Andrew Vachss

Once a mercenary, later an assassin, and now living a different life, Dell has bone-marrow-deep loyalty and protective instincts that know no bounds when it comes to his wife, Dolly, a former battle-field nurse, and their close-knit group of Dolly’s friends and Dell’s allies. When Dolly receives a thinly veiled threat, Dell reverts to his old ways to untangle the background of a prominent local figure, George Byron Benton, whose actions have awakened...

55 Stories to benefit Protect, the political lobby of the National Association to Protect Children, whose victories include the Circle of Trust act and the HERO Corps, which hires wounded veterans to assist law enforcement in hunting online predators. Contributors include Andrew Vachss, Joyce Carol Oates, Harlan Ellison®, David Morrell, Laird Barron, Linda Rodriguez, Charles de Lint, Hilary Davidson, Joe R. Lansdale, Joelle Charbonneau, Reed Farrel...

The man known only as Cross and his multi-skilled team of urban mercenaries are back. Chicago has no shortage of deadly gangs. The Cross Crew occupies a cinderblock bunker called Red 71. The Crew is notorious for its deadly efficiency and its disinterest in anything but money. So why has it turned from seller to buyer, grabbing up houses on a block where only a few holdouts against urban decay remain? Both the cops and the underworld are watching...

Wesley meets Carmine Trentoni in a New York state prison. Carmine's life sentence hasn't cut him off from his outside sources, and he sees great potential in Wesley to carry out his revenge. Wesley emerges from prison prepared to be the perfect hitman: calculating, deadly, and driven by money. On his release, Wesley follows Carmine's directions to locate a Mr. Petraglia. Pet and Wesley set up shop in Brooklyn, and execute their assignments with finesse....

Even the deadliest gangs in Chicagoland fear the Cross Crew, and carefully avoid their cinderblock bunker headquarters: Red 71 is well known as the last place you'd want to go... unless you're willing to risk it being the last place you ever go. Why, then, would anyone be foolhardy enough to threaten them – and even more dangerously, their loved ones? As Cross catches the scent of a far-reaching conspiracy, he realizes that it all connects to an...

After a life in various war zones, Dell and Dolly have settled in this town, fulfilling Dolly's lifelong dream. Though she has given up her nursing career and moved smoothly into civilian life, Dell had been a mercenary, so they both have to sacrifice their prior identities. When the star of the girls' softball team shoots and kills the most popular boy in school, Dolly asks Dell to uncover the motive behind this inexplicable crime. It doesn't take...

"Just before daybreak, a body washes up on a pristine beach. The dead man's skull has been bashed open, and his upper body is covered in neo-Nazi tattoos. An anonymous photographer e-mails an image of the scene to the local news, spurring the police to instantaneous response. Searching for suspects at one of the town's "homeless-by-choice" encampments, the cops pick up Homer, a "walking wounded" schizophrenic, who has been showing off a wristwatch...