Down These Green Streets: Ken Bruen On Declan Burke

Exciting times for DOWN THESE GREEN STREETS, folks, with the behind-the-scenes word suggesting that the finished article will be returning from the printers this coming Friday, or possibly Monday. Either way, I’m experiencing those midwife-style thrills of anticipation and pangs of dread: you’re hoping that all goes well, obviously, and that the book is a beauty; by the same token, you’d be happy just so long as it has all its metaphorical fingers and toes.
  Anyway, and continuing the latest of CAP’s erratic series, in which GREEN STREETS contributors nominate their favourite Irish crime novel, Ken Bruen was kind enough to give yours truly a plug. Now, you’ll appreciate that modesty was an issue when it came to running this up on the blog, but hell, it’s Ken Bruen, and he’s earned the right to say his piece. To wit:

“It’s a joy to be spoilt for choice in choosing my favourite Irish crime novel.
Vying for that are
Stuart Neville
Bateman
Alan Glynn
Brian McGilloway
Seamus Quinn
So here’s a .......... cop out
I’m going for the crime novel that gave me the most hope
back before Irish crime became a world player.
I was sent EIGHTBALL BOOGIE by a new imprint, Sitric, and read the novel with absolute joy.
Here was a new Irish voice.
Sassy
Smart as hell
Elmore Leonard-ish without any apology
and with a story that moves like Jameson on tap.
I saw the future and wow, has that future arrived with attitude.
Declan Burke ushered in the genre that wiped the dreaded chick lit off the Irish landscape.” - Ken Bruen

  All of which is very nice indeed, and I thank you kindly, sir.
  Meanwhile, in other EIGHTBALL-related news, Seth Lynch took the time to pen a few thoughts about said tome over at Salazar Books, with the gist running thusly:

“It’s dark, it’s gritty, and it’s funny … It feels like reading a novel by Raymond Chandler – had he stayed in Ireland rather than going back to the States … ‘If I fell into a barrel of tits I’d come out sucking my thumb’ – that line alone is worth the entrance fee.” - Seth Lynch

  Said entrance fee, by the way, is $2.99 on Amazon US, or (roughly) £2.50 on Amazon UK. And if you don’t fancy splurging for it sight unseen, you can download a sample of the first few chapters roundabout here …
  Finally, David Wiseheart at Kindle Author Blogspot was good enough to afford me the space to waffle on to my heart’s content about EIGHTBALL, the craft of writing and e-publishing in general. If you have five minutes to spare, clickety-click here …