Rating: 
Summary: If the truth is dangerous, this book is a ticking bomb!
Review: There's a reason why Vachss fans range from cops to convicts. He gives you a great plot and even greater characters. But what you get most is TRUTH. Reading Vachss is like reading tomorrow's newspaper. And it'll scare the hell out of you!
Rating: 
Summary: Dysfunctional Doc Savage has gotten old.
Review: There's something mildly comforting about a new
Burke novel, because you should know what you're buying by now.
A twist on the hardboiled detective, an antihero with a heart
of pyrite, a hard exterior protecting a tough interior protecting
a broken inner child.I've been in on the Burke novels since the first one, Flood,
was dropped in my lap. I kinda liked the half-assed detective
character, and I was willing to go along with Vachss' evolution
of the character and his environment, but this novel represents
a definitive "mining of the old". It's just short of becoming a parody of itself, and I don't
like it. Vachss has stripped down his usual dialogue and
character interactions down to the bone; it's really as if he's
now writing these novels from a template, where he plugs in
the scenario and picks from the usual menu of plot devices. Perhaps I'm simply tired of Burke's world. The Prof's rhyming
is truly awful now, and I no longer find it a simple thing to
suspend disbelief during most of the book. I think the only
character preserved from my broad brush happens to be Max,
and I suspect it's partly because he doesn't speak, but mostly,
because Vachss now treats him as a deus ex machina and as such,
he's mostly an object rather than a person. I know this is not good news for loyal readers. However,
I have to write 'em like I see 'em, and this world has run its
course. Perhaps Vachss will take some time off, re-examine
where Burke is and where should be, and come up with something
fresh. He needs it.
Rating:
Summary: This one connects with both barrels!
Review: This is actually a "dual" review. My boyfriend and I both love Vachss books, but we see them differently. My favorites are Blue Belle and Down in the Zero. His are Flood and Footsteps of the Hawk. We both agreed that False Allegations wasn't the best one. And we also both agree that Safe House is! This one has something for each of us, as if Vachss saved the best for last. He can write terrifying violence, and he can write beautiful romance. Now all he needs to do is write a horror novel and he'll be the perfect writer for us all.
Rating:
Summary: A Bit Confusing
Review: This is another Burke story. Burke is a formidable man who has surrounded himself with a vast network of professionals. But Burke is a criminal and a highly organised one at that.This story starts off with a favour for a fellow ex-con. The ex-con has accidentally killed an abusive husband whom he was supposed to be warning away from his battered wife. The story then quickly progresses to the safe house of the book's title and the battered women who are sheltered there. At first it appears that the rest of the book would be about Burke and his partners providing protection for these women, but before you know it, the focus shifts on to a neo-Nazi movement. With the constant changes of focus, I found the plot a little hard to follow as I tried to remember the motivation behind what was taking place. This is hardboiled all the way as Burke displays a willingness to do just about anything as long as it means getting the job done. A little more attention to explaining what was going on and a little less to attitude would have gone a long way.
Rating: 
Summary: Another disappointing Vachss effort
Review: This marks Mr Vachss' fourth weak novel in as many tries (his last book that was actually worth reading being Down in the Zero). This book is relatively derivative and unoriginal, often deteriorating into an excercise in vanity as the authors tries pushing what singers/songs he enjoys listening to (now I here there's actually a soundtrack for this book - how lame), what comic books he reads, etc. I've been a fan of Mr Vachss since Strega back in '87 - eagerly awaiting each new chapter of Burke's saga. I can no longer claim this - the character seems like a cliche anymore (all his talk of "he doesn't know what pain is..." rings of false machismo anymore). I don't know if Mr Vachss' writing has deteriorated or if I have just become a more sophisticated reader who demands more challenging ideas and better craftmanship in the writing. Whatever the case may be, I would suggest sticking with Mr Vachss' first eight novels.
Rating:
Summary: Vachss' latest is also his best!
Review: You can't really describe Andrew Vachss' novels as "entertaining"--the content is far too dark for that. "Enthralling" is more like it, and his latest, Safe House, is more enthralling than his previous ten Burke books. Vachss writes fables. Like Rudyard Kipling--if he lived in Hell--Vachss teaches truth with his fiction; he walks you through complex issues with narrative, and you walk out with a better understanding of how things work and who the enemy really is. Safe House has more truth per page than any previous Vachss book, and those aren't exactly running short on the good stuff. Near the end of Safe House Burke takes a tour of New York safe houses. His meetings at the houses result in a fifteen-page examination of stalkers: who they are, what they do, why they do it, and how they get away with it. The examples are all different, so the narrative covers the subject from many different sides. It's better written--and more informative--than any article I've ever read on the matter. You know what's going to happen when you read a Vachss novel: Burke and his criminal family will run into or discover some form of predator and in the end--or sometimes in the middle or even in the beginning--that predator will be gotten rid of. But just as knowing that Rosebud is a sled doesn't reduce the content of Citizen Kane, Vachss' novels have to be read for what you get on your way to the end, and not to just get to the end. The mystery isn't "whodunnit"--it's how they did it, how they got away with doing it, and how we can help to stop them from doing it again. And Burke--and Vachss--have plenty to say on that matter.
| 
