Down Here by Andrew Vachss

 

Sometimes you just want as dark a novel as you can find that doesn't involve demons or whatever, this is about that. The goodguys aren't exactly nice, and the badguys are either unhinged or complete sociopaths (or plausibly some combination). This is from like 2003 or thereabouts--someone in the novel mentions it being about two years after 9/11--so some of the countermeasures the mostly-altruistic criminals take are a bit dated, but other than that the novel has aged pretty well. There are still people who abuse those weaker than them, and there are still people who work to stop that from happening. Vachss wrote with passion and skill about that, and this novel is a fine example of his strengths. There are occasional flickers of humor like whistling past a graveyard, the dialogue carries character and narrative, the pace is brisk and snappy.Down