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V.I. Warshawski #18
Fallout
P.D. JAMES called her "the most remarkable" of today's suspense writers.
STIEG LARSSON loved her work so much, he named her in his novels
And now SARA PARETSKY returns with the most extraordinary novel of her legendary career: FALLOUT.
Before there was Lisbeth Salander, before there was Stephanie Plum, there was V.I. WARSHAWSKI. To her parents, she's Victoria Iphigenia. To her friends, she's Vic. But to clients seeking her talents as a detective, she's V.I. And her new case will lead her from her native Chicago... and into Kansas, on the trail of a vanished film student and a faded Hollywood star.
Accompanied by her dog, V.I. tracks her quarry through a university town, across fields where missile silos once flourished -- and into a past riven by long-simmering racial tensions, a past that holds the key to the crimes of the present. But as the mysteries stack up, so does the body count. And in this, her toughest case, not even V.I. is safe.
Exciting and provocative, fiercely intelligent and witty, FALLOUT is reading at its most enjoyable and powerful.
STIEG LARSSON loved her work so much, he named her in his novels
And now SARA PARETSKY returns with the most extraordinary novel of her legendary career: FALLOUT.
Before there was Lisbeth Salander, before there was Stephanie Plum, there was V.I. WARSHAWSKI. To her parents, she's Victoria Iphigenia. To her friends, she's Vic. But to clients seeking her talents as a detective, she's V.I. And her new case will lead her from her native Chicago... and into Kansas, on the trail of a vanished film student and a faded Hollywood star.
Accompanied by her dog, V.I. tracks her quarry through a university town, across fields where missile silos once flourished -- and into a past riven by long-simmering racial tensions, a past that holds the key to the crimes of the present. But as the mysteries stack up, so does the body count. And in this, her toughest case, not even V.I. is safe.
Exciting and provocative, fiercely intelligent and witty, FALLOUT is reading at its most enjoyable and powerful.
453 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 18, 2017
1592 people are currently reading
2976 people want to read
About the author
Sara Paretsky
271 books2,370 followersSara Paretsky is a modern American author of detective fiction. Paretsky was raised in Kansas, and graduated from the state university with a degree in political science. She did community service work on the south side of Chicago in 1966 and returned in 1968 to work there. She ultimately completed a Ph.D. in history at the University of Chicago, entitled The Breakdown of Moral Philosophy in New England Before the Civil War, and finally earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Married to a professor of physics at the University of Chicago, she has lived in Chicago since 1968.
The protagonist of all but two of Paretsky's novels is V.I. Warshawski, a female private investigator. Warshawski's eclectic personality defies easy categorization. She drinks Johnnie Walker Black Label, breaks into houses looking for clues, and can hold her own in a street fight, but also she pays attention to her clothes, sings opera along with the radio, and enjoys her sex life.
Paretsky is credited with transforming the role and image of women in the crime novel. The Winter 2007 issue of Clues: A Journal of Detection is devoted to her work.
Her two books that are non-Warshawski novels are : Ghost Country (1998) and Bleeding Kansas (2008).
The protagonist of all but two of Paretsky's novels is V.I. Warshawski, a female private investigator. Warshawski's eclectic personality defies easy categorization. She drinks Johnnie Walker Black Label, breaks into houses looking for clues, and can hold her own in a street fight, but also she pays attention to her clothes, sings opera along with the radio, and enjoys her sex life.
Paretsky is credited with transforming the role and image of women in the crime novel. The Winter 2007 issue of Clues: A Journal of Detection is devoted to her work.
Her two books that are non-Warshawski novels are : Ghost Country (1998) and Bleeding Kansas (2008).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 680 reviews
August 1, 2022
Fallout is the 18th book in the VI Warshawski series written by Sara Paretsky in 2017. The series stars a ~50ish female Chicago private detective and is in the thriller / suspense genre. Each mystery is contained within a single book, but some characters cross over throughout the series in the subplots. In Fallout, VI's hired by a friend of her niece's to check into the disappearance of a cousin. When VI looks further into it, she believes he took off for Kansas with an older mentor, helping to film the woman's life. VI agrees to take the case and heads to Kansas which she hopes is a short trip. Then, the bodies begin to pile up. The story takes on a much darker focus.
Confident the two are in hiding because of a secret they've stumbled upon, VI investigates the larger case that she thinks is the way to find them. Nearly 40 years ago, the US government was testing chemical weapons in a small Kansas town. Some locals were involved, and a few families were impacted. VI finds enemies and friends in this small town, and every time she meets with someone, the person ends up dead or almost dead afterward. Who's following her? What type of bugs have been planted in her cell phone, motel room, laptop, and car? Is the local sheriff on the side of the good guys or the bad guys? All these come to the forefront in this tragic tale.
On the whole, it's a clever and complex tale. Something like this has probably happened in real life. It's one of the more tangible and realistic cases we've seen VI tackle. I like how the disappearing duo are African American, but that's pretty much all we handle in this book--meaning... it's not about race for once. The crime isn't an issue of black versus white, or poor versus rich side of town, etc. It's purely a tale of government versus small town, regardless of ethnicity and financial standing. Paretsky usually shines a light on race relations and corruption, so this was a nice change of pace to have a different kind of social crime occurring.
Another thing I really liked was the new locale and cast of characters. While Mr. Contreras is mentioned, and Lotty shows up for a quick minute, we only see Bernie Fouchard appear with VI. Everything is different, and it helped the book feel newer. I still want to hear all about my Chicago friends again soon, but this one was a good change of pace. One thing I didn't like very much was the disconnect between the missing duo and the actual shenanigans in the town. Yes, they were sorta mixed up in it, but ultimately, they weren't impacted and I struggled to understand why NOW. Why did the older woman suddenly need to go back home and drag the young kid with her? Sometimes you have to look the other way, which is fine... but I would've preferred a stronger connection.
All that said, it's one of the clearer and easier plots to follow. Somewhere between a 4 and 4.5 stars, but I'll round down on this one. One more (#19 - Shell Game) to read next week, then I'm current on this series. The next one comes out in 2020, so I'll get a break and focus on other fave series and authors for the next few months.
Confident the two are in hiding because of a secret they've stumbled upon, VI investigates the larger case that she thinks is the way to find them. Nearly 40 years ago, the US government was testing chemical weapons in a small Kansas town. Some locals were involved, and a few families were impacted. VI finds enemies and friends in this small town, and every time she meets with someone, the person ends up dead or almost dead afterward. Who's following her? What type of bugs have been planted in her cell phone, motel room, laptop, and car? Is the local sheriff on the side of the good guys or the bad guys? All these come to the forefront in this tragic tale.
On the whole, it's a clever and complex tale. Something like this has probably happened in real life. It's one of the more tangible and realistic cases we've seen VI tackle. I like how the disappearing duo are African American, but that's pretty much all we handle in this book--meaning... it's not about race for once. The crime isn't an issue of black versus white, or poor versus rich side of town, etc. It's purely a tale of government versus small town, regardless of ethnicity and financial standing. Paretsky usually shines a light on race relations and corruption, so this was a nice change of pace to have a different kind of social crime occurring.
Another thing I really liked was the new locale and cast of characters. While Mr. Contreras is mentioned, and Lotty shows up for a quick minute, we only see Bernie Fouchard appear with VI. Everything is different, and it helped the book feel newer. I still want to hear all about my Chicago friends again soon, but this one was a good change of pace. One thing I didn't like very much was the disconnect between the missing duo and the actual shenanigans in the town. Yes, they were sorta mixed up in it, but ultimately, they weren't impacted and I struggled to understand why NOW. Why did the older woman suddenly need to go back home and drag the young kid with her? Sometimes you have to look the other way, which is fine... but I would've preferred a stronger connection.
All that said, it's one of the clearer and easier plots to follow. Somewhere between a 4 and 4.5 stars, but I'll round down on this one. One more (#19 - Shell Game) to read next week, then I'm current on this series. The next one comes out in 2020, so I'll get a break and focus on other fave series and authors for the next few months.
September 10, 2019
Fallout turns out to be a little different from other books in the series when a case takes Vic out of Chicago and into Kansas. She soon gets herself into all the usual troubles though and has to call on her Chicago friends several times to bail her out of difficulties.
Vic's method of solving a case always seems to involve going on the offensive with everyone and she gets into some very problematic situations. She does have a very abrasive personality but it often helps her stir things up and get to the bottom of things.
The book moves along well with lots of interesting undercover work as well as some dangerous situations. Vic's case turns out to be much more than she expected and she comes up against all kinds of obstacles including the possibility of being infected by plague!
A very interesting and enjoyable read and particularly good since this is #18 in this long running series. Vic shows no signs of slowing down.
Vic's method of solving a case always seems to involve going on the offensive with everyone and she gets into some very problematic situations. She does have a very abrasive personality but it often helps her stir things up and get to the bottom of things.
The book moves along well with lots of interesting undercover work as well as some dangerous situations. Vic's case turns out to be much more than she expected and she comes up against all kinds of obstacles including the possibility of being infected by plague!
A very interesting and enjoyable read and particularly good since this is #18 in this long running series. Vic shows no signs of slowing down.
May 24, 2017
Could Sara Paretsky be getting better with age – I mean, experience, or does her newest book, Fallout, seem extra special because the author returned to her roots in the city of Lawrence, Kansas? I won’t claim to have read all of Ms. Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski novels or even to remember details of many of them, but Fallout struck me as highly entertaining.
V.I. – Victoria Iphigenia – Vic, to her friends, steps outside her comfort zone as she travels from Chicago to the heartland in search of a missing videographer, who accompanied a former film star, who purportedly returned to her hometown to capture her memories on film. No one back in Chicago has heard from the pair, and because August’s workplace and home have been searched and trashed, Vic suspects that something more sinister is going on.
Lawrence is a city of some 87,000 people, but for a big-city gal like V.I., it seems very small. She quickly learns that her business is everybody’s business, and everyone seems to have secrets. The town itself has a two-toned past – and present. Blacks and whites do not mingle much or venture to the other’s areas of the city. If they are in danger, August and Emerald, who are African-Americans, may be hiding out. Will the city’s African-American residents trust a white woman from Chicago who is asking questions about their whereabouts? There is also the military presence. Back in the Cold War days, the military had a missile silo there. No, not really. That part is fiction, but it’s central to the plot. It is, however, a university town, and scientific research at KU figures into the plot as well. Paretsky even inserts her father, a former KU cell biologist, into the story.
Vic makes the acquaintance of local law enforcement. Some cooperate; others are not quite so gracious. She gives Sergeant Everard references back in Chicago. The report comes back, “The consensus seems to be that you’re honest, you get results, you’re reckless. And you’re a pain in the ass.” Might a few even consider her to be a supreme nuisance, even a threat? As our clever, hard-driving detective delves more deeply into the disappearance of two from Chicago, she unearths more and more questions. Accompanied by her faithful pooch Peppy, Warshawski doggedly trudges through mud – literally and figuratively – to get to the truth.
In addition to touching on the issues of race and military weapons research, Paretsky presents us with the Kiel family. Dr. Kiel is a researcher at KU. He and his wife Sheila have three adult children; two sons live as far away as possible due to their parents’ turbulent relationship. The third child, daughter Sonia, is in her late 40s and has been labeled alcoholic, drug-addicted, and mentally ill.
As children, the brothers referred to their sister as “little bear,” or “polar bear.” Sonia has referred to herself as “bi-polar bear.” Her parents do not visit her; they do not even wish to speak of her. Vic encounters her when she gets a message that Sonia has information about the missing persons. She shows more empathy toward Sonia than anyone ever has. I found this part of the story to be a true testimony to Vic’s character.
The more answers she finds, the more questions Vic seems to have. Who did what? Who’s working with whom? Who is related to whom? Where are Emerald and August? Who are Vic’s allies, and who are her enemies? (As an aside, will her romance with her musician guy last? ) Tension mounts as her search becomes more dangerous. It all seemed almost too complex, and there were so many characters that I had a hard time keeping track. At one point, Vic asks, “Who’s Magda?” and I laughed with relief because I had been flipping pages trying to find the answer to that myself! It all works out in the end, of course, as only detective fiction stories can. Warshawski fans, I think you’ll really like this one!
4 stars
V.I. – Victoria Iphigenia – Vic, to her friends, steps outside her comfort zone as she travels from Chicago to the heartland in search of a missing videographer, who accompanied a former film star, who purportedly returned to her hometown to capture her memories on film. No one back in Chicago has heard from the pair, and because August’s workplace and home have been searched and trashed, Vic suspects that something more sinister is going on.
Lawrence is a city of some 87,000 people, but for a big-city gal like V.I., it seems very small. She quickly learns that her business is everybody’s business, and everyone seems to have secrets. The town itself has a two-toned past – and present. Blacks and whites do not mingle much or venture to the other’s areas of the city. If they are in danger, August and Emerald, who are African-Americans, may be hiding out. Will the city’s African-American residents trust a white woman from Chicago who is asking questions about their whereabouts? There is also the military presence. Back in the Cold War days, the military had a missile silo there. No, not really. That part is fiction, but it’s central to the plot. It is, however, a university town, and scientific research at KU figures into the plot as well. Paretsky even inserts her father, a former KU cell biologist, into the story.
Vic makes the acquaintance of local law enforcement. Some cooperate; others are not quite so gracious. She gives Sergeant Everard references back in Chicago. The report comes back, “The consensus seems to be that you’re honest, you get results, you’re reckless. And you’re a pain in the ass.” Might a few even consider her to be a supreme nuisance, even a threat? As our clever, hard-driving detective delves more deeply into the disappearance of two from Chicago, she unearths more and more questions. Accompanied by her faithful pooch Peppy, Warshawski doggedly trudges through mud – literally and figuratively – to get to the truth.
In addition to touching on the issues of race and military weapons research, Paretsky presents us with the Kiel family. Dr. Kiel is a researcher at KU. He and his wife Sheila have three adult children; two sons live as far away as possible due to their parents’ turbulent relationship. The third child, daughter Sonia, is in her late 40s and has been labeled alcoholic, drug-addicted, and mentally ill.
As children, the brothers referred to their sister as “little bear,” or “polar bear.” Sonia has referred to herself as “bi-polar bear.” Her parents do not visit her; they do not even wish to speak of her. Vic encounters her when she gets a message that Sonia has information about the missing persons. She shows more empathy toward Sonia than anyone ever has. I found this part of the story to be a true testimony to Vic’s character.
The more answers she finds, the more questions Vic seems to have. Who did what? Who’s working with whom? Who is related to whom? Where are Emerald and August? Who are Vic’s allies, and who are her enemies? (As an aside, will her romance with her musician guy last? ) Tension mounts as her search becomes more dangerous. It all seemed almost too complex, and there were so many characters that I had a hard time keeping track. At one point, Vic asks, “Who’s Magda?” and I laughed with relief because I had been flipping pages trying to find the answer to that myself! It all works out in the end, of course, as only detective fiction stories can. Warshawski fans, I think you’ll really like this one!
4 stars
September 21, 2017
Reading this latest V.I. Warshawski novel threw me back to the 1980s when V.I and Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone both burst into the crime genre as some of the first female PIs. Kinsey in California and V.I in her beloved Chicago. Both have developed into lengthy series, maturing and evolving along the way with the developments in technology and criminolgy. In this novel V.I (Vic to her friends) is taken out of her home town and finds herself looking for a missing actress Emerald Ferring and a filmmaker making a documentary of her early life in Kansas. She follows the missing pair from Kansas University to a small town, Lawrence where the trail grows cold. In 1983 Ferring was involved in a peace demonstration at a missile site outside the town and V.I. uncovers rumours about what happened to end the demonstration and thinks this may be the reason Ferring has now returned.
This is quite a convoluted story with a lot of characters and a lot going on. V.I. seems to lose sight of the fact that she is looking for two missing people and gets involved in solving the events of 1983. V.I. is still as smart and feisty as ever, but also compassionate showing care for a mentally ill woman whose parents have more or less discarded her. In the end all does become clear and we find out what the bad guys did back in 1983 and tried to cover up now. However, I came away with the feeling that the plot was a little overworked and contrived, although Ms Paretsky still writes a very good thriller.
This is quite a convoluted story with a lot of characters and a lot going on. V.I. seems to lose sight of the fact that she is looking for two missing people and gets involved in solving the events of 1983. V.I. is still as smart and feisty as ever, but also compassionate showing care for a mentally ill woman whose parents have more or less discarded her. In the end all does become clear and we find out what the bad guys did back in 1983 and tried to cover up now. However, I came away with the feeling that the plot was a little overworked and contrived, although Ms Paretsky still writes a very good thriller.
June 21, 2017
I have read every book in the VI Warshawski series and am happy to recommend this one also. It is complex, well-researched and suspenseful. VI is front and center as a take-no-prisoners investigator throughout.
Like other authors at her bestseller level, Paretsky also deserves much professional credit for keeping her series timely and fresh.
Why only four stars? A few issues in this otherwise-readable book: too many characters generally, a shade too political in a same-old same-old way, the author unloads on poor old Kansas resulting in a large number of very unsympathetic characters, and there are some stereotyped conflicts that seem to be a fallback staple of many authors.
I like the action throughout (great sequence at the end), the grudging respect for KU's campus in Lawrence, obviously VI herself and Bernie, and Paretsky's unfailing attention to telling a good story.
To be fair, I was spoiled by Paretsky's prior book, Brush Back. Brush Back may well be the very best of the 18-book series.
Highly recommended--points above represent small flaws in a well-paced, well-written mystery.
Like other authors at her bestseller level, Paretsky also deserves much professional credit for keeping her series timely and fresh.
Why only four stars? A few issues in this otherwise-readable book: too many characters generally, a shade too political in a same-old same-old way, the author unloads on poor old Kansas resulting in a large number of very unsympathetic characters, and there are some stereotyped conflicts that seem to be a fallback staple of many authors.
I like the action throughout (great sequence at the end), the grudging respect for KU's campus in Lawrence, obviously VI herself and Bernie, and Paretsky's unfailing attention to telling a good story.
To be fair, I was spoiled by Paretsky's prior book, Brush Back. Brush Back may well be the very best of the 18-book series.
Highly recommended--points above represent small flaws in a well-paced, well-written mystery.
January 27, 2022
In this 18th book in the 'V.I. Warshawski' series, the Chicago private detective heads for Kansas to look for two missing persons. The book can be read as a standalone.
*****
When young black filmmaker/personal trainer August Veriden goes missing from Chicago.....
.....private detective V.I. Warshawski (Vic) is hired to look for him.
Vic learns that August was commissioned by black actress Emerald Ferring, who's making a movie about her life.
August and Emerald were supposedly headed for Lawrence, Kansas, where the actress grew up, but no one has heard from either of them for weeks. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the gym where August works has been ransacked, as was his apartment.
Vic packs her bag and her golden retriever Peppy, and heads for Kansas, to see what she can find.
Vic seems to be persona non grata the moment she sets foot in Lawrence, both to law enforcement - who she contacts as a professional courtesy; and to Emerald's acquaintances - who don't like a white woman poking around a black neighborhood. Thus everyone is very close-mouthed, and Vic can't get a line on August and Emerald.
Still, Vic manages to learn a few things, including the fact the Lawrence was the site of a missile silo during the cold war, when Emerald was young.....
.....and that Emerald's neighbor was forced to sell some of her land to the Air Force when the silo was dismantled, about 30 years ago.
As Vic is poking into things, she finds two women who've been roofied, a corpse in a house, and a corpse in a river - and additional victims add to the death toll. The sheriff shows up wherever Vic goes, and the detective realizes she's being bugged, tracked and followed.
It's clear something VERY suspicious is going on in Lawrence, something that may be connected to the disappearance of August and Emerald.
As Vic is going about her business, she stays in a motel and Peppy goes to doggie day care.
During Vic's investigation, she interacts with a librarian; an archivist; a retired college professor; a shrewish wife; a mentally ill woman; Air Force personnel; law enforcement officers; people who knew Emerald as a child; and more. Vic's harassed, accused of being a big city snob, and lured into some tricky situations.
Eventually, Vic finds out that current problems in Lawrence are connected to things that happened there thirty years ago, and it's all quite shocking. That's all I'll say because of spoilers.
I enjoyed the book, but it has a couple of flaws. First, the story is overly complicated and has too many characters. It was hard to keep all the people straight. Second, Vic is VERY aggressive and nasty with cops and other authorities, and is practically asking for trouble. This seems unrealistic.
That said, I'm a fan of V.I. Warshawski and I enjoy visiting with the detective, her friends, and her dogs.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....
September 17, 2017
What a pleasure to be in the oh so capable hands of Sara Paretsky to read Fallout, the latest V.I. Warshawski novel. This outing takes Vic away from Chicago for the first time, searching for two missing people in Kansas.
To search away from the comfort zone of Chicago takes the impassioned plea of her sort-of god-daughter (a long story) Bernie, the university hockey player. Bernie knows that the young man named August wouldn't have done anything wrong but he has disappeared and is now suspected of a crime. And then it happens there are two missing--August left Chicago for Kansas with an older woman, a former actress. Is this because he does video work part-time? V.I. has loads more questions than answers and nothing holding her in Chicago at the moment. So off she goes.
The story itself is quite interesting, taking us to Lawrence, Kansas and the surrounding area. There are issues of race relations and the military v. the public as Lawrence sits not far from the cold war settings of missile silos prepared for the final war of mass destruction throughout so many of the years after World War II. There is also a history of years of town and family lies and gossip and questions.
All in all, Ms Paretsky has done it again: written an intelligent mystery that encompasses the history of the place and people as well as the country, and has allowed V.I to be her usual human self in unearthing some hard truths, confronting evil if need be and hopefully helping a few deserving folk (while helping a few undeserving others on their way to punishment).
I do recommend this series to those who enjoy a mystery with a strong protagonist. I like V.I.'s style, her occasional brashness, her commitment to her friends, her clients, those who have been wronged. I have been reading these books for some time and find that they have maintained their level of excellence or, in fact, surpassed it in recent episodes.
To search away from the comfort zone of Chicago takes the impassioned plea of her sort-of god-daughter (a long story) Bernie, the university hockey player. Bernie knows that the young man named August wouldn't have done anything wrong but he has disappeared and is now suspected of a crime. And then it happens there are two missing--August left Chicago for Kansas with an older woman, a former actress. Is this because he does video work part-time? V.I. has loads more questions than answers and nothing holding her in Chicago at the moment. So off she goes.
The story itself is quite interesting, taking us to Lawrence, Kansas and the surrounding area. There are issues of race relations and the military v. the public as Lawrence sits not far from the cold war settings of missile silos prepared for the final war of mass destruction throughout so many of the years after World War II. There is also a history of years of town and family lies and gossip and questions.
All in all, Ms Paretsky has done it again: written an intelligent mystery that encompasses the history of the place and people as well as the country, and has allowed V.I to be her usual human self in unearthing some hard truths, confronting evil if need be and hopefully helping a few deserving folk (while helping a few undeserving others on their way to punishment).
I do recommend this series to those who enjoy a mystery with a strong protagonist. I like V.I.'s style, her occasional brashness, her commitment to her friends, her clients, those who have been wronged. I have been reading these books for some time and find that they have maintained their level of excellence or, in fact, surpassed it in recent episodes.
August 28, 2019
Okay let's start with the good, we get into the racial history of a town in Kansas. You can see how things were set up different for those who were white and black. If the book had managed to focus on that this would have been stronger. Instead, Paretsky throws in the military, hidden secrets about germ warfare, Russians (how topical), and the initial investigation seems to be lost in trying to tie into too many things in this town's past.
"Fallout" takes place entirely with VI in Lawrence, Kansas tracking down a man (August) that Bernie (Boom Boom's goddaughter) knows from her hockey teammate. Bernie asks VI to help find him since there was a break in at a gym he worked at and many people are starting to think he had something to do with it. When VI goes to work and finds out August left town to go with an aging African American actress to her hometown in Kansas to film her life, she follows. From there the book flails into a chaotic mess.
VI is at a crossroads with her relationship with Jake. Yeah things looked great in the last book, but out of nowhere he has gone to Switzerland to play music for a year (I was so confused about this) and gets resentful of VI's job, her life, and her not following him. I hated we just got emails from this character with VI not doing anything to head off what is coming her way relationship wise.
VI's nosy neighbor is missing (thank goodness) and Lotty and Max are barely in this one. Unfortunately we have freaking Bernie showing up in this one again and I swear I loathe this character. I am not the only reviewer that cannot stand her. After this book she better not pop up in one of VI's cases again.
The secondary characters we meet are interesting in this one. I did laugh at people pointing out that wherever VI went dead bodies or women in need were out there. Small towns are pretty hilarious. So kudos for Paretsky for capturing that in this book. I just wish the book had focused more on the town and the history. Throwing in the germ warfare and what happened in this town in the 80s (which is not believable) was a hard pillow to swallow. I just found myself rolling my eyes through most of this book. There was another big plot point (who was a character's father) that I could not with. I maybe slammed my Kindle at that point and turned on Netflix to watch Death in Paradise for an hour.
The writing was typical Paretsky, I just had issues with the logic leaps in this one as I said above. The flow was off mightily in this one though. The whole book felt draggy. Reading about VI trying to work out, or walking her dog (why was the dog even with her???) just became monotonous after a while.
Moving the action from Chicago to Lawrence wasn't a problem for me. Just the way the plot unfolded. I like it when the main character is out of familiar surroundings. Makes the books more interesting when you get into a long running series like this.
I read an excerpt of the next book, "Shell Game" and it looks interesting.
"Fallout" takes place entirely with VI in Lawrence, Kansas tracking down a man (August) that Bernie (Boom Boom's goddaughter) knows from her hockey teammate. Bernie asks VI to help find him since there was a break in at a gym he worked at and many people are starting to think he had something to do with it. When VI goes to work and finds out August left town to go with an aging African American actress to her hometown in Kansas to film her life, she follows. From there the book flails into a chaotic mess.
VI is at a crossroads with her relationship with Jake. Yeah things looked great in the last book, but out of nowhere he has gone to Switzerland to play music for a year (I was so confused about this) and gets resentful of VI's job, her life, and her not following him. I hated we just got emails from this character with VI not doing anything to head off what is coming her way relationship wise.
VI's nosy neighbor is missing (thank goodness) and Lotty and Max are barely in this one. Unfortunately we have freaking Bernie showing up in this one again and I swear I loathe this character. I am not the only reviewer that cannot stand her. After this book she better not pop up in one of VI's cases again.
The secondary characters we meet are interesting in this one. I did laugh at people pointing out that wherever VI went dead bodies or women in need were out there. Small towns are pretty hilarious. So kudos for Paretsky for capturing that in this book. I just wish the book had focused more on the town and the history. Throwing in the germ warfare and what happened in this town in the 80s (which is not believable) was a hard pillow to swallow. I just found myself rolling my eyes through most of this book. There was another big plot point (who was a character's father) that I could not with. I maybe slammed my Kindle at that point and turned on Netflix to watch Death in Paradise for an hour.
The writing was typical Paretsky, I just had issues with the logic leaps in this one as I said above. The flow was off mightily in this one though. The whole book felt draggy. Reading about VI trying to work out, or walking her dog (why was the dog even with her???) just became monotonous after a while.
Moving the action from Chicago to Lawrence wasn't a problem for me. Just the way the plot unfolded. I like it when the main character is out of familiar surroundings. Makes the books more interesting when you get into a long running series like this.
I read an excerpt of the next book, "Shell Game" and it looks interesting.
May 7, 2017
For the last couple of decades, we’ve been enamored with leading lady crime solvers – from the likes of Linda Barnes’ quirky part-time Boston taxi driver Carlotta Carlisle, to J.A. Jance’s wholesome, family-oriented Sheriff Joanna Brady, to of course Sue Grafton’s dear classic laid-back PI Kinsey Milhone. Along the line we added Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski, probably at first attracted by merely her name. And while we have now read all 18 of these tales, plus V.I.’s short story collection (“Windy City Blues”), we increasingly come away somewhat disappointed or indifferent.
Certainly it’s not the author’s writing skills leading us astray – we’ll aver she can both drop a beautifully literate phrase on us on one hand and amuse with funny mental gymnastics (to paraphrase, “I shoulda brought my mother’s piano along!") on the other. However, there are three things that to us detract. First, what few ongoing recurring characters there are almost always are irritants – her bratty cousin Petra from several of the novels a prime example; her oldster neighbor Mr. Contreras a pest of whom we tire. Typically an author tries to create a cadre of familiar folks with whom we can enjoy our reunions in addition to the “star”.
Second, Paretsky is prone to grinding her axe on social issues. While not as in our face about race relations in this novel as in some of her earlier ones, we’re not particularly reading crime fiction to learn about life’s inequities or similar difficulties.
Third, much of the action is simply unbelievable – without a partner and with normally no "helpers", V.I. nonetheless extricates herself from all manner of muggings, kidnappings, and lesser violence in many forms with some pretty far-fetched resolutions. That much of the time she’s gallivanting around Chicago (or Kansas in this book) with no fee or monetary reward in sight also routinely stretches credulity.
As a result, three stars is about the best we can do lately – and with “Fallout” presenting a mystery hardly directly pursued, with like 40 bit players to track, none of whom we cared a whit about, our two stars seems gracious enough. Our final wonder is whether to retire V.I. altogether in favor of better pursuits.
Certainly it’s not the author’s writing skills leading us astray – we’ll aver she can both drop a beautifully literate phrase on us on one hand and amuse with funny mental gymnastics (to paraphrase, “I shoulda brought my mother’s piano along!") on the other. However, there are three things that to us detract. First, what few ongoing recurring characters there are almost always are irritants – her bratty cousin Petra from several of the novels a prime example; her oldster neighbor Mr. Contreras a pest of whom we tire. Typically an author tries to create a cadre of familiar folks with whom we can enjoy our reunions in addition to the “star”.
Second, Paretsky is prone to grinding her axe on social issues. While not as in our face about race relations in this novel as in some of her earlier ones, we’re not particularly reading crime fiction to learn about life’s inequities or similar difficulties.
Third, much of the action is simply unbelievable – without a partner and with normally no "helpers", V.I. nonetheless extricates herself from all manner of muggings, kidnappings, and lesser violence in many forms with some pretty far-fetched resolutions. That much of the time she’s gallivanting around Chicago (or Kansas in this book) with no fee or monetary reward in sight also routinely stretches credulity.
As a result, three stars is about the best we can do lately – and with “Fallout” presenting a mystery hardly directly pursued, with like 40 bit players to track, none of whom we cared a whit about, our two stars seems gracious enough. Our final wonder is whether to retire V.I. altogether in favor of better pursuits.
April 6, 2021
Yet another intelligent detective novel in the V.I. Warshawski series. This time we’re in Kansas, where Paretsky herself grew up, investigating the disappearance of an actress and a filmmaker. The story evolves into a search for the truth about the development of biological weapons. It’s slow burning but held my interest from start to a very exciting finish. When I read a detective novel this good, I wonder why I persist with all the mediocre stuff that’s out there.
October 18, 2022
My first Paretsky. Decided to read it because she’s from Kansas and this takes place primarily in Lawrence, KS. This is a very detailed story and it meandered. There were a lot of parts that I liked. It was both fun and jarring to know the areas being visited. Besides the well-known classics (Wizard of Oz, Little House on the Prairie, In Cold Blood) KS settings are rare in books or movies. So, knowing the setting well is not an experience I have often encountered.
I can see enjoying this if you like a mystery with familiar characters. It didn’t quite suit me but was a good listen regardless.
I can see enjoying this if you like a mystery with familiar characters. It didn’t quite suit me but was a good listen regardless.
May 4, 2017
Victoria (V.I.) Warshawski has long been a favorite of mine; she was a successful Chicago-based private detective and one of the first to be (gasp!) a woman. Over the years, I've always looked forward to a new adventure - and this, I believe, is the 18th.
This time, though, a new case takes her from her familiar, comfortable home city to the "wilds" of Kansas - accompanied only by her dog Peppy and expecting that her stay in the Sunflower State will be relatively brief. The reason for the trip? A young Chicago filmmaker wannabe is thought to be accompanying an aging former film star who wants to return to her Kansas roots to film her life story, and both have disappeared. To keep the peace with family and friends, Vic reluctantly agrees to track them down.
What she finds is a close-knit community (make that two communities - one white and one black) that is far less than welcoming. The local residents' unwillingness to help is echoed by the local police and representatives of the U.S. Army, who clearly resent her presence. Apparently, the community has lots of secrets they believe should stay that way, all seemingly related to an old Cold War-era missile site in the middle of their otherwise rural nowhere.
Tensions build up quickly, as does the body count. Complicating matters is that even if Vic can convince someone to share information with her, can he or she be trusted? What really went on at the missile site all those years ago, and could it possibly be going on yet today? Other complications intervene as well: Her musician love interest left for a can't-miss opportunity overseas, leaving her behind when she refused to accompany him. Will he come back to her, or find fulfillment and romance elsewhere? And will Peppy become so attached to his Kansas doggy day-care helpers that she won't want to go back home to Chicago with Vic?
It all adds up to a merry, and sometimes scary, chase that I enjoyed from start to finish. Admittedly, it's not the best I've read in the series, but that was mostly because there were so many characters that I finally gave up trying to keep them straight, figuring they'd all be sorted out in the end (they were). And, while the story line was very interesting to someone like me, who remembers hiding under a desk at school so I'd stay safe during a nuclear attack (I know, I know, but we believed it at the time), the complexity of the "cover-ups" here was a little hard to swallow.
All in all, it's another solid installment in a series that's been (and still is) special to me.
This time, though, a new case takes her from her familiar, comfortable home city to the "wilds" of Kansas - accompanied only by her dog Peppy and expecting that her stay in the Sunflower State will be relatively brief. The reason for the trip? A young Chicago filmmaker wannabe is thought to be accompanying an aging former film star who wants to return to her Kansas roots to film her life story, and both have disappeared. To keep the peace with family and friends, Vic reluctantly agrees to track them down.
What she finds is a close-knit community (make that two communities - one white and one black) that is far less than welcoming. The local residents' unwillingness to help is echoed by the local police and representatives of the U.S. Army, who clearly resent her presence. Apparently, the community has lots of secrets they believe should stay that way, all seemingly related to an old Cold War-era missile site in the middle of their otherwise rural nowhere.
Tensions build up quickly, as does the body count. Complicating matters is that even if Vic can convince someone to share information with her, can he or she be trusted? What really went on at the missile site all those years ago, and could it possibly be going on yet today? Other complications intervene as well: Her musician love interest left for a can't-miss opportunity overseas, leaving her behind when she refused to accompany him. Will he come back to her, or find fulfillment and romance elsewhere? And will Peppy become so attached to his Kansas doggy day-care helpers that she won't want to go back home to Chicago with Vic?
It all adds up to a merry, and sometimes scary, chase that I enjoyed from start to finish. Admittedly, it's not the best I've read in the series, but that was mostly because there were so many characters that I finally gave up trying to keep them straight, figuring they'd all be sorted out in the end (they were). And, while the story line was very interesting to someone like me, who remembers hiding under a desk at school so I'd stay safe during a nuclear attack (I know, I know, but we believed it at the time), the complexity of the "cover-ups" here was a little hard to swallow.
All in all, it's another solid installment in a series that's been (and still is) special to me.
May 30, 2017
Maybe it's my new-mom brain-fog or maybe it's the actual plot of this book: I had a really hard time focusing and following the events of this installment in the V.I. Warshawski series that I love. Vic travels down south at the behest of a client to solve a mystery of where an aging film star and a young filmmaker have disappeared. These two end up barely playing any part in the remainder of the novel, which zooms around country fields, an old missile silo, a college campus, labs, the army, and more...it just was a lot of players, a lot of history catching up to the past, and just plain confusing when I tried to read this every night for a month. I wished she was back in Chicago working on a mystery there.
January 27, 2020
It has been eons since I read a V. I. Warshawski novel, and I had forgotten what a master of the private-investigator-thriller genre Sara Paretsky is. This book surely jogged my memory.
For those who have not read any books in this series, I believe this one could easily stand alone. A few recurring characters crop up but in ways tangential to the action.
Warshawsky is a tough female detective in Chicago but in this story she gets sent out of town to investigate the disappearance of an aging African American film actress and a young wanna-be filmmaker. Her quest takes her to Lawrence, Kansas, the actress's hometown (and the author's as it turns out, which allows her to bring considerable atmospheric verisimilitude to the tale). There our doughty 'tec encounters a large cast of suspicious characters, from a suspiciously attentive army colonel to a ferally savage biochemist and his drunken virago of a wife. In true noir style, the dramatic personae are all vivid, drawn in stark colors, their behavior so outrageous that it would doubtless lead to their being ostracized or jailed in real life--but that's part of the fun: you never know what's going to happen next.
The plot is very complicated and twisty, with threads raveling and unraveling all over the place, which is also part of the fun though I fear present-day tastes run to the more elementary. I enjoyed wading into the morass and swallowed every preposterous detail with glee.
For those who have not read any books in this series, I believe this one could easily stand alone. A few recurring characters crop up but in ways tangential to the action.
Warshawsky is a tough female detective in Chicago but in this story she gets sent out of town to investigate the disappearance of an aging African American film actress and a young wanna-be filmmaker. Her quest takes her to Lawrence, Kansas, the actress's hometown (and the author's as it turns out, which allows her to bring considerable atmospheric verisimilitude to the tale). There our doughty 'tec encounters a large cast of suspicious characters, from a suspiciously attentive army colonel to a ferally savage biochemist and his drunken virago of a wife. In true noir style, the dramatic personae are all vivid, drawn in stark colors, their behavior so outrageous that it would doubtless lead to their being ostracized or jailed in real life--but that's part of the fun: you never know what's going to happen next.
The plot is very complicated and twisty, with threads raveling and unraveling all over the place, which is also part of the fun though I fear present-day tastes run to the more elementary. I enjoyed wading into the morass and swallowed every preposterous detail with glee.
July 30, 2017
Oh, V.I. Warshawski, how I've missed you! It seems an age since we had our last adventure together, although, in truth, it has only been two years since we solved the mystery of Brush Back together. But what a pleasure it is to be once again in your company.
I've been making these periodic visits to Warshawski-World since the 1980s when Sara Paretsky started this series. Paretsky, Warshawski, and I have aged together through the years. There are a few more gray hairs among the blonde on Warshawski's head these days and, if the truth be told, on mine as well.
But Warshawski is still the wiry, fit detective that we first met in Indemnity Only all those years ago. And she's still the same indomitable, uncompromising seeker after truth that we've come to know and admire in that and all the subsequent seventeen V.I. books. She only gets better with age and experience.
In Fallout, V.I. leaves the comfort zone that she knows so well, Chicago, and heads out to Lawrence, Kansas, searching for an actress and a videographer who have disappeared there. The actress is Emerald Ferring, who grew up (as did Sara Paretsky) in Lawrence, and the young videographer is August Veriden, who is a cousin of Angela Creedy, a teammate of Bernadine Fouchard, goddaughter of V.I. who we met in Brush Back. Got all that?
Bernadine (Bernie) and Angela ask V.I. to go to Lawrence to find the two who have gone missing and Vic secures a paying customer willing to make it worth her while to take the case. And so she makes the drive to Lawrence with her dog, Peppy, as company. (Her other dog, Mitch, gets to stay in Chicago, and be boarded.)
Lawrence proves to be a close-knit, close-mouthed community with a racial divide. African-Americans live mostly on one side of town while white people live on the other. The two people that Vic is looking for are African-American and she finds Kansans very suspicious of her and hesitant to share any information. Moreover, she has no resources in Kansas to fall back on. Even the local police seem unwilling to cooperate in any way in looking for Emerald and August.
The body count begins to mount and Vic uncovers some local secrets that everyone would prefer remained secret, including information about biochemical weapons research that was conducted in the county back in the 1950s. She discovers a right-wing militia group that is active in the area, as well government officials who may be trying to cover up a disaster that took place during the biochemical weapons research. But she's making no progress on finding her missing persons.
Meanwhile, on the personal front, her lover Jake, the jazz musician, is touring in Europe and wanted Vic to go with him. When she went to Kansas instead, he was seriously put out and it looks as though the relationship may not survive. Poor Vic! She never did have very good luck with men.
This is one of Paretsky's more complicated plots, but she never falters and it all comes together and makes sense in the end. And as always, there are clues strewn through the text for the sharp-eyed reader. I was right there with her all the way through, enjoying every minute of the story. This may be my favorite of all the Warshawski books. If not, it's right near the top.
I've been making these periodic visits to Warshawski-World since the 1980s when Sara Paretsky started this series. Paretsky, Warshawski, and I have aged together through the years. There are a few more gray hairs among the blonde on Warshawski's head these days and, if the truth be told, on mine as well.
But Warshawski is still the wiry, fit detective that we first met in Indemnity Only all those years ago. And she's still the same indomitable, uncompromising seeker after truth that we've come to know and admire in that and all the subsequent seventeen V.I. books. She only gets better with age and experience.
In Fallout, V.I. leaves the comfort zone that she knows so well, Chicago, and heads out to Lawrence, Kansas, searching for an actress and a videographer who have disappeared there. The actress is Emerald Ferring, who grew up (as did Sara Paretsky) in Lawrence, and the young videographer is August Veriden, who is a cousin of Angela Creedy, a teammate of Bernadine Fouchard, goddaughter of V.I. who we met in Brush Back. Got all that?
Bernadine (Bernie) and Angela ask V.I. to go to Lawrence to find the two who have gone missing and Vic secures a paying customer willing to make it worth her while to take the case. And so she makes the drive to Lawrence with her dog, Peppy, as company. (Her other dog, Mitch, gets to stay in Chicago, and be boarded.)
Lawrence proves to be a close-knit, close-mouthed community with a racial divide. African-Americans live mostly on one side of town while white people live on the other. The two people that Vic is looking for are African-American and she finds Kansans very suspicious of her and hesitant to share any information. Moreover, she has no resources in Kansas to fall back on. Even the local police seem unwilling to cooperate in any way in looking for Emerald and August.
The body count begins to mount and Vic uncovers some local secrets that everyone would prefer remained secret, including information about biochemical weapons research that was conducted in the county back in the 1950s. She discovers a right-wing militia group that is active in the area, as well government officials who may be trying to cover up a disaster that took place during the biochemical weapons research. But she's making no progress on finding her missing persons.
Meanwhile, on the personal front, her lover Jake, the jazz musician, is touring in Europe and wanted Vic to go with him. When she went to Kansas instead, he was seriously put out and it looks as though the relationship may not survive. Poor Vic! She never did have very good luck with men.
This is one of Paretsky's more complicated plots, but she never falters and it all comes together and makes sense in the end. And as always, there are clues strewn through the text for the sharp-eyed reader. I was right there with her all the way through, enjoying every minute of the story. This may be my favorite of all the Warshawski books. If not, it's right near the top.
November 14, 2024
I hadn't read a V.I. Warshawsky mystery in years, and all the ones I had read before were much earlier ones. This is the 18th one in the series, and "Vic" is an older (fiftyish?) woman, very confident and capable I thought. And she needs all her experience--and moxie-- in this one, as she's largely on her own, with her golden retriever Peppy. What made this Warshawsky story especially interesting to me is that she finds herself off her home turf--and in a faraway exotic land called Kansas ( I've traveled all around the world and been to almost all the states--except for Kansas, right at the geographic center of the country!). She takes on a case to find two missing persons who are African-Americans. Needless to say the Chicago P.I. is looked upon with distrust and suspicion by both white and black people in Lawrence, KS ( Lawrence being the small city where much of the action takes place). She is able to gain allies and helpers on her case and, as she investigates, finds herself in an increasingly dangerous situation. But I knew that she--and Peppy--would survive and she would solve the mystery. That's why we like novels in a series like this!
4 stars--because of the character more than anything, but I did find the mystery to be interesting, although, be warned, it is complex and a lot of characters pop up in this story.
4 stars--because of the character more than anything, but I did find the mystery to be interesting, although, be warned, it is complex and a lot of characters pop up in this story.
January 1, 2018
It is always a pleasure to relax and read a Sara Paretsky story. This book finds V.I. Warshawski and Peppy, her golden retriever looking for two Chicagoans in Lawrence, Kansas. Vic is hired by friends of a film student who has disappeared from his home and workplace was vandalized. He is traveling with aged Hollywood star. The twists and turns this tale takes will keep you guessing as Vic's investigation unravels. She touched bases with the army, the sheriff, a city Detective, biological weapons, and racism. Will Vic find the Chicagoans before her life ends? I highly recommend this book and series.
April 17, 2017
Fallout by Sara Paretsky is the highly recommended 18th book in her long-running V. I. Warshawski series. This time the case takes V. I. out of Chicago to Lawrence, Kansas.
Angela Creedy and Bernadine Fouchard (Brush Back, 2015) want Warshawski to find Angela's cousin, August Veriden. The aspiring film maker is missing and the police want to question him over the ransacking the Six-Points Gym, where he works as a personal trainer. It appears that August left Chicago with aging black actress, Emerald Ferring. The two were headed to Kansas to film a documentary about her origins. The trail leads to Lawrence, KS, where the University of Kansas is located and the story evolves into more than simply a search for missing persons.
In Kansas Warshawski becomes enmeshed with events that happened in 1983 involving a protest at a missile silo outside of the town and plenty of small town gossip and politics. In response to posters she put up downtown, Sonia Kiel, the mentally -ll daughter of imminent retired KU professor Nathan Kiel, contacts Warshawski to tell her where she saw Emerald and August, but the call ends abruptly. When Warshawski goes to the bar Sonia called from she finds the woman drugged and unconscious. Warshawski calls 911, but this marks the first of several calls she will have to make while unraveling the events of 1983 and how they relate to her present case.
The plot on this outing does meander a bit off track and loses sight of the original case for a good chunk of the novel. Paretsky does pull it all together in the end and solves her case. There are several bad guys in this novel along with several ill-informed citizens. Warshawski continues to have an amazing ability to follow the least of clues and ingratiate herself with the right people while antagonizing the bad guys.
In the opening "Thanks" Paretsky explains that she grew up in Lawrence and her father was a professor and researcher at the University of Kansas. Lawrence is home to KU (1866), but also to Haskell Indian Nations University (1884). The population is probably around 90,000, not huge, but the city is an easy commute to nearby cities, including Topeka and the KC metro area. There are numerous colleges and universities nearby. I'm going to have to take this review a bit personal because of the location Paretsky choose. I totally get taking a place you knew growing up, and switching things up to suit your story by using the real location but with a new layout and altered terrain. I guess what I found rather troubling was her dislike of Lawrence. It became rather obvious that she harbors some latent animosity toward the city. I've live in Lawrence for about six years, but I have yet to encounter the cliquish behavior, city-wide gossip, or the prejudice she implies still exists. I actually lived in this area of the country many years ago. After moving several times to cities in other states across the country, I chose to move back to this area. So, if you were ever thinking of relocating to the area don't base your decision on what how this fictional novel portrays Lawrence.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2017/0...
Angela Creedy and Bernadine Fouchard (Brush Back, 2015) want Warshawski to find Angela's cousin, August Veriden. The aspiring film maker is missing and the police want to question him over the ransacking the Six-Points Gym, where he works as a personal trainer. It appears that August left Chicago with aging black actress, Emerald Ferring. The two were headed to Kansas to film a documentary about her origins. The trail leads to Lawrence, KS, where the University of Kansas is located and the story evolves into more than simply a search for missing persons.
In Kansas Warshawski becomes enmeshed with events that happened in 1983 involving a protest at a missile silo outside of the town and plenty of small town gossip and politics. In response to posters she put up downtown, Sonia Kiel, the mentally -ll daughter of imminent retired KU professor Nathan Kiel, contacts Warshawski to tell her where she saw Emerald and August, but the call ends abruptly. When Warshawski goes to the bar Sonia called from she finds the woman drugged and unconscious. Warshawski calls 911, but this marks the first of several calls she will have to make while unraveling the events of 1983 and how they relate to her present case.
The plot on this outing does meander a bit off track and loses sight of the original case for a good chunk of the novel. Paretsky does pull it all together in the end and solves her case. There are several bad guys in this novel along with several ill-informed citizens. Warshawski continues to have an amazing ability to follow the least of clues and ingratiate herself with the right people while antagonizing the bad guys.
In the opening "Thanks" Paretsky explains that she grew up in Lawrence and her father was a professor and researcher at the University of Kansas. Lawrence is home to KU (1866), but also to Haskell Indian Nations University (1884). The population is probably around 90,000, not huge, but the city is an easy commute to nearby cities, including Topeka and the KC metro area. There are numerous colleges and universities nearby. I'm going to have to take this review a bit personal because of the location Paretsky choose. I totally get taking a place you knew growing up, and switching things up to suit your story by using the real location but with a new layout and altered terrain. I guess what I found rather troubling was her dislike of Lawrence. It became rather obvious that she harbors some latent animosity toward the city. I've live in Lawrence for about six years, but I have yet to encounter the cliquish behavior, city-wide gossip, or the prejudice she implies still exists. I actually lived in this area of the country many years ago. After moving several times to cities in other states across the country, I chose to move back to this area. So, if you were ever thinking of relocating to the area don't base your decision on what how this fictional novel portrays Lawrence.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2017/0...
September 17, 2025
It is 2025 and I am trying to listen to the entire series in the correct order in the audible format. I do not necessarily recommend that way of experiencing the series since reading the stories back to back to back can be a little oppressive since the author Has a certain methodology and content that dominates the series and becomes more obvious if you read the current book hot on the trail of the previous one. Experiencing these books annually in the same general pace at which they were published is probably the most appropriate way to appreciate the contents.
I am generally increasing all of these audible books to five stars because the audible presentations are particularly superlative for the most part. I think at some point the reader must have changed, but with this particular book in the series, the delightful voice of Mr. Contreras returns to that that became familiar in the earlier books. And the French Quebec, voice of Bernadette is also enjoyable and distinct. I still don’t quite understand how a single reader can create all of the variety of voices that are located in a Audible presentation!
The character relationships in this book are particularly complicated because of the uncertainty and mystery of parentage. I found keeping track of all of the details to be somewhat beyond my nearly 79-year-old mental acuity.
_____________________
This book became a trip from a very minor chord to an extremely major chord. The things that happened in this book seem beyond reality but obviously they must be not beyond imaginable. VI goes to Lawrence Kansas, and becomes involved in multiple murders and national security issues and US citizen terrorists of some sort. It also tries to walk a very uncertain line about whether the activities of the US government and its representatives are always up and up.
I have not read that many series, but it does seem that it is not unusual for an author to decide at some point late in the series that it is time for the main character to go someplace other than his or her own normal territory. In this case, VI took along her dog, and made mention of her hometown Chicago Connection occasionally, but not enough to be detrimental to her Kansas experience. She relies occasionally on her dependable Chicago connections.
I haven’t read a new book in the series for quite some time, but found the rhythm here relatively comfortable and familiar. I was immediately enjoying coming back and finding the familiarity of the author as well as the series even though the main character left the standard location of Chicago. The change in location did not disturb my enjoyment of the familiarity of this series.
I found this book reasonably engrossing and hard to put down. Just let it be said that I kept coming back to this book to see what was going on in the midst of the end of the seven game series between the, Philadelphia and Arizona major league baseball teams. I need to go right now because it is close to the end of the seventh game. But I had to come back here to see how this finally ended.
I am generally increasing all of these audible books to five stars because the audible presentations are particularly superlative for the most part. I think at some point the reader must have changed, but with this particular book in the series, the delightful voice of Mr. Contreras returns to that that became familiar in the earlier books. And the French Quebec, voice of Bernadette is also enjoyable and distinct. I still don’t quite understand how a single reader can create all of the variety of voices that are located in a Audible presentation!
The character relationships in this book are particularly complicated because of the uncertainty and mystery of parentage. I found keeping track of all of the details to be somewhat beyond my nearly 79-year-old mental acuity.
_____________________
This book became a trip from a very minor chord to an extremely major chord. The things that happened in this book seem beyond reality but obviously they must be not beyond imaginable. VI goes to Lawrence Kansas, and becomes involved in multiple murders and national security issues and US citizen terrorists of some sort. It also tries to walk a very uncertain line about whether the activities of the US government and its representatives are always up and up.
I have not read that many series, but it does seem that it is not unusual for an author to decide at some point late in the series that it is time for the main character to go someplace other than his or her own normal territory. In this case, VI took along her dog, and made mention of her hometown Chicago Connection occasionally, but not enough to be detrimental to her Kansas experience. She relies occasionally on her dependable Chicago connections.
I haven’t read a new book in the series for quite some time, but found the rhythm here relatively comfortable and familiar. I was immediately enjoying coming back and finding the familiarity of the author as well as the series even though the main character left the standard location of Chicago. The change in location did not disturb my enjoyment of the familiarity of this series.
I found this book reasonably engrossing and hard to put down. Just let it be said that I kept coming back to this book to see what was going on in the midst of the end of the seven game series between the, Philadelphia and Arizona major league baseball teams. I need to go right now because it is close to the end of the seventh game. But I had to come back here to see how this finally ended.
July 1, 2017
This book takes the detective to Kansas. The reason she goes there, to locate two missing people, is not very interesting to begin with and the plot becomes hopelessly convoluted as she interviews dozens of characters without making much progress. For some reason, she brings one of her dogs and there are numerous scenes with the dog. Those are often more fun to read than trying to figure out the convoluted relationships between the too numerous characters. The book plods on from being mildly boring to totally outrageous. I've liked many of the earlier books in this series, but I can't encourage you to read this one.
March 10, 2024
2.5 stars
Definitely not my favorite V.I. Book. WAY too many characters, and a plot that defied belief(and was confusing even if you did believe it). I thought that Paretsky stripped V.I. of her down to earth middle class sensibility in this novel, and Warshawski’s character suffered for it. I’m hoping that yet another series I’ve loved isnt starting to go downhill.
ADDENDUM: Bernie is one of the most annoying characters I’ve ever run across.
Definitely not my favorite V.I. Book. WAY too many characters, and a plot that defied belief(and was confusing even if you did believe it). I thought that Paretsky stripped V.I. of her down to earth middle class sensibility in this novel, and Warshawski’s character suffered for it. I’m hoping that yet another series I’ve loved isnt starting to go downhill.
ADDENDUM: Bernie is one of the most annoying characters I’ve ever run across.
August 28, 2019
Pity,I really liked this series.
April 25, 2017
Read this review in its entirety at The Book Nympho
I have read and loved the V.I. Warshawski series for a looooong time, since it started in 1982! I've read and loved them all and Fallout is number 18. The last few I have enjoyed the audio so when I got the chance to review I went for it. Vic is the original and the best for me. The normal setting is in Chicago but in this she goes out of town for her missing persons case.
Susan Ericksen is a wonderful narrator and she is Vic for me now. She handles the inner thoughts and feelings of Vic and the dialogue and accents of all the various characters very well. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if they are accurate to the regions but they sound right to me. She really adds to my enjoyment of the story.
The pace starts slow but builds throughout. There are so many things going on which are interconnected, so when one tumbles, it is a domino effect. I was in fear for some of the characters' lives including Vic all along. The bad guys aren't afraid to just kill people to keep things quiet. There are complex layers of good, bad and ugly here, which get intertwined with many not understanding what they are doing even. Also, people aren't just one thing or the other, good or bad, but shades of these characteristics. Sometimes it feels like she's not even working the original case. Vic sorts it out per usual to the dismay of many people but to save lives in the end.
I was carried along with the mystery and the characters. I really loved it! The series is a comfortable old friend. There have been breaks, of multiple years even, between books, but Paretsky manages to come back with adventure and compassion every time. Highly recommended.
Listen here:
https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/314...
I have read and loved the V.I. Warshawski series for a looooong time, since it started in 1982! I've read and loved them all and Fallout is number 18. The last few I have enjoyed the audio so when I got the chance to review I went for it. Vic is the original and the best for me. The normal setting is in Chicago but in this she goes out of town for her missing persons case.
Susan Ericksen is a wonderful narrator and she is Vic for me now. She handles the inner thoughts and feelings of Vic and the dialogue and accents of all the various characters very well. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if they are accurate to the regions but they sound right to me. She really adds to my enjoyment of the story.
The pace starts slow but builds throughout. There are so many things going on which are interconnected, so when one tumbles, it is a domino effect. I was in fear for some of the characters' lives including Vic all along. The bad guys aren't afraid to just kill people to keep things quiet. There are complex layers of good, bad and ugly here, which get intertwined with many not understanding what they are doing even. Also, people aren't just one thing or the other, good or bad, but shades of these characteristics. Sometimes it feels like she's not even working the original case. Vic sorts it out per usual to the dismay of many people but to save lives in the end.
I was carried along with the mystery and the characters. I really loved it! The series is a comfortable old friend. There have been breaks, of multiple years even, between books, but Paretsky manages to come back with adventure and compassion every time. Highly recommended.
Listen here:
https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/314...
April 4, 2017
V.I. Warshawski leaves Chicago to head to Kansas to find a missing actress and the documentarian hired to film her "origin story," growing up in Lawrence. The two have gone missing and the clannish locals don't want to discuss it. And most of them take a near-immediate dislike of Vic. (It's not a spoiler to say that there are a lot of moving pieces here, and that everything is connected.)
As you probably know, I'm a huge fan of Sara Paretsky's and this book didn't disappoint. The most interesting aspect is the fact that Vic is out of her comfort zone: everything and everyone she relies on is gone. (With one exception: her dog, Peppy. Her other dog, Mitch, is on vacation but Peppy is here.) It's sad, in a way. Of course she's more than capable of handling things on her own, but I feel better, in a way, with Lotty and Max and (of course!) Mr. Contreras nearby.
It doesn't help that these are also unfamiliar people and places. And, of course, things are far more dangerous than they initially appeared to be.
Highly recommended.
As you probably know, I'm a huge fan of Sara Paretsky's and this book didn't disappoint. The most interesting aspect is the fact that Vic is out of her comfort zone: everything and everyone she relies on is gone. (With one exception: her dog, Peppy. Her other dog, Mitch, is on vacation but Peppy is here.) It's sad, in a way. Of course she's more than capable of handling things on her own, but I feel better, in a way, with Lotty and Max and (of course!) Mr. Contreras nearby.
It doesn't help that these are also unfamiliar people and places. And, of course, things are far more dangerous than they initially appeared to be.
Highly recommended.
April 19, 2018
Fallout is the 18th book in Sara Paretsky's popular V. I. Warshawski series. They should be popular, as Warshawski, Vic to her friends (and we're all friends here), is smart, dedicated, athletic, and loyal. She holds her friends and acquaintances to high standards, although not higher than she holds herself. She can travel to a new town – in this case, Lawrence, Kansas – and find a good coffee shop and make friends who go the extra mile for her. While she hit barriers and, while doing so fatigued her, she did not give up. She loves opera and music, and these carry her past the rough patches in her investigations.
Detectives in mysteries tend to either be perfect or awful. Vic is near perfect, but she feels fear and moves through it without giving up: "Only a really chicken detective would need the comfort of her dog to go through a house with a dead body in it. I couldn’t possibly be a chicken, so I must have felt I needed her expert tracking skills" (p. 133). In fact, perhaps with Peppy, her Golden Retriever, Vic is perfect, as Peppy is a silent, but unendingly-helpful partner:
Detectives in mysteries tend to either be perfect or awful. Vic is near perfect, but she feels fear and moves through it without giving up: "Only a really chicken detective would need the comfort of her dog to go through a house with a dead body in it. I couldn’t possibly be a chicken, so I must have felt I needed her expert tracking skills" (p. 133). In fact, perhaps with Peppy, her Golden Retriever, Vic is perfect, as Peppy is a silent, but unendingly-helpful partner:
Peppy thumped her tail once. Agreement. That meant I should follow my impulse and try to get a DNA sample from both Sonia and Cady, to see if the dead infant was related to either of them, to Cady’s mother, or to Sonia as mother. (p. 331)I enjoyed the places in Fallout where fact and fiction meet. Vic went to the University of Kansas campus and passed a portrait of David Paretsky, who "had done something unusual with peptides in a beast called rickettsia" (p. 324). She reminisced about Chicago sites that I love. The Obamas showed up twice, but President Trump did not. In her acknowledgements:
Note: I finished writing Fallout in August 2016, so no mention is made of cataclysmic events later in the year. (p. 434)When I read mysteries, I have two questions:
(a) Can I hop into the middle of this series successfully or after a long gap since reading the last one? Yes. I loved Paretsky in the 80s and 90s, but hadn't gone back to her this century (I can never tell whether I've read her books by the title).
(b) Will this book/series surpass my admittedly low tolerance for thrills and gore? No. There are thrills, but Fallout is not a roller coaster that interferes with my sleep at night.
June 4, 2019
I do so enjoy a V.I. Warshawski adventure. Vic gives in to a plea from her dead cousin's godchild Bernie and Bernie's friend to look into the friend's cousin's disappearance. As usual, nothing is simple. Vic is soon involved in a case that takes her to Lawrence, KS. This is unknown territory for her and she takes one of the dogs along for company, which turns out to be a very good decision. Vic is soon discovering drugged and dead woman at a rate unseen in that Kansas county. Something is going on and she damn well is going to find out what it is.
Vic makes a few friends and a lot of new enemies on the trip. She is exposed to the bacteria that causes bubonic plague, which a few people actually die from. She saves the lives of a few people. She is as smart mouthed as always, which is not appreciated by local law enforcement. She exposes a monumental government coverup. She ends up in the hospital, once again. And to top it all off, Jake, her current boyfriend who is off to Switzerland following his music career, sends what sounds like a "dear John" e-mail.
As usual, Paretsky has written an solid thriller that includes consideration of many current and continuing issues.
Vic makes a few friends and a lot of new enemies on the trip. She is exposed to the bacteria that causes bubonic plague, which a few people actually die from. She saves the lives of a few people. She is as smart mouthed as always, which is not appreciated by local law enforcement. She exposes a monumental government coverup. She ends up in the hospital, once again. And to top it all off, Jake, her current boyfriend who is off to Switzerland following his music career, sends what sounds like a "dear John" e-mail.
As usual, Paretsky has written an solid thriller that includes consideration of many current and continuing issues.
June 19, 2017
....this one just didn't do it for me. Could be just me. Warshawski goes to Kansas looking for a missing aging actress and a trainer who are missing. The trainer is being looked at in a drug theft. A couple of college athletes are the ones requesting her help??? Once there, dead or dying women, woman looking for Father, parents having nothing to do with daughter in hospital (seriously?) government ...okay, I won't go further. I guess for me, it just didn't feel believable, it had too much 'fill'. Maybe the thing now is to have numerous stories and avenues, I guess I'm getting old. I don't mind going down a different path in a book but it has to have meat (show me the beef) and be believable. For me, this could have been a really good read...without some of the fill. There are a lot of great reviews for this book so I'm thinking it is just me.
November 23, 2016
I love Vic! This one reminded me of some of Ms Paretsky's best books. Can't wait for the next one.
April 24, 2017
It's been over a year and a half since Sara Paretsky's last VI Warshawky book and I was more than ready to meet up with Vic and her friends.
Chicago private investigator V.I (Vic) Warshawsky takes on a case to find a young film student August who left with an older woman to document her Hollywood career and birthplace. After a break-in at the gym where August worked as a trainer, Vic is forced to follow his dwindling trail to Kansas. She meets with doors being closed in her face as no one wants to admit seeing or knowing anything about August and his companion. Vic starts to get crosswise with local law enforcement as she continues to find bodies in her quest for answers.
In this fairly complex story that traces over 30 years, Vic works her first case that's not in Chicago. I liked that she took one of her dogs for the road trip for companionship, although she did have to make day care arrangements when the investigation got tougher. I'm sorry we didn't see much of Mr. Contreras since he's one of my favorite characters in this series but we do get to see glimpses of Lotty.
Chicago private investigator V.I (Vic) Warshawsky takes on a case to find a young film student August who left with an older woman to document her Hollywood career and birthplace. After a break-in at the gym where August worked as a trainer, Vic is forced to follow his dwindling trail to Kansas. She meets with doors being closed in her face as no one wants to admit seeing or knowing anything about August and his companion. Vic starts to get crosswise with local law enforcement as she continues to find bodies in her quest for answers.
In this fairly complex story that traces over 30 years, Vic works her first case that's not in Chicago. I liked that she took one of her dogs for the road trip for companionship, although she did have to make day care arrangements when the investigation got tougher. I'm sorry we didn't see much of Mr. Contreras since he's one of my favorite characters in this series but we do get to see glimpses of Lotty.
June 3, 2017
A nice change of pace as V.I. travels to Lawrence, Kansas on a missing persons case.
The case leads to the aftermath of a 1983 anti-nuclear protest at the site of a local missile silo.
Who are the good guys and bad guys? Who can Vic trust outside of her usual circle in Chicago?
Dark secrets and danger ensue.
A solid entry in this long-favorite series.
The case leads to the aftermath of a 1983 anti-nuclear protest at the site of a local missile silo.
Who are the good guys and bad guys? Who can Vic trust outside of her usual circle in Chicago?
Dark secrets and danger ensue.
A solid entry in this long-favorite series.
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