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Saturday, September 21, 2013

Burke Series by Andrew Vachss

Blossom by Andrew Vachss
Burke travels to Indiana to help an old buddy whose nephew has been accused of murder. A sexual sniper…

Hard Candy by Andrew Vachss
No relation to the Ellen Page film. In Hard Candy, Burke runs afoul of a mafia family, and a hardcore sniper assassin. The assassin, Wesley, ends up become a Burke alter ego / brother figure / underworld boogey man in the remaining novels.

Sacrifice by Andrew Vachss
Burke takes down a kiddie satan snuff film ring… But he kills a little boy in the process.

Down in the Zero by Andrew Vachss
Burke is seriously disturbed by his inadvertent murder of a little boy; he goes up to the Hamptons to investigate a spate of teen suicides.

Mask Market by Andrew Vachss
A mysterious man hands Burke a CD, then gets killed by a group of pros. Investigating the crime puts Burke back in touch with a young woman he rescued in one of the first novels. Only now she’s all growed up, and kind of an evil lady.

Footsteps of the Hawk by Andrew Vachss
Two cops, Morales and Belinda, try to squeeze Burke as part of an investigation of a sequence of murders.

False Allegations by Andrew Vachss
Burke vs. lawyer trying to prove child molestation allegations are fake.

Safe House by Andrew Vachss
Burke’s client has an ex-husband who is a neo-nazi. We learn a lot about the Aryan Brotherhood criminal prison gang. Turns out, much of what we learn is true, which is disturbing.

Choice of Evil by Andrew Vachss
Burke vs. the Gay Rights assassin.

Dead and Gone by Andrew Vachss
Burke is killed. He reappears with a new name and face, and with the help of his new girlfriend, Gem, he hunts down those responsible.

Pain Management by Andrew Vachss
Burke has an adventure in Portland, tracking down a missing girl and pulling a heist on a shipment of medical painkillers.

Only Child by Andrew Vachss
Burke hunts down the killer of the illegitimate daughter of a mob-boss.

Down Here by Andrew Vachss
Burke’s friend Wolfe is fingered by a lowlife rapist who claims the former DA shot him, Burke is dragged into a complicated mess.

Terminal by Andrew Vachss
When a career criminal who is dying of cancer turns Burke on to a big score, Burke goes for it! Also, evil people get what’s comin’ to them.

New Life by Andrew Vachss
The final Burke novel. By now, Burke has become a tired, ranting old man, whose world view is outdated, and whose actions no longer seem to hold up to even the minimal amount of scrutiny that Vachss' long suffering readers are likely to apply. Burke chases some baddies around in improbable ways, and everyone gets a fresh start. It's fun to have seen some of these characters grow up and change, and I learned a good bit about criminality reading the series, but by the end, I felt as tired of Burke's world as he seemed to be. Glad Burke gets a new life; time for me to move on to other pastures.

I read all of these in January and February of 2013., mostly in the Pacific Northwest.

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