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Cross (novels) #1
Blackjack
Cross and his strange but multi-talented crew together form one of the most ruthless and efficient hired guns the world has known. In this first appearance in a novel, they take on an elusive serial killer who no one has ever seen. This savage murderer is leaving a trail of eviscerated bodies all over the world. Despite knowing the Cross team as ultimate mercenaries, a shadowy team of government operatives hires them to track and capture - but not kill - this elusive hunter, When a pattern is finally deduced in the seemingly random strikes, the Cross crew devises an elaborate plan that will put their leader directly into the creature's path.
Audio CD
First published July 1, 2012
46 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Vachss
138 books894 followersAndrew 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 youths exclusively. He is the author of numerous novels, including the Burke series, two 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. A native New Yorker, he now divides his time between the city of his birth and the Pacific Northwest.
The dedicated Web site for Vachss and his work is
www.vachss.com. That site and this page are managed by volunteers. To contact Mr. Vachss directly, use the "email us" function of vachss.com.
The dedicated Web site for Vachss and his work is
www.vachss.com. That site and this page are managed by volunteers. To contact Mr. Vachss directly, use the "email us" function of vachss.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
August 9, 2013
Book Review
For those who don't know Vachss, the man doesn't like classifications, particularly where it concerns his novels, comic books, and other writings. He'll be quick to point out that he has no intention of delivering his dark message via some angelic figure (and so Burke was born). He'll also tell you (particularly where it concerns his Burke series) that yeah, it's fiction, but the world described is real.
Vachss is a predator who preys on predatory pedophiles.
Blackjack is a little different and yet delivers more of what we've come to expect from Vachss, except this time not all of it is real. For those who want to get their mercenary fix mixed in with some horror and sci-fi, this Cross novel might do the trick for you.
Cross originated in a series of short stories collected in a volume called Everybody Pays (link below). Vachss considers Cross the hallmark of his writing and life and in this series cranks that up a notch. Cross and his crew are men and women without family, without a country, a group of fictional characters that will never be members of society. He is a mercenary who is bonded in blood with his crew because there is nothing else for them, no place to go.
If you're a moralist, you'll be hard put to find someone to root for. For this series, Vachss needed an amoralist so as to better illuminate the amorality of the world around them. There are no boundaries for this protagonist. He will violate the extremes and coddle the in-between: betraying both perpatrator and victim all in one fell swoop. Cross is remorseless, an assassin, as obvlivious as an exterminator you might invite into your home to wipe out the vermin.
Cross is a man for hire. There is nothing else. Or is there? I say that, because in Blackjack you will encounter a species regurgitated from history, a black, undefined mass of horror that is not human. It is Cross's job to capture this menace. Any other job description is just that: meaningless. There is no code except to capture it and get paid.
What Cross doesn't expect is to look onto it's gleaming obsidian surface and see himself reflected therein. What he doesn't expect is for it to recognize him.
My rating is based on what this is: a fleshing out into novel form of what was previously a series of comic books and pulp stories. For Burke fans, you might rate this lower. For pulp fans, you might rate it higher. But as Vachss says: "'Genre' is a ghetto, too."
------------------------------------------------------
Series Review
Somewhat unusual, the above Cross Novel is really an expanded version of numerous Cross short stories and comic books. They are listed below:
Everybody Pays (short stories)
Comic Book Series
For those who don't know Vachss, the man doesn't like classifications, particularly where it concerns his novels, comic books, and other writings. He'll be quick to point out that he has no intention of delivering his dark message via some angelic figure (and so Burke was born). He'll also tell you (particularly where it concerns his Burke series) that yeah, it's fiction, but the world described is real.
Vachss is a predator who preys on predatory pedophiles.
Blackjack is a little different and yet delivers more of what we've come to expect from Vachss, except this time not all of it is real. For those who want to get their mercenary fix mixed in with some horror and sci-fi, this Cross novel might do the trick for you.
Cross originated in a series of short stories collected in a volume called Everybody Pays (link below). Vachss considers Cross the hallmark of his writing and life and in this series cranks that up a notch. Cross and his crew are men and women without family, without a country, a group of fictional characters that will never be members of society. He is a mercenary who is bonded in blood with his crew because there is nothing else for them, no place to go.
If you're a moralist, you'll be hard put to find someone to root for. For this series, Vachss needed an amoralist so as to better illuminate the amorality of the world around them. There are no boundaries for this protagonist. He will violate the extremes and coddle the in-between: betraying both perpatrator and victim all in one fell swoop. Cross is remorseless, an assassin, as obvlivious as an exterminator you might invite into your home to wipe out the vermin.
Cross is a man for hire. There is nothing else. Or is there? I say that, because in Blackjack you will encounter a species regurgitated from history, a black, undefined mass of horror that is not human. It is Cross's job to capture this menace. Any other job description is just that: meaningless. There is no code except to capture it and get paid.
What Cross doesn't expect is to look onto it's gleaming obsidian surface and see himself reflected therein. What he doesn't expect is for it to recognize him.
My rating is based on what this is: a fleshing out into novel form of what was previously a series of comic books and pulp stories. For Burke fans, you might rate this lower. For pulp fans, you might rate it higher. But as Vachss says: "'Genre' is a ghetto, too."
------------------------------------------------------
Series Review
Somewhat unusual, the above Cross Novel is really an expanded version of numerous Cross short stories and comic books. They are listed below:
Everybody Pays (short stories)
Comic Book Series
June 14, 2015
I almost listed this as a comic. I think it is one, although it was kind of a fun, thrilling action novel albeit with over-blown characters & scenarios that were ridiculous at times. It's a wonder why anyone would ever have anything to do with the group at all given both their reputation & actions. The main mystery is left dangling, but many others go full circle. I see this is the first in a series, but I'm positive I can live without reading any more. If I saw it in graphic novel format with good artwork, I'd pick it up if it wasn't too expensive, but I won't go out of my way looking for them.
December 16, 2017
I've read enough Andrew Vachss to know that he isn't always at the top of his game, but this was completely rubbish. It never made sense and the elements never cohered in this weird mash up of streetwise mercenaries taking on a supernatural cloud of murder... or something. Then the whole thing concludes 40 pages before the end of the book, so Vachss rehashes an old short story and tacks it on as an "epilogue". Really poor stuff.
September 24, 2013
I miss Burke.
I know this is a Cross story, but I miss Burke. I miss Max & Mole & Terry & the Prof & Michelle & Clarence. I really miss Pansy...
But this is a Cross story. And it was good, but Cross lacks something that Burke had. Heart? I dunno.
Vachss' writing is still as gritty and hard boiled as ever, not for the faint of heart.
But I still miss Burke...
I know this is a Cross story, but I miss Burke. I miss Max & Mole & Terry & the Prof & Michelle & Clarence. I really miss Pansy...
But this is a Cross story. And it was good, but Cross lacks something that Burke had. Heart? I dunno.
Vachss' writing is still as gritty and hard boiled as ever, not for the faint of heart.
But I still miss Burke...
July 15, 2012
These are barely warmed-up leftovers that for a bonus flirt with trademark and copyright violations.
If you read any author long enough there's a pretty good chance you're going to recognize bits and pieces from their previous works, and I'm certainly willing to forgive that up to a point, as well as stretching the definitions of "novel-length". But what Andrew Vachss has done here is expand the story he created for Predator: Race War with some alterations so that the killer is no longer an extra-terrestrial big-game hunter, yet still kills the same kinds of targets in the same method. I realized that early on, and while I considered it unfortunate it took me a little while longer to realize that he was re-using the core plot aspects from Predator: Race War. While I'm too lazy to dig around for the original comics (yes, I do have them), other similarly licensed works tend to belong in full to the original trademark holder. He certainly retains ownership of his original characters, but the plot? That's questionable.
In addition to that this already short work is padded with an "epilogue" that is a previously published story by Vachss with a few minor changes to tie it in with the rest. There is, unsurprisingly, no mention of this on the copyright page.
I have an immense amount of respect for the work Andrew Vachss does for child protection. He has always been clear that his writing exists to support his real work, both financially and through the spread of information. But the lack of integrity shown by this book appalls and saddens me.
If you read any author long enough there's a pretty good chance you're going to recognize bits and pieces from their previous works, and I'm certainly willing to forgive that up to a point, as well as stretching the definitions of "novel-length". But what Andrew Vachss has done here is expand the story he created for Predator: Race War with some alterations so that the killer is no longer an extra-terrestrial big-game hunter, yet still kills the same kinds of targets in the same method. I realized that early on, and while I considered it unfortunate it took me a little while longer to realize that he was re-using the core plot aspects from Predator: Race War. While I'm too lazy to dig around for the original comics (yes, I do have them), other similarly licensed works tend to belong in full to the original trademark holder. He certainly retains ownership of his original characters, but the plot? That's questionable.
In addition to that this already short work is padded with an "epilogue" that is a previously published story by Vachss with a few minor changes to tie it in with the rest. There is, unsurprisingly, no mention of this on the copyright page.
I have an immense amount of respect for the work Andrew Vachss does for child protection. He has always been clear that his writing exists to support his real work, both financially and through the spread of information. But the lack of integrity shown by this book appalls and saddens me.
June 22, 2013
Andrew Vachss has been one of my very favourite writers for the longest time. I own the complete Burke collection and it is no exaggeration to say that Vachss, Burke, Michelle et al have been a major influence not only on my own writing, but also on my decision to try my hand at fiction in the first place.
So I approached BLACKJACK as a fan. I left it feeling sadly disappointed.
It's just very bad.
It reads like old leftover stories cobbled together and blended in a pretense at creating a novel. What have I got on the shelf that I can whip into some sort of shape to hit that deadline?
It isn't even well edited or proofed.
Still a fan, I can only say that I wish I'd never bought or read BLACKJACK because it diminishes Andrew Vachss and his legacy as one of our finest writers of noir.
So I approached BLACKJACK as a fan. I left it feeling sadly disappointed.
It's just very bad.
It reads like old leftover stories cobbled together and blended in a pretense at creating a novel. What have I got on the shelf that I can whip into some sort of shape to hit that deadline?
It isn't even well edited or proofed.
Still a fan, I can only say that I wish I'd never bought or read BLACKJACK because it diminishes Andrew Vachss and his legacy as one of our finest writers of noir.
April 16, 2015
I am never disappointed by Vachss' writing. I find his exploration of morality fascinating. Cross is a new character for me, and I very much enjoyed him.
August 21, 2012
3½ stars. Although I really did enjoy this book, it is familiar territory. The main story is a re-imagining of the one already told in Dark Horse Comics' Predator: Race War miniseries. This book is an improvement on that story as one gets Vachss' full prose with all of the character details and nuance that don't come through in the comic medium (at least not as Dark Horse does comics). If you ever wanted Vachss to write a speculative horror novel, this is as close as you're going to get. At the end of the day, horror elements are light; this is a Cross story like you'd expect if you've already read Everybody Pays: Stories.
The reason I gave this only three and a half stars, however, is the end. The P:RW story reaches its climax with forty pages of the book left to go and unresolved questions left hanging. Although the main plot thread is fully resolved, smaller elements like the titular "Blackjack" symbolism in the book never get a satisfactory explanation (perhaps I missed it). The "Epilogue" is a fully developed Cross short story that ties in to the main novel somewhat, but not enough to really call it an epilogue (perhaps I'm splitting hairs). Either way, this section doesn't really tie together loose ends from the novel as much as it presents more of the same in a different milieu.
I'd recommend this to Vachss completists with the caveat that it feels familiar. If you're new to the writer and are looking for a good introduction to his Cross character, definitely start with the superior Everybody Pays: Stories.
The reason I gave this only three and a half stars, however, is the end. The P:RW story reaches its climax with forty pages of the book left to go and unresolved questions left hanging. Although the main plot thread is fully resolved, smaller elements like the titular "Blackjack" symbolism in the book never get a satisfactory explanation (perhaps I missed it). The "Epilogue" is a fully developed Cross short story that ties in to the main novel somewhat, but not enough to really call it an epilogue (perhaps I'm splitting hairs). Either way, this section doesn't really tie together loose ends from the novel as much as it presents more of the same in a different milieu.
I'd recommend this to Vachss completists with the caveat that it feels familiar. If you're new to the writer and are looking for a good introduction to his Cross character, definitely start with the superior Everybody Pays: Stories.
August 26, 2014
Interesting book. This is the second book by Andrew Vachss I've read. The first impessed me, I liked it and the library had this one on hand. The first book (Flood) was well written with complete if somewhat unlikely characters.
This book is very much a graphic novel (where the Cross character seems to have started) without the pictures. We have a "Bondesk" group of villains vs. group of "anti-hero" misfits and some kind of mystery force or being killing "killers".
There are some standard adventure qand even comic book plot points. The story holds together as the author sticks in a few heavy handed semi-political comments. It's fast moving and there is some liberal use of bloodshed. Not a youth book, but pretty simple at it's core.
Simply for a fast moving adventure with lots of explosions, gun fire, bloody hand to hand and so on. If that's what you're looking for this is probably it.
This book is very much a graphic novel (where the Cross character seems to have started) without the pictures. We have a "Bondesk" group of villains vs. group of "anti-hero" misfits and some kind of mystery force or being killing "killers".
There are some standard adventure qand even comic book plot points. The story holds together as the author sticks in a few heavy handed semi-political comments. It's fast moving and there is some liberal use of bloodshed. Not a youth book, but pretty simple at it's core.
Simply for a fast moving adventure with lots of explosions, gun fire, bloody hand to hand and so on. If that's what you're looking for this is probably it.
January 18, 2017
Not his best work, but still gets his points across well. The social dynamics of Cross' Crew are awesome to see, and truly the knowledge that family is something more than birth is life changing.
April 1, 2024
Decently written, but missing core pieces of information (like the fact it's a Predator tie-in), has an "epilogue" that's just a related short, and contains symbolism that doesn't seem to go anywhere. Vachss wrote some awesome stuff, but this ain't it.
December 8, 2024
Having read a number of short stories as well as a novella about the Cross Crew, I was at least better prepared for Blackjack.
Being an avid Vachss reader I was excited to read the first in the Cross series. Cross and his crew of misfits run a mercenary operation of the highest calibre out of a basement poolroom in NYC. They always get the job done, never miss and more often than not pull off two jobs at once. It’s actually impressively written and thought through for the most part. There are however limits to what I can believe and that’s where Blackjack falters.
Cross is basically hired to hunt down a group of ghost killers that are taking out bad guys. Hunting them essentially. Ripping out skulls and spines as trophy’s and oh by the way they’re basically black dots that grow into smoke and somehow murder everyone with no weapons.
This whole portion of the story arc, while amusing, is completely pointless and winds up basically at the same place it started with hundreds of dead.
Buildings get blown up with rocket launchers, a black ops government group of cool characters is introduced without a satisfactory end and there are a bunch of double crosses solved with explosives. So that’s fun at least.
While Vachss writing style keeps this one moving, it was really a mix of what seems to be a number of short story narratives crammed into a novel for the satisfaction of the author. Should have set the bar higher here I think.
Being an avid Vachss reader I was excited to read the first in the Cross series. Cross and his crew of misfits run a mercenary operation of the highest calibre out of a basement poolroom in NYC. They always get the job done, never miss and more often than not pull off two jobs at once. It’s actually impressively written and thought through for the most part. There are however limits to what I can believe and that’s where Blackjack falters.
Cross is basically hired to hunt down a group of ghost killers that are taking out bad guys. Hunting them essentially. Ripping out skulls and spines as trophy’s and oh by the way they’re basically black dots that grow into smoke and somehow murder everyone with no weapons.
This whole portion of the story arc, while amusing, is completely pointless and winds up basically at the same place it started with hundreds of dead.
Buildings get blown up with rocket launchers, a black ops government group of cool characters is introduced without a satisfactory end and there are a bunch of double crosses solved with explosives. So that’s fun at least.
While Vachss writing style keeps this one moving, it was really a mix of what seems to be a number of short story narratives crammed into a novel for the satisfaction of the author. Should have set the bar higher here I think.
February 16, 2018
After lawyer, child protection advocate and author Andrew Vachss ended his best-known Burke series with 2008's Another Life, he published several standalone novels before taking a crack at another recurring series. When he did in 2012, using the mercenary Cross and his crew for hire, he didn't really break new ground.
Blackjack borrows the story Vachss wrote for the Dark Horse comic book Predator: Race War in the early 1990s and tweaks it to remove references to the hunting alien made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1987 movie. He then combines it with a previously published short story about Cross's crew and ties them together rather loosely around some of the characters of the comic book adaptation.
The alliance is a shaky one, and the seams show clearly. The second story, in which Cross and his crew have to try to outsmart a crimelord who has taken one of their own captive, seems very much like what it is: A second story grafted into the first one's tale of mysterious murders coming to a head in a prison already boiling with racial tension. Both are told in Vachss' over-the-top pulp tough-guy prose, which doesn't work nearly as well here as it did when helping the career criminal Burke present his tough-guy face to the world. For Burke, the image was part of the affect and the face he showed the world to protect himself and those he loved. But with Cross and company, it's image with no substance behind it to care about. The mysterious entity or entities that are at the root of the killing are left unexplained; whether Vachss takes them up again in later Cross books is yet to be seen and makes the already retread-y Blackjack lose even more of its good will.
Cross and his mercenaries were great characters in small doses in several short stories Vachss collected over his career, but this version of their chronicles limps badly from the start and stumbles over its creator's sermonizing attitude and the incomplete revision and union of the source materials.
Original available here.
Blackjack borrows the story Vachss wrote for the Dark Horse comic book Predator: Race War in the early 1990s and tweaks it to remove references to the hunting alien made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1987 movie. He then combines it with a previously published short story about Cross's crew and ties them together rather loosely around some of the characters of the comic book adaptation.
The alliance is a shaky one, and the seams show clearly. The second story, in which Cross and his crew have to try to outsmart a crimelord who has taken one of their own captive, seems very much like what it is: A second story grafted into the first one's tale of mysterious murders coming to a head in a prison already boiling with racial tension. Both are told in Vachss' over-the-top pulp tough-guy prose, which doesn't work nearly as well here as it did when helping the career criminal Burke present his tough-guy face to the world. For Burke, the image was part of the affect and the face he showed the world to protect himself and those he loved. But with Cross and company, it's image with no substance behind it to care about. The mysterious entity or entities that are at the root of the killing are left unexplained; whether Vachss takes them up again in later Cross books is yet to be seen and makes the already retread-y Blackjack lose even more of its good will.
Cross and his mercenaries were great characters in small doses in several short stories Vachss collected over his career, but this version of their chronicles limps badly from the start and stumbles over its creator's sermonizing attitude and the incomplete revision and union of the source materials.
Original available here.
November 8, 2013
This was an interesting story but it ends with too many items unresolved. This is a bit of a cliffhanger and I don't plan to read the next book.
May 17, 2015
A weirder book than it seemed at first.
May 15, 2018
Another great read from Andrew Vachss, this time with Cross and his crew in Chicago.
October 3, 2019
This book had a profound effect on me. I had the most outrageous dreams every night while I was reading it. The dreams were frightening but I wasn't fear struck and unable to finish the book; rather I was fascinated. I don't remember ever having this sort of response to any other books. I had warning dreams and violent dreams and all were about the conflict with evil.
The only time I've ever been stuck in this particular way by a book was the first story I remember hearing - The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Anderson when I was 6 or 7; it too , was the dark tale of an outcast.
Cross and Crew are all outcasts from childhood on but unlike the little match girl they survive their childhoods.
This book is not for lent lilies. It is very good and I learned a lot. I've been reading Vachss for over 20 years. He's never disappointed me.
The only time I've ever been stuck in this particular way by a book was the first story I remember hearing - The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Anderson when I was 6 or 7; it too , was the dark tale of an outcast.
Cross and Crew are all outcasts from childhood on but unlike the little match girl they survive their childhoods.
This book is not for lent lilies. It is very good and I learned a lot. I've been reading Vachss for over 20 years. He's never disappointed me.
August 3, 2020
My first Andrew Vachss book. I selected it at random from the audio selections at my public library. It was a little difficult at first. I wasn't able to tell the "good guys" from the "bad guys". The book started with bad villains, then went to another set of less bad villains before introducing Cross and his gang. Once I had the players straightened out and the outlines of the plot (20% through the book) I was happier with it. The character are cardboard, the plot is comic book complexity, background information on our heroes is absent. There's no reason you should care about them or their success. The ultimate villain is a mystery and the story ends. (no spoilers).
I see where Mr Vachss has a series of books featuring another character that has good GR reviews. This is his first book with this character. Maybe subsequent books will improve
I see where Mr Vachss has a series of books featuring another character that has good GR reviews. This is his first book with this character. Maybe subsequent books will improve
January 30, 2022
I had higher expectations for this, especially since Vachss was a friend of my boss, but I found it a bit too juvenile, weird, and cliche filled. The characters were unbelievable, from what they were to how they talked, stereotyped in some cases, and over the top. The story itself wasn't much better. Kind of Predator meets The Executioner. Almost comic-book like, really. Perhaps the Cross series is not representative of the rest of his output, so I might give one of the others a try at some point. And I won't tell my boss I didn't really love it.
May 10, 2024
An entertaining story if a little convoluted, and not quite as good as the two others I’ve read by Vachss, Flood and Shella. A little bit of supernatural thrown in to a story about vengeance, and I really like the main character, so three and a half stars. I will definitely be reading the next two novels in this trilogy.
February 14, 2026
Straightforward, gritty, not quite as raw as Vachss 'Burke' novels but the writing is right up there.
The plot is a bit weird though moves along at a good pace.
The characters we learn something about are interesting and I hope we find out more about the rest as the series progresses.
And the page edges are black!
The plot is a bit weird though moves along at a good pace.
The characters we learn something about are interesting and I hope we find out more about the rest as the series progresses.
And the page edges are black!
July 26, 2020
Listened to the audiobook. If I was reading I might not of have finished it. It's just a very poor story by, and that is disappointing! I have read lots of good Vachss so to pick this one up and hear such a mess of a story really got me down. I'll go back to his Burke books.
July 8, 2017
A strange book. Shows some of the usual Vachss angst but instead Cross and his crew are mercenaries. They mainly try to collect payments from both sides. Still a great book
November 26, 2017
I listened to this book on a road trip, and it was fairly entertaining, but very disjointed. So disjointed, it was difficult, at times, to follow the story. Lots of loose ends.
January 28, 2018
Burke (or variation thereof) meets PREDATOR...
February 16, 2020
This book is the beginning and end of any relationship I will every have with Andrew Vachss. DNF halfway through. Don't care about badass assassins and body counts with no real story in between.
November 24, 2022
Cross vs. … fuckin’ Predator?
September 25, 2023
Strange plot and some stranger characters but kept interest. Nicely narrated. 3-1/2⭐️⭐️⭐️🔅
February 17, 2025
I haven't read one of his books for years. This one was a bit odd although still retaining his hard boiled style. I didn't get anything from Cross that Burke doesn't do better
March 29, 2025
So ridiculous it isn't worth finishing - abandoned after 50 pages - Vachss is a great crime writer, but this mercenary thriller is just silly.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews