Andrew Henry Vachss (/væks/ VAX;[1] October 19, 1942 – November 23, 2021) was an American crime fiction author, child protection consultant, and attorney exclusively representing children and youths.
[6] There he worked to find a land route to bring donated food and medical supplies across the border[7] after the seaports were blocked and Red Cross airlifts banned by the Nigerian government;[8] however, all attempts ultimately failed, resulting in rampant starvation.
[9] After he returned and recovered from his injuries, including malaria and malnutrition,[10] Vachss studied community organizing in 1970 under Saul Alinsky.
[11] He then managed a re-entry program for ex-convicts in Massachusetts, and finally directed a maximum-security prison for violent juvenile offenders.
While living in the Pacific Northwest, Dell and Dolly use their war-honed skills to maintain a "heads on stakes" barrier against the predators who use their everyday positions in the community as camouflage to attack the vulnerable.
[22] The Cross series uses distinctive supernatural aspects to further explore Vachss' argument that society's failure to protect its children is the greatest threat to the human species.
[25] Vachss often referred to Shella as his "beloved orphan"[26] until the 2004 release of The Getaway Man,[27] a tribute to the Gold Medal paperback originals of the 1960s.
In 2005, Vachss released the epic Two Trains Running,[28] a novel which takes place entirely during a two-week span in 1959, a critical period in American history.
In form, Two Trains Running presents as a work composed entirely of transcribed surveillance tapes,[29] akin to a collage film constructed only of footage from a single source.
His 2009 novel, Haiku,[30] focuses on the troubled lives of a band of homeless men in New York City, struggling to connect with and protect each other.
In 2010, Vachss published two books: his novel The Weight,[31] is a noir romance involving a professional thief and a young widow in hiding.
Heart Transplant,[32] an illustrated novel in an experimental design, tells the story of an abused and bullied young boy who finds his inner strength with the help of an unexpected mentor.
[35] He also created illustrated works with artists Frank Caruso (Heart Transplant, 2010)[36] and Geof Darrow (Another Chance to Get It Right, 1993;[37] The Shaolin Cowboy Adventure Magazine, 2014).
[39] Vachss also wrote non-fiction, including numerous articles and essays on child protection[40] and a book on juvenile criminology.
[41] His books have been translated into 20 languages, and his shorter works have appeared in many publications, including Parade, Antaeus, Esquire, Playboy, and The New York Times.
Many of Vachss' novels feature the shadowy, unlicensed investigator Burke, an ex-con, career criminal, and deeply conflicted character.
)[49]Another important theme that pervades Vachss' work is his love of dogs, particularly breeds considered "dangerous," such as Doberman pinschers, rottweilers, and especially pit bulls.
Vachss noted that using these particular breeds further increases the victims' feelings of security; their "dangerous" appearance, in combination with the extensive therapy training, makes them excellent protection against human threats.
[56] During her time as chief prosecutor, Alice Vachss regularly brought one such trained dog, Sheba, to work with abused children being interviewed at the Special Victims Bureau.
[59] Vachss' wife, Alice, was a sex crimes prosecutor, and she later became Chief of the Special Victims Bureau in Queens, New York.