Rating: 
Summary: Top-flight as usual
Review: Here comes Burke again, as resourceful, violent, tough, single-minded, stubborn and vengeful as ever, and always on the side of the angels (although it's not always easy to tell!). There has never been a more readable crime series or a more compelling protagonist. Don't look for the cliches of crime writing -- bam! wham! bang! bop! Subtlety and nuance abound in the work of Andrew Vachss, and there is always meaning behind his meaning. Every time I think Vachss and his work have topped out, he exceeds himself again.
Rating:
Summary: Vachss is at the top of his form!
Review: I found this to be a very "pure" Burke novel, stripped down to the bare bones, with very few supporting characters and even a pretty minimal "plot". Within these narrow parameters, the power of the writing frankly astounded me. Vachss' ability to sustain tention and consequently interest in a small space rivals what Hitchcock could do in the film media. I am also very interested in how Vachss has been using the "form" of the text as a device to tell the story in his recent Burke novels; playing around with faded text and the like is really fascinating and serves to draw the reader even further IN. I expect it is Vachss' recognition of the graphic novel as a valid form of expression that infulences such novel (pun intended) approaches. Great stuff.
While still lamenting the loss of Burke's much loved canine companion and the seperation from his family, I found this novel to be my personal favorite in the last four or five installments of this always top-notch series. Vachss' ability to continually reinvent this character is most impressive indeed.
Rating: 
Summary: Pain Management
Review: I have read all of his novels, and had to buy a few two or three times because I never got them back. I sent this off to a friend, and I told him he might be a little lost without reading a least one book prior. Vachss has a way of dealing with the underworld matched only by JT Leroy. Pain Management is enjoyable, but not as much fun without the "family". I missed the grit of the streets that usually is quite prevalent in all his other books. Burke just doesn't seem rightly placed in the suburbia of Portland. I was disaapointed that there was no female lovers that he usually has with the seedy women that fall in and out of his world, to the like of previous novels. In Bella, Hard Candy, and most specifically Strega, there were very interesting dynamics not mirrored here. Overall, I can't wait for Burke to go home, and I miss Michele, Silent Max, Mama and the Mole very much. Hopefully, they will be alive and kicking, like no one else can, in the next novel.
RIP Pansy
Rating: 
Summary: Come back to NYC Burke!
Review: I have read all the Burke novels and this one by far is the worst. Yes he has gone outside NYC before but this was just plain BAD. What makes this series so good are the cast of characters that complement the main character. Like Max the silent, the mole, the prof, etc etc etc. Without them it's just not the same. Yes I understand that Burke needed to leave NYC, does not mean I have to like it! I just hope that the next installment finds Burke back in NYC.
Rating:
Summary: Vachhs is breath taking
Review: I own every word written, Can put anyone of his book down
Rating: 
Summary: Not quite there
Review: I think that _Blue Belle_ was the first Vachss novel that I tried, and after reading that I ripped through his subsequent novels with a sense of discovery and pleasure. To be honest, I lost that interest and amazement a number of books ago. While the first book set in Oregon gave me a glimmer of new hope, this book really isn't there either.A lot of the problem is that what made Burke so interesting in the first few books was the very real tension between light and dark in the character. He was constantly in balance, and the nastiness made for a really refreshing read after all the weaker characters that you find in detective novels today. Unfortunately, Burke has been around too long, and he's just too much a defender to really believe in the Dark Knight anymore. He's taken on too many good causes and acted too much as protector of the helpless. Good thing in a person, less good if you want to keep the tension of someone strung between good and evil. I'm sure that the continuing novels serve Vachss' not-so-hidden agenda of educating his audience, but they just aren't as interesting to read at this point. I'm a little troubled with myself for writing this kind of review, as I recognize that there are larger issues with these books than a good escapist read. I applaud Vacchs' determination in the work he does for children and I think he's chosen a nearly ideal vehicle for getting his messages out. I just wish that I had the same compulsion to read Burke novels as I did with the first. Anyways, this book (Burke tries to ignore his problematic relationship with Gem, while taking on the case of a 16-year old runaway) is well-written and will probably appeal. Still worth a read, in any case.
Rating:
Summary: Burke, Out of His Element
Review: I'm a huge fan of Andrew Vachss's Burke series, having read all thirteen novels, so it pains me to say that Burke seems to be losing his edge. "Pain Management" is the second consecutive subpar Burke novel, as well as the second consecutive to take its hero away from his native New York and his fascinating cast of supporting characters. That wouldn't be so bad, except that the story lags, leading to an ending that is less than satisfying. Vachss is among the best modern mystery writers. He uses very spare prose and cutting dialog befitting of the violent underworld that Burke inhabits. Vachss understands the criminal mind better than any other writer in the genre. Unfortunately, he is also getting way too preachy. This time, he takes on the drug war and how it is responsible for the suffering of critically and terminally ill patients by denying them adequate pain relief. But even if you agree with Vachss (as I do) the soapbox bit gets tiring. Even Vachss's usual issue, child abuse, is not used effectively this time around. The motivation of the missing teenager that Burke is searching for when finally revealed seems implausible and somewhat trite. Overall, this Burke novel ranks among the worst of the series. That still doesn't mean its bad, just that it leaves you wishing it had been better.
Rating:
Summary: A Return the REAL Burke
Review: In the past 2 Burke novels Andrew Vachss has made Burke almost "chatty" with long dialogues. This is a return to the "old-style" Burke. YES!
The plot isn't much and why should it be? - the ending resolves into "who cares?" but along the way we get the "old" Burke, sadly missing from "Choice Of Evil" and much of the last 1/2 of "Dead and Gone".
5 star review of course. I read it the 1st day of release and am now waiting for the next one. There's nothing even close.
Rating:
Summary: Deadly Alliances
Review: Like a harsh, lonely blues song, this latest chapter in the dark tale of Burke leaps up and spreads itself across the background of Portland, Oregon. This is the city Burke has adopted since his apparent death, when his desire for revenge drove him from New York City to the Pacific Northwest. I've been to Portland. It is a beautiful city, with rivers in its heart and Mount Hood in its sky. But Burke's Portland is another place entirely, one where loss and betrayal send it's less fortunate denizens on a never-ending quest for pain management. Unlike his life in New York, Burke is nearly alone in Portland, and lacks the support system that made his ghostly lifestyle possible. His primary company is now Gem, a professional smuggler who acts as his 'wife.' Burke has few friends. He is uncomfortable with this dependent state, and is trying to develop a local reputation, but it is slow going. When Gem finds him an assignment looking for Rosebud, a young girl who has disappeared, Burke throws himself into the chase. On the surface it appears that Rosebud is a simple runaway, but Burke's persistent investigation uncovers contradictions and mysteries. And the more he tries to unravel the puzzle the deeper he is drawn in. Soon he finds that the search for Rosebud has put him on a collateral quest to aid a group of people dedicated to helping others escape intolerable pain. The plots intertwine and enmesh and in the background Burke's increasing difficulties with Gem play in counterpoint. It is as if, when Burke tries to put down roots in Portland, he finds the ground salted and dry. This is a noir story in the best sense. Underneath appearances there are layers and layers of further deception. Until finally we discover that the truth was never out there, but inside instead. Vachss sends Burke on a quest that will determine his future, and places a spotlight on the inner nature of a man who is part hero and part demon. The prose work in "Pain Management" is some of Vachss finest. He paints scenes and characters with the brushwork style of Japanese master painters. In many authors this would be considered sketchiness, but somehow Vachss manages to draw the reader in, so that the book unfolds in one's mind rather than on the page. The reader may find this book too sudden an introduction to the Burke series. It is not entirely dependent on the need to know more of Burke's history but the knowledge gained from reading work earlier in the series will increase the readers ability to participate. At the least, one should be familiar with "Dead and Gone," which explains how Burke has come to Portland.
Rating:
Summary: Burke stands alone
Review: Long-time readers of Andrew Vachss's "Burke" series have come to expect certain things from the series, and "Pain Management" certainly delivers. As always, there's intriguing storyline, with Burke's search for a runaway teen bringing him into contact with vividly-depicted "minor" characters so true to life you might swear you'd met some of them, helping or hindering his tracking efforts for reasons of their own. Vachss fans have also come to expect unflinching social commentary delivered deadpan - and dead-on - by Burke, and they'll not be disappointed.
As the threads of the story converge, Burke and the reader are drawn into the world of "pain management," in the form of a group of citizen-outlaws made fanatical through personal experience with suffering, and with being powerless to stop it...and in the form of runaway/throwaway street kids and the hangarounds seeking to help them or use them.
A unifying subtext throughout is family, with the interactions of individual groups, traditional "nuclear" families as well as fiercely-bonded packs of strays making statements about loyalty and and trust, and security on many levels.
It's an amazing book, and long-time readers who feel they've come to know Burke over the course of 13 books may be in for some surprises. New readers are in for a treat, and will be able to dive right in - the "backstory" is a coast away, haunting and shaping Burke in ways readily understandable to any reader who has ever loved loved someone, and missed them.
Prepare to be blown away.
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