Book Review: Dead and Gone

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Dead and Gone     Amazon US TPB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada TPB Amazon Canada HC
Andrew Vachss
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Kidnapping   Thriller
Series: Burke # 11
Knopf, Sep 2000, $25.00, 352 pp.

After a decade passed since their child vanished, a "recovery service" person calls Mama to tell her that she can retrieve the child for a fee. Mama hires Burke to handle the transaction. The party offering the "merchandise" demands safety as the key priority. Burke and his canine buddy Pansy go to the Bronx for the exchange. However, the trade is a sting and the other side pump bullets into Burke and Pansy with the final shot point blank into Burke's head.

Pansy is dead while Burke slowly heals from the massive wounds that would have killed most people, but he has hatred to fuel his recovery. His memory is shot to hell, but he knows one thing for sure, he owes some people for this professional hit that required a lot of cash to pull off in such a sophisticated manner. His plan is simple: find them and kill them.

Andrew Vachss is either a raving lunatic or an incredibly confident and talented author as he takes a very popular character and literally revamps him while keeping the anti-heroes' core values. In a "death of Superman" type of change, Mr. Vachss refreshes Burke so that long time fans will have a new believable direction to follow and newer readers will see the wisdom of that path. The current tale, DEAD AND GONE, is taut as only Mr. Vachss can write it and exciting. Burke reveals more about himself than usual with length soliloquies that slow down the action, but allows the transition to smoothly occur. A new and perhaps better Burke has metamorphosed from his near death experience.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner