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joyce_porter's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
pepper_mind's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
dantastic's review against another edition
4.0
A woman calling herself Strega hires Burke to find an obscene photograph of her friend's five year old son. As Burke's quest takes him through a web of Nazis, pimps, and kiddie porn dealers, Strega gets her hooks deeper into him. Can Burke find the photo and escape Strega's grasp?
As I said in my review for Flood, Burke's adventures are so dark it took a man with an eyepatch to write them. Vachss takes Burke on another journey through hell and back.
The thing about Burke is that even though you know he's not a nice person, the bad guys are always so much worse. Burke's case was even darker than the last. When he had to talk to a pedophile for information after promising not to kill him, I was just as disgusted as Burke. No man is an island and Burke is no exception. His supporting cast adds a lot of depth, proving that even though Burke is a paranoid schemer, he still has some redeeming qualities.
Strega, the title character, was a much more interesting character than Flood, the title character of the previous book. Half the time I didn't know what she was going to do next. I expected the final twist but it was still effective.
Strega was a gripping read, quick but powerful. I highly recommend it but only if you have a strong stomach. There's no way I could read Burke stories back to back. His world is just too bleak.
As I said in my review for Flood, Burke's adventures are so dark it took a man with an eyepatch to write them. Vachss takes Burke on another journey through hell and back.
The thing about Burke is that even though you know he's not a nice person, the bad guys are always so much worse. Burke's case was even darker than the last. When he had to talk to a pedophile for information after promising not to kill him, I was just as disgusted as Burke. No man is an island and Burke is no exception. His supporting cast adds a lot of depth, proving that even though Burke is a paranoid schemer, he still has some redeeming qualities.
Strega, the title character, was a much more interesting character than Flood, the title character of the previous book. Half the time I didn't know what she was going to do next. I expected the final twist but it was still effective.
Strega was a gripping read, quick but powerful. I highly recommend it but only if you have a strong stomach. There's no way I could read Burke stories back to back. His world is just too bleak.
rocketiza's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty meh. Wondering if the one book I read by him that I really enjoyed was a fluke.
ncrabb's review against another edition
2.0
A pedophile diddled six-year-old Scott while he was on a school field trip. The creep not only forced the boy to do unspeakable horrors, but he also took a single picture of the experience.
Burke is an unconventional detective, to say the least. He’s an ex-con turned private investigator, and when the money runs low on his investigations, he turns to scams and identity theft to keep the wolves from the door. There’s not much about him that seems redeemable, and yet, his investigations damage those who are evil and uphold decency. He just has unorthodox, scary ways of getting at the truth.
Gina is a slim, small-breasted redhead who refers to herself as Strega whenever she’s around Burke. Another ex-con who learned Strega is searching for that illusive picture of little Scott refers her to Burke. Strega isn’t Scott’s mom, but Scott plays with her daughter, Mia.
This, then, is the account of an ethically impaired detective digging among the ethically nonexistent pedophile community to find that one picture that could help little Scott more fully recover. Burke’s search takes him into the dark and filthy realms of the pedophile community, and the author provides an unflinching, unblinking examination of that community including horrifying descriptions of some of the images Burke discovers. In fact, every sex scene in this book is loveless and beyond graphically detailed. Vachss provides jarringly close-up descriptions of the oral sex Strega performs on Burke. Those descriptions frankly disgusted me. I’m never going to be able to unhear the images described in those child porn pictures Burke finds. I’m not sure I can finish this series and subject myself to that kind of spiritual damage. If you like your sexual descriptions extremely edgy and far less formulaic and tiresome than what most authors turn out, this could be your kind of book. I’m more tolerant of that stuff than I ought to be, but this one rocked me hard. A spiritual/brain shower is much harder to achieve than the physical kind designed to remove external grit and grime. Please don’t mistake this as a criticism of the author. It’s not. If he didn’t write so memorably and well, I could kick this series to the curb and summarily dismiss it as tiresome, formulaic, and predictable. That’s not at all how he writes. This stuff is too detailed, too graphical, and too hard to forget. That’s a hallmark of an excellent writer. The natural-man sleazy me is fascinated by this series and wants to continue it; but the series horrifies and sickens a bigger part of me. I’m not sure whether I can keep reading it.
Burke is an unconventional detective, to say the least. He’s an ex-con turned private investigator, and when the money runs low on his investigations, he turns to scams and identity theft to keep the wolves from the door. There’s not much about him that seems redeemable, and yet, his investigations damage those who are evil and uphold decency. He just has unorthodox, scary ways of getting at the truth.
Gina is a slim, small-breasted redhead who refers to herself as Strega whenever she’s around Burke. Another ex-con who learned Strega is searching for that illusive picture of little Scott refers her to Burke. Strega isn’t Scott’s mom, but Scott plays with her daughter, Mia.
This, then, is the account of an ethically impaired detective digging among the ethically nonexistent pedophile community to find that one picture that could help little Scott more fully recover. Burke’s search takes him into the dark and filthy realms of the pedophile community, and the author provides an unflinching, unblinking examination of that community including horrifying descriptions of some of the images Burke discovers. In fact, every sex scene in this book is loveless and beyond graphically detailed. Vachss provides jarringly close-up descriptions of the oral sex Strega performs on Burke. Those descriptions frankly disgusted me. I’m never going to be able to unhear the images described in those child porn pictures Burke finds. I’m not sure I can finish this series and subject myself to that kind of spiritual damage. If you like your sexual descriptions extremely edgy and far less formulaic and tiresome than what most authors turn out, this could be your kind of book. I’m more tolerant of that stuff than I ought to be, but this one rocked me hard. A spiritual/brain shower is much harder to achieve than the physical kind designed to remove external grit and grime. Please don’t mistake this as a criticism of the author. It’s not. If he didn’t write so memorably and well, I could kick this series to the curb and summarily dismiss it as tiresome, formulaic, and predictable. That’s not at all how he writes. This stuff is too detailed, too graphical, and too hard to forget. That’s a hallmark of an excellent writer. The natural-man sleazy me is fascinated by this series and wants to continue it; but the series horrifies and sickens a bigger part of me. I’m not sure whether I can keep reading it.
jcansdale's review against another edition
4.0
My first Vachss and it was everything Mr. Pluck promised. This was way out of my usual reading zone, but I think my father would have approved. A down and dirty New York tale featuring the enigmatic Burke. I'm ready for another. Thank you, T. Pluck!
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