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Burke's newest client is a woman named Flood, who has the face of an angel, the body of a high-priced stripper, and the skills of a professional executioner. She wants Burke to find a monster for her--so she can kill him with her bare hands. In this cauterizing thriller, Andrew Vachss's renegade private eye teams up with a lethally gifted avenger to follow a child's murderer through the catacombs of New York, where every alley is blind and the penthouses are as dangerous as the basements. Fearfully knowing, crackling with narrative tension, and written in prose as forceful as a hollow-point slug, Flood is Burke at his deadliest--and Vachss at the peak of his form. "An extraordinary thriller.... Vachss never flinches from the horror." --Washington Post Book World "Burke would eat Spade and Marlowe for breakfast, not even spitting out the bones. He] is one tough, mean, pray-God-you-don't-meet-him hombre." --Boston Herald… (more)
User reviews
Flood is a great crime noir featuring larger than life
It's hard not to draw parallels between the Burke series and other off-the-radar protectors like Jack Reacher and Repairman Jack, but the comparisons end when it comes to the level of real-world evil on display in Burke's world, which is unfortunately too close to the real world. If you like your action dark, gritty, and violent, you might want to tag along with Burke.
There is a bit of dated-ness to the story (boomboxes) and a bit of 80s stereotypes (pimps) and an overuse of the term "freaks" for pretty much everyone in the story other than the main character and his buddies. Not saying that there aren't a lot of freaks, but... it was a bit excessive that Burke would run into so many in the course of his activities.
The story had the resolution you'd expect it to have and the plot moved enough that you're never bored waiting for something to happen, and the author kept his personal politics to a minimum...
-The Boston Herald
Originally published in 1985, Flood by Andrew Vachss has been reissued by the Vintage Crime House of Black Lizard Publishing. Written
Burke works the gritty streets of New York City and the author’s familiarity with the depth of this city seems extremely authentic. He stalks through the this tough, mean, scary city with strength of purpose and a knowledge of twisted humans that is both impressive and downright readable.
Harkening back to the 1980’s, this crime novel paints a vivid picture of the ebb and flow of a big city. The author is also a qualified lawyer who represents children and knows the horrors that can be inflicted on the vulnerable. This is the first Burke novel in his series, and I now know that when I want to take a walk on the dark side, these books will get me there and then some.
Maybe I had built the book up too much in my own mind, as it sat on my nightstand, waiting for its turn up, the designated heavy hitter to be brought in when I wanted a sure thing. I found Burke interesting, Flood and her quest a great story-driver, but I found myself getting really frustrated with the book. I thought that the book got stuck in these little eddies again and again that it really needn't have. I had to keep reminding myself that I was reading a book whose formula has been copied to death since it came out in 1985, but that was part of the frustration for me, I never felt like I wasn't reading a book, I didn't ever get lost in the story for too long a stretch.
It reminded me a lot of Ken Bruen, and not in a good way. He has the same way of having the protagonist preach at you a little bit, it's just a little bit too self aware for my tastes.
I think I'll give Vachss another shot, after this one, but I'm hoping to get lost in a Burke adventure, instead of being constantly shaken out of it like with this one.
Burke's newest client is named Flood, a young woman, trained in martial arts but naive about the ways of the street who is hunting the man who killed her best friend's child. Flood hears of Burke and enlists his help to find a monster for her, so she can kill him with her bare hands. Flood is the
Originally published in 1985, Flood by Andrew Vachss has been reissued by the Vintage Crime House of Black Lizard Publishing and written in first person, in a hard-boiled noir style. The writing may seem a little dated because it was written so long ago, but the story is quite compelling.
Looking forward to the rest of this series.