False Allegations [Hardcover]

Andrew Vachss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 20, 1998

Burke is blackmailed into taking on an ugly job of investigation, when Kite, a professional debunker who's specializes in allegations of child sexual abuse, thinks he may have stumbled across the case of his career--the real thing. Kite needs someone who knows something about witch hunts--and Burke is his man. Dark, edgy, unflinching, False Allegations is Burke at his most dangerous.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Vachss and his quasi-hero Burke are definitely not for the squeamish, dealing largely with stories about abused children. But he is a strong and angry writer who has carved himself out a unique territory in the dark landscape of the thriller. In his 11th Burke novel, Vachss uses the work of the real Dr. Bruce Perry, the Houston psychologist and pioneer researcher into recovered memory, to center the story about a shady lawyer who specializes in getting such cases thrown out of court. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Each of Vachss's 10 previous novels has dealt with child abuse, but he's worked other themes as well, most notably the volatility of love and the hypocrisies of the middle class. Judging by his darkly disturbing Batman novel of last year (Batman: The Ultimate Evil), however, and by this shard of a thriller, his literary vision seems now to have tunneled down to sight only child abuse and allied issues in its crosshairs. Here, Vachss takes aim at adolescent sexual abuse and at those who would debunk all cases of recovered-memory syndrome as he proselytizes for the work of the real-life Dr. Bruce Perry, head of the Civitas ChildTrauma programs in Houston (who appears as a character). The story begins when Vachss's urban outlaw, Burke, initially hired by an erotic dancer named Bondi to rob a voyeuristic pervert, smells a set-up. He's not wrong?careful investigation leads him to Kite, an albino lawyer who specializes in debunking recovered memories of child sexual abuse, either demolishing the witnesses' credibility or getting the cases thrown out of court. Now Kite wants to represent one Jennifer Dalton, a high-profile client whose story, if true, will bring the issue to national attention. Kite hires Burke to interview the alleged victim and pronounce her story true or false. This quest brings him to Dr. Perry, who is pioneering laboratory?as compared to clinical couch?investigation of recovered memory syndrome. There are a few side glances (notably at the spectacular end of Burke's ongoing gin game with Max the Silent and at the results of his "sister" Michelle's long-delayed sex-change operation), and Vachss's consideration of the validity of recovered memory syndrome is informed and balanced, but his glare at child sexual abuse here is nearly relentless and, eventually, wearisome. Vachss's prey is certainly worth hunting, and he's a skillful hunter, able through his stiletto prose and his white-hot rage to persuade readers that Burke's vigilantism equals justice. Still, there's more to life and more to art than avenging the innocent?and early in his writing career, when he was writing his finest novels (Flood; Strega; Blue Bell), Vachss seemed to know that.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Random House Value Publishing (October 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517269171
• ISBN-13: 978-0517269176
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,856,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More truth to "False", May 16, 2000

By 

Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: False Allegations: A Burke Novel (Paperback)

After two mediocre entries in the great Burke series ("Down in the Zero" and "Footsteps of the Hawk") Vachss starts to breath life back into his main charachter again. Burke is reenergized and back at what he does best, dealing with abused children and borderline psychotic females. Vachss's early Burke novels ("Flood," "Blue Belle," "Blossom" and "Hard Candy") remain the best of the series. But with "False Allegations" he begins a revival which has carried him through the two most recent novels. Thankfully so. A world without Burke would be a duller world, indeed.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Disturbing but quite true, May 28, 2001

By 

wynter "wynter2" (Dade City, Fl United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: False Allegations: A Burke Novel (Paperback)

Of all the Burke novels that I have read which would be all of them, this one disturbed me the most. It struck a nerve in me and it scared me because the truth can't be denied. False Allegations is a testimony of how to keep a rape society going. If you are interested in transforming our society than this is the book to read. Burke enters the controversial ground of recovered memories but not for the reasons he thinks he is. He meets Dr. Bruce Perry who is not a fictional person. I have made use of Dr. Perry's research in my career as a teacher of children who have been abused. If you like poetic justice, this book also includes that in such a way that one can't help but cheer. This is not a novel to take lightly.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hey, it's not so bad, really..., May 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: False Allegations: A Burke Novel (Hardcover)

Okay, so this isn't the *best* Burke novel, but some of the things I had read about it almost had me scared to read it. Luckily, it's not nearly as preachy or slow or off-track as they'd have you believe. I was expecting it to turn into a textbook or something, but nope, it's definitely a Burke novel, and still a good one, with some convoluted plot twists going on, especially at the end. You can't really fault Vachss for having an "agenda" with his novels, 'cuz, face it, that's what the man's about. His novels are all about promoting the things Vachss likes (from dogs to cool cars to Judy Hensky to loyalty as the cardinal virtue, etc.) and damning the things he hates (which should be obvious - the man's obsessed, but more power to 'im for that). But the bottom line is, Vachss would never steer you toward anything that wasn't good for you. He ain't preachin' - he's *testifyin'*. And ya gotta respect him for it. This is one guy I have heavy, heavy respect for, both as a fine writer and a heckuva stand-up, sincere human being, and I've been putting in work to promote this guy's work to any and everyone I can. This may not be the Burke novel you want to start with, but it shouldn't be too big a disappointment to those who've taken the ride a few times already. Even if it's the weakest of the series, the series is so incredibly strong that you can't go wrong, schoolboy... ;)