About the Book:
V. I. Warshawski is famous for her cool under fire, her intelligence, her humor, her unflinching courage, and her love of good coffee. But even the strongest people sometimes need a break to recharge, so her friends send her to Kansas for a weekend of college basketball where Angela, one of her protégées, is playing. And that’s where trouble finds V.I.
Sabrina, one of Angela’s roommates, disappears and V.I. agrees to try to find her. Finding a missing person in a city where she knows few people and doesn’t have her trusted contacts is hard, but not as hard as the brutally negative reaction to the detective from some of the locals. When V.I. finds Sabrina close to death in a remote house, she lands herself in the FBI’s crosshairs and faces a violent online backlash. The men running the county’s opioid distribution are also not happy.
Discovering a dead body in the same house a few days later, V.I. is pitched headlong into a local land-use battle with roots going back to the Civil War. She finds that today’s combatants are just as willing as opponents in the 1860s to kill to settle their differences.
V.I.’s survival depends on keeping one step ahead of players in a game she never intended to play, before the clock runs down.
My Review:
It's been a while since I have read a Warshawski novel so I missed the traumatic event that has had such a huge impact on her. It was a little strange to read of her so unsure of herself. I missed the woman from previous novels.
I had an issue with the plot. I just could not believe a woman nearly dead from a drug overdose was found in a home with lots of drug paraphernalia around as well as a bloody blanket and the police did not search the house. That just did not ring true to me. I have to admit I skimmed a bit here and there to get to the next action scene.
I don't think this is the best effort from Paretsky. I have liked the Warshawski novels in the past and will keep looking for them.
My rating: 4/5 stars.
About the Author:
Called a "genius" by Lee Child and "one of the all time greats" by Karin Slaughter, Sara Paretsky transformed the role of women in the mystery world with her detective, V.I. Warshawski. V.I. is tough, feminine and vulnerable, but above all loyal to her friends and clients. Paretsky and Warshawski share a love of singing, Golden Retrievers and Italian reds. V.I. has escaped many near-death experiences, including drowning in Chicago's swamps (Blood Shot), falling down an elevator shaft (Burn Marks), and multiple attempts to shoot her down (Dead Land). Paretsky would have retired to the Umbrian Hills after one such event, but V.I. keeps coming back for more.
Paretsky's passion for social justice is reflected in her novels but also in her support for reproductive health and the welfare of women and children. She founded Sisters in Crime, an international organization that advocates for women in the mystery/thriller field. She is one of four living writers to earn both the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writers and Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America. Find out more at www.saraparetsky.com.
(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)
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