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Author and Child Advocate Andrew Vachss Has Died
Andrew Vachss used his crime novels to change lives. His writing made people aware of the impact of child abuse on society. On everything.
Content Warning: This article discusses child abuse. Some of the external links discuss child abuse and sexual abuse in detail.
This morning, the Official Website of Andrew Vachss (The Zero) posted a simple message. It started with “Andrew Vachss has died. The loss cannot be measured and the debts can only be paid forward.”
Today, on Twitter, I read (and reread) the reactions of many fellow authors and fans to Vachss’ death. Like me, they loved him not just for his books but for his advocacy.
Vachss wanted to show people the ugly truth and make them angry enough to change it. He forced them to see an evil they weren’t ready to see. That made many uncomfortable. It also earned him many fans.
Some Background
Vachss was an attorney whose only clients were children and teens. An advocate. And a crime novelist. As Vachss discusses in the Autobiographical Essay on The Zero, the income from his crime novels allowed him to represent only children and teens in his legal practice. Vachss coined the term “Children of the Secret” to refer to children who were abused by those close to them and kept the pain inside their whole lives.
He used fiction to explore child abuse. His most famous character is Burke, a private detective (the unlicensed kind) who was a survivor of child abuse. This series started with the book Flood, although some believe it took off with Strega, the second book. For far less than the price of the first three books alone, you can buy the first three books in a single Kindle collection called Three Burke Novels, 3-Book Bundle: Flood, Strega, Blue Belle.
My Introduction to Andrew Vachss
After learning of his death, I tried to remember where I first learned about Andrew Vachss. At first, I thought it was from his appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1993, which has been preserved thanks to the…
