Is the sexual abuse of children prevalent throughout industrial societies?
Or peculiar to any one culture? AV: My books are in 17 languages. I have letters from every country you could think of, and when they’re translated, they could have come from Topeka, Kansas. It’s a human condition. I don’t think it’s a cultural condition at all. It’s a human condition. The Bible talked about incest. S: Why didn’t you write another Burke book? AV: I wanted to explore different territory. I really wanted to write a love story about a sociopath who actually understands in some dim way that he is sociopathic, that a card is missing from his deck, and about his urge to shove it back inside. I couldn’t do that with the Burke books, which are in a totally different voice and have a cast of characters from whom people have some sort of expectations. The Burke books, which are considered by some people very dark, are Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm compared to this one. I wanted to go way out on the edge. S: I think this character is stunning and compelling. AV: He’s not at all an a
