Choice of Evil: A Burke Novel - Softcover

Vachss, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0375706623 ISBN 13: 9780375706622

Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 2000

Synopsis

When his girlfriend, Crystal Beth, is gunned down at a gay rights rally in Central Park, Burke, the underground man-for-hire and expert hunter of predators, vows vengeance.  But someone beats him to the task: a shadowy killer who calls himself Homo Erectus and who seems determined to wipe gay bashers from the face of the earth.  As the killer's body count rises, most citizens are horrified, but a few see him as a hero, and they hire Burke to track him down...and help him escape.

In Choice of Evil, Burke is forced to confront his most harrowing mystery: the mind of an obsessive serial killer.  And soon the emotionally void method behind the killer's madness becomes terrifyingly familiar, reminding Burke of his childhood partner, Wesley, the ice-man assassin who never missed, even when the target was himself.  Has Wesley come back from the dead?  The whisper-stream says so.  And the truth may just challenge Burke's very sense of reality.  Expertly plotted, addictive, enthralling, Choice of Evil is Andrew Vachss' most haunting tale to date.

About this title

Review:

With the possible exception of James Ellroy, Andrew Vachss is the mystery writer with the darkest heart and the most troubled soul. Like his 10 other books about the enigmatic outlaw private eye called Burke, Choice of Evil deals with unpleasant subjects--ritual murder, pedophilia, sexual deviance--the full force of which are never dampened by attempts at tact or taste. Vachss is not an author to look away from the nasty, or try to soften any of life's lowest blows.

That said, his latest does start off on a light note when Burke's giant mastiff, Pansy, is grabbed in a police raid. Burke and his motley crew of helpers--people with names like Mole, Crystal Beth, and Max the Silent--stage a raid on the animal shelter, and in a zany scene worthy of Lawrence Block or Donald Westlake, set free a herd of caged canines. All too soon, however, darkness descends as Crystal Beth--Burke's main squeeze and an activist for abused women--is killed at an outdoor rally, apparently by someone who hates homosexuals. Following this atrocity, a vigilante calling himself Homo Erectus declares war on gay bashers, and also on pedophiles who seek to link their cause to gay rights. Burke is hired to find this vigilante and keep him safe before the cops nab him.

Mentioning pedophilia to Burke is like waving a red flag at a bull: he can (and does) go on for many pages about this particular evil as he and a friendly lesbian dominatrix link Homo Erectus to a supposedly long-dead killer from Burke's own past.

To absorb the full force of the Burke canon, read other books in the series: Safe House, Blossom, Blue Belle, and False Allegations. --Dick Adler

From the Publisher:

The biggest Burke book yet! A rally in Central Park, a protest against gay bashing. A murderous drive-by. Five people down, two dead. First the gay bashers celebrate ... then they start dropping. Claiming responsibility is the mysterious "Homo Erectus," whose identity is as hidden as his mission is clear. To most citizens, Homo Erectus is a serial killer with a political agenda. But to some, he's a hero and, like the police, they desperately want to find him. Unlike the police, they want to help him disappear before the dragnet tightens. They hire Burke for the job. Which is when things really get ugly. Andrew Vachss is an attorney working exclusively with children, and the author of more than a dozen novels. Choice of Evil, his latest, is his biggest yet, clocking in at more than 110,000 words. It's supernatural suspense-a first for Vachss ... a real departure (from everything but the one theme he's never strayed from). Choice of Evil will be available beginning the last week of April 1999 from Knopf.

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0375706623
• ISBN 13: 9780375706622
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336