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V.I. Warshawski #16
Critical Mass
V.I. Warshawski’s closest friend in Chicago is the Viennese-born doctor Lotty Herschel, who lost most of her family in the Holocaust. Lotty escaped to London in 1939 on the Kindertransport with a childhood playmate, Kitty Saginor Binder. When Kitty’s daughter finds her life is in danger, she calls Lotty, who, in turn, summons V.I. to help. The daughter’s troubles turn out to be just the tip of an iceberg of lies, secrets, and silence, whose origins go back to the mad competition among America, Germany, Japan and England to develop the first atomic bomb. The secrets are old, but the people who continue to guard them today will not let go of them without a fight.
480 pages, Hardcover
First published October 22, 2013
691 people are currently reading
1987 people want to read
About the author
Sara Paretsky
271 books2,378 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 619 reviews
June 24, 2020
Critical Mass is the 16th book in the V.I. Warshawski mystery / thriller / suspense series written by Sara Paretsky and published in 2013. I'm trying to catch up on this series so that I'm ready for the new release in a few months. I'm 4 books behind, possibly 5... for some reason, Goodreads shows the next as #21 but everywhere else, it's #20. Oh well... I'll figure it out. Let's chat about Critical Mass...
VI Warshawski is a private detective in Chicago. The books originated in the 80s and have somehow gotten us into the new millennium. To be honest, I've kinda forgotten whether they just ignored time / age or are trying to be accurate. That said, she's supposed to be ~50. VI stops at nothing to solve her case. She's crude when necessary, loving when required, but most of the time, somewhere in the middle. I think we'd be friends, but I'd probably have to tell her off a few times. She's pushy, and not always in a good way. Often, she gets herself into a jam, usually cut or shot, but she always survives... thanks to elderly neighbor Mr. Contreras and mother-figure Lotty.
This time, Lotty's asked for VI's help to track down the daughter of an old friend from Austria. Both women had suffered through the German invasion / torture, and this story tells us what happened after the war. It covers 5 different generations, 4 key families, and so many relationships, I lost track midway through the book. I'm usually good at keeping it all together, but this time, something was slightly off. That said, it was still a strong plot with interesting characters. I did find myself thinking "X and Y had some sort of relationship but who cares what it was, just mark 'em as friends and keep reading." Perhaps I've been reading so many light mysteries that ~500 pages was a lot to keep track of.
Paretsky is brilliant. I cannot lie. Her tales are complex, engrossing, and ripe with emotion. I get angry every time, and I wish for VI to win every time. Characters are intense and feel incredibly tangible... even if they are sometimes over-the-top. Are there really people like this? I found the nuclear reactor and Homeland Security story lines fascinating. I wish we learned more about what happened to the rogue agents who might or might not have committed a crime. Perhaps that'll come out in the next book. If you like deeply intricate tales, this one is for you. Not my fave in the bunch, but compelling nonetheless. I've already ordered the 17th one to start this weekend.
VI Warshawski is a private detective in Chicago. The books originated in the 80s and have somehow gotten us into the new millennium. To be honest, I've kinda forgotten whether they just ignored time / age or are trying to be accurate. That said, she's supposed to be ~50. VI stops at nothing to solve her case. She's crude when necessary, loving when required, but most of the time, somewhere in the middle. I think we'd be friends, but I'd probably have to tell her off a few times. She's pushy, and not always in a good way. Often, she gets herself into a jam, usually cut or shot, but she always survives... thanks to elderly neighbor Mr. Contreras and mother-figure Lotty.
This time, Lotty's asked for VI's help to track down the daughter of an old friend from Austria. Both women had suffered through the German invasion / torture, and this story tells us what happened after the war. It covers 5 different generations, 4 key families, and so many relationships, I lost track midway through the book. I'm usually good at keeping it all together, but this time, something was slightly off. That said, it was still a strong plot with interesting characters. I did find myself thinking "X and Y had some sort of relationship but who cares what it was, just mark 'em as friends and keep reading." Perhaps I've been reading so many light mysteries that ~500 pages was a lot to keep track of.
Paretsky is brilliant. I cannot lie. Her tales are complex, engrossing, and ripe with emotion. I get angry every time, and I wish for VI to win every time. Characters are intense and feel incredibly tangible... even if they are sometimes over-the-top. Are there really people like this? I found the nuclear reactor and Homeland Security story lines fascinating. I wish we learned more about what happened to the rogue agents who might or might not have committed a crime. Perhaps that'll come out in the next book. If you like deeply intricate tales, this one is for you. Not my fave in the bunch, but compelling nonetheless. I've already ordered the 17th one to start this weekend.
May 15, 2018
Number 16 in the series and I have nearly caught up with the author! Soon I will be in the position of having to wait for her next book to be published.
Critical Mass was slightly different to most of her books in that quite a few chapters went back in time to provide back story. There was a lot of historical fact to absorb as well as Paretsky's usual political soapbox. Not that I try too hard with the politics. I agree with some, not so much with the rest and I tend to let it wash past me. It is just part of her style.
The story itself is excellent, fast paced and full of action. Vic Warshawski is a danger magnet and it is amazing she is still alive after 16 outings. Petra is fortunately overseas, Mr Contreras is still in excellent shape for a man his nineties, Peppy and Mitch are full of beans and the boyfriend is away but phones every night. All very comfortable.
Looking forward to book 17:)
Critical Mass was slightly different to most of her books in that quite a few chapters went back in time to provide back story. There was a lot of historical fact to absorb as well as Paretsky's usual political soapbox. Not that I try too hard with the politics. I agree with some, not so much with the rest and I tend to let it wash past me. It is just part of her style.
The story itself is excellent, fast paced and full of action. Vic Warshawski is a danger magnet and it is amazing she is still alive after 16 outings. Petra is fortunately overseas, Mr Contreras is still in excellent shape for a man his nineties, Peppy and Mitch are full of beans and the boyfriend is away but phones every night. All very comfortable.
Looking forward to book 17:)
July 16, 2018
After the last book in the VI Warshawski series I was tempted to just leave the series alone. But I am a completionist at heart and finally just buckled and bought this book. This one actually hangs together very well. VI is focused on figuring out how a daughter of one of Lotty's childhood playmates is doing after it looks like she may be in danger. The plot revolves around that, pre and post War World II, and the arms race. There were so many lines in this book that I found myself loving.
"Critical Mass" has a 50 year old or 50 plus year old VI off to help a childhood friend of Lotty's daughter. Lotty actually washed her hands of the friend and though she tried to help the daughter, eventually gave up on that too. When VI shows up at a meth house, she finds a man dead (the scene described is stomach turning) and realizes the woman is missing. From there VI finds out the woman's son is also now missing and huge tech giant is scared he has stolen their plans and is out there selling his secrets to the highest bidder.
VI does what she does best, asks questions, and goes investigating via libraries, the internet, and just using old fashioned intuition to put two and two together. She manages to once again find herself in a gun standoff (seriously that part is getting old) and once again has to deal with being so run down and tired but managing to push through. One wonders though when VI is going to just have to retire. I cannot see her still taking punches and getting shot in her 70s. It's already pushing realms of belief that she is able to walk after some of her run ins.
VI is still in a romance with Jake. I do like him and was surprised to see how well they mesh.
The secondary characters of Lotty and Max were welcomed. I was so glad to see Petra (VI's cousin) banished to the Peace Corps. I wish Mr. Contreas would go with Petra. I don't see how a guy pushing 90 is even doing running around with VI.
The writing was good and of course we get some historical facts mixed in to make this more realistic. I do love that Paretsky has made VI an unapologetic feminist and pushes for more individual rights over the government, cops, and anyone that could oppress them. Even though these are fictional characters, reading about what the fictional Nazis did to people during the Holocaust was awful.
The flow was actually pretty good in this one and I was able to follow the plot easily enough.
The setting of Chicago continues to surprise and Paretsky manages to make things fresh.
There were some surprises here and there and the ending was a surprise. We find out a lot of secrets that even the main participants in this one didn't know.
"Critical Mass" has a 50 year old or 50 plus year old VI off to help a childhood friend of Lotty's daughter. Lotty actually washed her hands of the friend and though she tried to help the daughter, eventually gave up on that too. When VI shows up at a meth house, she finds a man dead (the scene described is stomach turning) and realizes the woman is missing. From there VI finds out the woman's son is also now missing and huge tech giant is scared he has stolen their plans and is out there selling his secrets to the highest bidder.
VI does what she does best, asks questions, and goes investigating via libraries, the internet, and just using old fashioned intuition to put two and two together. She manages to once again find herself in a gun standoff (seriously that part is getting old) and once again has to deal with being so run down and tired but managing to push through. One wonders though when VI is going to just have to retire. I cannot see her still taking punches and getting shot in her 70s. It's already pushing realms of belief that she is able to walk after some of her run ins.
VI is still in a romance with Jake. I do like him and was surprised to see how well they mesh.
The secondary characters of Lotty and Max were welcomed. I was so glad to see Petra (VI's cousin) banished to the Peace Corps. I wish Mr. Contreas would go with Petra. I don't see how a guy pushing 90 is even doing running around with VI.
The writing was good and of course we get some historical facts mixed in to make this more realistic. I do love that Paretsky has made VI an unapologetic feminist and pushes for more individual rights over the government, cops, and anyone that could oppress them. Even though these are fictional characters, reading about what the fictional Nazis did to people during the Holocaust was awful.
The flow was actually pretty good in this one and I was able to follow the plot easily enough.
The setting of Chicago continues to surprise and Paretsky manages to make things fresh.
There were some surprises here and there and the ending was a surprise. We find out a lot of secrets that even the main participants in this one didn't know.
June 17, 2015
I feel like every time we talk about Sara Paretsky and VI Warshawski, I mention that this is one of my favorite series ever, and that both Paretsky and Warshawski are personal heroes of mine.
This book is a huge example for why. The thing about VI Warshawski is that she will always do what's right, even when there's a huge threat to herself. It's almost like the bigger the threat is to herself, the more determined she becomes to get to the bottom of whatever is going on. (In a marked contrast to myself, because I would probably be the biggest coward evereverever.)
I love when the stories focus on her friends, and this one centers a lot (at least initially) on Lotty Herschel, who I LOVE. And I love the fact that we get to learn even more about her past.
But ultimately the best things about any VI Warshawski novel is VI herself. She's clever and opinionated and just awesome.
This book isn't quite as political as her other novels---well, at least not as overtly political. The focus instead is on science in general and physics in particular. As you can probably guess, I know next to nothing about physics but that ignorance didn't at all affect my enjoyment of the book. (Kudos to Sara Paretsky for the research she did and her ability to adequately dumb down that research for her English major readers.)
I think everything about this book is just perfect. If you haven't read any Sara Paretsky novels, this is an excellent one to start with.
Highly recommended.
August 8, 2014
I do love the VI Warshawski series and think Vic is a great female character, tough when she needs to be and yet her concern and caring for the downtrodden, mistreated or misunderstood is always so very obvious in each story. This story in particular, however, was disappointing to me compared to Ms. Paretsky's other novels. I was intrigued by the plot that traversed back and forth between present day and pre and post WWII Austria. That glimpse into what VI's friend Lotty lived through during that horrible war was effective and appreciated. What was the miss for me this time were the nasties in this book; those out to get Martin, Vic and Martin's family. They were all just totally unbelievable both in their motivations and their actions. Honestly, would Homeland Security agents really behave that way? What about the Mastermind of the crimes and his minions? None of them rang true for me, resulting in a most chaotic climax that stretched reality and believability and a less than completely satisfying ending to this book. However, Sara Paretsky on a less than perfect day is still a far better read than most others in the genre. I am looking forward to the next book in this excellent series.
July 9, 2022
1982 was a stellar year in crime fiction. In that year Sue Grafton, with "A is for Alibi" and Sara Paretsky, with "Indemnity Only", initiated detective fiction series featuring women PIs that have extended for more than 20 volumes each. Grafton passed away in 2017 before completing her alphabet-based series featuring Kinsey Millhone, but thankfully for us, Paretsky continues to produce first-rate V.I. Warshawski novels.
Unlike Millhone, who stayed firmly rooted in the 1980's, V.I. Warshawski has moved forward with the times, and in deference to aging, takes longer to recover from her strenuous encounters with the bad guys. But her ethical core remains as strong as it was 40 years ago, and is the driving force behind the action in every book.
Critical Mass was published in 2013 and is one of the more memorable entries in the series. As is typical for a Warshawski novel, multiple plot lines link together the past and the present. In this case, the past is research into atomic power in Austria just before and during WWII, and the present is drug addiction in the Midwest. What links them in Vic's friend Lotty Herschel, who escaped Vienna as a child and is now a Chicago physician.
Also typical for these novels is a complex plot that revolves in part around some esoteric topic, this time developments in physics in the 1930s and 1940s. The vagaries of human nature also factor in, and it is up to Vic to sort it all out, while keeping herself and her loved ones alive.
So glad that I have a backlog of Warshawski novels to read. Where the Kinsey Millhone stories became somewhat tired over time, there seems to be no end to the topics that interest Paretsky and her ability to turn those interests into excellent fiction.
Unlike Millhone, who stayed firmly rooted in the 1980's, V.I. Warshawski has moved forward with the times, and in deference to aging, takes longer to recover from her strenuous encounters with the bad guys. But her ethical core remains as strong as it was 40 years ago, and is the driving force behind the action in every book.
Critical Mass was published in 2013 and is one of the more memorable entries in the series. As is typical for a Warshawski novel, multiple plot lines link together the past and the present. In this case, the past is research into atomic power in Austria just before and during WWII, and the present is drug addiction in the Midwest. What links them in Vic's friend Lotty Herschel, who escaped Vienna as a child and is now a Chicago physician.
Also typical for these novels is a complex plot that revolves in part around some esoteric topic, this time developments in physics in the 1930s and 1940s. The vagaries of human nature also factor in, and it is up to Vic to sort it all out, while keeping herself and her loved ones alive.
So glad that I have a backlog of Warshawski novels to read. Where the Kinsey Millhone stories became somewhat tired over time, there seems to be no end to the topics that interest Paretsky and her ability to turn those interests into excellent fiction.
January 16, 2017
This crime thriller was on my stack of reading for the last week in 2016, consisting of books I had meant to read during the year but hadn't gotten to. It is Ms Paretsky's 18th novel and I have now read them all. One more to go and I will be caught up before her next one comes out later in 2017. She is one of my top favorite mystery/crime novelists. Every book so far has been amazing for its genre.
V I Warshawski, fearless and crusading private investigator, once again finds "the crimes behind the crimes" as Marilyn Stasio of the New York Times puts it. In her hometown of Chicago she ferrets out corruption and destructive inequalities, taking down criminality and standing up for the forgotten people. If we had a few like her in every major American city, our country would be more like what our Founding Fathers hoped they were founding.
Critical Mass uncovers secrets and lies going back to the WWII arms race with its competition between Germany and the United States to develop the first atomic bomb.
Reading coincidence: Michael Chabon's Moonglow, read earlier in December, covers similar territory. In both books the traumas of Nazi concentration camps and the use of Jewish scientists to further that research are key plot elements.
The fast pace, multiple characters, extreme danger to V I's life, and her biting yet comedic take on all events are as present here as in all her books. I always make a list of characters as they appear, tedious near the beginning but eliminating the need to turn back the pages and remember who's who so I can enjoy the ever accelerating pace that invariably makes up the last 100 pages.
In Critical Mass (a physics term meaning the minimum amount of material, such as plutonium, necessary to maintain a nuclear chain reaction), Paretsky honors Jewish Austrian physicist Marietta Blau. She was a researcher whose scientific work deserved a Nobel Prize she never got because she was Jewish. Paretsky's fictional character Martina Saginor is based on Ms Blau.
Even more impressive, the story makes clear the destruction of so many lives due to secrets that were kept both by members of the researcher's family and by some sorry practices of government and corporations, hidden behind actions justified by national security.
No matter what your politics or your patriotic views, Critical Mass will challenge you to pay more attention and look more deeply into our current times. Also it is more fun than watching Twitter fights!
V I Warshawski, fearless and crusading private investigator, once again finds "the crimes behind the crimes" as Marilyn Stasio of the New York Times puts it. In her hometown of Chicago she ferrets out corruption and destructive inequalities, taking down criminality and standing up for the forgotten people. If we had a few like her in every major American city, our country would be more like what our Founding Fathers hoped they were founding.
Critical Mass uncovers secrets and lies going back to the WWII arms race with its competition between Germany and the United States to develop the first atomic bomb.
Reading coincidence: Michael Chabon's Moonglow, read earlier in December, covers similar territory. In both books the traumas of Nazi concentration camps and the use of Jewish scientists to further that research are key plot elements.
The fast pace, multiple characters, extreme danger to V I's life, and her biting yet comedic take on all events are as present here as in all her books. I always make a list of characters as they appear, tedious near the beginning but eliminating the need to turn back the pages and remember who's who so I can enjoy the ever accelerating pace that invariably makes up the last 100 pages.
In Critical Mass (a physics term meaning the minimum amount of material, such as plutonium, necessary to maintain a nuclear chain reaction), Paretsky honors Jewish Austrian physicist Marietta Blau. She was a researcher whose scientific work deserved a Nobel Prize she never got because she was Jewish. Paretsky's fictional character Martina Saginor is based on Ms Blau.
Even more impressive, the story makes clear the destruction of so many lives due to secrets that were kept both by members of the researcher's family and by some sorry practices of government and corporations, hidden behind actions justified by national security.
No matter what your politics or your patriotic views, Critical Mass will challenge you to pay more attention and look more deeply into our current times. Also it is more fun than watching Twitter fights!
July 3, 2015
Critical Mass is a complicated, multi-layered mystery with its roots set in WWII Europe and the Nazi quest for scientific breakthroughs. The current situation is more mundane but also filled with everyday tragedy: the tragedy of drug abuse, the sadness of lost identity, fear of unknowns, even misunderstanding by those who are usually seen as "good." V.I. Warshawski is thrown into this because of her years long friendship with Lotty, herself a child escapee from Germany. She is sent on a search for a woman, a search which opens up a nest which takes so much to untangle.
As in several other books I've read over the past year, this is told in alternating narratives of different voices and different times. While this can be a bit disconcerting initially, I found that it worked. This busy story of computers, the Nazi and Cold War eras, meth labs, and so much else, ultimately is a story of family as so many novels are.
Another excellent entry in the series.
As in several other books I've read over the past year, this is told in alternating narratives of different voices and different times. While this can be a bit disconcerting initially, I found that it worked. This busy story of computers, the Nazi and Cold War eras, meth labs, and so much else, ultimately is a story of family as so many novels are.
Another excellent entry in the series.
August 5, 2016
As usual, V. I. Warshawski delivers! A detective in the hard boiled tradition--with the twist that she is a woman, working in Chicago--vaguely in Uptown and surrounding neighborhoods.
This time, a missing young drug addict (daughter of a friend of V.I.'s close friend, Dr. Herschel, is missing. This simple errand sends us back along a path to Dr. Herschel's days in the Jewish Ghetto in occupied Vienna before WWII. Nazis, computers, Holland security and the atom bomb all make appearances--as does a near death experience.
Paretsky, as always, turns what sounds like a formulaic plot into a tour de force of a novel.
This time, a missing young drug addict (daughter of a friend of V.I.'s close friend, Dr. Herschel, is missing. This simple errand sends us back along a path to Dr. Herschel's days in the Jewish Ghetto in occupied Vienna before WWII. Nazis, computers, Holland security and the atom bomb all make appearances--as does a near death experience.
Paretsky, as always, turns what sounds like a formulaic plot into a tour de force of a novel.
July 23, 2015
Complex clue trail told in flashbacks with a wide variety of characters particularly focused over the generations. Definite nods to the Jews of WWII which is arguably becoming a worn out topic.
The audio person, Susan Ericksen, for this was amazing with some of her voices/accents. I really like how she did the Old School Chicago neighbor. That was awesome.
Now, why am I only giving this a B? It had a slow start and the clue trails and flashbacks were a mixed bag at times.
Still I recommend it, especially for the fans.
OVERALL GRADE: B.
The audio person, Susan Ericksen, for this was amazing with some of her voices/accents. I really like how she did the Old School Chicago neighbor. That was awesome.
Now, why am I only giving this a B? It had a slow start and the clue trails and flashbacks were a mixed bag at times.
Still I recommend it, especially for the fans.
OVERALL GRADE: B.
August 29, 2025
A good page turner. Switches back in time to Austria in the 1940s and the US in the 1950s. V.I investigates the disappearance of Martin a computer genius. He works for a company similar to Microsoft who are worried about patents. As always V.I is a danger magnet and the story is fast paced and she escapes from a multitude of dangerous situations including a shootout, a meth den, locked in a cellar and another one late in the story.
Patents, mysterious Poole and amazingly Mr Contreras is still her neighbor at 90 years of age. Lotty is still patching her up and she still gets into dangerous situations without thinking through consequences!
Highly entertaining story with perhaps a bit much about politics and the authors dislike of corporations and government very apparent.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Interesting plot. I figured that Martina had survived and got to the USA. Cordell Breen the CEO of Metargon wanted to protect his family legacy from the world knowing his father stole the patent from Martina. Martin her grandson figured it out and so Cordell a Musk like billionaire sent his minions to erase all the evidence and witnesses.
Patents, mysterious Poole and amazingly Mr Contreras is still her neighbor at 90 years of age. Lotty is still patching her up and she still gets into dangerous situations without thinking through consequences!
Highly entertaining story with perhaps a bit much about politics and the authors dislike of corporations and government very apparent.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Interesting plot. I figured that Martina had survived and got to the USA. Cordell Breen the CEO of Metargon wanted to protect his family legacy from the world knowing his father stole the patent from Martina. Martin her grandson figured it out and so Cordell a Musk like billionaire sent his minions to erase all the evidence and witnesses.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2014
I've long been an admirer of the writing of Sara Paretsky. As such, I have faithfully followed her V.I. Warshawski series over the years. Having now finished with Critical Mass, I can say that I have read them all.
They are all workmanlike and suspenseful mysteries and some are downright enthralling page-turners, but I have to admit that I was less than enthralled with this latest one. While I really like V.I. and I'll always care about her, I found it hard to care very much about the other characters in this book.
The story here is that V.I.'s friend Lotty hires her to look for a drug-addicted patient of hers who had called her in a panic to ask for help and then disappeared. The detective tracks her to a derelict drug house in a rural town outside of Chicago. She finds the place in shambles and the body of one dead dog with another injured and extremely dehydrated. She follows a trail into a cornfield where she discovers the corpse of a man that had been picked over and mutilated by crows. But the woman whom she is seeking is no longer there, if she ever was.
Trying to discover more about the woman and get an idea of where she might be brings V.I., quite unexpectedly, into the history of physics and invention, dating to before World War II. The woman's family history is linked to Dr. Lotty Herschel's all the way back to the Vienna of seventy years ago. Both families were touched by the Holocaust, indeed they were decimated by it. Lotty and the mother of the missing woman had been children together at the time and were sent to England to escape the war.
The grandmother of the missing woman was a physicist with a connection to a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who escaped from Vienna with his family and ended up in the United States. The grandmother, Martina, was caught in the war and was sent to be a slave laborer for the Nazis. She later disappeared from all records and was presumed dead.
Martina had been a gifted physicist and inventor and she held the American patent for a machine that was later instrumental in developing modern computer systems. This, it turns out, is significant in the disappearance of her drug-addicted granddaughter in Chicago, as well as the granddaughter's twenty-something son who, it seems, has inherited his great-grandmother's love of and abilities with math and physics.
But what made these two disappear? Who are they hiding from, if indeed they are hiding? And what does it all have to do with the Holocaust and with Vienna of the 1930s and 1940s?
I had a hard time keeping track of all these people and their relations, as the action switched back and forth in time. Perhaps that was because there just didn't seem to be a strong central figure here. I think that role might have been meant for Martina and/or her great-grandson and namesake, Martin, but their plights just didn't engage me, at least not in any meaningful way.
Obviously, we are supposed to be moved by the Holocaust connection, but perhaps I am jaded (although I do fervently hope not) by the repetition of this particular theme in several of these books. V.I.'s friends, Lotty and Max, both suffered from the Holocaust and they work to succor Holocaust survivors and their descendants. But the continual repetition of the theme has only served to immunize me a bit from its effect.
In the end, of course, all the loose ends are tied up, V.I. gets her man, solves the case, and justice is served. But the whole thing just left me curiously unsatisfied.
They are all workmanlike and suspenseful mysteries and some are downright enthralling page-turners, but I have to admit that I was less than enthralled with this latest one. While I really like V.I. and I'll always care about her, I found it hard to care very much about the other characters in this book.
The story here is that V.I.'s friend Lotty hires her to look for a drug-addicted patient of hers who had called her in a panic to ask for help and then disappeared. The detective tracks her to a derelict drug house in a rural town outside of Chicago. She finds the place in shambles and the body of one dead dog with another injured and extremely dehydrated. She follows a trail into a cornfield where she discovers the corpse of a man that had been picked over and mutilated by crows. But the woman whom she is seeking is no longer there, if she ever was.
Trying to discover more about the woman and get an idea of where she might be brings V.I., quite unexpectedly, into the history of physics and invention, dating to before World War II. The woman's family history is linked to Dr. Lotty Herschel's all the way back to the Vienna of seventy years ago. Both families were touched by the Holocaust, indeed they were decimated by it. Lotty and the mother of the missing woman had been children together at the time and were sent to England to escape the war.
The grandmother of the missing woman was a physicist with a connection to a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who escaped from Vienna with his family and ended up in the United States. The grandmother, Martina, was caught in the war and was sent to be a slave laborer for the Nazis. She later disappeared from all records and was presumed dead.
Martina had been a gifted physicist and inventor and she held the American patent for a machine that was later instrumental in developing modern computer systems. This, it turns out, is significant in the disappearance of her drug-addicted granddaughter in Chicago, as well as the granddaughter's twenty-something son who, it seems, has inherited his great-grandmother's love of and abilities with math and physics.
But what made these two disappear? Who are they hiding from, if indeed they are hiding? And what does it all have to do with the Holocaust and with Vienna of the 1930s and 1940s?
I had a hard time keeping track of all these people and their relations, as the action switched back and forth in time. Perhaps that was because there just didn't seem to be a strong central figure here. I think that role might have been meant for Martina and/or her great-grandson and namesake, Martin, but their plights just didn't engage me, at least not in any meaningful way.
Obviously, we are supposed to be moved by the Holocaust connection, but perhaps I am jaded (although I do fervently hope not) by the repetition of this particular theme in several of these books. V.I.'s friends, Lotty and Max, both suffered from the Holocaust and they work to succor Holocaust survivors and their descendants. But the continual repetition of the theme has only served to immunize me a bit from its effect.
In the end, of course, all the loose ends are tied up, V.I. gets her man, solves the case, and justice is served. But the whole thing just left me curiously unsatisfied.
February 18, 2014
I'm less a fan of Paretsky than some. I find her character development limited and her handling of sometimes over-complex plots clumsy. I approve of her politics, but they sometimes lie a little heavy on the story or are simply given in speeches by V.I. rather than being entwined in and revealed by the plots of the novels. This book, though, is one of her best among those I've read. The historical underpinnings, involving both WWII and cold-war era politics that interconnect with the present lives of the characters and with 21st-century technology companies, are interesting and clearly well researched, and the character of Martina Saginor, the scientist at the center of it all, is engaging and well developed. V. I. is always predictable, as is her faithful neighbor, Mr. Contreras, and the plot is needlessly complicated; the drug-dealer subplot could have been ditched or truncated, for instance. By the end, I was getting seriously impatient. It takes her too long to wrap up the story--and Paretsky has even published an epilogue on her website that extends the narrative further. A shorter and crisper book would have been better. But despite my criticisms, I enjoyed the book well enough most of the time.
November 25, 2013
There is only one problem with Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski novels. She can't write them fast enough for me. Every time I think she's decide to abandon the series, finally another one is published and I'm happy again.
This one, Critical Mass, is her best yet in my opinion. As usual, it takes place in Chicago and takes me back to that city I love. However, there are flashbacks to Austria during WW II. If you have read this series, you know that one of her best friends is Dr. Lotty Herschel who grew up in Vienna and escaped with many other children on the Kindertransport to London in 1939. She lost her family in the Holocaust.
Now Lotty is trying to help another woman, the daughter of another child who escaped with her. She asks V. I. to help and with good reason. What a messed up family. The mother is a recluse who thinks evil people are after her. The daughter is a drug addict. Then there is a son, Martin, who is brilliant like his great-grandmother, Martina Saginor, a physicist. He has disappeared suddenly and is probably in great danger.
I don't have room to go into the other people and companies involved in this great novel, but the story is gripping. One truly evil character was a closet Nazi. She delighted in torturing Jews such as Martina who were caught and imprisoned. The last she knew, Martina was on a train bound for Sobibor for execution. Whether you know the history of Austria during the Nazi occupation or not, you will be horrified.
One thing I enjoyed in this novel was getting to know Lotty better, as well as her friend Max. It was edge of your seat time following V.I. as she tried to find Martin and learn the story of his family. This story even takes V. I. and her musician boyfriend/neighbor to Vienna.
Highly recommended
Source: LibraryThing win
This one, Critical Mass, is her best yet in my opinion. As usual, it takes place in Chicago and takes me back to that city I love. However, there are flashbacks to Austria during WW II. If you have read this series, you know that one of her best friends is Dr. Lotty Herschel who grew up in Vienna and escaped with many other children on the Kindertransport to London in 1939. She lost her family in the Holocaust.
Now Lotty is trying to help another woman, the daughter of another child who escaped with her. She asks V. I. to help and with good reason. What a messed up family. The mother is a recluse who thinks evil people are after her. The daughter is a drug addict. Then there is a son, Martin, who is brilliant like his great-grandmother, Martina Saginor, a physicist. He has disappeared suddenly and is probably in great danger.
I don't have room to go into the other people and companies involved in this great novel, but the story is gripping. One truly evil character was a closet Nazi. She delighted in torturing Jews such as Martina who were caught and imprisoned. The last she knew, Martina was on a train bound for Sobibor for execution. Whether you know the history of Austria during the Nazi occupation or not, you will be horrified.
One thing I enjoyed in this novel was getting to know Lotty better, as well as her friend Max. It was edge of your seat time following V.I. as she tried to find Martin and learn the story of his family. This story even takes V. I. and her musician boyfriend/neighbor to Vienna.
Highly recommended
Source: LibraryThing win
November 4, 2015
This is by far the best Paretsky novel yet. V I Warshawski not only gets involved in mysteries with unique and interesting characters and conflicts, but she also delves into historical situations where the reader actually learns through the process. This novel combines a meth lab murder, a Nobel prize winner whose lover was left to suffer through the Holocaust in Austria, physics professors involved with the nuclear bomb during World War II and the first computers after the war and mother/child relationships gone awry. I could not put this down and yet was sad when it ended.
July 26, 2018
I am comparing Sara Paretsky's new book, "Critical Mass" to her previous novels, not to novels in general.
Sara Paretsky has written 19 books. Most of them - 17 - were VI Warshawski novels and the other two are "stand-alones". Having read them all, I think her newest, "Critical Mass" is the deepest and best written so far. I suppose the title could refer to both the "critical mass" needed to produce an atomic bomb and the "critical mass" of people and plot needed to produce a good book. The atomic bomb stuff I can't explain - way above my pay grade! - but the second, the contents of this novel, I can try to explain.
"Critical Mass" is set in both Vienna and Chicago, the past and the present. The past is the 1900's to the 1940's and focuses on VI's old friend, Lotte Herschel's, family and friends as they find that being Jewish in Vienna, particularly after the Anschluss in 1938, as an increasingly dangerous business. Lotte and her brother are rescued at the last minute and sent to London - and safety - on the Kindertransport. Her family was left behind and all perished in the Holocaust.
Also sent with Lotte and her brother was Kathe Saginor, the daughter of a single mother, Martina Saginor, who was raised with Lotte in Vienna. Kathe, later Kitty, was regarded as a "poor relations" both in Vienna, and later in Chicago, where both women settled after the war. Martina Saginor was a genius who worked in the scientific academies looking into atom. She was later arrested by the Nazis and served as a slave laborer and vanished in the war.
But the Saginor family is not the only family in Paretsky's book. Martina's lover and father of her daughter, a Nobel prize winner, Benjamin Dzornen, has fled to Chicago with his family before the outbreak of war. He worked on the US atomic bomb development. He is joined in after-war effort to make a computer by Edward Breen, also a Chicagoan. As the years continue, Edward Breen has developed a large company around computers and programs. Members of these three families meet up in current-day Chicago and the murders and disappearances begin and VI finds herself in the center of it all.
Okay, I'm going to stop with plots and character descriptions because "Critical Mass" is so deeply written that there's no way I can do it justice here. Just know that everything - and everybody - meet up and get their lives resolved. Sort of, anyway, and in sometimes melancholy ways.
What I do want to write about is how Paretsky's novels and focus has evolved over the years. When she began writing VI as a character, VI was the daughter of a Polish-Catholic Chicago cop and an Italian mother, who was an opera singer. I sort of surmised that the mother was a Jewish refugee in Chicago, but apart from a few "hints", I never knew exactly what she was and what her "story" was. But as the books evolved, the parents and their backgrounds grew dimmer and VI's relationship with Dr Charlotte Herschel came to the forefront. While her previous books did allude to Dr Lotte and the Holocaust, this book is based upon what happened back then and how it has impacted today's world.
What I'm trying to write is that those readers used to Paretsky's older plots might be surprised at the plot of "Critical Mass". I enjoyed it, being both a former Chicagoan and a reader about the Holocaust. This book is so densely plotted, though, that perhaps the new Paretsky reader might want to begin with a previous book. For the old Paretsky-hands, "Critical Mass" is well worth diving into.
Sara Paretsky has written 19 books. Most of them - 17 - were VI Warshawski novels and the other two are "stand-alones". Having read them all, I think her newest, "Critical Mass" is the deepest and best written so far. I suppose the title could refer to both the "critical mass" needed to produce an atomic bomb and the "critical mass" of people and plot needed to produce a good book. The atomic bomb stuff I can't explain - way above my pay grade! - but the second, the contents of this novel, I can try to explain.
"Critical Mass" is set in both Vienna and Chicago, the past and the present. The past is the 1900's to the 1940's and focuses on VI's old friend, Lotte Herschel's, family and friends as they find that being Jewish in Vienna, particularly after the Anschluss in 1938, as an increasingly dangerous business. Lotte and her brother are rescued at the last minute and sent to London - and safety - on the Kindertransport. Her family was left behind and all perished in the Holocaust.
Also sent with Lotte and her brother was Kathe Saginor, the daughter of a single mother, Martina Saginor, who was raised with Lotte in Vienna. Kathe, later Kitty, was regarded as a "poor relations" both in Vienna, and later in Chicago, where both women settled after the war. Martina Saginor was a genius who worked in the scientific academies looking into atom. She was later arrested by the Nazis and served as a slave laborer and vanished in the war.
But the Saginor family is not the only family in Paretsky's book. Martina's lover and father of her daughter, a Nobel prize winner, Benjamin Dzornen, has fled to Chicago with his family before the outbreak of war. He worked on the US atomic bomb development. He is joined in after-war effort to make a computer by Edward Breen, also a Chicagoan. As the years continue, Edward Breen has developed a large company around computers and programs. Members of these three families meet up in current-day Chicago and the murders and disappearances begin and VI finds herself in the center of it all.
Okay, I'm going to stop with plots and character descriptions because "Critical Mass" is so deeply written that there's no way I can do it justice here. Just know that everything - and everybody - meet up and get their lives resolved. Sort of, anyway, and in sometimes melancholy ways.
What I do want to write about is how Paretsky's novels and focus has evolved over the years. When she began writing VI as a character, VI was the daughter of a Polish-Catholic Chicago cop and an Italian mother, who was an opera singer. I sort of surmised that the mother was a Jewish refugee in Chicago, but apart from a few "hints", I never knew exactly what she was and what her "story" was. But as the books evolved, the parents and their backgrounds grew dimmer and VI's relationship with Dr Charlotte Herschel came to the forefront. While her previous books did allude to Dr Lotte and the Holocaust, this book is based upon what happened back then and how it has impacted today's world.
What I'm trying to write is that those readers used to Paretsky's older plots might be surprised at the plot of "Critical Mass". I enjoyed it, being both a former Chicagoan and a reader about the Holocaust. This book is so densely plotted, though, that perhaps the new Paretsky reader might want to begin with a previous book. For the old Paretsky-hands, "Critical Mass" is well worth diving into.
September 13, 2025
As impossible as it seems, this is the first time that I have ever experienced this particular book in the series. I thought I had read most, if not all of them in the print version some years ago, but it turns out this one at least was not included.
I have experienced this book in the audible format while following along with the e-book version. This book is another one which flashes back to Lottie‘s time in Vienna before World War II and before she was rescued as a child to England.
This book also has a lot of information about early discoveries in physics and atomic power both focusing on computer development and weapon development. It goes into impressive information about the complexity of all of these areas. Probably more deeply than I or many other readers found enjoyable or necessary. The research for this book must have been monumental.
And what would a book about VI be without her being faced with the possibility of death one or more times?
I have experienced this book in the audible format while following along with the e-book version. This book is another one which flashes back to Lottie‘s time in Vienna before World War II and before she was rescued as a child to England.
This book also has a lot of information about early discoveries in physics and atomic power both focusing on computer development and weapon development. It goes into impressive information about the complexity of all of these areas. Probably more deeply than I or many other readers found enjoyable or necessary. The research for this book must have been monumental.
And what would a book about VI be without her being faced with the possibility of death one or more times?
August 7, 2019
Sara Paretsky’s latest V.I. Warshawski’s mystery, Critical Mass, is a compelling mix of modern day mystery-suspense combined with lessons both from the European Holocaust and of the development of nuclear weapons after World War II. The complicated plot occurs mostly in the present with occasional returns to Europe before, during and after World World II. Private investigator V.I. (Vic) is asked by her dear friend, elderly doctor Lotty Herschel, herself a Jewish refugee from Austria, to look into the disappearance of the daughter and grandson of a fellow refugee, Käthe Kitty Binder. Vic untangles the threads to learn that the daughter is a drug addict in trouble, and that the gifted grandson appears to conducting an investigation of his own. Vic also learns that there’s a fair amount of modern-day corruption to add to the historical wrongs she uncovers.
The book opens with Vic stumbling upon a murder at an abandoned drug house that eventually leads to the fictional character Martina Saginor, a brilliant physicist who was also Kitty’s mother. Because of Paretsky’s dedication to social justice and feminist themes in her books, we quickly learn of the ill treatment and misuse of Saginor by fellow well-appointed physicists during and after the war due to the fact that Saginor was both female and Jewish. Saginor was inspired by a real-life physicist of equal brilliance, Marietta Blau, who is now largely forgotten.
Paretsky’s story is complicated and long (464 pages) with a host of characters and several plot turns. This book is not for a reader accustomed to simple stories that unfold quickly. If, on the other hand, the reader is willing to learn some history and science along with reading a compelling story about people involved in some of the most important events of the 20th century, then this book is definitely worth a read.
Vic is her usual self – smart, stubborn, gutsy and compassionate. After all, Vic was the only one who would rescue an injured and terrified dog at the scene of the murder, and see that the dog got medical treatment and a new home. That tells you a lot about V.I. Warshawski.
The book opens with Vic stumbling upon a murder at an abandoned drug house that eventually leads to the fictional character Martina Saginor, a brilliant physicist who was also Kitty’s mother. Because of Paretsky’s dedication to social justice and feminist themes in her books, we quickly learn of the ill treatment and misuse of Saginor by fellow well-appointed physicists during and after the war due to the fact that Saginor was both female and Jewish. Saginor was inspired by a real-life physicist of equal brilliance, Marietta Blau, who is now largely forgotten.
Paretsky’s story is complicated and long (464 pages) with a host of characters and several plot turns. This book is not for a reader accustomed to simple stories that unfold quickly. If, on the other hand, the reader is willing to learn some history and science along with reading a compelling story about people involved in some of the most important events of the 20th century, then this book is definitely worth a read.
Vic is her usual self – smart, stubborn, gutsy and compassionate. After all, Vic was the only one who would rescue an injured and terrified dog at the scene of the murder, and see that the dog got medical treatment and a new home. That tells you a lot about V.I. Warshawski.
December 21, 2016
We continue to read each of the (now 16) stories about Paretsky’s private eye V.I. Warshawski. Her leading lady is a bit more hard boiled than Grafton’s Kinsey Malone and tends to stir up a lot of trouble as she roams around Chicago solving cases for which she is often unpaid. Other than her neighbor, there are few recurring characters (although she has a boyfriend now), and sometimes the action gets a bit over the top. Therefore, while we stick with the set, we don’t necessarily look forward to each new novel with the fervor associated with our “A”-list authors.
“Critical Mass” was not particularly one of our favorites either. The plot is hugely complicated, and much of the story consists of flashbacks to the days after WWII and the impact of Nazi terrorism on various characters in this story. The gist of it is that a company that basically and supposedly invented magnetic core memory for the early computers may well have stolen the idea/patent from someone else, and is apparently willing to commit several serious crimes to prevent that discovery. It would take us several more paragraphs to provide much additional plot summary, but suffice to say, we were not that enamored with this complex and convoluted story line.
So while we agree that Paretsky can write well and craft a serious mystery plot, this one, despite the “Mass” of favorable reviews, just did not strike an entertaining chord for us.
“Critical Mass” was not particularly one of our favorites either. The plot is hugely complicated, and much of the story consists of flashbacks to the days after WWII and the impact of Nazi terrorism on various characters in this story. The gist of it is that a company that basically and supposedly invented magnetic core memory for the early computers may well have stolen the idea/patent from someone else, and is apparently willing to commit several serious crimes to prevent that discovery. It would take us several more paragraphs to provide much additional plot summary, but suffice to say, we were not that enamored with this complex and convoluted story line.
So while we agree that Paretsky can write well and craft a serious mystery plot, this one, despite the “Mass” of favorable reviews, just did not strike an entertaining chord for us.
November 8, 2013
I have read some of the V. I. Warshawski book’s by Sara Paretsky and have enjoyed most of them. I think this one is excellent. Paretsky’s writing is excellent; she has great characterization and an intricate plot. The book has plenty of action, suspense and Paretsky’s usual dry humor. The book alternates between the current time and 1939 Vienna. In the Vienna section has life in the Jewish Ghetto, to kinder transport to England of Lotty and Kathe Binder. There is some discussion of Kathe’s mother a scientific genius who was in the concentration camps and escaped to find her way to the US. In the current time frame Dr. Lotty Herschel hired VI to find Judy Binder, Kathe daughter. Kathe then hires V. I. to find her grandson Martin a genius in Physic and computer programming who went missing the same time as his mother. We have Home land Security, a Corporation out of control and stolen designs for a computer. Paretsky weaves this into an intricate plot. If you enjoy a mystery story you will enjoy this. I read this as an audio book. Susan Ericksen does a great job narrating the story.
March 24, 2014
Disappointed. Heard an NPR interview with Paretsky and thought this would be right up my alley: mystery! world war II history! physics! The flashbacks were reasonably satisfying, as were the scenes with Lotty and her harrowing story, but except for the tidbits about the Austrian nuclear research program's female scientists, most of it was pretty standard. (Nitpicking here, but there was an unfortunate research slip when she disparages Martina's position as a professor at a Hochschule as being "merely" a teacher at a "high school." Hochschule is not high school as any reader of a German dictionary could tell you. Or a quick googling . . . ) Physics? Well, sure, the Manhattan Project features as a plot device but the science part of the mystery doesn't actually have anything to do with critical mass. And what's with all the goons and the meth heads? OK, she'd be allowed a couple of goons and meth heads if the rest of the characters weren't drawn so two-dimensionally. Difficult/suffering from loss. Naive/sees the light. Brilliant/only out for the truth. Brilliant/megalomaniac. Brilliant/damaged.
April 20, 2014
V.I. Warshawski novels wear me out, what with dozens of characters running around in various subplots, bumping into each other, and Warshawski herself rushing headlong into trouble at every turn. Anyone so reckless wouldn’t live long enough in real life to be of any real danger to others. No wonder it’s only the endearing old Mr. Contrares and the dogs that seem to put up with her on a long-term basis.
All that frenetic energy tends to distract from the central question of “who done it” (which, of course, is the point of it all). But what I find redeeming about the series are the sparks of genuine insight into human nature and the human condition. Even for someone quite knowledgeable about the Holocaust, for example, Critical Mass offers fresh opportunities to experience the visceral revulsion that is the natural human response to savage cruelty. In Martina Saginor and her great-grandson, too, readers may experience, albeit very indirectly, the transcendent awe and joy of knowing that seems to motivate true scientists.
All that frenetic energy tends to distract from the central question of “who done it” (which, of course, is the point of it all). But what I find redeeming about the series are the sparks of genuine insight into human nature and the human condition. Even for someone quite knowledgeable about the Holocaust, for example, Critical Mass offers fresh opportunities to experience the visceral revulsion that is the natural human response to savage cruelty. In Martina Saginor and her great-grandson, too, readers may experience, albeit very indirectly, the transcendent awe and joy of knowing that seems to motivate true scientists.
November 26, 2013
This is a stellar book, one of the best of Sara Paretsky's many great novels. Plenty of action, plenty of conflict, plenty of well-drawn characters, plenty of historical heartbreak, and--yes--plenty of physics. I'm so glad Paretsky has finally put it all in one book: Chicago, the University of Chicago library & librarians, physics research, Hyde Park, and the top talent of female European physicists.
My own quibble, and it is extremely slight, is many students earn '5's on the AP Physics C exam; it is not nearly as rare as, say, an Intel or Westinghouse science fair winner. Perhaps this was meant to say more about Martin's fictional school (that he'd be the only AP Physics C 5 student) than about Martin himself. But...very minor point.
I encourage anyone who likes Paretsky's books to read this one. Any mystery/thriller reader who hasn't read a Paretsky book can easily jump into the series with Critical Mass, and should.
My own quibble, and it is extremely slight, is many students earn '5's on the AP Physics C exam; it is not nearly as rare as, say, an Intel or Westinghouse science fair winner. Perhaps this was meant to say more about Martin's fictional school (that he'd be the only AP Physics C 5 student) than about Martin himself. But...very minor point.
I encourage anyone who likes Paretsky's books to read this one. Any mystery/thriller reader who hasn't read a Paretsky book can easily jump into the series with Critical Mass, and should.
March 1, 2014
I have read the V.I. Warshawski series for years now and find this one to be a very nuanced addition to the series. The story is about a physics genius who is forced by the Germans to work on the atom bomb. She is a Jewish woman who has little choice and, in the end, forced into a death march. Does she make it through? The story fluctuates between her story and her descendants in modern day Chicago.
I would not particularly like to spend time with V.I. on a personal basis. I find her hard and unyielding but those qualities that make her a good detective. She spends time on her bread and butter clients showing that life as a detective is not all that glamorous. She works out relentlessly and now has a boyfriend. He's almost an after thought as he tours extensively with his band.
Paretsky tells a good story that takes you on a roller coastal ride. It is certainly readable as a stand alone. If you like a good mystery, I highly recommend this one.
I would not particularly like to spend time with V.I. on a personal basis. I find her hard and unyielding but those qualities that make her a good detective. She spends time on her bread and butter clients showing that life as a detective is not all that glamorous. She works out relentlessly and now has a boyfriend. He's almost an after thought as he tours extensively with his band.
Paretsky tells a good story that takes you on a roller coastal ride. It is certainly readable as a stand alone. If you like a good mystery, I highly recommend this one.
January 30, 2014
Paretsky is a fine writer, and in this one she outdoes herself with an amazingly intricate plot. But the ambition of it is almost too much. She hits a range of concerns, from the Holocaust to Homeland Security,scientific research and corporate chicanery, meth labs to neglectful mothers...and the demands of these plot lines ultimately come at the expense of character development. I've read all Paretsky's work and in the last few in the series, I've felt Vic has gotten a little rote...and more earnest and judgmental. but maybe this is the pressure a devoted reader brings to this kind of series, wanting more of the same and resisting it when the writer goes in new directions.
February 10, 2014
excellent book with a mystery that will also educate you while entertaining you. my only criticism is that the ending was a little too drawn out, still very enjoyable and engrossing.
January 18, 2015
I couldn't stop reading it. V.I. never disappoints!
April 20, 2018
This book confirms Sara Paretsky is a master of her genre and reading this book was like meeting up with an old friend. The subject of V.I.'s investigation was also very interesting.
July 30, 2016
I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program and, I have to be honest, if that hadn't been the case, it probably would have ended up on my "Did Not Finish" list. And yet, yes, I gave it 4 stars overall. (Warning, SPOILERS below.)
As with all of Sara Paretsky's books, this is solidly written. From page one it sets itself apart from others in that way -- and that's carried through to the end. Well-written, tight, and solid. The problem I had -- and the reason that I almost didn't finish it -- was that there wasn't very much to like about it. I haven't read a V.I. Warshawski book in a while and, well, I don't know if she's always been so crusty, but I do know that it didn't bother me before. In a way, I guess that's what set her apart in the first place -- she, along with Kinsey Millhone, Sharon McCone, and the others that came along around the same time -- made a name for themselves by being just as crusty and tough as the male PIs. No "Miss Marple"s here. But the fellow female PIs they gave birth to also brought along a dose of humor (Stephanie Plum, anyone?) that I've come to count on. So when I came back into V.I. Warshawski's world, it was hard. Unenjoyable, I dare say. It certainly didn't help that the major thread through this book was about a Holocaust survivor, a subject in itself that is so overwhelmingly awful that that alone makes it hard for a happy-ending-seeking reader like me to soldier through. What struck me in the beginning, though, was that no one seemed to like each other. And I'm not just talking about the non-regular characters. V.I., Lotty, Mr. Contreras... The love is there between them; obviously. But could they not maybe speak to each other in a caring way? Just once? Every bit of dialogue exchanged involved them snapping at each other, criticizing each other, telling each other what they couldn't or what they had to do. I wanted to shake them all by the shoulders and tell them to be nice to each other for Heaven's sake.
That tone carried over to the secondary characters as well. Must everyone be so rude to each other? Does every stranger talk to other strangers in the same obnoxious way? Yes, of course, I've been on the other side of a conversation like that from time to time. And I have no doubt that a private investigator who is digging into secrets would come across very unhappy and caustic people who are unlikely to be sweet and smiley. But did it need to carry over to random interactions with passers-by? It was overwhelming. And it meant that I would go days at a time without reading the next chapter because I was just sooooo tired of all of these horribly unhappy people.
Kitty, V.I.'s client, was the most bitter and nasty with reasons that became revealed (and that explained what was behind it) as the book went on. But even with the justification I had a really hard time getting past it. She was just so awful. The small town cops were another set of difficult people and, again, there was some explanation there. Again, however, it was just more unlikeable people pounding me over the head. I just wanted to be done with it.
Paretsky finally threw me a bone with the introduction of Susie Foyle and the Wengers -- small-town folks who were helpful (after a point) and, even, kind. Unfortunately, it was almost 200 pages in before we meet them. And, as I mentioned above, if it hadn't been that I'd committed to write a review of this book, I never would have gotten that far. Life is too short to be around unlikeable people, especially fictional ones.
That's when things started to pick up, though. And not too long after that, Allison Breen came along...and then things got interesting.
As I've said before, I don't like books that make me cry. There's too much awfulness out there in the world for me to voluntarily bring it into my life. The Holocaust theme running throughout this was no exception. If it hadn't been Sara Paretsky writing it, it probably wouldn't have been too much of an issue. But she's just so good that the scenes were vivid and horrifying. Martina Saginor came alive for me in a way that another writer could never have pulled off. And as the second half of the book progressed, I finally became engrossed both in the current day happenings and in the flashbacks. I finally got to the point where I couldn't put the book down. Whereas the first half of the book took me almost a month to read, I finished the second half in a day. The ending, though not by any means "happy" was satisfying in many ways. Having Lotty and Max and V.I. and Jake and Alison and Martin take that trip together gave me all the love and like and kindness I'd been missing for so much of the beginning of the book. These, along with the solid writing throughout the beginning, are what lifted this up to a 4-star rating for me.
Although I didn't guess the ending (and I didn't even look it up!), there were some weaknesses with the mystery. (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!)
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I find it hard to believe that no one ever put together the diagram -- which had been published in every intro physics/intro to computers text book that ever existed -- with the truth of what happened. Even with the lack of respect for female scientists, etc., there were too many red flags -- the handwriting, the symbol, the actual translation -- for me to believe that it took 60 years for someone to question it.
I also could not fathom that the Homeland Security people would be that horrible. Yes, I get that we're in a period of privacy-breaching that is out of control in some instances, not to mention that corporations have far too much influence over government operations. But this was just too much. And even if I bought it, given the havoc the combined parties had wreaked, the fact that they let a mom and 4-yr-old somehow escape their grasp and then get taken down by a sheriff gave me whiplash. If they'd gone rogue it would have been one thing, but then to have their boss say ingenuously that they may have gotten a little out of hand... No. If this was supposed to be a parallel with what was done in the 50s in terms of letting Nazi collaborators into the country in order to work on Cold War initiatives, it fell flat. That point was made horrifyingly clear. And I have no doubt that the point about the NSA and Homeland Security and privacy/individual rights could have been made equally so. The quick wrap-up of it at that end, though, didn't do it for me.
O.k., yes, I realize I've given a 4-star review with very little actual praise. I don't mean to be so hypercritical since it really was a well-written book. Like I said, I tore through the second half in a day. And that was a Saturday with all three kids around -- let me be clear, that takes some doing. I also think that if I hadn't been on such a romance kick lately (with very clear happy endings in every sense of the phrase), that I wouldn't have had such an issue with the first half of the book. I think that just about every other mystery-reader in the world would have high praise for this. (With the exception of the points I note above.) So if you are looking for that kind of a book, then this is definitely worth it. But if you're looking for a light (or even happy) read, then you'll need to find it somewhere else during those first 200 pages.
As with all of Sara Paretsky's books, this is solidly written. From page one it sets itself apart from others in that way -- and that's carried through to the end. Well-written, tight, and solid. The problem I had -- and the reason that I almost didn't finish it -- was that there wasn't very much to like about it. I haven't read a V.I. Warshawski book in a while and, well, I don't know if she's always been so crusty, but I do know that it didn't bother me before. In a way, I guess that's what set her apart in the first place -- she, along with Kinsey Millhone, Sharon McCone, and the others that came along around the same time -- made a name for themselves by being just as crusty and tough as the male PIs. No "Miss Marple"s here. But the fellow female PIs they gave birth to also brought along a dose of humor (Stephanie Plum, anyone?) that I've come to count on. So when I came back into V.I. Warshawski's world, it was hard. Unenjoyable, I dare say. It certainly didn't help that the major thread through this book was about a Holocaust survivor, a subject in itself that is so overwhelmingly awful that that alone makes it hard for a happy-ending-seeking reader like me to soldier through. What struck me in the beginning, though, was that no one seemed to like each other. And I'm not just talking about the non-regular characters. V.I., Lotty, Mr. Contreras... The love is there between them; obviously. But could they not maybe speak to each other in a caring way? Just once? Every bit of dialogue exchanged involved them snapping at each other, criticizing each other, telling each other what they couldn't or what they had to do. I wanted to shake them all by the shoulders and tell them to be nice to each other for Heaven's sake.
That tone carried over to the secondary characters as well. Must everyone be so rude to each other? Does every stranger talk to other strangers in the same obnoxious way? Yes, of course, I've been on the other side of a conversation like that from time to time. And I have no doubt that a private investigator who is digging into secrets would come across very unhappy and caustic people who are unlikely to be sweet and smiley. But did it need to carry over to random interactions with passers-by? It was overwhelming. And it meant that I would go days at a time without reading the next chapter because I was just sooooo tired of all of these horribly unhappy people.
Kitty, V.I.'s client, was the most bitter and nasty with reasons that became revealed (and that explained what was behind it) as the book went on. But even with the justification I had a really hard time getting past it. She was just so awful. The small town cops were another set of difficult people and, again, there was some explanation there. Again, however, it was just more unlikeable people pounding me over the head. I just wanted to be done with it.
Paretsky finally threw me a bone with the introduction of Susie Foyle and the Wengers -- small-town folks who were helpful (after a point) and, even, kind. Unfortunately, it was almost 200 pages in before we meet them. And, as I mentioned above, if it hadn't been that I'd committed to write a review of this book, I never would have gotten that far. Life is too short to be around unlikeable people, especially fictional ones.
That's when things started to pick up, though. And not too long after that, Allison Breen came along...and then things got interesting.
As I've said before, I don't like books that make me cry. There's too much awfulness out there in the world for me to voluntarily bring it into my life. The Holocaust theme running throughout this was no exception. If it hadn't been Sara Paretsky writing it, it probably wouldn't have been too much of an issue. But she's just so good that the scenes were vivid and horrifying. Martina Saginor came alive for me in a way that another writer could never have pulled off. And as the second half of the book progressed, I finally became engrossed both in the current day happenings and in the flashbacks. I finally got to the point where I couldn't put the book down. Whereas the first half of the book took me almost a month to read, I finished the second half in a day. The ending, though not by any means "happy" was satisfying in many ways. Having Lotty and Max and V.I. and Jake and Alison and Martin take that trip together gave me all the love and like and kindness I'd been missing for so much of the beginning of the book. These, along with the solid writing throughout the beginning, are what lifted this up to a 4-star rating for me.
Although I didn't guess the ending (and I didn't even look it up!), there were some weaknesses with the mystery. (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!)
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I find it hard to believe that no one ever put together the diagram -- which had been published in every intro physics/intro to computers text book that ever existed -- with the truth of what happened. Even with the lack of respect for female scientists, etc., there were too many red flags -- the handwriting, the symbol, the actual translation -- for me to believe that it took 60 years for someone to question it.
I also could not fathom that the Homeland Security people would be that horrible. Yes, I get that we're in a period of privacy-breaching that is out of control in some instances, not to mention that corporations have far too much influence over government operations. But this was just too much. And even if I bought it, given the havoc the combined parties had wreaked, the fact that they let a mom and 4-yr-old somehow escape their grasp and then get taken down by a sheriff gave me whiplash. If they'd gone rogue it would have been one thing, but then to have their boss say ingenuously that they may have gotten a little out of hand... No. If this was supposed to be a parallel with what was done in the 50s in terms of letting Nazi collaborators into the country in order to work on Cold War initiatives, it fell flat. That point was made horrifyingly clear. And I have no doubt that the point about the NSA and Homeland Security and privacy/individual rights could have been made equally so. The quick wrap-up of it at that end, though, didn't do it for me.
O.k., yes, I realize I've given a 4-star review with very little actual praise. I don't mean to be so hypercritical since it really was a well-written book. Like I said, I tore through the second half in a day. And that was a Saturday with all three kids around -- let me be clear, that takes some doing. I also think that if I hadn't been on such a romance kick lately (with very clear happy endings in every sense of the phrase), that I wouldn't have had such an issue with the first half of the book. I think that just about every other mystery-reader in the world would have high praise for this. (With the exception of the points I note above.) So if you are looking for that kind of a book, then this is definitely worth it. But if you're looking for a light (or even happy) read, then you'll need to find it somewhere else during those first 200 pages.
December 8, 2021
Taking place in Chicago in the early 2000s, Critical Mass is Book 16 in the V.I. Warshawski series. Warshawski (only her closest friends call her Vic) is a law school graduate now self-employed private eye. She is one of the first female private detectives in Chicago (and in the world of crime fiction). She is smart, tough and (mostly) fearless.
Dr Lotty Herschel hires her long-time friend, V. I. Warshawski, to locate a patient who disappeared shortly after leaving a desperate plea for help on the Dr's voice mail. Judy is a patient and the daughter of a childhood playmate of Lottys pre-the German invasion of Austria. Together Lotty, her brother, and Kathe (now Kitty) fled the German invasion on the Kindertransport to London. Both women lost their families in the Nazi invasion.
Warshawski’s investigation takes her from rural crack houses in Illinois, to the atomic labs of Austria and Nazi Germany, to the U.S.’s own participation in the race for the development of the first atomic bomb. (During Operation Paperclip the U.S. knowingly provided citizenship to known Nazi war criminals in order to hire the best atomic physicists for its program). Newly empowered Homeland Security operations is allowing the powerful department to act "in any way that is necessary” to keep the secrets of Operation Paper Clip under wraps. As Warshawski deepens her search for Judy she stumbles on information that her govenment clearly does not want her to know.
Critical Mass is one of my favorites in the series. The information about the abuse of power by our government and their willingness to give citizenship to Nazi’s known to have committed horrific crimes is fascinating. And horrifying. One of the most unique and best things about this series is how Paretsky weaves issues of current events and political and social issues into her stories. They’re alway fast-paced and well-researched mysteries. Although it may be ideal to read the books in order, it is not critical. A fast, enjoyable and addictive series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#EmptyNestReader #instagram #CriticalMass #VIWarshawski #SarahParetsky #crimethriller #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramalabama #bookstagrammichigan #bookreviews #bookreviewer #bookrecommendations #DecemberReads #readalittlelearnalittlelivealittle #ebooks #librarybooks #vestaviahillslibrary #VHLITFgram
Dr Lotty Herschel hires her long-time friend, V. I. Warshawski, to locate a patient who disappeared shortly after leaving a desperate plea for help on the Dr's voice mail. Judy is a patient and the daughter of a childhood playmate of Lottys pre-the German invasion of Austria. Together Lotty, her brother, and Kathe (now Kitty) fled the German invasion on the Kindertransport to London. Both women lost their families in the Nazi invasion.
Warshawski’s investigation takes her from rural crack houses in Illinois, to the atomic labs of Austria and Nazi Germany, to the U.S.’s own participation in the race for the development of the first atomic bomb. (During Operation Paperclip the U.S. knowingly provided citizenship to known Nazi war criminals in order to hire the best atomic physicists for its program). Newly empowered Homeland Security operations is allowing the powerful department to act "in any way that is necessary” to keep the secrets of Operation Paper Clip under wraps. As Warshawski deepens her search for Judy she stumbles on information that her govenment clearly does not want her to know.
Critical Mass is one of my favorites in the series. The information about the abuse of power by our government and their willingness to give citizenship to Nazi’s known to have committed horrific crimes is fascinating. And horrifying. One of the most unique and best things about this series is how Paretsky weaves issues of current events and political and social issues into her stories. They’re alway fast-paced and well-researched mysteries. Although it may be ideal to read the books in order, it is not critical. A fast, enjoyable and addictive series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#EmptyNestReader #instagram #CriticalMass #VIWarshawski #SarahParetsky #crimethriller #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramalabama #bookstagrammichigan #bookreviews #bookreviewer #bookrecommendations #DecemberReads #readalittlelearnalittlelivealittle #ebooks #librarybooks #vestaviahillslibrary #VHLITFgram
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