[A.J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just a bunch of Irish miscreants who somehow get together, rob a bank, and shoot each other - in the face. Lots of people getting shot, run off the road into trees, babies thrown from cars, etc. One of the characters makes Cormac McCarthy's evil personified seem like a nancy boy. Would be better if it was black comedy, but unfortunately it seems to try to be serious. Pretty quick read though.
Dropped it from a 2 to a 1 as the ending was stupid.