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 thirteen-year-old girl who had been raped, tortured, and finally killed by three rich men more than thirty 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.
Kirkus Reviews
Making his 17th appearance, Burke-hardened ex-con, unabashed vigilante, stone killer and yes, famous children's advocate-stalks the child abusers in a 30-year-old crime. When Burke isn't advocating for children, his favorite things include money, since cash flow is a problem endemic to his lifestyle, and revenge, the thirst for which seems to be rooted in his DNA. So when Claw, who was boss of the local Aryan Brotherhood when he was in the slammer, approaches him with a proposition that seems to incorporate bits of both, Burke is attentive. In 1975, according to Claw, ten-year-old Melissa Turnbridge was raped, sodomized and finally beaten to death by three suburban teenagers, the sons of multimillionaires. Never caught and now fat cats in their own right, the three are prime extortion targets. Claw can pin the crime on them, he promises, but he needs allies. A huge payday awaits those prepared to pitch in. Burke confers with his usual support system-the Prof, Max the Silent, Michelle and the rest of the gang that gathers at Mama's-and they agree that this scam-and-sting operation is worth the effort. True, there's no actual child to save, but those other bits are juicy. Digressions and diatribes against politicians, therapists, thriller writers, the ACLU, the CIA and so on, but not much storytelling, which is unfortunate, since Vachss (Mask Market, 2006, etc.) is pretty good at that.
Categories:
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Science Fiction
- Crime & Mystery
- Science Fiction
Publisher : Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
Author : Vachss, Andrew
Language : English
Edition : Reprint
Published :2008-12-02
Number Of Pages : 256
Binding : paperback
ISBN-10 : 0307387054
ISBN-13 : 9780307387059
Item weight : 0.35 lb
Dimensions : 0.6 in x 5.2 in x 7.9 in
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