Customer Reviews

Dead and Gone: A Burke Novel

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Andrew Vachss' novels about the character known only as Burke are as tough and painful - and as deeply resonant and powerful - as any books ever written. DEAD AND GONE, this new Burke novel, takes the main character - and the reader - to new depths of pain, compassion, and vengeance.

From the beginning, you know this one is going to be very different. Burke, who lives in the gray frontier between law and lawlessness, has confronted the worst of human monsters in his previous books, people who prey upon children, who commit the unforgivable crime of murdering innocence. Burke's crusade to obliterate such creatures (which mirrors that of attorney/children's right advocate Vachss) has earned him the enmity of a great many people, and one of them has planned Burke's death. The plot nearly succeeds, and by the end of the first dozen pages, one of Burke's closest friends lies dead, and Burke himself is nearly killed, losing the sight in one eye.

His goal now is revenge, not only for himself, but for the loss of the one living creature closest to him. In effect, Burke becomes "dead and gone," vanishing even beneath the radar of the underground's whisper-stream, in order to track down those responsible. The motives for the attack, however, turn out to be more than just a desire for Burke's death, which he learns with the assistance of Gem, a young Cambodian woman who becomes one of Burke's aides and more, and Burke's old friend Lune, who has developed a system of drawing order and patterns from seeming chaos.

The novel is filled with rich and enigmatic characters, dark and gritty settings, and terse, ice-cold prose. What sets it apart from the other books, however, is the change that occurs in Burke, not just physically, but psychologically. There is a spiritual death and rebirth here, a learning process with lessons so hard that I doubt if anyone with less rigor than Burke could survive them. But survive them he does, and comes out on the other side changed, and for the better. We are in the presence of a different Burke by the book's end, no less intense, no less dedicated to his goals, no less devoted to his chosen family, but a Burke who has learned other ways of dealing with his enemies and with his fears, and perhaps a Burke who is, at long last, loved, and who has learned to accept and give love in return.

The Burke saga is no literary franchise, but a series written with depth and passion. Unlike most series characters, Burke grows, develops, and changes, and Vachss has chronicled these changes with dark brilliance. DEAD AND GONE is a defining chapter and an enlightening moment of transition in the long, hard story of Burke. At the same time, it is a stark, compassionate, and strangely different novel by one of the most original and ferocious voices in American fiction. I cannot recommend it too highly.

From Merriam-Webster OnLine (http://www.m-w.com) Main Entry: burke Etymology: from burke to suffocate, from William Burke died 1829 Irish criminal executed for smothering victims to sell their bodies for dissection Date: 1840

It is no accident that Burke (Vachss character) was named after a silent killer.

"Dead and Gone" is beyond a doubt the darkest Vachss novel yet.

As with all of Vachss's books, they are too fast-paced to skim; I need to read each one twice before I get the full tale -- and even then I'll need to reread it. I don't know if that's because I'm simply not smart enough, or if the fault lies in the writer. (it's probably me.) While Andrew Vachss remains one of my absolute favorite authors, I become increasingly annoyed that I can't "get" his books first time round. It is only for that reason that I am giving this book four stars instead of five. Someone brighter than I may be able to glean from its pages a better description than I'm giving you now.

"Dead and Gone" removes a key player from Burke's family. When loyal readers think that Burke's soul can't get any darker than, say, "Sacrifice" and the following "Down In the Zero," we have NO idea what Vachss is about to spring on us in "Dead and Gone." I have no shame in telling you that my heart broke.

This book also introduces a new location and new players, including Gem. Gem is worth noting because she is Burke's first slender woman, and I am interested in seeing how that will play in future books. I also wonder whether the new location is a one-shot deal, as in "Blossom," or if Burke is moving across the country as the writer has.

The new characters are three-dimensional and very complex, but it will take some time and some more writing for them to become as lovable to me as Michelle and Terry and the Prof and, well, you know them all.

In a nutshell: Great subject matter, exceptional writing, VERY complex. Highly recommended.

p.s. while I have your attention: all those out-of-print Burke books that I spent forever searching for, crawling on my hands and knees in dusty used-book stores, have come back into print and are available on amazon.com. I strongly urge new fans to go back to the roots.

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...

Leave it to Andrew Vachss to breathe new life into his Noir Champion, Burke. Trying to buy back a long missing child, Burke is set up by a group of professional killers, shot several times; and left for dead beside his Neopolitan Warrior, Pansy... BIG Mistake!!! The story just gets better and better from there. With a change of scenery to the west coast and the development of a new crew. Premiere among them, a slender Cambodian girl named Gem. Who assists Burke in hunting down those who arranged and paid for the botched hit. The action moves for NYC, to Portland and back. Where Mama, Max, The Prof, Michelle and Mole cook up a splendidly contrived plan. With the help of Sonny, the young, troubled driver from 'Down In The Zero'. Plus a brief, yet telling visit from Detective Morales. Vachss and Burke hit all the buttons in this tale. Making it one of his best, and well worth the wait for its arrival in SoftCover.

I love Andrew Vachss' work, his novels and his public life. I first found "Hard Candy" in a closing out sale of a bookstore in Buffalo and I have been hooked ever since, devouring everyone I could find. I am grateful to the Mamroneck Public Library for having such a complete selection of the Burke novels, because that got me through the working day last summer.

So you can imagine my excitement when "Dead & Gone" came out. It has an amazing, and heartbreaking, opening. In a ransom exchange gone wrong, Burke is pinned down in an ambush and only saved by Pansy - his mastiff and partner - sacrificing her life for him.

Burke survives and is now on a quest for revenge. The first hundred pages are great. The usual cast of characters - and I can't think of a series with a more vibrant and fully realized supporting cast - rallies around to help him. He tracks the hit back to Brookyln and there are fireworks.

However, when the trail takes him to the Portland, Oregon, the book grinds to a halt. There are pages and pages of Burke basically hanging out in Portland. Burke goes to the bookstore! Burke goes to the poolhall! Whee. It takes a long time for the plot to move ahead very little.

Gem, the Cambodian girl who falls for him, is an interesting character. (Although she'd be a lot more interesting if she did something other than eat.) And it's nice to see a girlfriend of Burke's that doesn't die. (I was starting to think this was Michael Landon on Bonanza.) But Burke's "performance problems" seem to be a direct lift from "Hard Candy," and likewise the solution to said problems.

I didn't find the villain to be that terrifying or frightening. (And I didn't think that the way they dealt with him worked at all.) The idea behind him and the threat he represented was believable, but the character is just a con man.

The end of the novel has Burke pondering a move to Portland for good. Oh, I hope not. I'm sure Portland has its problems, but it's not New York! What about the great supporting players? Gem doesn't hold a candle to Silent Max, Mama, the Mole, and the Prof. I will miss them sorely if that threat becomes a reality.

As a big fan of Andrew Vachss, both as a writer and as a human being, I was very pleased with the latest Burke novel, "Dead and Gone." In fact, this is easily his best novel since "Footsteps of the Hawk". While the intermediate books were very good, they were a little more light in literary content than his previous works. That is not to say they weren't good. Vachss is usually several times better than the average crime/mystery writer. But they were fairly flawed. "False Allegations" became essentially a treatise on abuse and false memories/allegations (which is Vachss' primary concern when writing his Burke novels, abuse of children) and came off a little flat. Likewise, his next novels "Safe House" and "Choice of Evil", while developing chillingly evil antagonists for Burke (particularly in "Choice of Evil"), were fairly by the numbers in terms of plot. The death of Burke's girlfriend in "Choice of Evil" didn't have the impact it probably should have.

"Dead and Gone" however, takes Burke back into his darkest roots. Burke is ambushed, blinded by gunfire, and a primary character who has been present throughout the series is murdered. Burke seeths for revenge, but must vanish in order to achieve it. And the answer to that revenge may lay in Burke's violent past.

The characterization of Burke here is utterly frightening. This is the Burke of "Flood" and "Down in the Zero", the Burke who likes to share his pain with whatever monster he can get his hands on. The streetwise, amoral predator at work. Through his eyes, the reader is shown a world we are loathe to even acknowledge, much less see. A world the average person cannot even begin to imagine. Naturally Vachss, through Burke, wants us to see this world, forces us to see. It is there, and only when we all see it, Vachss tells us, can this world be destroyed.

Be warned, this is not the book to begin with if you are a new Vachss reader. There is a definite connection to events of previous novels of the series, and unless a person has read the whole serious, the relevance of who the antagonist is will mean nothing.

Also be warned: Vachss has an agenda. He wants to show people a part of the world that most refuse to admit even exists. Some people may not appreciate this full throttle initiation. Vachss must be read. But he should not be read without mental preparation first.

Just when you thought you knew everything about Burke, the anti-antihero of Andrew Vachss's crime fiction, along comes Dead and Gone.

If you're new to Burke's world, this probably isn't the book to start with. It's as much (if not more) of a page-turner as the previous eleven novels in which Burke is featured, and the uninitiated reader will certainly find it entertaining. But to fully appreciate the revelations here, you ought to read at least one earlier effort.

For those who have, and had concluded that Burke was about as malleable as titanium, this book will surprise you.

There's nothing forced about the changes, either. After he is very nearly assassinated, and he watches a loved one die before his eyes, you know Burke will not emerge the same. What we learn about him as a result adds immeasurably to the depth of one of the most complex and memorable characters in crime fiction. On second thought, make that fiction period.

Burke gets in quickly over his head, and after he loses a team member
- he is burning mad. Vachss's whole Burke series never lets down but
this is one of the best.

Having moved to the Pacific NorthWest,
originally from Boston, I was overjoyed that Burke's search for
Neo-Nazis would take him to my new environs. As usual Vachss is up to
date on everything from aryan psychos to high techno wizardry.
My only criticism thus far of Vachss are that sometimes his endings can be
predictable. This book however is a roller coaster ride with a unpredictable
twisted turn at the end. A delight the whole ride!

I respect the heck out of Andrew Vachss' ideas and his issues, but those things are not why I read mystery novels. I loved the first few books in the Burke series-- found them taut and edgy, dark and smart. Lately though I had the feeling that the medium had gotten lost in the message and I'd found the books harder and harder to read.

_Dead and Gone_ takes Burke in a new direction and takes a little bit of the crusading hero out of my favorite anti-hero. The death of Pansy and his new face force him in a new direction and into the reach of new characters in a different part of the country. I liked the character of Gem (even if I'm a little jealous of every other woman in Burke's life :)) and I found Burke a lot more interesting this time around.

It isn't perfect, and the plot ends up feeling a bit contrived, particularly at the end. But the mood is pretty close to right on, and that's what I read Vachss' novels for anyhow.

Andrew Vachss creates the truest, most three-dimensional characters in fiction, people whose emotions are real and whose language is expressive. Gem and Burke develop a warm and romantic communication which is enchanting and exciting. The suspenseful plot is developed with a master's eye for perfection.

Yet, there is not a hint of overheated dialogue or flowery passages; problems that spoil so much of fiction written by other authors who have created as many bestsellers as Vachss. He has mastered his art -- but has not fallen into the trap of gilding the lily.