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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In his latest assault on sexual abusers of children, super-tough Manhattan maverick PI Burke works both sides of the law to save Luke, an eight-year-old suspect in a series of baby murders. His roster of eccentric friends (familiar from Blossom, Flood et al.) includes Max the Silent, the huge, mute master of martial arts, Elroy the forger and the Mole, a scientist with a high-tech laboratory hidden in a Bronx junkyard; all help keep the city's bureaucracy, including a beautiful Amazonian DA named Wolfe, at bay while Burke arranges the best treatment for Luke, whose personality has been fragmented by repeated violent trauma. New on the seamy scene are voodoo Queen Thana, a highly organized West Indian crime gang and a collection of extraordinary dogs, all fierce, powerful and unfailingly loyal to their masters. Each time we meet him, Burke becomes more personally anguished by the propensity of adults to mistreat children. Although he is remarkably well served by his friends (all equal in loyalty to the admirable canines), especially in the explosive finale, he remains emotionally withdrawn, his obsession verging on craziness. That, along with his terse, cryptic observations about the world around him, makes him more a scary caricature than a man with a mission.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Kirkus Reviews
A routine sixth outing for Vachss's dark knight Burke--that is, a bitter cup overflowing with satanic child-rape, multiple personality disorder, voodoo, execution-murders, and other workaday hazards of the ``outlaw'' p.i.'s ever-more bleak--and vengeful--Gotham half-life. Back from a series-freshening trip to Indiana (Blossom, 1990), Burke again surrounds himself with series regulars (martial-arts master Max the Silent, electronic wizard Mole, etc.) who play Robin to his Batman as he again takes on child abusers--attorney Vachss's legal foes in real life. What is missing is the sort of strong heroine (Flood, Blue Belle, etc.) who in the past has grounded Burke's high-voltage vigilantism; here, Burke's main female companionship is provided by a prostitute--representative of the sort of nasty turns that dominate the novel, which opens with Burke posing as a blind man to nail a ``freak''--a child abuser. Soon, bigger prey beckons: a child-porn ring with satanic trappings whose grim abuse has made a multiple personality of one eight-year-old Luke, with one of the personalities a stone killer. A crusading D.A. wants to try Luke for murder, but Burke persuades her to go after the cult--a decision that, coupled with his work on another case, sweeps him into a netherworld inhabited by, among others, a wealthy pedophile, a demented counterfeiter, a slick gun-runner, and an alluring voodoo queen. The brutal action is slightly sweetened by Burke's tutelage of a young, personable gangster, and significantly soured by his self-pitying running commentary (``I live under the darkness, where it's safe. Safe from things so secret that they have no name'')--and explodes in a merciless mass-killing by Burke of the cult, blood-revenge for his own sufferings as a child. Vachss still writes a mean page, full of sound and fury; but his spike-hard prose and action are blunted by a moralism that smugly sets Burke up as the most obnoxiously self-righteous--and increasingly one-note--judge, jury, and executioner since Mike Hammer. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Admire the author, but lukewarm about his novels,
By brazos49 "brazos49" (Sugar Land, TX USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sacrifice (Paperback)
I've now read 3 Vachss novels, all early works, and at the end of each one I wrestled with the question of whether or not to read another one. I picked this one after reading the favorable reviews here and I did find it to be better than Blue Belle and Strega. All of these books have had some appeal to me. They present some hard boiled guys like the main character Burke who have been to prison and are still criminals, but who now mainly just take advantage of [child stalkers] and other creeps in various scams. This frees them to do what they really like to do which is bring certain of these creeps to rough justice. I find that to be an entertaining and appealing story theme. This book goes into an unusual direction in that there is an abused multiple personality child who is a killer. This leaves room for lots of interesting and edgy action. My problem with these books is that while I admire the author as someone who works to help abused children and writes stories that can educate others about what kind of evil people operate in these areas, I just don't find his writing ability to be at the level of top crime authors. The word pictures just aren't as clear, the character development is so-so and there are usually a few over the top features that detract from the overall realism of the story. So, my 4 star rating is given mainly for the good features I listed, while my conclusion is that I'm not now leaning toward reading any more Vachss books.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Burke and Vachss at their Best,
This review is from: Sacrifice (Paperback)
In "Sacrifice", Andrew Vachss sheds the fluff of his excellent earlier books and goes right for the jugular. "Sacrifice" is a artistic triumph as Vachss takes his creation through a mission to Hell in minimalist bursts of semi-automatic prose. Sparse, intense and visceral -it is creepy and chilling even by Vachss' standards. There are plenty of sharp turns in the novel, and Vachss somehow manages to keep Burke from becoming cartoonish (or a prose version of the Punisher/Jedge Dread) in his vigilante-esque cartharsis and its devastating effects.Its very grim and very good - one of my favorite Burke novels. Also recommended: "Blue Belle", "Hard Candy" and "Footsteps of the Hawk".
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hooked me on Burke for life,
By Heatherlyn "kalilyn" (Dobbs Ferry, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sacrifice (Paperback)
This was the first Vachss book I ever read, it was given to me when at the age of thirty I finally got that horrid childhood disease, chicken pox. While laid up with 104 for a fever and wanting to die, my father gave me a copy of Sacrifice to help pass away the hours.Within the first 20 pages the pox were forgotten and a Burke fan was born for life. I knew a pedophile. For years we tried to convince 'the right people' that this person was indeed a pedophile. Unfortunately no one listened and his money bought his release. How I wish I knew a Burke in the real world. What impressed me the most about this book was its truth. It is evident from the start that Mr. Vachss has spent time in the trenches, that his stories are sadly based on a grim part of life most people would rather not acknowledge. The message in his words is conveyed through the gruff gentleness of Burke. The loyalty between Burke and his group is a loyalty very few people share. His voodoo accurate as well, this is simply a high quality novel that will disturb the reader, make the reader think and introduce the reader permanently into The Zone. Read this book.
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