Urban Renewal
A Cross Novel

Let's be clear: Andrew Vachss' prose is addictive. He writes lean and mean, so minimal that it's practically subliminal. He can imply, with a single sentence, more story than Stephen King can fit into an entire chapter. His protagonists tend to be hard, street smart, and deadly if provoked. Andrew V......more

OK, now I'm just feeling stupid for continuing to buy and read these. I felt like I'd already read sections of this, and I just found parts in Everybody Pays: Stories and there may be some of Born Bad: Collected Stories here too. It's a mosaic novel. Those sections are just slotted in having been sl......more

The entire time I was reading Urban Renewal, I felt like I was missing something, like there was an inside joke I wasn't privy to. It's a frustrating read, one that wanders all over the place with only the barest sense of cohesion. The blurb's misleading, and that's the most frustrating thing of all......more

Andrew Vachss's fans will be delighted with his latest book. For those familiar with the Cross series (comics and the previous novel, Blackjack), this new book jumps right back into the familiar, harsh world occupied by Cross and his family of choice. In addition to some dead-aimed lessons about how......more