Terminal

Burke, Book 17

By: Andrew Vachss

Narrated by: David Joe Wirth

When the former shot-caller of the country's most feared white supremacist prison gang contacts Burke, he comes with references...and the promise of a huge score. Terminally ill, the ex-con needs major cash to gamble on the long-shot possibility of a cure that's available only in Switzerland.

The one card he has to play is a small-time degenerate who paid for protection when they were in prison together. That professional bottom-feeder claims he personally buried the body of a 13-year-old girl who had been raped, tortured, and finally killed by three rich men more than 30 years ago - and that he's holding irrefutable proof. But such a complicated extortion scheme needs the hand of a specialist crew, so Burke is offered a piece of the action.

He and his outlaw family put together a lethal plan. If they can pull it off, Burke gets the two things he lives for: money and revenge. If they can't, "terminal" could prove to be more than just one man's diagnosis.

More mayhem? Download another Burke thriller.©2007 Andrew Vachss (P)2007 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Avenging a child

Solid story. Very well done. Great characters and development through the series. Heading to the next book. Not exactly a cliff hanger but I want to know what happens to a character.

Terminal

One of if not the best if Burke!!!! I have read and via Audible reread all. Thank you Andrew Vachss!!

Not my favorite

I liked the Burke stories, but this was my least favorite. I think he phoned this one in.

Gritty, Hard Edged, Toxic, and a Wild Ride

Vachss's book Burke novels are always about the dark part of the streets with all its grime, shadows, smells, and bare reality that few novelists have the courage or knowledge to write about. It is a world full of greys and outside the radar. The novels are fun thriller/mysteries but made only for those that don't mind the dirt of reality served with thier thrills.

The one thing bad about all Burke books is that they never go in a straight line so it can be difficult to those with a bit of ADD. Vachss likes to constantly be going off on side stories, explanations, and background which makes it very difficult for me to read. The good news is that this is not as aggrivating when your are listening to the stories.

The reader for this series is excellent. All the Burke novels are highly recommended and unlike any other. If you like your vision to teach you something and see things in a new light (even if messes with how you want to see the world), not just take you on a ride then you can miss with anything at Audiobooks by Vachss.

Perfect Author

First off, let me say - Andrew Vachss is incapable of writing an imperfect novel. He has long been my favorite author, though I'm just recently trying his material out on audiobook. As with any Vachss novel, you'll have to pay close attention to every single word. If you zone out here and there, it won't make sense later on. For this reason, I prefer his work in print - because it forces me to grab on to every word.

Great narrator, though, with a very interesting take on The Mole's voice. Not at all how I've heard that voice in my head for well over a decade and a half, but it kind of made sense once I heard his version. Very nice work on The Prof as well.

I would recommend this audiobook over Two Trains Running, primarily due to the narrator. He keeps you pulled in, and that will give you a good introduction to the pace and cadence of a Vachss novel.

same old

It's a great and fast read, Burke is back in NYC.
Left me a bit disappointed though, felt like I read it before which I didn't. It's just that the structure of the story follows the scheme of the other Burke stories and I'm missing something new. Feels a bit like been there....

What Romance Novels Are to Women...

...this might be to men. This was the first Burke novel I read/listened to (when I downloaded it I didn't realize it was Book 17). The highly unlikely scenarios throughout the story are fueled by uber-"manly" dialogue about time in the big house to prostitutes to cutting-edge (often destructive) spy technology. The story could have happened in half the time if it hadn't gone off on tangents, often charged with political opinion and conspiracy theories. While it was clear most of the time who the different characters were -- and there were several, so that was a challenge -- the narrator did a poor job with accents.