Hard Candy [Paperback]

Burke, is in a deep funk after losing his woman. Before Belle died, she asked Burke to pay her debts. He does what she would have wanted. But he is still cold, empty, locked in an inner jail he can't walk out of. "Once I could always find something on the sweet side of the edge I lived on. It was gone. Even in prison, there were some things you could laugh at. That was then." Vachss continues to reveal more of Burke's character, his grim inner world and his past in "Hard Candy." He is one of the most complex protagonists I have encountered in popular fiction - edgy, dark, an outcast, as hard-boiled as they come, a scam artist who is a standup guy, a righteous man, and above all, a survivor. Burke, the man, and the strange folks who people his world and call him" friend," are what make me a faithful fan and keep me hooked on the series.

Word is out on the street that Burke, a sting artist, is now a gun for hire. There is heavy fallout from the rumor. The police hassle him and old friends, the kind he never wanted to see again, come out of the woodwork looking for him. First, Candy, an old flame from his reform school days, gives him a call - after all these years. "Little Candy. A whore in her heart, even then. Just what I needed to cheer me up." Candy is still a working girl - we should all be so successful - with mega-upscale digs and a fortune invested in her face and body - silicon implants, face lift, collagen injections, electrolysis, colored contact lenses, a wig in every color, a department store's worth of clothes, make-up, furs - more Neiman Marcus than Macy's. Can she be funding herself? What's her scam? Her teenage daughter, Elvira, dropped out of school and is with a so-called cult in Brooklyn. Candy wants Burke to bring her girl home. He agrees to check things out. In Brooklyn he meets the charismatic, soft-spoken Train, who maintains a safe-house for kids. Elvira is a member of his tribe. But is Train the real deal? Are the teens safer with him than on the streets? Burke has his own suspicions.

His involvement with Train reunites him with another acquaintance from his adolescence - Wesley, a killing machine, a robot with a resume of death to show for his life. Burke always wanted to be just like him, totally cold, emotional as ice. Wes warns Burke off his turf - he stepped over the line once, without knowing it, when he killed Mortay in "Blue Belle." Now Burke's life is on the line if he messes with Wesley's work again. Just to make things interesting, the Mafia is also on his case. And Strega, the witch he wanted to forget, contacts him with a request.

The usual suspects are all present, including: Max the Silent, a Mongolian warrior who calls Burke brother; Pansy is a warrior of another species - she's a Neapolitan mastiff and Burke's roommate; the Mole, a pasty-faced genius who lives in a bunker beneath a high-tech junkyard; the Prophet, a scam artist who speaks in rhyme; Mama Wong, group doyenne - a Chinese Jewish mother and restaurateur. She cares for the gang, takes Burke's messages, holds his stash and feeds him hot and sour soup; Michelle, a gorgeous transvestite who is about ready to go to Denmark for a life-changing operation; and the now famous souped-up Plymouth. "The Mole makes sure to change the car's color after it is used on a job."

As always Vachss narrative hits hard. His street tough dialogue and staccato-like prose lend authenticity to this raw, darker than noir world - a world where unspeakable horrors are perpetrated upon innocent children. The author, a leader in the child protective movement, calls it "a war," and considers his writing as powerful a weapon as his litigation. He openly admits that he writes about the abuse of children because he wants to raise people's awareness of what's going on, and he'll reach a wider audience with fiction.

This is a powerful novel - part of a superb series. Kudos to Andrew Vachss!
JANA

Aside from that small point - stunning.

The main character, Burke, resides in New York. Having read the book, I'm still not sure whether he is a private detective, a hit man, or something else.

He seems to be a classic anti-hero (think Eastwood as the Man With No Name), although technically a 'bad' person, he has a curious streak of morality and when compared to some of the characters that appear, he is probably the best of a bad bunch.

Burke takes on what seems to be a simple job of extracting a daughter from a cult, but then finds out more about everyone involved and decides that some additional action needs to be taken all round.

This is used to brings in a 'team' of acquaintances with their various specialised skills that are used to facilitate the process of justice, Burke-style.

He also has the minor additional problem of someone who he disposed of previously turning out to be on a contract killers list, who of course was not paid for the job that he didn't do.

Its difficult to write too much about this type of book without giving away plot details, simply beacuse it is relatively short and there aren't too many sub-plots going on either.

The best recommendation that I can give is that I finished this book within 36 hours of starting it (as well as living my life), so for me anyway, it was pretty unputdownable.

If you like these books, you could do worse than try the Nick Sharman novels by Mark Timlin.