Mortal Lock

A VINTAGE CRIME/BLACK LIZARD ORIGINALA hit man stalks his mark at a race track. A sociopath crosses every moral boundary to become a published author. An ex-mercenary obsessively defends his “perimeter” from a dangerous interloper. A man for hire grudgingly accepts help from a teenage girl to track an online predator. In a dystopian future, young people struggle for survival underground, forming themselves into vicious gangs with only the graffiti of the “last journalists” accepted as truth. Andrew Vachss collects twenty tight, powerful stories—all from the past decade of his career, including some now published for the first time—along with an original screenplay. Together, they form Mortal Lock, a searing portrait of the criminal underworld, with both its depravity and humanity on display.Review"A collection of white-hot short stories." --Kirkus Reviews“Vachss’s reverence for storytelling is evident in the blunt beauty of his language.” —Chicago Sun-Times“Vachss is a contemporary master. . . Decidedly hard-boiled, his prose is lean, tough-edged, and brittle.” —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution“To read Andrews Vachss at his best is to take a ride on the dark side, where the plight of the oppressed and vulnerable . . . becomes the catalyst for revenge-fueled street justice.” —Los  Angeles Times“Many writers try to cover the same ground as Vachss. A handful are as good. None are better.” —People“Vachss’s stories . . . burn with righteous rage and transfer a degree of that rage to the reader.” —The Washington Post Book World“Writing in a style so sleekly engineered that it purrs when you pop the hood, Vachss gives us such a smooth ride that it’s easy to forget someone is driving this thing.” —The New York Times Book Review “Vachss is red-hot and as serious as a punctured lung.” —PlayboyAbout the AuthorAndrew Vachss is a lawyer who represents children and youths exclusively. His many books include the Burke series and two collections of short stories, and his work has appeared in Parade, Antaeus, Esquire, Playboy, and The New York Times, among other publications. A native New Yorker, he divides his time between the city of his birth and the Pacific Northwest.READER BIOPhil Gigante has narrated over 70 audiobooks, including Audie Award winner The Dark Highlander. An actor, director, and producer with over 20 years' experience in theatre, film, television, and radio, he is currently the artistic director of Gigantic Productions and Little Giant Children's Theatre. He makes his home in the Midwest.