Customer Reviews

Blue Belle

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a somewhat long-time fan of Andrew Vachss, after seeing an interview of him with (I admit)Oprah. After watching him, I could see where the hard edge to Burke comes from, and this is most apparent in his masterpiece, Blue Belle. I cannot begin to describe the tale woven into this powerful work of prose, but I will warn you now- put time aside for this, for once you start, Vachss grabs you by the lapels (if you are lucky) and drags you in. So I tell you: Take the phone off the hook, turn off the TV, leave a note on the door telling your friends that you are alive and well....but to bug off, pick up this book and take a trip into the darker underbelly of New York. It is more then worth the time, and your friends will forgive you.

Andre Vachss' "Blue Belle" is my third Burke novel. All three book are excellent, but Burke, the man, and the strange folks who people his world and call him" friend" are what keeps me a faithful fan. They are my focus, whatever the plot. And the plots are good, fast-paced and riveting. However, this far-out group of characters has me hooked on the series. Burke is as complex a figure as they come, and he grows, evolves and changes with each book. I have never encountered anyone quite like him before in fiction. He is a hard-boiled, in-your-face, ex-con detective, who still isn't sure on which side of the law he prefers to operate. A survivor, at all cost, he is also a stand-up guy. Vachss delves more into Burke's past here, reveals more about his various prison stints and what he learned there. Fascinating stuff. If you are a Vachss/Burke fan, or become one, I would suggest that you try to read the books in order - at least the first 3 or 4. Of course, every novel stands on its own, independent of the others, but the character's development is continual. There are also references to past events, and for a richer reading experience it is helpful to know the history. If you're just looking for a good read, and not interested in becoming a Burke maven, then by all means, read at random.

"Blue Belle" is one hard-hitting novel, reminiscent of crime fiction in the 1940s and 50s, though much more disturbing. Burke, as always, is our narrator. Everything and everyone comes under his cynical, seen-it-all scrutiny. I have never learned more about the underworld and the seamier side of life, the one most people rarely observe, than through the author's narrative. Burke's expert eyes take in details of life on the street that mine never would. His gritty urban world is one where "citizens" dwell side-by-side with "maggots."

A "ghost van" is terrorizing New York City's prostitutes. A gang of fiends, traveling in a big, smoke-colored van, are brutally murdering teen streetwalkers, young girls, only thirteen and fourteen years-old. A group of pimps put together a war chest and hire Burke to take the van off the streets. Pimps are, after all, businessmen, and lost merchandise and declining profits are bad for business. When the Prophet, a friend, mentor and "colleague" of Burke's, "scopes the scene" for information concerning these killers, he encounters a psychopathic martial arts freak by the name of Mortay, ("muerte"). As a result, the Prof winds up in St. Vincent's Hospital with two broken legs, in a world of hurt. Mortay has been hitting the city's dojo's and challenging each sensei to a death match. He will not allow anyone to walk away, and has killed everyone he has forced to fight him. He gave the Prof a message. He wants to fight Max The Silent, a mute, 20th century Mongolian warrior who calls Burke "brother." Max and his woman have just had a baby daughter, whose life Mortay threatens if Max refuses to accept the challenge. Burke senses a connection between the van and Mortay. He just has to find out what it is and how to eliminate both problems....while protecting his brother's family. Grim.

New developments occur in this novel which will have a long term effect on our protagonist. Burke has a lifetime history of living a loner's existence. Belle, "a big sweet-smelling girl with a snake tattoo on her thigh" meets our man to set up an initial appointment with Marques, the pimp. Burke and Belle act on a mutual attraction, which then begins to grow into a relationship. She is a voluptuous exotic dancer, a superb getaway-car driver, and she loves our man. Her past is dark. So what else is new?

The usual suspects are all present, including: Max the Silent, now a father, who "makes his living as a courier, moving things around the city for a price. His collateral is his life;" Pansy is a warrior of another species - she's a Neapolitan mastiff, just like the kind that came over the Alps with Hannibal; the Mole, a pasty-faced genius who lives in a bunker beneath a high-tech junkyard; the Prophet, a scam artist who speaks in rhyme; Mama Wong, group doyenne - a Chinese Jewish mother and restaurateur, "keeps her prices high and the ambiance foul to discourage yuppies." She cares for the gang, takes Burke's messages and holds his stash; Michelle, a gorgeous transvestite who is about ready to go to Denmark for a life-changing operation; I should add here that our hero drives a souped-up Plymouth, another important character. It usually looks like it's been painted with rust. That's the fresh coat of primer it almost always sports - "the Mole makes sure to change the car's color after it is used on a job."

Mr. Vachss' writing is bleak, gritty, disquieting. His chapters have gotten shorter, his prose choppier - it adds to the ambiance. The author is a lawyer, who specialized in prosecuting child abuse cases. He has worked as a federal investigator in sexually transmitted diseases, a caseworker in New York, and managed a maximum-security prison for violent juvenile offenders. Vachss calls the child protective movement "a war," and considers his writing as powerful a weapon as his litigation. He openly admits that he writes about the abuse of children because he wants to raise people's awareness of what's going on, and he'll reach a wider audience with fiction.

"Blue Bell's" grittiness may not be for everyone, but it is one fantastic novel. Highly recommended!
JANA

Some people would argue that "Flood," his first novel, or his later novels such as "Dead and Gone" are better than "Blue Belle," but I would disagree. Why? This novel is, pure and simple, the most forthright of all of his novels. Burke is clearly not the narrator here--Vachss is. There is so much social commentary involved, and every character is definitely a portrayal of differing aspects of our society. Add to this a story line that is truly magnificent and characters whose depth are unrivaled in other novels by Vachss, and I believe "Blue Belle" comes out on top. Read the novels in chronological order, of course, but reserve a whole night solely for "Blue Belle." I've read it at least six times, and every time I find something new worth thinking about. Not too many novels nowadays deserve as much credit.

In my opinion, this is almost a very good book. What I think primarily keeps it from being one is the "over the top" nature of so many characters and so many story elements. For example, in this book one of the villains is Mortay, a hooked up martial arts killer. No problem so far, but - he can dodge bullets?? Too much. Pretty much everything about Belle is overblown as well.

I think if Vachss had just toned down things in general, he would have gained a lot of realism and delivered a fine book. He has the elements, he just seems to lack the confidence in his story to not oversensationalize it.

I've now read two of Vachss' books and I find I have the same feeling after reading this one as I did after Strega - I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not to read another one of his works. He delivers some very intriguing, gritty crime material, but he burdens it with some negative baggage. I think I'll browse the reviews for his other works and see if one of them sounds promising. If so, maybe I'll check it out. Otherwise, I think I'll move on.

I have, to date, read six of Andrew Vachss' Burke novels, although not chronologically. I started with SACRIFICE, which I found to be one of the most hard-boiled, intense, and nasty novels I had read in a long time. I was hooked. But BLUE BELLE confused me. On the one hand, all of Vachss' trademark characters are present, his stylized prose is in abundance, and Burke, THE most hard-bitten man in crime fiction. He reminds me of a line in the movie MILLER'S CROSSING; "I never met anyone who made being a son-of-a-b**** such a point of pride.". But somehow, BLUE BELLE doesn't sit right. It's almost a parody of the Burke novels, with every situation he gets in heightened to almost absurd effect. It almost as if Vachss wrote the book on auto-pilot, putting his characters into a vague plot with an unsatisfying outcome, and hoping it comes together. I know that Vachss regains his form in books published since, but here, it doesn't click. Everything is too similar, with no surprises. Still, sub-par Vachss is better than no Vachss at all.

The Vachss/Burke combo follows the exploits of a dark, disparate group of misfits in the underbelly of New York. That's the attraction of this series. And the band is back in this third installment but their roles and the basic plot of the novel get diluted when Mr. Vachss deviates into the soft porn genre with the introduction of Belle: an annoying, needy, whiny, woman with a masochist streak in her.
Cut out the repetitive, tiring, boring sections devoted to Burke/Belle's sexual encounters and the book could end up being 100 pages lighter and with a better flowing story. Belle's story could have easily been a 4 page sideline; instead it becomes a second sory that actually detracts from the main story line.
I almost gave up on this but stayed the course in the interest of the continuity of the series. If you are new to the Burke saga, don't start with this one.

The best book by Vacchs that I have read is "Stella," which is very similar to his Burke books but is about a true loner, so we don't get the constant, overly sentimental scenes of Burke's "family" of fellow misfits. But this one is almost as good, mostly because it keeps a leash on the cuteness. Highly recommended.

This book was so good, I read it over a span of 2 days. I never wanted to put it down. Burke is an excellent example of a street-level character that is tough, multi-leveled & real. Vachss writing explores all angles of his characters and is great at explaining past occurrences in his Burke series to newcomers without dragging it out too long for the familiar. Vachss' writing is well researched and he makes me wish his books could go on forever. Blue Belle is my favorite of his Burke books so far and I hope this series never ends because all the Burke books are great.

I have read all of Vachss's Burke novels and this one is one of my favorites. The "Belle" of the title is one of Burke's more interesting leading ladies. And the threat, in the form of the Ghost Van, is one of the more horrific. The climax is also one of the more memorable in the Burke series. Vachss is one of the best crime writers working today. Perhaps it is because his working with abused children brings him so close to the dark side that he is able to capture it so well on the written page. "Blue Belle" is one his darkest and one of his best.

Vachss explores dark and twisted territory that in less skilled hands would be unbearable. The glimpses Vachsss gives of the vulnerable side of wounded hard case Burke make the inevitable conclusion particularly shattering.