With the publication of Terminal, Vachss has pushed his series into near-inaccessibility by new readers. The world Burke inhabits has just grown and gotten so large that newbies need a scorecard to keep up. Vachss tries to alleviate that problems with a lot of explaining and backtracking, but that effort gets in the way of long-time readers.

I understand the characters and the world. I wanted the action to move a little faster in this book. I still enjoyed it a lot, but a lot of it was like having a good friend rework stories you’ve heard before. Still, I like the stories, so it’s not so bad.

However, the plot was a little late in launching and I became impatient at times. Vachss is still fun to read, though. But I’d really suggest reading the early ones first and doing some catch-up before tackling this one. That way you know who Clarence and Terry and Flower are.

In this book, Burke goes back to stalking the child molesters and killers in the shadows. Three men are guilty of raping and killing a girl over twenty years ago. One of their accomplices has come forward with a blackmail scheme. The sons of privileged families, they’ve all ascended into wealthy lifestyles.

Burke intends to blackmail them for the murder, make them pay financially, then with their lives. It’s what he does, and I’m one of his biggest fans.

The book takes a while to wind up to full speed, but it’s always a pleasure working the capers and the con with Burke. Vachss pulls you right into the middle of the action and explains how those operations work better than anyone else I’ve ever read. And he doesn’t flinch over the hard stuff like murder and torture either. He lays it out on the line. These books often aren’t for people with weak stomachs.

In addition to the Burke books, Vachss has also written standalones and graphic novels and comics. I really recommend his novels Shella and The Getaway Man to showcase some of his other writing.

Vachss is seriously THE crime writer you should be reading if you’re not already.