Look up “gritty” in the dictionary and you’ll see this definition: “Andrew Vachss.”
The stories that Andrew Vachss writes are so fantastical in so many respects that at first blush it’s sometimes difficult for the average reader to find them believable. A little research later, and you wonder if perhaps he and his reviewers have been smoking those funny cigarettes. A little more research and you wonder if maybe Vachss should be wearing blue tights and a red cape, and sporting a big red “S” on his chiseled chest.
Famous writers, critics and agents all echo the same advice to writers: “Write what you know.” And Vachss does just this. Vachss [rhymes with fax] writes primarily about the gritty, seedy side of life. By reading his Curriculum Vitae, you’ll understand why. The Superman reference is due to his day job, in which he deals extensively with rescuing victims from child predators.
As some authors tend to do these days, Vachss mentions some of his favorite music throughout his writings, and several years ago I managed to pick up a CD he had made with some of his favorites on it. I tend to put it on while I’m devouring one of his books.
In Mask Market, Burke, a mercenary, meets with a ferret, as he calls the man, a man who specializes in hooking people up. Not for fun or games, but usually for mayhem, and often for gunfire. You want somebody killed? The ferret will give you a phone number of somebody to call. Want to find somebody who’s dropped off the radar? The ferret will help you. In this case, the ferret sets up a contact, which leads to Burke meeting a man who wants to find somebody. But the man who almost hired hires him is gunned down before the details, and of course the money for the job, can be passed on. But Burke managed to get a CD from the man which gives voluminous details on the person he’d wanted to locate. What it didn’t contain was information on the subject’s previous life, before she met the murder victim. And that previous life included Burke.
Now Burke has a case, but nobody to foot the bill. But the mystery of the ghost from Burke’s past is too much for him, and he begins looking into it. Since the original contact with the mystery woman many years before, Burke has gone through a lot, including a substantial facial reconstruction. Consequently, people don’t know his face any longer, which is a double-edged sword, sometimes, working both for and against him.
From this point, the story is a search for a hidden mystery woman and the sometimes expected, often unexpected, details and situations that turn up during the hunt. Burke brings his crew in on the action, and we get to meet a memorable cast of characters including The Prof who, as the name implies, is one of the brains of the crew; The Mole, so-named due to his adversity to anyplace above ground; Michelle, a man in a past life; Mama, a restaurateur who chases away business; and Max the Silent, a ghost, and Burke’s sometime protector. Other more minor characters flesh out the plot, but they’re all part of Burke’s circle.
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