For 15 years, Andrew Vachss has been writing novels featuring his serial character Burke, a flinty ex-con, sometime hit-man, attack-dog owner, and all around hustler's hustler who fosters a special hatred for those who prey on children. Over the course of 12 books, all informed by Vachss' extensive experience as a children's lawyer, faithful readers have steeled themselves as Burke and his mysterious sub-underworld crew have waded through the sewer of child sexual abuse. So it's sort of surprising to find Choice Of Evil opening with a jailbreak caper worthy of Donald E. Westlake's Dortmunder novels, as Burke's pals gang up to spring Pansy, an enormous man-eating Neapolitan mastiff, from the New York City Animal Shelter. The opening by itself is worth the price of the book, but it's also just a setup for the gritty descent into moral horror that follows. Burke's girlfriend is killed in a drive-by at a gay-rights rally, and a serial killer calling himself Homo Erectus begins to take revenge by killing gay-bashers. Then, apparently without reason, he begins killing the pedophiles who try to ally themselves with homosexual-rights groups—a confusing and infuriating subculture, certainly, and the people who seem to be Vachss' targets this time around. Much as Burke would like to applaud Homo Erectus, something about it doesn't ring true to him. When an underground gay-rights group offers a ton of money to get the killer out of the country, he's not sure he should accept; Burke is slowly becoming terrified by the idea that Homo Erectus is really the return of Wesley, the most dangerous and most insane killer he has ever known. Choice Of Evil is classic Vachss, grittily entertaining and full of bold, colorful characters while also providing the disturbingly complete knowledge of real-life evils that make this series one of the most important in contemporary fiction.