Drawing Dead

February 29, 2016
Vachss’s third outing for the urban mercenary known only as Cross (after 2014’s Urban Renewal) is an uneasy blend of gritty crime novel and supernatural thriller. Sometime in the past, Cross, as part of an “off-the-books government unit,” takes on a mysterious entity that rips the skulls and spines out of its victims. Cross and his team fail to capture the thing, a shape-changing black blob, at a Chicago federal prison, and more than 200 people die. Cross emerges with a permanent blue brand just below his right eye that’s somehow capable of communicating warnings. In the present, Cross leads an oddball crew, which includes Princess, “a teenage death-match veteran,” and Tiger, a woman with an “outrageous figure” and gold and black striped hair. An attempted assassination leads the partners to suspect that someone is making a move on them—and Cross to fear a connection with the enigmatic entity. Some readers will struggle to identify with the cartoonish characters. Agent: Lou Bank, Ten Angry Pitbulls.