Aftershock: A Thriller
In a small Oregon town, MaryLou, the star pitcher for the high-school girls’ softball team, brings a pistol to school, kills one boy, wounds two others, and surrenders herself. It seems like an open-and-shut case, but MaryLou has two formidable defenders: Dell, a former mercenary with his own concept of justice, and his wife, Dolly. Rallying around MaryLou, they uncover a pervasive culture of evil that has operated without resistance owing to an incompetent and timid justice establishment. Dell enlists a group of experts who are able to turn the prosecutor’s slam-dunk case on its head, even as Dell plots his own street justice against a culture of evil entitlement. Vachss, best known for the very dark Burke series of urban crime and retribution, seems to be embarking on a new series with Dell and Dolly. As in all of his work, 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. As always, Vachss is disquieting but engrossing. --Wes Lukowsky