Rick Robinson suggested I read Mortal Lock back in June. It’s taken me months to work my way through Andrew Vachss’ latest collection of short stories. It usually doesn’t take me months to read a short story collection but Andrew Vachess stories follow a noir template where someone usually dies at the end of each story. I can only take so much of that. I started reading Andrew Vachss’ novels with the Burke series: Flood, Strega, Blue Belle, and Hard Candy. The books started to follow the same formula so I stopped reading them. I pick up Vachss’ books from time to time, but until Rick’s prodding, I hadn’t read any in years. Whether you’ll like these short stories depends on your mood. All of these stories are dark. In small doses, Vachss’ intent is effective. GRADE: B
Table of Contents:
•Ghostwriter
• Sure thing
• Bloodlines
• Passage to paradise
• Veil’s visit / with Joe R. Lansdale
• Dead reliable
• Choice of weapons
• They’re all alike
• Half-breed
• Pig
• A piece of the city
• Seeding the ground
• As the crow flies
• Blood test
• Profile
• Last rights
• Postwar boom
• Corazon
• Savior
• Blood orchid
• Underground: a screenplay.
I have always meant to try one but your review makes me think not.
Patti, Andrew Vachss’ world is a dark and murky one. I can only stay there briefly.
The writing is generally good, but Vachss does like to punish evil doers with maximum penalty.
Rick, you’re right. There’s a lot of death and dying in these stories. There’s no denying Vachss’ intensity, but his stories burn me out.
I agree with you. I read a few of the early Vachss books but a little goes a long way. Too dark for my taste, though an occasional short story is OK.