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Not the best in a tired series.

Customer Rating:
Vachss can write well. The first half dozen or so in this series prove it. Somewhere, however, he lost steam. (I confess, I started borrowing them from the library long ago.) Additionally everyone who reads Vachss knows he uses his books to push agendas but this is most ranty and whiney in the series so far and it seems that at some point everyone, everywhere gets criticized from yuppies, to the green party to wannabe noir novelists to people who work to prevent human trafficking of adults (as adults, as we know, are not children, and, therefore, presumably do not need help from Vachss fans).

(Actually some would argue that "False Allegations" might be more preachy as in that one Vachss misrepresents his critics' views and beliefs so that he might more easily knock them down.)

It is also the only book in the very long series where I realized half-way through that I had completely lost track of what was happening. (At least I know from the other reviews, I was not alone.) Still, I plugged ahead, a lot of things happened (even if they did not really seem to make much sense) and then, surprise! the bad guys got punished although I never really understood why they allowed themselves to be caught so easily.

Far from a good book. I am reminded of Jack London's statement near the end of his life, when he was famous, that every day he would write a thousand words and when he had enough to make a book he would look over what he produced. If it was good he would send it off to a publisher who would then publish it. If it were bad, he would send it off to a publisher who would then publish it anyway. Apparently Vachss, like London, has learned that the key to being published is to have a famous name.

`A book can contain truth without being truth.'

Customer Rating:
This is the 17th of Andrew Vachss's novels to feature Burke. I found this a particularly difficult novel to read: I am familiar with Mr Vachss's work in the area of child protection; I see Burke and his outlaw family as an effective vehicle for the transmission of the message but this particular story just didn't work for me as well as earlier ones in the series. And yet, I find myself hard-pressed to find more effective ways of awareness raising.

Claude Dremdell, a white supremacist with a terminal illness, enlists Burke in a plot to extort money from three wealthy men with a murder in their shared past which they'd like to keep there. Putting the plan together involves many of the skills of the different members of Burke's family (`bound by blood, not DNA') and at times the story itself doesn't seem strong enough to support all of the events. Perhaps Burke has come to a crossroads. While the possibility of vengeance and money still motivates him, and his cynical observations zing as well as ever, there is a sense that Burke is looking for more. Not just for himself, but also for the younger members of the family who have other possibilities available for them.

Yes, elements of the story work well. And those of us who share Andrew Vachss's ongoing personal commitment to raise awareness of and fight against the continuing, horrific abuse of young children know that raising these issues and keeping them within consciousness is never comfortable.

Andrew Vachss's novels are never comfortable reads. They are not intended to be. They do not graphically portray abuse, but they do force the reader to confront the results of the abuse and to think about the consequences: not just on the child but also for society.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

The best "Burke" novel in fifteen years!!!

Customer Rating:
As I've written in previous reviews of the "Burke" novels by Andrew Vachss, I consider the first five books to be the best in the series and perhaps the finest and darkest crime fiction ever written. The later novels, however, changed drastically in scope and tone, often dragging and boring me to the point where I'd fall asleep in the middle of the story, unless there was mention of Wesley (a killer so skilled and deadly that even the government was afraid of him) and the possibility of him coming back from the dead. It's only because of the sheer quality of the earlier "Burke" novels that I've stayed with the series up to the present, hoping that Vachss would eventually return to his earlier roots and delve more deeply into the darkness of Burke's sordid world. I'm happy (actually, I'm jumping up and down and doing cartwheels) to say that the author has finally done it with his newest novel, Terminal. After ten previous books, which left me somewhat disappointed and hoping for more, I wasn't expecting a lot from this novel. Still, I had hope, and as we all know hope is a good thing, perhaps the best of things. Well, after a few pages of reading, I suddenly found myself hooked line and sinker. I couldn't put the book down, and I became overwhelmed with the same emotions of excitement and eagerness that I'd first experienced when reading Flood, Blue Belle, Hard Candy, Strega, Blossom, and Sacrifice so many years ago. This was the old Burke that I remembered, along with his chosen family in crime (Max the Silent, the Professor, Michelle, the Mole, Momma, plus Terry and Clarence) ready to take on the child predators and to bring them down in the only way Burke knows how--with extreme prejudice!

The plot of Terminal centers on a long-ago crime in which three male teenagers from wealthy families raped, tortured, and murdered a thirteen-year-old girl for the sheer fun of it. Only one other person knew that the boys had committed the crime, a dope dealer, and he'd used it to his full advantage for over thirty years, hitting the three men up for small amounts of money at different times as they eventually grew into adults and became multi-millionaires in their own right. A white supremacist who knew Burke when he was in prison comes to him with a plan of extortion in which the dope dealer, who's still alive, will help them achieve one big score by taking three million dollars from the murderers and then getting revenge for the dead girl. All of Burke's family is going to be needed for this job as they set the deal in motion and then encounter trained assassins and ex-government agents hired to kill them. Burke will have to depend on his instincts and skills to keep himself and his family alive and to finally carry out his goals of death and destruction. There's going to be a high body count before everything reaches its final conclusion.

This is a story that takes a closer look at Burke's earlier years in prison and how he managed to stay alive with the Professor's help, the white supremacist groups that are there and how they originated and what's expected of its members once they get out of jail, the return of Max the Silent (the deadliest martial artist alive) and his fight with a Thai killer sent to murder Burke, the Mole and his connection to the Israeli secret service and how they use Burke to kill a man, who also happens to be a child molester, in exchange for their help with this score, and finally how our anti-hero sets up and then takes down through insurmountable odds the men who murdered a thirteen-year-old girl so many years ago.

This is Andrew Vachss reaching into the darkness of humanity's soul to tell a story that's but the tip of the iceberg to what goes on in today's society. This is certainly mankind at its cruelest and most violent state and how the lead character in Terminal achieves some measure of justice for those unable to defend themselves.

The Terminal is definitely Vachss at his best. This is why I've stayed with the series so long, praying that the author would once again write a novel that would blow me away with its intensity and violent demeanor. The author certainly knows what he's talking about and clearly understands the underbelly of society's dark side. This is a man who's a lawyer in real life and battles for the rights of children who have no one else to stand up for them. In many ways, Andrew Vachss is Burke, a shadow warrior who'll stop at nothing to protect the young and innocent. Highly recommended!!!

Pulls no punches

Customer Rating:
Ever since my wife brought me "Hard Candy" while in the hospital I have been hooked on Andrew Vachss' writing.
While many writers in this genre get tedious with their characters after a while, Vachss keeps his main man Burke refreshingly alive and different with each new novel!
I make it the top choice each year for Christmas, birthday and Father's Day when asked what I want the reply is always "See if there is a new Vachss book out there first, if so , that's what I want! I have read them all and am looking forward to his new one coming out in December 2008!
Enjoy!
Christopher J.Whedon

Best Burke yet!

Customer Rating:
Vacchs' Burke books keep getting better! Like the characters themselves, the stories mature with each passing book. This one is terrific, especially the cliffhanger ending! So ... when's the next one?!