Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.
Select delivery location
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Ken Bruen
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Book of Virtue Hardcover – January 1, 2011

by Ken Bruen (Author)
3.3 3.3 out of 5 stars 82 ratings
See all formats and editions
Previous page
  1. Part of series
    Bibliomysteries
  2. Publisher
    The Mysterious Bookshop
  3. Publication date
    January 1, 2011
  4. ISBN-10
    1613160275
  5. ISBN-13
    978-1613160275
  6. See all details
Next page
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Mysterious Bookshop; 1st edition (January 1, 2011)
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1613160275
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1613160275
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.3 3.3 out of 5 stars 82 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Ken Bruen

Ken Bruen

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

KEN BRUEN was born in Galway, Ireland in 1951. The award-winning author of sixteen novels, he is the editor of Dublin Noir, and spent twenty-five years as an English teacher in Africa, Japan, Southeast Asia and South America. He now lives in Galway City.

Customer reviews

3.3 out of 5 stars
3.3 out of 5
82 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Paige Ellen
4.0 out of 5 stars Just a sweet taste
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2013
Verified Purchase
I am not sure of the goal of this series, which includes short works by many authors in the mystery/noir genre. That said, while not the best thing Ken Bruen has ever written, this is a delightful morsel of his work. If you are already a fan; it is a lovely holdover until his next novel appears. If you are new to Mr. Bruen's work, this book will let you know if KB is for you or not. It is written in his unique style. Economical, taut, terse, mean and straight to the point. No one writes like Ken Bruen does. If you don't like this short work, don't bother with his other writing, you just won't get it.
Ken Bruen is among the very best of the writers of this genre. No doubt that he is my favorite. A new work by Ken Bruen is met by me as if I was a kid on Christmas morning. Of course, his work is much darker than that. He spares no one's feelings. His characters are very real and very much hardened by life. Don't expect any "they all lived happily ever after" type of endings. His stories remind me more of an old saying of one of my former wives, "Life sucks, then you die." But Ken Bruen makes the time before death so very interesting.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
William Merrill
3.0 out of 5 stars Hard-boiled crime fiction
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2018
Verified Purchase
After reading several books later in the series of Bibliomysteries, I thought I would check out number 1 in the series, The Book of Virtue. It’s a noir-ish take withu a tough guy antihero, a femme fatale...no cliche is left unturned. It’s still a pretty good read, although the ending is weak.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Book
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2020
Verified Purchase
Good book
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Sara Rivers
1.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointing
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2013
Verified Purchase
I enjoyed another bibliomystery so much that I ordered this one. What a disapointment! The book in the mystery has nothing to do with the storyline. If it does, the author does such a poor job of writing that it is not evident. I had a friend who is a book editor with a publishing firm read it, thinking that somehow I must be "missing something" in the story. No, I wasn't. She couldn't find the relevancy of the book to the story either. Don't waste your money on this one.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Butterfly Lady
4.0 out of 5 stars The Legacy: A Book???
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2019
Verified Purchase
* a vanished womb * a brutal, abusive sperm donor * ??? a book to enchant a bibliophile??? * angry * hungry * friendless * vulnerable * a flashy predator * a Vietnam vet wanna-be * low-life punks * Russian mafioso * drugs * booze * dirty cash * an illegal weapon * a scheming, avaricious babe * ??? a book to enchant a bibliophile ??? * SCHADENFREUDE!!!
Rat-a-tat delivery, shot through with slang and foul language, colorful, and impossible to resist. The story of one young man who ignored his legacy and unwittingly is entangled in murder most foul.The first in the Bibliomysteries series of short stories. Not for everyone, but definitely a taste of something different.
Helpful
 Report
C. Micklatcher
2.0 out of 5 stars THE BOOK OF VIRTUE
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2013
Verified Purchase
If you love the old black and white B-movies of the 1940's and 1950's, you may enjoy the Book of Virtue more than I did. The same cast of characters appear: the dangerous friends, the murderous boss, the betraying girlfriend and the corrupt, strangely naive "hero."
The actual Book of Virtue (the book of the title) has little do with the plot and the fact that both the hero and His girlfriend read and discuss anything more than the comics is incongruous, given their characters.
It's true that we need to "suspend disbelief" sometimes in dealing with fiction, but my suspension cable snapped with the BOOK OF VIRTUE.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
TEAmundson
5.0 out of 5 stars true to life
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2013
Verified Purchase
I love Ken Bruen...have read all od his books and they always make me laugh out loud as he says it like it is...
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
RJO
1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed
Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2021
Verified Purchase
The description of this story sounded very interesting. Unfortunately, it didn't deliver. The jerky formatting and mob-speak made it tough to read and in the end, the book of virtue just didn't tie in as promised in the description.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

George P. Reilly
2.0 out of 5 stars The Book of Virtue
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 29, 2014
Verified Purchase
Ken Bruen writes the basis of a good story but seems to run out of steam, patience or or ideas as the climax approaches and the end is over-simplified.

Like all Ken's books they have great plots but are extremely short stories.

Most books contain large print, dodgy layouts and a lot of blank pages.

Shame, as the great plots are wasted and disappointing.
Report