False Allegations (Burke Series #9) Book

Book Review
This novel is actually a reversal of what we've come to expect of the Burke novels. We know he's a hunter of pedophiles, sadists and abusers of women and children and starting with Flood (Burke #1), Burke's first client (Vachss often entitles his books after the lead female character that captures Burke's heart in one way or another), we have been served up with brutal paths that lead towards Burke's kind of justice: revenge.


The personal Star Chamber

In this, we find Burke on the other side of the table: working with a lawyer to dispute false allegations of sexual abuse made by children and adults with sexual abuse in their history. Also, unlike the previous novels where the storyline is maintained with sociopolitical commentary kept to a minimum, for the first time we catch Vachss's work in action as a lawyer. Though fascinating in that we are educated as to the psycholigical testing that need be applied for the courts, I do think that in this one it slightly detracted from the storyline. Having said that: the before mentioned exposition does set one up for an unexpected and cautorizing turn towards the end of the story.

As always (and certainly for me) I love the anti PC dialogue...for example we find a citizen wandering into one of Burke's favorite hang-outs, a boot leg music store:

"Do you have a No Smoking section?" a guy in a denim shirt asked, frowning at the Prof lighting up.
"Yeah," Boot told him. "It's right out front. Under the lamppost."

One of the things I love about Vachss's writing style is the constant bombardment of witty if not raw metaphors. Here Burke sits next to a kid on the subway:

"I found a seat next to a white kid with the sides of his head shaved but center-parted long hair flopping down each side of his narrow face. He had a pair of headphones tight on his head but I could still hear the bass line pounding through. He was nodding to himself, playing Russian roulette with his eardrums."

Get ready for some devastating condemnations, especially towards the field of psychiatry, social workers, case workers, judges, and lawyers...as in this novel we gain some fascinating insights into societal edicts to deal with sexual abuse. In Vachss's words:

"For the child, for the putatively abused child, every single caseworker is a personal Star Chamber."

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Series Review

Before becoming a lawyer, Vachss has held many front-line positions in child protection. He was a federal investigator in sexually transmitted diseases, and a New York City social-services caseworker. He worked in Biafra, entering the war zone just before the fall of the country. There he worked to find a land route to bring donated food and medical supplies across the border after the seaports were blocked and Red Cross airlifts banned by the Nigerian government; however, all attempts ultimately failed, resulting in rampant starvation. After he returned and recovered from his injuries, including malaria and malnutrition, Vachss studied community organizing in 1970 under Saul Alinsky. He worked as a labor organizer and ran a self-help center for urban migrants in Chicago. He then managed a re-entry program for ex-convicts in Massachusetts, and finally directed a maximum-security prison for violent juvenile offenders.


Children of the Secret

Vachss, as an attorney, represents exclusively children and adolescents. In addition to his private practice, he serves as a law guardian in New York state. In every child abuse or neglect case, state law requires the appointment of a law guardian, a lawyer who represents the child's interests during the legal proceedings.

Vachss coined the phrase "Children of the Secret", which refers to abused children, of whatever age, who were victimized without ever xperiencing justice, much less love and protection. In the Burke novels, some of these Children of the Secret have banded together as adults into what Vachss calls a "family of choice". Their connection is not biological, and their bond goes well beyond mere loyalty. Most are career criminals; none allows the law to come before the duty to family.



Another important theme that pervades Vachss' work is his love of dogs, particularly breeds considered "dangerous," such as Neapolitan Mastiffs, Doberman Pinschers, Rottweilers, and especially Pit Bulls. Throughout his writings, Vachss asserts that with dogs, just as with humans, "you get what you raise".

This series features the unlicensed investigator Burke, an ex-con, career criminal, and deeply conflicted character. I consider Burke Vachss's opportunity at blowing off some steam. And well deserved, I might say, given Vachss's focused approach to anything and everything that concerns the abuse of children and women. About his protagonist, Vachss says:

If you look at Burke closely, you'll see the prototypical abused child: hypervigilant, distrustful. He's so committed to his family of choice'not his DNA-biological family, which tortured him, or the state which raised him, but the family that he chose'that homicide is a natural consequence of injuring any of that family. He's not a hit man. But he shares the same religion I do, which is revenge.

Another important theme found in Vachss's work: his love of automobiles.



l969 Plymouth two-door post that had gone through half a dozen life changes since it rolled off the assembly line as Burke's Roadrunner

Perhaps the baddest car in detective fiction belongs to Andrew Vachss' outlaw protagonist, Burke. Burke drives a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner that has been "breathed upon" by a legendary car tuner who specializes in street racers. No trailer queen, Burke's Roadrunner is all business, all the time: "The beast's undercarriage was a combination of an independent rear suspension unit pirated from a Viper, and subframe connectors with heavy gussets to stiffen the unibody."

In my readings of Scandinavian crime fiction I have often remarked that what distinguishes American crime-fiction from its Scandinavian counterpart is that Nordic authors tend to use the genre for sociopolitical commentary, often more so than Scandinavia's traditional non-fiction and journalistic mediums. But, that's not a blanket statement. There are exceptions with American writers and certainly Vachss is one of those. Often scathing in its commentary, the Burke novels are a devasting condemnation of how society fails women and children.

For the most part, Vachss like his Nordic counterparts keeps the commentary well integrated into the storyline so that it doesn't overwhelm it. But there are instances where his passion gets the best of him, such as what we find in Burke #9 False Allegations. Here we are, interestingly exposed to long discourses on psychiatry and psychological testing as applied to victims of abuse.

As a final word on the series, I have a warning: this stuff's not for the faint of heart, or for those who have a finely tuned PC attenna. It is raw, dark stuff, a story about those whom society has discarded and those who because of that live outside of it. For me, I find the series distinctly unique, an excellent crime fiction read, bar none. Enjoy!