Rating: 
Summary: ALMOST AS GOOD AS BLUE BELLE
Review: VACHSS IS EXCELLENCE - SOME OF HIS BOOKS ARE MORE DISTURBING THAN OTHERS AND THIS IS ONE OF THEM. BURKE IS A CHARACTER OF A LIFETIME. WITH BURKE , VACHSS HAS ENSURED HIS PLACE IN CONTEMPORARY MYSTERY WRITING AND CAN REST ASSURED THAT HE WILL KEEP MAKING MONEY FOR HIS TRUE PASSION IN LIFE, HELPING CHILDREN.
Rating:
Summary: ALMOST AS GOOD AS BLUE BELLE
Review: VACHSS IS EXCELLENCE - SOME OF HIS BOOKS ARE MORE DISTURBING THAN OTHERS AND THIS IS ONE OF THEM. BURKE IS A CHARACTER OF A LIFETIME. WITH BURKE , VACHSS HAS ENSURED HIS PLACE IN CONTEMPORARY MYSTERY WRITING AND CAN REST ASSURED THAT HE WILL KEEP MAKING MONEY FOR HIS TRUE PASSION IN LIFE, HELPING CHILDREN.
Rating: 
Summary: Burke's back in shape, folks.
Review: With "Dead and Gone," Burke undergoes an intense rebirth. After surviving a set-up, he's back to the ground-zero tension that fuels Vachss' best work. The last 50 pages present a whole lot of Burke's backstory. His closest partner, Pansy, goes out stone loyal. Much as it hurt to read Pansy's death, "Dead and Gone" breathes new life into the franchise.The "Who wants Burke dead?" search is complicated, but the payoff is a genuine surprise. Turns out our antihero didn't have this person pegged as accurately as he thought. The bad guys are trying to found a pedophile's paradise. Burke wants to keep Burke alive, and this leads him back to the crusade that defines him - fighting dirty for the Children of the Secret. As in "Sacrifice," Burke has to deal with...well, "performance" issues. Given the loss and grief endemic to Burke (especially in this book), it's a more realistic and interesting approach than the "no woman can satisfy him" school of detective fiction. Plus, it sets the stage for Gem to be the heroine. She brings hope and even some humor to the whole thing. You can pretty much nail down Burke's age this time - he was nineteen during the 1969 Biafra genocide. Now he's on the West Coast. Ripe new territory for a vengeful con-man who's legally dead...
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