Blossom

In the figure of Burke, Andrew Vachss has given contemporary crime fiction one of its most mesmerizing characters. An abused child raised in orphanages, foster homes, and prisons, Burke is a career criminal and outlaw who steals and scams for a living. 
   In Blossom, an old cellmate has summoned Burke to a fading Indiana mill town, where a young boy is charged with a crime he didn't commit and a twisted serial sniper has turned a local lovers' lane into a killing field. And it's here that Burke meets Blossom, the brilliant, beautiful young woman who has her own reasons for finding the murderer—and her own idea of vengeance.  Dense with atmosphere, savagely convincing, this is Vachss at his uncompromising best.

"Gritty, frightening, compelling and ultimately satisfying."- The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Brilliant... Burke is a creature you can't spend enough time with [and] Vachss, sculpting pieces of art out of the scummiest wastes of humanity, must be read."-People

"Burke is an unlikely combination of Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, and Rambo... Vachss's stories burn with righteous rage."- The Washington Post Book World

"A contemporary master... Decidedly hard-boiled, his prose is lean, tough-edged and brittle."- The Atlanta JournalAndrew Vachss’s many books include the Burke novels and two previous collections of short stories. His books have been translated into twenty languages, and his work has appeared in Parade, Antaeus, Esquire, Playboy, and The New York Times, among other publications. He died in 2021.