Reviews

Born Bad: Collected Stories by Andrew Vachss

geoffwood's review

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4.0

On the one hand, a collection of short stories (mostly) about the (mostly implied) torturing and killing of chomos is necessarily somewhat fascist adjacent, on the other, it's a percussive blend of pulp and vigilantism that is in exact parallel development to Sin City if not directly ripped off of by it (one notes the Cross novels started years before the comic book).

bryce_is_a_librarian's review

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5.0

When you buy an Andrew Vachss novel you're helping to fight evil.

Vachss is a damn fine writer and his novels and short story have a gristle and bone toughness to him that other Crime Writers can only dream of.

Sadly, this comes well earned.

For Vachss writing is a sideline, used to fund the pro bono legal work he does defending abused children. His work can be hard to read, and this collection of short stories, unfinished novels and plays and other bits of ephemera show him at his toughest. It's not exploitation though. It's almost the opposite, he wants you to know.

billmorrow's review

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4.0

Way more good than bad in this collection.
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