THROWBACK THURSDAY :: Andrew Vachss

Today we're throwing back to 1990 in the word nerd notebooks. Andrew Vachss is not only an author, but a child protection consultant and attorney working exclusively for children and youths. It's therefore no surprise that his Burke series deals with some pretty harrowing issues. Burke himself is a career criminal who is the product of child abuse, foster homes, and prison. The series can be dark, very dark, but even within the dark, Vachss paints faint (very, very faint) streaks of light, both through Burke and the unique cast of characters who surround him. The few he has chosen to be his family.

The following excerpts are from Blossom, the fifth in the Burke series:

• I was born sad - I don't remember another time. Sadness was never my friend, never coming to me like those electric fear-jolts when I needed them. It was just always there. Ground fog on my spirit. I'd go deep into myself, the only safe place I knew in the places where I grew up. Dropping so far down nobody could see me. But the sadness would float on gray tendrils too soft to tear, finding its way between the cracks. I'd feel its misty wet weight settle on me. I could never chase it, so I lived in it.

• If there's a God, someone needs to sue him for malpractice.