----- Original Message ----- From: "ninposamurai" <
ninposamurai@yahoo.com>
> Hi. Not long ago i read,Flood by Andrew
Vachss,again.I would like to
> know your opinion,of it. Thank You!
> Jeff
I thought his first three books -- FLOOD, STREGA and BLUE
BELLE -- were outstanding. Unfortunately, he opted to
continue what would have been a very memorable and remarkable
trilogy into a series that quickly became stale and
repetitive (though the 4th and 5th in the series were okay),
progressively morphing into a pale cartoon caricature of its
former power and originality. I haven't read a new Vachss in
years, but I did read the Burke series up to the tenth volume
(SAFE HOUSE, 1998), so I think I can safely say that I
continued to give it a chance to prove itself anew, to
reignite some freshness to the character, his "family" and
their struggles...but it all began to read to me like a
episodic comic book, full of cliches, forced/trite dialogue
and all-too-obvious commentary.
His standalone works are hit and miss. STELLA was brilliant.
THE GETAWAY MAN was similarly striking. Conversely, I found
TWO TRAINS RUNNING unreadable.
His short-story collections are always entertaining and
impressive...I'd highly recommend both.
Ron Clinton
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