Only Child

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Description

It's been years since Burke has been home, years since he's seen his "family" and worked in the underbelly of New York City. Although his appearance has changed, his reputation grown dusty and his wallet thin, his skills and his crew remain razor sharp. So when he is contacted by a mob boss to investigate the murder of his illegitimate daughter, Vonni, Burke takes the job and begins searching for an unspeakably brutal killer. Posing as a casting director looking for tomorrow's stars, Burke reaches out to the high school students who knew Vonni, and may know the identity of the killer. Before long he unearths a perverse enterprise-a young director pursuing a brutal new type of cinema verite.

Reviews

"The hardest of the hard-boiled private eyes is back... [Only Child is] full of surprises." New York Post

Vachss prose is never less than hypnotic.... He's a master at shedding light on grime and human and urban decay.". Wilmington News Journal

Only Child is reliable Vachss, another page-ripping underground procedural with harsh relevance and prose that qualifies the real-life childrens lawyer for his own adjective. (Vachssatious). The Seattle Times

The plot is perfect, the investigation is compelling, and the payoff is bittersweet but satisfying. The Jacksonville Sun

Vachss style is personal, laconic, shaded and of course, creepy. If you like hard-boiled punk narrative, this is the read for you. Los Angeles Times Book Review

Author Bio

Andrew 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.