Vachss ― Underground

When there is no longer any reliable source of "news," there is nothing to trust . . . and "The Terror" descends. For decades, The Rulers have been at work, using prisoner and slave labor to construct Underground, believing that all those who flee there will trade their freedom for security. Now, "truth" is what the Rulers say it is, and The Rulers rule all. But even within this antiseptically evil world, a revolution is brewing. A new breed of journalists--known as "The Book Boys"--risk everything to graffiti the truth on Underground's pristine walls.

Andrew Vachss has been a federal investigator in sexually transmitted diseases, a social-services caseworker, a labor organizer, and has directed a maximum-security prison for "aggressive-violent" youth. Now a lawyer in private practice, he represents children and youth exclusively. He is the author of numerous novels, including the Burke series, three collections of short stories, and a wide variety of other material including song lyrics, graphic novels, essays, and a "children's book for adults." His books have been translated into twenty languages, and his work has appeared in Parade, Antaeus, Esquire, Playboy, The New York Times, and many other forums. His books have been awarded the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere (France), The Falcon Award (Japan), the Deutschen Krimi Preis (Germany), and the Raymond Chandler Award (Italy). Andrew Vachss' latest works are Urban Renewal (Vintage: January, 2014) and Shockwave (Pantheon: June, 2014). The dedicated Web site for Vachss and his work is www.vachss.com (a.k.a. The Zero), which has both a Facebook analog and a Twitter account.