DOWN IN THE ZERO

by Andrew Vachss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 29, 1994

After an absence in Vachss's last novel Shella (1993), Burke -- the PI hero of all the others -- returns for this, Vachss's eighth. Burke's been doing some general snooping -- checking up on cheating spouses, etc. -- when he gets a call from Randy, a teenager from a wealthy Connecticut neighborhood whose friends are all committing suicide. He has a feeling his life is in danger -- and remembers that his mother (Cherry, who saved Burke's neck long ago when he was a freedom-fighter in Biafra) once told him to contact Burke if he ever felt endangered. Burke moves into Randy's house for an extended investigation of the area -- and this leads him to Cherry's friend, Fancy, a potentially dangerous vixen whose trust Burke casually earns through a mixture of sexual role-playing and a very careful search into her past. What follows is a plot (that's possibly more intricate than it needs to be) about a porn-film ring and a wealthy dominatrix/sociopath -- but Vachss is so surefooted on psychological terrain, especially that of the sexually abused, that his plot-cramming secondary stories are all captivating sidelines. He takes Burke's tough-guy status to excessive limits, investing him with nearly superhuman powers of strength, libido, and intellect. But Burke also has a maudlin side -- part of his tough-love routine is to spill lines like ""The night didn't have a chance against the kid's smile."" Joined by a cast readers will recognize from Vachss's previous work, including West Indian Clarence and the Prof, Burke ends up meting out justice according to his prison-honed bullshit detector: He helps all those who have a shred of goodness in them, and he helps destroy the irredeemably evil. Burke's return is welcome -- his superstud act may be extreme here, but he's one of the most fascinating male characters in crime fiction; and as usual, Vachss controls his narrative, cut up into bullet-sized chapters, with admirable precision.

Pub Date: Aug. 29, 1994

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994

Categories: FICTION