False Allegations: A Burke Novel - Softcover

Vachss, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0679772936 ISBN 13: 9780679772934

Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 1997

Synopsis

Burke--ex-con, mercenary, sometime killer--makes his living preying on New York's most vicious predators and avenging their innocent victims. But in Andrew Vachss's mercilessly suspenseful new novel, Burke finds himself working the other side of the street, where guilt and innocence are as disposable as the sheets in a Times Square hotel--and as dirty.

Burke's new employer is Kite, a fanatical crusader who specializes in debunking "false allegations  of child sexual abuse. Kite has a case that may be the real thing, but needs Burke to tell him if it is. And if mere money can't persuade Burke to cooperate, Kite has plenty of other incentives at his disposal--including a fanatical bodyguard with a taste for corsets and brass knuckles. A tour guide to hell written in icy prose, False Allegations is Vachss at his most unnerving.

About this title

Review

Vachss and his quasi-hero Burke are definitely not for the squeamish, dealing largely with stories about abused children. But he is a strong and angry writer who has carved himself out a unique territory in the dark landscape of the thriller. In his 11th Burke novel, Vachss uses the work of the real Dr. Bruce Perry, the Houston psychologist and pioneer researcher into recovered memory, to center the story about a shady lawyer who specializes in getting such cases thrown out of court.

From the Inside Flap

"In the first rank of American crime writers. . . . Next to Vachss, Chandler, Cain and Hammett look like choirboys."
--Cleveland Plain Dealer
Burke--ex-con, mercenary, sometime killer--makes his living preying on New York's most vicious predators and avenging their innocent victims. But in Andrew Vachss's mercilessly suspenseful new novel, Burke finds himself working the other side of the street, where guilt and innocence are as disposable as the sheets in a Times Square hotel--and as dirty.
Burke's new employer is Kite, a fanatical crusader who specializes in debunking "false allegations of child sexual abuse. Kite has a case that may be the real thing, but needs Burke to tell him if it is. And if mere money can't persuade Burke to cooperate, Kite has plenty of other incentives at his disposal--including a fanatical bodyguard with a taste for corsets and brass knuckles. A tour guide to hell written in icy prose, False Allegations is Vachss at his most unnerving.

"Burke is the toughest talking first-person narrator since Mike Hammer."
--Los Angeles Times
"Vachss . . . writes hypnotically violent prose."
--Chicago Sun-Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0679772936
• ISBN 13: 9780679772934
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240