Monday, June 23, 2008

Book Review: Sacrifice by Andrew Vachss


Librarian Tim wrote: Unlicensed private investigator and con artist Burke is back in New York City for his latest case. An abused child is accused of two brutal murders, but claims he remembers nothing. The DA wants to prosecute him, while child advocates are trying to keep him out of the clutches of the justice system. Burke must locate the adults who abused this child and drove him to kill. Burke is also employed by a Voodoo Queen to track down a child killer, who has escaped into the New York underground. So, it is another dark, haunted Burke adventure. It's heavy stuff, but Vachss writes the hard-boiled crime novel so well that is is impossible to look away.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reader # 973:

I like Elmore Leonard's Matthew Scudder novels and his Hitman books.

I'm curious if I'd like Vachss - are they at all similar? Strong character with changes over time? Strong sense of place? Any sense of humor - dark or otherwise?

Old Bridge Library said...

I love Leonard's work as well. Vachss is very dark and hard-boiled. No, there isn't the humor that Leonard has, he is really the master of the comic crime novel. I would recommend Donald Westlake however, his Dortmunder series is an excellent mix of laughs and capers.