This story takes place in New York City, and a guy named Burke is on the move again. Burke is an investigator , bringing in criminals who basically abuse children. Terminal is book #17, and in this book Burke is terminally ill. He needs money and he needs it quick. Recently, there has been evidence of a girl who got murdered, raped, and tortured over 30 years ago, and Burke knows the suspects, and he and his family devise a plan so Burke can get his money and revenge. Now this book in particular wasn't too extravagant, but the main plot is pretty decent, there are thrills and chills throughout this book, and before you know it, you're hooked.
The only theme that I was able to identify was revenge. Revenge is basically the main plot of the book. Revenge, however, didn't backfire. He was able to get his revenge and his money, and got his cure in Switzerland. The setting in the book, in my mind, is irrelevant. Whether it was in New York, California, Canada, or South Africa, there wouldn't be any difference. The time is a small factor, if it was during another time period, the technology used wouldn't be used. In the entire book, Burke has been going up and down. First off, Burke was terminally ill, on the verge of death. He then finds a cure, but realizes that it's next to impossible, since he had no money since the cure was all the way in Switzerland. All of that changed when there were reports of the three criminals of his past given Mole. That sparked a fire into his life, and the plan was set, he was on the path to receive his money and revenge. Prof, "Professor","Burke's dad", also changed during the book. He was one of the masterminds in this plan. He was also the one who pinpointed their location, which inevitably gave Burke his revenge. In the end, it was Burke's dad who became terminally ill. * SPOILER ALERT* The structure of this book, in including the entire Burke series, is its own chapter. The books have no chapters at all. And during the book there were many flashbacks to the incident. " The now-dead website had been <WhoKilledMelissa.com>" (Vachss pg84) This was one of the turning points in the story. This was the moment where the gang found some clues that they needed which starts the pain plot."Justice for a little girl, Mole. Raped, tortured, and murdered. And the rich guys who did it walked away. Walked away laughing. More than thirty years ago. Can this be right?"(Vachss pg128) This was the other major turning point because the evidence was finally shown about who the suspects were. " Understand that the freaks who sold you are our blood enemies; you're one of us now."( Vachss pg143) This was a major sentence in the book which referred to the brotherhood and friendship between Mole and Burke. This was when the plan was set into action. One major event was, of course, Mole finding the website. Burke had no idea about this at all, he was just continuing his life normally. All of a sudden, Mole comes in finding this information, telling Burke which immediately changed his personality. Another event was when Burke decided not to go because of a fight between Mole and Burke. This "ended" Burke's career and it was just Mole and Prof who hunt the criminals. The biggest event, in my mind, was when Mole found Burke telling him to get his act together and making him realize that the three criminals are the enemy. "Not really his best work. I guess after 16 books about criminal knight Burke and his “family of the secret” you had to start stretching the fabric a little bit. In “Terminal” Vachss is now finally reaching for material. This is the first Burke book that I’ve found myself noticing the time I’ve spent reading it. I always just read these books until I was done reading. Vachss gets a little preachy here. His books are always a little bit preachy but the preachyness always seemed to flow into the stories. In “Terminal” he seems to set aside space for Burke to get into a little tirade just because Vachss has a little something on his mind. The story isn’t as well-crafted as usual and seems to be an afterthought almost. It’s just an excuse to get his favorite characters to move around. All the characters make appearances. The Prof, Clarence, Michelle, the Mole, Terry, Max the Silent…they’re all here. There’s of course some pedophile that needs punishing, or killing as is usual in this series. The prose has the same Vachss terseness. The style is still roughly readable. It’s just that the story itself doesn’t have that same sense of urgency that I’ve come to expect from Vachss. The stories are usually far more tightly wound. They tie the whole book into a wonderful knot of a plot. This book was kind of linear. Generally, these books feel like you’re walking on the edge of a razor blade but in this outing the blade seems to have dulled some. Hopefully there’s more Burke books coming and the next one is better. Standing alone “Terminal” is an ok noir-ish novel. As a part of the Burke series it just doesn’t quite stack up." ( Goodreads Mike Nicotra) There are some parts that I agree with like the fact that I did spend some time reading it. The book got better in the end but I had small interest in the book in the beginning. I didn't realize this was Book 17 of a series about this Burke character, which perhaps tainted my impression. It is to men what romance novels are to women, stereo typically.( Goodreads Kristi) If i realized this was book #17, I wouldn't have picked it up. This book was explicit and vulgar, and the stereotypes to women were an implication. I love Vachss and Burke. Hard core crime fiction, not for the delicate flower. Burke can be a little self-righteous, but I don't care, so can I. What's the plot? Burke goes after a bad guy and people get killed in the process. Like all of them. And I can read it over and over.( Goodreads Barbara) I am a delicate flower so yeah...
Hard core crime fiction lovers would adore this book. Even people like me found some interest in this book, eventually. Nevertheless this book gave me something unique that I usually don't see in other books. This book is a real slobber knocker and this book is no where near boring. At first I didn't like this book, it was a little too intense for me, but that's what makes this book a little edgy. The ending was great and this book makes me want to read the entire series. Trust me, this book will put you on the edge.