With Andrew Vachss’s trademark razor-sharp dialogue and inimitable prose style, SignWave—the final entry in the Aftershock trilogy—is guaranteed to reverberate powerfully long after it has been read.
“Vachss seems bottomlessly knowledgeable about the depth and variety of human twistedness.”
— The New York Times
“Vachss’s writing is like a dark rollercoaster ride of fear, love, and hate.”
— The Times-Picayune
“An extended meditation on what Dell aptly calls ‘the zen of violence’. . . . Fans of the series will lose sleep.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Entertaining. . . . Lots of assassin lessons and killing lore make turning the pages a learning experience in the dark arts as much as a riveting read.”
—Publishers Weekly
[Vachss] writes a hypnotically violent prose made up of equal parts of broken concrete block and razor wire.”
—Chicago-Sun Times
“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
“Andrew Vachss is unique among modern writers; no one else comes close to the raw power and intellectual ambiguity that he manifests so elegantly, so coldly.”
—The Clarion-Ledger
“There is no other living American author with prose as razor-clean as Andrew Vachss, and there is no other writer willing to go so far into such dark extremes, either. When Vachss turns the juice on, the bad guys sizzle.”
—The Austin Chronicle
“Vachss is red-hot and as serious as a punctured lung.”
—Playboy
“There’s no way to put a [Vachss book] down once you’ve begun. . . . The one-liners pierce like bullets.”
—Detroit Free Press
“Vachss explores the horrific intersection of victims and victimizers, evil and avengers. The setting has moved from urban to small-town, but the eternal conflict is as it ever was.”
—Booklist
“Razor-edged and compulsively readable; the pages fly by.”
—Library Journal
“Vachss impresses again with his new dark and compelling thriller.”
—LargeheartedBoy.com
“Many writers try to cover the same ground as Vachss. A handful are as good. None are better.”
—People
Dell used to be a mercenary; later, he was an assassin. His partner, Dolly, was a battlefield nurse. Their collective pasts contain enough nightmares for a thousand lives. Together they’ve carved out a quiet life in an Oregon small town where the timberland and the ocean meet. Occasionally, Dell’s old skills are needed, but he has to be careful not to let his paranoia determine his actions. When former hedge–fund director George Byron Benton seemingly directs a threat toward Dolly, Dell does a deep background check. Benton is not who or what he seems, and he is a genuine threat to Dolly and to anyone else with whom he comes in contact. Dell is determined to take Benton out in such a way that no suspicion will ever be directed at Dolly or him. This third in Vachss’ Aftershock series again draws strongly on the appeal of the two lead characters. Dell is a formidable, dangerous man, but he’s no match for Dolly’s indomitable spirit and fiery temper.
Less bleak than Vachss’ other work, this series could attract more than a straight–noir audience, similar in that way to Max Allan Collins’ Quarry novels.
