Two Trains Running

US: Knopf Doubleday Publishing G., 2006. Paperback. Very Good. In his most original and compelling book yet, Andrew Vachss presents an ele ctrifying tale of corruption in a devastated mill town. It is 1959-a moment in history when the clandestine, powerful forces that will shape America t o the present day are about to collide.Walker Dett is a hired gun, known fo r using the most extreme measures to accomplish his missions. Royal Beaumon t is the "hillbilly boss" who turned Locke City from a dying town into a th riving vice capital. But organized crime outsiders are moving in on Beaumon t's turf, so he reaches out for Dett in a high-risk move to maintain his po wer at all costs. Add a rival Irish political machine, a deeply entrenched neo-Nazi "party", the nascent black power movement, turf-disputing juvenile gangs, a muck-raking journalist who doubles as a blackmailer, the FBI-a co vert observer and occasional participant which may itself be under surveill ance- and Locke City is about as stable as a nitroglycerin truck stalled on the railroad tracks. Editorial Reviews "Gripping. . . . It begins in the clipped, tough-guy manner of Dashiell Hammett . . . but by the end it enters a strange . . . twilight zone all its own." -The Wall Street Journal"Ambitious, expansive. . . . Walker Dett [is] a superb creation." -Entertainment Weekly"A sprawling epic. . . . A raw portrait of a volatile era." -Philadelphia City Paper"If you're craving a midsummer mystery . . . Andrew Vachss has something special for you-a dark, violent and even weird tale. . . . The plot . . . zips ahead with the speed of one of those dangerously overpowered late-1950s Oldsmobile 88s. . . . The bits and pieces cut back and fort.