Strega (novel)
Encyclopedia
Strega is a hardboiled
detective novel written by American author and attorney Andrew Vachss
, first published in 1987. The story features the pursuit and destruction by the protagonist Burke, an ex-con private investigator, of a pedophile ring involved in trading child pornography
via telephone modem
s. The novel was written and published long before social concern over the use of the Internet for spreading or trading child pornography became widespread.
After the critical acclaim and commercial success of his first novel Flood, Vachss was contacted by Robert Gottlieb, then editor-in-chief of the New York publishing house Alfred A. Knopf
, and signed the contract with an advance of US$175,000 for Strega. The novel subsequently won the 1988 Grand Prix de Littérature Policière
, a prestigious French award for mystery and crime novels, and the 1989 Falcon Award by the Maltese Falcon Society
of Japan.
Hardboiled
Hardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined...
detective novel written by American author and attorney Andrew Vachss
Andrew Vachss
Andrew Henry Vachss is an American crime fiction author, child protection consultant, and attorney exclusively representing children and youths...
, first published in 1987. The story features the pursuit and destruction by the protagonist Burke, an ex-con private investigator, of a pedophile ring involved in trading child pornography
Child pornography
Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
via telephone modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
s. The novel was written and published long before social concern over the use of the Internet for spreading or trading child pornography became widespread.
After the critical acclaim and commercial success of his first novel Flood, Vachss was contacted by Robert Gottlieb, then editor-in-chief of the New York publishing house Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house, founded by Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. in 1915. It was acquired by Random House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House. The publishing house is known for its borzoi trademark , which was designed by co-founder...
, and signed the contract with an advance of US$175,000 for Strega. The novel subsequently won the 1988 Grand Prix de Littérature Policière
Grand Prix de Littérature Policière
The Grand Prix de Littérature Policière is a French literary prize founded in 1948 by author and literary critic Maurice-Bernard Endrèbe. It is the most prestigious award for crime and detective fiction in France...
, a prestigious French award for mystery and crime novels, and the 1989 Falcon Award by the Maltese Falcon Society
Maltese Falcon Society
The Maltese Falcon Society is an organization for admirers of Dashiell Hammett, his novel The Maltese Falcon, and hardboiled mystery books and writers in general. Founded in San Francisco in 1981, the organization is no longer active in the United States; however, a chapter in Japan has been active...
of Japan.