Rating: 
Summary: Everybody Pays
Review: If you're a friend of mine, and you're not familiar with Andrew Vachss' writing, I usually suggest one of his collections of short stories to start with -- either *Born Bad* or *Everybody Pays*. That's because I consistently hear only one of two reactions to his work. Either it's something along the lines of "too dark," "too intense," "too scary," "too brutal," or "too *real*" . . . or it's "Has he written any more books?" Clearly, I fall into the latter category. For those that fall into the former, with short stories, you can take it five to ten pages at a time. Because Vachss' writing *is* "too real." And that makes it all the more important for us to read. His research is his life, and all of the brutal, ugly corners of this earth he has been -- from the midnight human meat markets of New York City to the genocidal killing fields of Biafra -- confronting evils few people dare to even acknowledge voluntarily. But for all of the darkness, in his short stories, Vachss always seems to find some beauty -- an orchid amongst the spent shell casings. Vachss is a warrior poet, on a mission to save children from abuse. His sword is his writing, and his haiku is the short story. If the purpose of writing is to communicate one's experience of reality so accurately that the reader feels like he or she has actually experienced it, then Vachss is one of the most skilled writers of all time. And if you liked *Born Bad*, you will believe he has perfected the art of the short story after reading *Everybody Pays*. So, read Vachss to be entertained, scared, intellectually stimulated, angered, inspired to take action, enlightened, strengthened, nourished, or healed. Read it simply because it is great writing. Read it to be *educated* -- you will learn more from one of his books than from a whole semester of criminology courses. Read his work for all of the reasons there are to read. But *do* read it. And then *try* to turn away from the reality it reveals.
Rating:
Summary: Everybody Pays
Review: If you're a friend of mine, and you're not familiar with Andrew Vachss' writing, I usually suggest one of his collections of short stories to start with -- either *Born Bad* or *Everybody Pays*. That's because I consistently hear only one of two reactions to his work. Either it's something along the lines of "too dark," "too intense," "too scary," "too brutal," or "too *real*" . . . or it's "Has he written any more books?" Clearly, I fall into the latter category. For those that fall into the former, with short stories, you can take it five to ten pages at a time. Because Vachss' writing *is* "too real." And that makes it all the more important for us to read. His research is his life, and all of the brutal, ugly corners of this earth he has been -- from the midnight human meat markets of New York City to the genocidal killing fields of Biafra -- confronting evils few people dare to even acknowledge voluntarily. But for all of the darkness, in his short stories, Vachss always seems to find some beauty -- an orchid amongst the spent shell casings. Vachss is a warrior poet, on a mission to save children from abuse. His sword is his writing, and his haiku is the short story. If the purpose of writing is to communicate one's experience of reality so accurately that the reader feels like he or she has actually experienced it, then Vachss is one of the most skilled writers of all time. And if you liked *Born Bad*, you will believe he has perfected the art of the short story after reading *Everybody Pays*. So, read Vachss to be entertained, scared, intellectually stimulated, angered, inspired to take action, enlightened, strengthened, nourished, or healed. Read it simply because it is great writing. Read it to be *educated* -- you will learn more from one of his books than from a whole semester of criminology courses. Read his work for all of the reasons there are to read. But *do* read it. And then *try* to turn away from the reality it reveals.
Rating:
Summary: Rips the nerves wide open
Review: Nobody frees the truth from the mud the way Andrew Vachss can. I've had enough of pain and abuse as plot-points, and I can tell you that *this* writer's never goes near that kind of exploitation. Instead, he shows the reader the anatomy of evil -- so we can *recognize* it when we see it in the real world. His fictional work ends up giving the reader a crystal clear set of textbooks on the evil that preys on our society. Why? Because after the diagnosis, the cure becomes obvious. Buy the book!
Rating:
Summary: Rips the nerves wide open
Review: Nobody frees the truth from the mud the way Andrew Vachss can. I've had enough of pain and abuse as plot-points, and I can tell you that *this* writer's never goes near that kind of exploitation. Instead, he shows the reader the anatomy of evil -- so we can *recognize* it when we see it in the real world. His fictional work ends up giving the reader a crystal clear set of textbooks on the evil that preys on our society. Why? Because after the diagnosis, the cure becomes obvious. Buy the book!
Rating:
Summary: THUNDERSTRUCK, grateful beyond the shadows of the moon...
Review: Once again, Mr. Vachss has given us something that is beyond what it seems. For many of us, Mr. Vachss' works are handbooks and manuals that each reader assimilates and applies in her own way, inspired by an energy that stimulates, I believe, ones highest potential to choose any action, or even state of mind, however small, oriented toward mopping up and transmuting the maggot infested cesspool we participate in and help to propogate. I do not mean that if a Vachss character is killing and mahemming, that Mr Vachss urges anarchic violence. His message, his "roadmaps" lie beneath and among the stories and characters, in transcended compassion and glorious sensitivity, woven together with silvery threads caressing the garbage, hinting at another way. Mr Vachss seemingly operates on many levels and I dare say that a left brain anylysis of his work is useless or at least short changing. One must read his work as poems and perhaps augeries.Ultimately, though, I think one might most wisely dismiss any mental macinations and simply surrender to the power of the work. The great gifts of the work is yours for the joy of reading, whatever and despite what you think.
Rating:
Summary: Vachss'short fiction as remedy to veil of maya
Review: The veil of maya, a Hindu precept/concept that bespeaks the *veil* or gauze that the unenlightened see out of, into the world, not the world as it in its true form is, but the world they *would want* it to be, or better yet the world they've created in order to continue in their ignorance. My personal experience with Vachss' work goes beyond the average, as I have had the privilege of seeing prepublished galleys of his work, and in so doing can securely and with utmost confidence speak to the upcoming publication of Everybody Pays. Just as in his first collection of short fiction, Born Bad, Everybody Pays is another testimonial from a man who has devoted pretty much the better part of his life on Earth to the dissemination and hoped for eradication of vile and evil in its worst form--child abuse. Those who shy away from his novels, due to whatever personal or political agendas they carry as baggage, might find his short fiction well worth the ride. Rather than being forced over a longer train ride to view his razor-like force of verbiage, sticking the reader's face into the truth, not the veiled truth, but the *real* truth of how children are *handled* in this, our fair world, the reader is treated to the shorter train ride, the express if you will, and the impact is that much graver, and that much sharper, and that much more painful, and poignant. It is a sad treatise in our society today that those of us who are so moved to buy into false gods and false premises, will not look away, for even just a moment, to peer into the world's atrocities. Vachss has wrested from his words a truth that cannot be denied. If one wants to live on a planet inhabited by monsters, child predators (who come in many forms and masks), then one must look inside oneself to see just how that particular play got written. Mr. Vachss shines the light, most pointedly, on the evil of child abuse with precision and perspicacity pretty near unseen in most authors writing today. If you, as readers, would like to make a mark in your own lives, as testament to your own existence on this earth, you do yourself and those who come after, the honor of reading these words. Each story is much like an aphorism, a warning, an omen, a way of telling us all we have precious little time left to right the wrongs we have sown in our little people. Yet, he is with hope and astounding optimism because there are so many who have fought this fight, as as he, for so long, and at least have partially won the many battles that perhaps might lead to a victory in the war against child predation and misery for the future. His detractors enjoy taking the left jabs to his writing ability, to his persona, all that crap. They fail to see the throngs of individuals in the wings who are cheering him on in this battle, as they themselves are walking, running right beside him to change the face of social evil, and he can walk extremely proud because the ability to write with such massive talent, and still inform the subject matter with new light, exists in rarefied air. When this book launches in September, you will honor all the children who've been sacrificed as well as honoring yourself by enlightening the veil of maya that surrounds our earth.
Rating:
Summary: Hot Knife silvered with lethal butter
Review: There is not too much I wish to say except these stories take the tradion of the short story to a new height, then depth. Quick to read, they grab you and pull you in as original justice is enacted to the shattering point. Recommended to any reader who wants to taste the talents of Mr. Vachss, and for all others too. I couldn't put it down and I am almost blind. This reading came slick into my eyes.
Rating:
Summary: storytelling beyond compare
Review: These stories are so simply told and so deeply empathetic that Mr. Vachss seems to speak straight into your heart. Gorgeous short tales are sprinkled all through the collection, and the very first story, "Proving It", is a perfect gem of romance. Every friend I have given this book has thanked me -- read it soon!
Rating:
Summary: storytelling beyond compare
Review: These stories are so simply told and so deeply empathetic that Mr. Vachss seems to speak straight into your heart. Gorgeous short tales are sprinkled all through the collection, and the very first story, "Proving It", is a perfect gem of romance. Every friend I have given this book has thanked me -- read it soon!
Rating: 
Summary: Cross.
Review: This collection is as good as, if not better than, his first collection-BORN BAD. But to fully understand this collection, read the first. They have the same themes, the same prose, and the same settings. The Underground series focuses on tribalism of the human species in a not too distant future. Sci-fi isn't really Mr. Vachss strong suit. But dialogue and description are. Everything contained herein is shredded down to it's bare meaning. Other authors write dialogue. Mr. Vachss transcribes it. He's heard it, he's said it. Some of it's even been cursed at him. The absolute jewel in this book, however, is the CROSS novella. Having difficulty in publishing a CROSS novel on it's own, this is the perfect setting to unveil exactly what these characters are about. Enough teasers in the lean, stabbing prose of the short stories lead into the novella. Which finally gives enough room for Cross and his crew to breathe and infiltrate into you. I had to read it twice in the same sitting, just because I wanted to read more of Cross. A character you shouldn't even like to read ABOUT much less like. I'm now eagerly awaiting the full novel about CROSS and crew in their own series (or mini-series of books).
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