Book Review: BlackList

Reviewed By: Shirley - RAM

BlackList     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Sara Paretsky
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Private Investigator   Woman Main Character
Series: V.I. Warshawski # 12

Larchmont Hall sits empty and neglected but its former occupants still take an interest. V I Warshawski has been hired to check out reports of lights in this mansion which seems locked up and impregnable. An old woman's imagination or something more sinister? When a body is found on the grounds police want to write it off as a suicide, improbable as that seems.

The plot here seems convoluted and leaves the reader wondering how 50 year old problems could impact the current crimes. Still it draws the story forward as one, then another body that police want to write off as suicide or natural death become in V I's view, murders. Something is rotten in New Solway and Warshawski will not rest until she discovers what it is.

After a dozen books and short stories, we all know who V I Warshawski is. I hesitate to admit that I've only read one or two of Paretsky's earlier books. Reading Blacklist makes me wonder why that is.

Paretsky is a skillful writer with a true sense of Chicago, with characters well defined, with a story both complex and interesting. In Blacklist her story ranges from the Communist scares of the 50's to the terrorist concerns of today.

After 9/11 we have wrapped ourselves in the cloak of patriotism. "Our country, always right, don't question it." But can a country founded on freedoms such as the first amendment still be that same country under the Patriot Act? Whatever your views this book will make you think.

Shirley - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Shirley - RAM