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Down Here: Strega / Blue Belle / Hard Candy
2000 Quality Paperback Book Club jumbo trade paperback, Andrew H Vachss ( The Ultimate Evil). Three complete books by the author in one collection.
Paperback
Published January 1, 2000
About the author
Andrew Vachss
127 books905 followersAndrew Vachss has been a federal investigator in sexually transmitted diseases, a social-services caseworker, a labor organizer, and has directed a maximum-security prison for “aggressive-violent” youth. Now a lawyer in private practice, he represents children and youths exclusively. He is the author of numerous novels, including the Burke series, two collections of short stories, and a wide variety of other material including song lyrics, graphic novels, essays, and a “children’s book for adults.” His books have been translated into twenty languages, and his work has appeared in Parade, Antaeus, Esquire, Playboy, the New York Times, and many other forums. A native New Yorker, he now divides his time between the city of his birth and the Pacific Northwest.
The dedicated Web site for Vachss and his work is
www.vachss.com. That site and this page are managed by volunteers. To contact Mr. Vachss directly, use the "email us" function of vachss.com.
The dedicated Web site for Vachss and his work is
www.vachss.com. That site and this page are managed by volunteers. To contact Mr. Vachss directly, use the "email us" function of vachss.com.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 27, 2012
This book is an omnibus of three Andrew Vachss novels from the late 1980s early in the Burke series. First, from the introduction:
Strega Burke #2
I am not sure if you can say “the normal cast of characters” when it is only the second book in a series! Max the Silent, Mole, Michelle, Mama Wong, Prophet, Pansy, the trust-fund hippies, even Flood in retrospect. Not a normal person in the bunch!
This is a book of fiction with some doses of reality: sexual perversion involving children. You meet victims and perpetrators. Vachss styles himself as a crusader against child sexual abuse and his books allegedly have a goal of combating that social illness. I will have to read a few more of his books and reviews before I decide if he achieves his goal. For a three hundred page book, there is some action, but lots of talk. Most of it probably not talk you have heard before unless you have read other Vachss/Burke books.
I am imaging a term paper comparing and contrasting Flood from the first book of the Burke series and Strega from the second. Both are aggressive women and I wonder what motivates them; Burke suggests one thing: revenge. Did Strega rape Burke or should we just understand that he was asking for it? Did Burke love Flood? Flood is a love story; Strega is an anti-love story, a brutal story.
Strega gets four stars for its tension and for its portrayal of malevolence.
Blue Belle Burke #3
The Burke beat goes on. There are eighteen books in this series published from 1985 to 2006.
If Burke pops in a tape in his Plymouth, there is a good chance it is Judy Henske. We might consider her one of the cast of characters since she appeared in an earlier book and her tunes seem likely to show up in the future when Burke isn’t playing the blues. Burke says: "If Linda Ronstadt's a torch singer, Henske's a flame thrower."
It does look like we have added to the regulars. Reappearing is Lily who works with abused kids and Immaculata, Max’s woman. Max the Silent. Lily is a conduit for some of the factual information about child abuse and child abusers. Facts are woven into the story. Vachss won’t let you miss them since they are a big part of the reason he is telling these stories. Let me not forget that Immaculata and Max have a new baby daughter, Flower. Terry, the pre-teen boy rescued from his pimp in the last book, is still being looked after by Michelle, the transsexual, a man working on becoming a woman. She is saving money to go to Denmark for the surgery. (In Denmark they do not require the psychological counseling to have the sex change operation like they do in the U.S.) As I have said before, there is not a normal person in the book, maybe not a normal person in the entire series. Unless you have a much different definition of normal than I do. I notice one more likely regular: a steaming tureen of Mama’s hot-and-sour soup. Perfect!
Burke makes reference to the women in the past books. This is the third book in the series so he is on his third woman. He has nightmares about all three. There are small flashbacks to the first two women: Flood from the first book and Strega from the second. And now there is Belle in the third book. At least some sex seems to be mandatory for these books and these women provide that as well as the potential love interest. Burke does not have multiple sexual partners in a book and does compare the women. But so far it is Flood that he longs for although she is on the other side of the world and they have no contact.
Lots of books include sex. Very few books mention birth control or safe sex. Burke with his vasectomy is halfway there and way out in front of the pack. Since sexual abuse is the big issue for Burke, you might think safe sex would be highlighted since the 80s was the time of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. Burke does say to a stranger in a bar, “Rubbers take some of the romance out of sex, but they beat the hell out of AIDS.” But as far as being a condom user himself, Burke seems to see himself as bulletproof. I am interested to see if Vachss becomes more responsible in portraying sexual encounters as the series moves into more enlightened times.
Since I am reading an Omnibus I am reading books back to back. I don’t think that is such a good idea and I should cut it out. Vachss repeats too much background material and that doesn’t work too well for me when it is still fresh from the previous book. I need more of a chance to forget when I am reading a series! The struggle of an author trying to make a book part of a series but also work as a stand-alone is not unusual. The idea of reading the eighteen book Burke series in order intrigues me for some reason. Maybe because I have just never done it before.
I do like the way Vachss writes.
Remember quarters and pay phones? Not the pager era yet and still a few more years until cells, Burke carries a roll of quarters. This is very noticeable with Burke since his MO involves a lot of phone contact. Again it will be interesting to see how this aspect changes as the series progresses through beepers and into the cell phone age. In some ways Burke seems very modern with his car and his gadgets. And his drinking habits, strictly ginger ale, do set him apart from most mystery/crime main characters. And, one more thing, do you think his dog Pansy ever eats dog food? The variety of people food she eats seems endless. I thought hard boiled eggs were an interesting addition to her diet in addition to the mandatory raw steaks and egg roles.
Early on I thought that Blue Belle might be a three star book but by the end I was sure it was a four star.
I am reading this in the omnibus book of Burke #2, #3 and #4 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/82...
Hard Candy Burke #4
Reading books about the war in Vietnam was probably my introduction to graphic violence. But the violence in Andrew Vachss books is more violent and intense than just about any other books I have read. I am not sure that I would like to see this violence on the Big Screen but reading it seems to mostly keep the intensity at a manageable level for me.
One of the ways that I relate to Vachss books so far is that I was a child abuse and neglect social worker way back when for a couple of years. Talk about an intense job! A big part of that intensity was knowing that I held the lives of people (kids and caretakers) in my care. While Burke is not even vaguely like anyone I ever encountered, he allows an expression of the hatred you can harbor for people who damage kids severely. Burke does all the socially unacceptable things to achieve vengeance that society prohibits. Somehow my opposition to the death penalty does not seem to impact my willingness to emotionally participate in the street justice that Burke doles out.
The first two books in this omnibus were 300 and 330 pages. The final story in the book is much shorter, only 220 pages. I am interested to see how Vachss continues to handle character development in this eighteen book series in fewer pages. So, let’s get to it: Hard Candy .
From the first three books in the Burke series, I expected that the Candy from the title of book four would be another woman in Burke’s life. And so it is a woman he knew (in the biblical sense) in his teenage years. She asks Burke to rescue her teenage daughter from a cult and wants to reconnect with him in other ways as well.
Hard Candy starts with a bang – or actually several of them signaling the end of the life of Belle’s abusive father. (See Burke #3 to see why he deserves what he gets.) And it ends with a bang. Actually several of them.
Definitely interesting to read. Quirky and violent with a Prof who speaks in rhyme. Another one with four stars as I begin to work my way through the series.
I wanted to show people what Hell really looked like. . . and I didn’t think an angel would make the best guide. Burke, my protagonist, is a member of that vast tribe I call “The Children of the Secret” (formerly abused children, now grown). Burke is also an ex-convict, a hijacker, a thief, a gun runner, a scam artist. And, some would say, a killer. In short, he’s a career criminal, with no plans to join a society that has rejected him from birth.
Strega Burke #2
I am not sure if you can say “the normal cast of characters” when it is only the second book in a series! Max the Silent, Mole, Michelle, Mama Wong, Prophet, Pansy, the trust-fund hippies, even Flood in retrospect. Not a normal person in the bunch!
This is a book of fiction with some doses of reality: sexual perversion involving children. You meet victims and perpetrators. Vachss styles himself as a crusader against child sexual abuse and his books allegedly have a goal of combating that social illness. I will have to read a few more of his books and reviews before I decide if he achieves his goal. For a three hundred page book, there is some action, but lots of talk. Most of it probably not talk you have heard before unless you have read other Vachss/Burke books.
I am imaging a term paper comparing and contrasting Flood from the first book of the Burke series and Strega from the second. Both are aggressive women and I wonder what motivates them; Burke suggests one thing: revenge. Did Strega rape Burke or should we just understand that he was asking for it? Did Burke love Flood? Flood is a love story; Strega is an anti-love story, a brutal story.
Strega gets four stars for its tension and for its portrayal of malevolence.
Blue Belle Burke #3
The Burke beat goes on. There are eighteen books in this series published from 1985 to 2006.
If Burke pops in a tape in his Plymouth, there is a good chance it is Judy Henske. We might consider her one of the cast of characters since she appeared in an earlier book and her tunes seem likely to show up in the future when Burke isn’t playing the blues. Burke says: "If Linda Ronstadt's a torch singer, Henske's a flame thrower."
It does look like we have added to the regulars. Reappearing is Lily who works with abused kids and Immaculata, Max’s woman. Max the Silent. Lily is a conduit for some of the factual information about child abuse and child abusers. Facts are woven into the story. Vachss won’t let you miss them since they are a big part of the reason he is telling these stories. Let me not forget that Immaculata and Max have a new baby daughter, Flower. Terry, the pre-teen boy rescued from his pimp in the last book, is still being looked after by Michelle, the transsexual, a man working on becoming a woman. She is saving money to go to Denmark for the surgery. (In Denmark they do not require the psychological counseling to have the sex change operation like they do in the U.S.) As I have said before, there is not a normal person in the book, maybe not a normal person in the entire series. Unless you have a much different definition of normal than I do. I notice one more likely regular: a steaming tureen of Mama’s hot-and-sour soup. Perfect!
Burke makes reference to the women in the past books. This is the third book in the series so he is on his third woman. He has nightmares about all three. There are small flashbacks to the first two women: Flood from the first book and Strega from the second. And now there is Belle in the third book. At least some sex seems to be mandatory for these books and these women provide that as well as the potential love interest. Burke does not have multiple sexual partners in a book and does compare the women. But so far it is Flood that he longs for although she is on the other side of the world and they have no contact.
Lots of books include sex. Very few books mention birth control or safe sex. Burke with his vasectomy is halfway there and way out in front of the pack. Since sexual abuse is the big issue for Burke, you might think safe sex would be highlighted since the 80s was the time of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. Burke does say to a stranger in a bar, “Rubbers take some of the romance out of sex, but they beat the hell out of AIDS.” But as far as being a condom user himself, Burke seems to see himself as bulletproof. I am interested to see if Vachss becomes more responsible in portraying sexual encounters as the series moves into more enlightened times.
Since I am reading an Omnibus I am reading books back to back. I don’t think that is such a good idea and I should cut it out. Vachss repeats too much background material and that doesn’t work too well for me when it is still fresh from the previous book. I need more of a chance to forget when I am reading a series! The struggle of an author trying to make a book part of a series but also work as a stand-alone is not unusual. The idea of reading the eighteen book Burke series in order intrigues me for some reason. Maybe because I have just never done it before.
I do like the way Vachss writes.
. . . outside the pool room on 14th up to Union Square, across into Eighth Avenue and up into Times Square, working river to river into midtown. And back again. Driving through the marketplace, someone selling something every time the Plymouth rolled to a stop. Crack, smoke, gravity knives, cheap handguns, watches with Rolex faces and Taiwan guts, little boys, girls, women, men dressed like women. Cheap promises – high prices. Murphy Men selling the New York version of safe sex – the hotel-room key they sold you wouldn’t open the door, and they wouldn’t be standing on the same corner when you went back for better directions. Islands of light where flesh waited to take your money – pools of darkness where wolf packs waited to take your life. And vultures to pick your bones.
Remember quarters and pay phones? Not the pager era yet and still a few more years until cells, Burke carries a roll of quarters. This is very noticeable with Burke since his MO involves a lot of phone contact. Again it will be interesting to see how this aspect changes as the series progresses through beepers and into the cell phone age. In some ways Burke seems very modern with his car and his gadgets. And his drinking habits, strictly ginger ale, do set him apart from most mystery/crime main characters. And, one more thing, do you think his dog Pansy ever eats dog food? The variety of people food she eats seems endless. I thought hard boiled eggs were an interesting addition to her diet in addition to the mandatory raw steaks and egg roles.
Early on I thought that Blue Belle might be a three star book but by the end I was sure it was a four star.
I am reading this in the omnibus book of Burke #2, #3 and #4 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/82...
Hard Candy Burke #4
Reading books about the war in Vietnam was probably my introduction to graphic violence. But the violence in Andrew Vachss books is more violent and intense than just about any other books I have read. I am not sure that I would like to see this violence on the Big Screen but reading it seems to mostly keep the intensity at a manageable level for me.
One of the ways that I relate to Vachss books so far is that I was a child abuse and neglect social worker way back when for a couple of years. Talk about an intense job! A big part of that intensity was knowing that I held the lives of people (kids and caretakers) in my care. While Burke is not even vaguely like anyone I ever encountered, he allows an expression of the hatred you can harbor for people who damage kids severely. Burke does all the socially unacceptable things to achieve vengeance that society prohibits. Somehow my opposition to the death penalty does not seem to impact my willingness to emotionally participate in the street justice that Burke doles out.
The first two books in this omnibus were 300 and 330 pages. The final story in the book is much shorter, only 220 pages. I am interested to see how Vachss continues to handle character development in this eighteen book series in fewer pages. So, let’s get to it: Hard Candy .
From the first three books in the Burke series, I expected that the Candy from the title of book four would be another woman in Burke’s life. And so it is a woman he knew (in the biblical sense) in his teenage years. She asks Burke to rescue her teenage daughter from a cult and wants to reconnect with him in other ways as well.
Hard Candy starts with a bang – or actually several of them signaling the end of the life of Belle’s abusive father. (See Burke #3 to see why he deserves what he gets.) And it ends with a bang. Actually several of them.
Definitely interesting to read. Quirky and violent with a Prof who speaks in rhyme. Another one with four stars as I begin to work my way through the series.
Displaying 1 of 1 review