Mortal Lock

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A VINTAGE CRIME/BLACK LIZARD ORIGINAL A hit man stalks his mark at a race track. A sociopath crosses every moral boundary to become a published author. An ex-mercenary obsessively defends his "perimeter" from a dangerous interloper. A man for hire grudgingly accepts help from a teenage girl to track an online predator. In a dystopian future, young people struggle for survival underground, forming themselves into vicious gangs with only the graffiti of the "last journalists" accepted as truth. Andrew Vachss collects twenty tight, powerful stories-all from the past decade of his career, including some now published for the first time-along with an original screenplay. Together,they form Mortal Lock, a searing portrait ofthe criminal underworld,with bothits depravity andhumanity on display.

Reviews

"A collection of white-hot short stories.... The baddest noir stylist of them all digs into his archives from the past 15 years and comes up with 20 visits to hell." --Kirkus Reviews


Vachsss reverence for storytelling is evident in the blunt beauty of his language. Chicago Sun-Times

Vachss is a contemporary master. . . Decidedly hard-boiled, his prose is lean, tough-edged, and brittle. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

To read Andrews Vachss at his best is to take a ride on the dark side, where the plight of the oppressed and vulnerable . . . becomes the catalyst for revenge-fueled street justice. Los Angeles Times

Many writers try to cover the same ground as Vachss. A handful are as good. None are better. People

Vachsss stories . . . burn with righteous rage and transfer a degree of that rage to the reader. The Washington Post Book World

Writing in a style so sleekly engineered that it purrs when you pop the hood, Vachss gives us such a smooth ride that its easy to forget someone is driving this thing. The New York Times Book Review

Vachss is red-hot and as serious as a punctured lung. Playboy

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.