First appearing in 2002, Blitz is back, re-released by Transworld to coincide with the film adaptation hitting the nation’s cinemas.  Fortunately for Transworld and author Ken Bruen, the nine years since it first arrived on the scene have done nothing to erode Blitz’s power or originality.

It follows, or perhaps more appropriately, madly dashes after, an investigation into a London cop killer, a sociopathic maniac named Weiss, AKA “Blitz.”  While something of an ensemble piece, the leading character is DS Tom Brant, himself no stranger to sociopathy or rule breaking.

Brant is to be played by Jason Statham in the forthcoming film, and at this point the reviewer must doff his cap to the casting director.  Brant is firmly entrenched in the “violence solves everything” school, and assuming the same Statham who appeared in Death Race and Crank was on hand during filming, there should be no trouble bringing the character to life on celluloid.  Brant is the hardest of hardboiled leading men; a heavy drinker, perennially unshaven, violent, utterly unconcerned with procedure and possessed of an almost pathological desire to intimidate those around him.  As he cuts a swathe through London, one can almost hear the distant screeching sound as Dixon of Dock Green spins like a drill bit in his grave.

Brant is, of course, the perfect character for Blitz.  The book is noir fed through Spinal Tap’s famous amp.  Maverick cops?  Goes up to eleven.  Seedy backdrop?  Goes up to eleven.  Pervasive alcohol abuse?  Goes up to eleven.  To describe the pace as “breakneck” would be understating the point.  There are no doubt fighter pilots somewhere currently suffering from extreme motion sickness having read Blitz.

A similar approach is used with the politics of racial and sexual identity.  Bruen is obviously aware of the modern culture of political correctness, and also seems to take great delight in dragging it into the corner for a sadistic beating.  Simply owning a copy of Blitz is probably grounds for dismissal by employers with a keener equal ops policy.

For fans of Bruen then, Blitz deserves a read, indeed being such a slim volume it merits second and third readings, achievable as this is within a single sitting by quicker readers.  Those new to Bruen are advised to give the Brant series a try just once, possessed as it is of such boundless originality.  Reading Blitz is, if nothing else, an experience.

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