Andrew Vachss gets it. Whatever it is, he gets it. As an author & a speaker, I have never read or met anyone who is so locked on, laser accurate, razor-sharp, scarily astute.
A child protection lawyer by profession, he became a novelist in the mid 80's, though he still represents vulnerable children pro bono. Based out of NYC, with a native New Yorkers' naturally twisted relationship with their hometown, he expanded to the Pacific Northwest and sets his novels out of both, with a few forays further afield.
His first series, the 'Burke' series, were a runaway success and were about the dealings of an ODC 'Ordinary Decent Criminal" named Burke and his crew who only preyed upon those who could not call in the law. Life is not black and white, and in this grey exists worlds that do not like publicity and nominate few voices, Vachss chose to be one which would have spelt failure for anyone without his talents. Life can be ugly, complex and happy endings debatable.
Vachss has since gone on to write other series as well as stand-alone novels, adult continuing education books on child abuse, been a STD investigator for the U.S. Congress, a warden of a maximum security youth detention facility, amongst other achievements in an incredible career.
Having had the distinct pleasure to hear him speak and meet him at Regulator Books in Durham, NC in 1998, I can attest to being beyond impressed. His website, 'The Zero', was one of the first that impressed me on the then nascent internet too (though he does not solicit or accept direct contact, he has twice been gracious enough to reply to two emails I sent him over the years).
Hyper-intelligent, magnetic in personality and a fighter for those too weak to defend themselves, Vachss is in my pantheon of great writers and of people I want at my perfect dinner party. Needless to say, there is nothing that he is written that I can not endorse as a gift for anyone serving time or not , because he f***ing gets it.
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