Sacrifice (Burke Series #6)

by Andrew Vachss

Overview

What—or who—could turn a gifted little boy into a murderous thing that calls itself "Satan's Child"? In search of an answer, a man named Burke travels from a festering welfare hotel to a neat frame house where a voodoo priestess presides over a congregation of assassins.  For this vigilante and unlicensed private eye has made it his business to defend the small victims whom the law has failed—even a child who has been made into a killer.

Gripping and chillingly knowledgeable about the mechanisms of evil, Sacrifice is a thriller of savage authority from one of the best crime writers of our generation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780679764106
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/30/1996
Series:	Burke Series , #6
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Andrew Vachss’s many books include the Burke novels and two previous collections of short stories. His books have been translated into twenty languages, and his work has appeared in Parade, Antaeus, Esquire, Playboy, and The New York Times, among other publications. He died in 2021.

Editorial Reviews

"Powerful... mesmerizing in its intensity."- Los Angeles Times

"Vaschss's writing is as gritty as ever... It's doubtful there's another fictional private eye who can summon up in the reader as powerful—and powerfully conflicting—emotions as Burke can."-Newsday

"Vachss is a contemporary master... Decidedly hard-boiled, his prose is as lean, tough-edged and brittle as the man who is his protagonist."- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"A harrowing tale in which outcasts are the moral heroes and the people who belong to civilization are corrupt... An absolute original... Andrew Vachss has become a cult favorite, and for good reason."- Cosmopolitan

From the Publisher

In his latest assault on sexual abusers of children, super-tough Manhattan maverick PI Burke works both sides of the law to save Luke, an eight-year-old suspect in a series of baby murders. His roster of eccentric friends (familiar from Blossom, Flood et al.) includes Max the Silent, the huge, mute master of martial arts, Elroy the forger and the Mole, a scientist with a high-tech laboratory hidden in a Bronx junkyard; all help keep the city's bureaucracy, including a beautiful Amazonian DA named Wolfe, at bay while Burke arranges the best treatment for Luke, whose personality has been fragmented by repeated violent trauma. New on the seamy scene are voodoo Queen Thana, a highly organized West Indian crime gang and a collection of extraordinary dogs, all fierce, powerful and unfailingly loyal to their masters. Each time we meet him, Burke becomes more personally anguished by the propensity of adults to mistreat children. Although he is remarkably well served by his friends (all equal in loyalty to the admirable canines), especially in the explosive finale, he remains emotionally withdrawn, his obsession verging on craziness. That, along with his terse, cryptic observations about the world around him, makes him more a scary caricature than a man with a mission. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly