Bio: Andrew Vachss, an attorney in private practice specializing in juvenile justice and child abuse, is the country's best recognized and most widely sought after spokesperson on crimes against children. He is also a bestselling novelist, whose works include Flood (1985), Strega (1987), Blu Belle (1988), Hard Candy (1989), Blossom (1990), Sacrifice (1991), Shella (1993), Down in the Zero (1994), Footsteps of the Hawk (1995), False Allegations (1996), Safe House (1998), Choice of Evil (1999), Dead and Gone (2000), and Pain Management (2001). His short stories have appeared in Esquire, Playboy, and The Observer, and he is a contributor to ABA Journal, Journal of Psychohistory, New England Law Review, The New York Times, and Parade. His latest novel is The Getaway Man, published in 2003. Vachss has worked as a federal investigator in sexually transmitted diseases, a caseworker in New York, and a professional organizer. He was the director for an urban migrants re-entry center in Chicago and another for ex-cons in Boston. After managing a maximum-security prison for violent juvenile offenders, he published his first book, a textbook, about the experience. He was also deeply involved in the relief effort in Biafra, now Nigeria. For ten years, Vachss' law practice combined criminal defense with child protection, until, with the success of his novels, it segued exclusively into the latter, which is his passion. Vachss calls the child protective movement "a war," and considers his writing as powerful a weapon as his litigation.