Quotes from Ken Bruen

Friday night, I resolved to have a quiet time. Two pints and a chips carry-home. Alas, the pints got away from me and I hit the top shelf.

An alkie in full defiant

I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange." (Dale Cooper, in Twin Peaks)

Back in the time of the Tinkers, I'd taken on a young impressionable kid, one of those wannabe American young Irish who saw the world through a cinema lens.

A candle is a prayer in action.

When you're in a coffin it's hard to think out of the box. Jack Taylor

Will you be all right? Should I call somebody?" "No, no there's no one to call." You hear that, you usually feel for the person.

He had that basic integrity that is so rare as to be mistaken for altruism.

Drinkers hate to lose one of the gang. It's an implied threat that maybe they might be next.

Rosie had what are termed 'grateful looks'. She was grateful if anybody looked. Few did, not even Jack. Leroy Baker was a poor example of strength.

laundromats . . . like a waiting room for people who didn't go anywhere

I can't blame books for the chaos of my life, but they've always been there on the journey.

God knows you have enough sins for a parish.

like a sin he'd refused to absolve.

Sometimes there's just no justice. The bad guys do live, if not happily ever after, then certainly conspicuously.

You know, Jack . . . you don't mind if I call you Jack, do you?" "It's my name, just don't wear it out.

Nightmares are the dress rehearsal for the dread awaiting.

He had long lines creasing his face, furrows on his forehead you could plant potatoes in.

She leaped into widowhood with glee.

True justice is dispensed in alleys.

I was wearing a pair of chords that were one wash away from shedding.

I'm a dinosaur way past my sell-by date.

You don't know hell till you stand in a damp dance hall in South Armagh as the crowd sing along to "Surfing Safari".

He was as trustworthy as a bent tuppence.