Taming The Alien

Cops Roberts and Brant come back swinging in book two of the "hip, violent and funny " crime novel trilogy set on "the mean streets of southeast London" ( Publishers Weekly ). South London's Chief Inspector Roberts and his partner, the reckless and thuggish Irish Detective Sergeant Brant, are at odds with who has it worse: Roberts, with a mortgage in Dulwich, a pregnant daughter in boarding school, and a dire medical diagnosis; or Brant, relegated to desk duty after getting knifed in the back, and living to see his complete Ed McBain collection destroyed by a psycho with a baseball bat. That particular nut job has been dubbed the Alien, a hit man so named for carrying out a skull-smashing job while watching Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic, and hanging around in the spatter to finish the film. But this time the carnage isn't confined to southeast London. As Brant heads to New York by way of Dublin to catch the couple who knifed him and the Alien goes to San Francisco to pay a surprise visit to his former girlfriend, Bruen's broad, brutal canvas once again shows why he's been hailed as one of "the most original and innovative noir voices of the last two decades" ( Los Angeles Times Book Review ). Under assault by the criminal underworld, two cops strike back They call him the Alien. A petty hood with a habit of battering his enemies with a baseball bat, he earned his name for carrying out a hit while watching Ridley Scott & rsquo;s sci-fi classic & mdash;and sticking around to finish the film afterwards. The Alien & rsquo;s latest target is Detective Sergeant Brant, an old-fashioned policeman whose easy brutality has won him no love on London & rsquo;s south side. The Alien breaks into Brant & rsquo;s flat, clobbers him with his Louisville slugger, and tortures him until he passes out. When Brant awakes, the Alien is gone, and the cop has a thirst for blood. With the help of his partner, the cancer-stricken Chief Inspector Roberts, Brant will lay waste to London. But when his vendetta leads to something more fearsome than a bat-wielding psychopath, he & rsquo;ll wonder if perhaps he should have stayed on the floor Under assault by the criminal underworld, two cops strike back They call him the Alien. A petty hood with a habit of battering his enemies with a baseball bat, he earned his name for carrying out a hit while watching Ridley Scott{u2019}s sci-fi classic{u2014}and sticking around to finish the film afterwards. The Alien{u2019}s latest target is Detective Sergeant Brant, an old-fashioned policeman whose easy brutality has won him no love on London{u2019}s south side. The Alien breaks into Brant{u2019}s flat, clobbers him with his Louisville slugger, and tortures him until he passes out. When Brant awakes, the Alien is gone, and the cop has a thirst for blood. With the help of his partner, the cancer-stricken Chief Inspector Roberts, Brant will lay waste to London. But when his vendetta leads to something more fearsome than a bat-wielding psychopath, he{u2019}ll wonder if perhaps he should have stayed on the floor