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V.I. Warshawski #13
Hardball
Chicago politics—past, present, and future—take center stage in this complex and compelling V.I. Warshawki novel from New York Times bestselling author Sara Peretsky.
Tracking down missing persons is part of V.I. Warshawski’s job. But Lamont Gadsden has been missing for more than forty years—last seen heading out into the 1967 blizzard, in the midst of Chicago’s racial unrest. V.I. figured the search would be futile. She didn’t realize it would be lethal...or lead to troubling discoveries about her own family. And when her young cousin Petra disappears, an angry preacher, a jailed gangbanger, and politics from both past and present interconnect—and plunge V.I. into a mystery as unsettling as the ’60s themselves.
A New York Times Notable Crime Book of the Year
One of NPR’s Top Five Crime Novels of the Year
Tracking down missing persons is part of V.I. Warshawski’s job. But Lamont Gadsden has been missing for more than forty years—last seen heading out into the 1967 blizzard, in the midst of Chicago’s racial unrest. V.I. figured the search would be futile. She didn’t realize it would be lethal...or lead to troubling discoveries about her own family. And when her young cousin Petra disappears, an angry preacher, a jailed gangbanger, and politics from both past and present interconnect—and plunge V.I. into a mystery as unsettling as the ’60s themselves.
A New York Times Notable Crime Book of the Year
One of NPR’s Top Five Crime Novels of the Year
576 pages, Paperback
First published September 22, 2009
267 people are currently reading
1616 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 485 reviews
April 30, 2023
Book Review
4 of 5 stars to Hardball, the 13th book in the mystery thriller series by author Sara Paretsky, written in 2009. At 450 pages, it's one of the longest, if not the longest, books in the "VI Warshawski" Chicago-based series about a female private investigator in the 1980s and 1990s. In this book, family is abundant. VI's late father pops up in her investigation, potentially revealing he had some dirty dealings. It seems too hard to be true, but sometimes people are pushed to the limits. Nonetheless, it propels VI to try to prove his innocence. Ultimately, the book is about a missing person's case, over 40 years old. VI tackles issues between races, trying to weed past the bull in order to solve the crime. But more people end up dying, the deeper she gets into the investigation, including a nun. VI's cousin is in town on a politicking venture... but she may be in more danger than she knows. This is one of the stronger Paretsky books, as it covers a multitude or close to home issues for her, and she's out to prove and protect her family.
About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.
4 of 5 stars to Hardball, the 13th book in the mystery thriller series by author Sara Paretsky, written in 2009. At 450 pages, it's one of the longest, if not the longest, books in the "VI Warshawski" Chicago-based series about a female private investigator in the 1980s and 1990s. In this book, family is abundant. VI's late father pops up in her investigation, potentially revealing he had some dirty dealings. It seems too hard to be true, but sometimes people are pushed to the limits. Nonetheless, it propels VI to try to prove his innocence. Ultimately, the book is about a missing person's case, over 40 years old. VI tackles issues between races, trying to weed past the bull in order to solve the crime. But more people end up dying, the deeper she gets into the investigation, including a nun. VI's cousin is in town on a politicking venture... but she may be in more danger than she knows. This is one of the stronger Paretsky books, as it covers a multitude or close to home issues for her, and she's out to prove and protect her family.
About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.
August 22, 2017
Number 13 in this series and I am still enjoying them!
As we get further into the series the books definitely get longer and this is not a bad thing since Paretsky writes such a great story. Once or twice however things became so convoluted my brain was spinning trying to sort out who did what to who. So I just gave up trying and went with the flow. Some times enjoying a book is more important than understanding every detail of it!
Vic is still herself, often angry, unforgiving and always happier to be alone. She does have friends but they always seem to be yelling at her for one reason or another. On the plus side she is totally honest and always on the side of social justice. As usual she works practically for free on her cases, upsets or ignores her paying customers but is redeemed at the end with an unexpected windfall which allows her to pay her bills and continue with her job - ready for the next book!
As we get further into the series the books definitely get longer and this is not a bad thing since Paretsky writes such a great story. Once or twice however things became so convoluted my brain was spinning trying to sort out who did what to who. So I just gave up trying and went with the flow. Some times enjoying a book is more important than understanding every detail of it!
Vic is still herself, often angry, unforgiving and always happier to be alone. She does have friends but they always seem to be yelling at her for one reason or another. On the plus side she is totally honest and always on the side of social justice. As usual she works practically for free on her cases, upsets or ignores her paying customers but is redeemed at the end with an unexpected windfall which allows her to pay her bills and continue with her job - ready for the next book!
September 7, 2025
I continue my 2025 cruise through the entire series in order in the Audible format. This book goes 40 years into the past and is more of a look back at the passed Homestead of the Warshawski family. And the fact that VI’s father was not perfect. As happens at least once in every book VI barely escapes death.
____________________
The last book in the Warshawski series that I read was #11, Blacklist , about a month ago. But I read #12, Fire Sale , out of order about a year ago. So my continuity with this series is not the best. Hardball was published in 2009 and Mr. Contreras, V.I.’s downstairs neighbor, is “close to ninety” years old. That seems a little old to be butting into V.I.’s cases but, let’s not be ageist now, Larry! After all, he did save her life at least once and he is a regular, so both she and I will miss him when he inevitability bows out.
The Warshawski series can be a bit repetitious with V.I.’s office or home being trashed, Mr. Contreras being a busy-body, V.I. being in danger and risking death each book. There is also almost always some potential for romance although V.I. seems like unlikely marriage material. But she usually fits in a little sex each book. But nothing graphic. V.I.’s body parts are more likely being threatened rather than aroused. Not surprising, by the thirteenth book we know her pretty well. And, for me, she has been a most interesting person to get to know. Hardball contains all of the required Warshawski ingredients including the potential of romance – but no sex this time.
As I approach the most current book in the series, a series that is ongoing, I occasionally think that I should just read through to the “final” book. I haven’t done that yet but I keep considering it. The most recent book was just released in October, 2013 and is the sixteenth in the series. So I am three books away from being “caught up” with V.I. Warshawski. I have one series where I did read several books in a row (The Detroit Crime Mystery series by Loren Estleman: https://www.goodreads.com/series/5147... ) and enjoyed the experience. Maybe I am talking myself into doing that with Sara Paretsky. This is one series where I would like to catch up and am tempted by the idea of doing it in a couple of months rather than a couple of years. Is there a downside to this? Well, the book I am reading (#13) is 446 pages and the current book (#16) is 480 pages. The first hardcover book in the series Indemnity Only sitting on my shelf and published in 1982 was 184 pages. An increase of 2.5 times the number of pages! Am I up for it? Stay tuned.
Hardball definitely seems to be a step up for Victoria. Maybe to middle class from lower middle class; talk of her mother’s opera skills as well as her just returning from two months in Italy doing a little revisiting of her mother’s history. Even the language and structure seem a bit more upscale than in previous books. There is the boyfriend who has recently faded out to remind me that this is indeed the V.I. with her serial relationship tendency. “In the back of my mind, I always imagined a child, a family, at this point in my life.” Then there is the homeless man and the little old lady, poor lady, of course, who needs her help pro bono. Yes, we have definitely returned to the familiar Ms. Warshawski! And don’t forget her Johnny Walker neat whiskey after a death defying day!
“When I tried to help her, she gave me a look that could have slit upholstery and told me to sit.” Ah, a new (for me) figure of speech. Slit upholstery, huh? Nice touch, Ms. Paretsky. Reading this book is like running into an old friend unexpectedly on the street – very pleasant and warm. And V.I. has a stovetop espresso maker; I swear, she has definitely taken a step up; she used to make instant coffee! And Lario boots – “Italian footwear for women.”
“We followed the loud voices to the living room. They came from a television, where a minister was exhorting us to send him money for letting us know how very sinful we are.” Not sure who I love more, Ms. Warshawski or Ms. Paretsky. They are my kind of people. If social issues are mentioned they are always seen from a progressive point of view. In this book the School of the Americas is dissed, Helen Prejean, the anti death penalty nun, is lauded, the muckraking Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is referenced, and more political correctness just to my taste.
I would say there is more personal information in Hardball than in previous books. We hear about her failed marriage, her bra size (36-C), her most recent ended relationship, and her own fairly regular self-doubts. And there are the action incidents that get your heart pumping: being followed on foot, in her car, on her phone; the shoot out with the bad guys; the firebombing; breaking and entering several times in the dark (with ominous background music when it comes out on film, I am sure).
This book took me into new Paretsky territory. It is a long book (446 pages) that kept me going. I abandoned the other book I was reading to focus on this one. I kept flipping the pages. I honestly thought this book reached new heights for the series and earned five stars. And I will go on to the next book in the series immediately. Maybe I will even do what I considered early in this review: read straight through the final book #16. With this titillating last sentence, how could I not move right on?
This was her mother recorded singing opera years ago. Nothing kinky.
Yes, definitely five stars. I even had some moisture in my eyes in the last section.
____________________
The last book in the Warshawski series that I read was #11, Blacklist , about a month ago. But I read #12, Fire Sale , out of order about a year ago. So my continuity with this series is not the best. Hardball was published in 2009 and Mr. Contreras, V.I.’s downstairs neighbor, is “close to ninety” years old. That seems a little old to be butting into V.I.’s cases but, let’s not be ageist now, Larry! After all, he did save her life at least once and he is a regular, so both she and I will miss him when he inevitability bows out.
The Warshawski series can be a bit repetitious with V.I.’s office or home being trashed, Mr. Contreras being a busy-body, V.I. being in danger and risking death each book. There is also almost always some potential for romance although V.I. seems like unlikely marriage material. But she usually fits in a little sex each book. But nothing graphic. V.I.’s body parts are more likely being threatened rather than aroused. Not surprising, by the thirteenth book we know her pretty well. And, for me, she has been a most interesting person to get to know. Hardball contains all of the required Warshawski ingredients including the potential of romance – but no sex this time.
As I approach the most current book in the series, a series that is ongoing, I occasionally think that I should just read through to the “final” book. I haven’t done that yet but I keep considering it. The most recent book was just released in October, 2013 and is the sixteenth in the series. So I am three books away from being “caught up” with V.I. Warshawski. I have one series where I did read several books in a row (The Detroit Crime Mystery series by Loren Estleman: https://www.goodreads.com/series/5147... ) and enjoyed the experience. Maybe I am talking myself into doing that with Sara Paretsky. This is one series where I would like to catch up and am tempted by the idea of doing it in a couple of months rather than a couple of years. Is there a downside to this? Well, the book I am reading (#13) is 446 pages and the current book (#16) is 480 pages. The first hardcover book in the series Indemnity Only sitting on my shelf and published in 1982 was 184 pages. An increase of 2.5 times the number of pages! Am I up for it? Stay tuned.
Hardball definitely seems to be a step up for Victoria. Maybe to middle class from lower middle class; talk of her mother’s opera skills as well as her just returning from two months in Italy doing a little revisiting of her mother’s history. Even the language and structure seem a bit more upscale than in previous books. There is the boyfriend who has recently faded out to remind me that this is indeed the V.I. with her serial relationship tendency. “In the back of my mind, I always imagined a child, a family, at this point in my life.” Then there is the homeless man and the little old lady, poor lady, of course, who needs her help pro bono. Yes, we have definitely returned to the familiar Ms. Warshawski! And don’t forget her Johnny Walker neat whiskey after a death defying day!
“When I tried to help her, she gave me a look that could have slit upholstery and told me to sit.” Ah, a new (for me) figure of speech. Slit upholstery, huh? Nice touch, Ms. Paretsky. Reading this book is like running into an old friend unexpectedly on the street – very pleasant and warm. And V.I. has a stovetop espresso maker; I swear, she has definitely taken a step up; she used to make instant coffee! And Lario boots – “Italian footwear for women.”
“We followed the loud voices to the living room. They came from a television, where a minister was exhorting us to send him money for letting us know how very sinful we are.” Not sure who I love more, Ms. Warshawski or Ms. Paretsky. They are my kind of people. If social issues are mentioned they are always seen from a progressive point of view. In this book the School of the Americas is dissed, Helen Prejean, the anti death penalty nun, is lauded, the muckraking Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is referenced, and more political correctness just to my taste.
I would say there is more personal information in Hardball than in previous books. We hear about her failed marriage, her bra size (36-C), her most recent ended relationship, and her own fairly regular self-doubts. And there are the action incidents that get your heart pumping: being followed on foot, in her car, on her phone; the shoot out with the bad guys; the firebombing; breaking and entering several times in the dark (with ominous background music when it comes out on film, I am sure).
This book took me into new Paretsky territory. It is a long book (446 pages) that kept me going. I abandoned the other book I was reading to focus on this one. I kept flipping the pages. I honestly thought this book reached new heights for the series and earned five stars. And I will go on to the next book in the series immediately. Maybe I will even do what I considered early in this review: read straight through the final book #16. With this titillating last sentence, how could I not move right on?
After that, it seemed natural to bring out her red wineglasses and toast her memory, and exchange our life stories, and, finally, to lie together on the living room rug while Mozart and my mother filled the room.
This was her mother recorded singing opera years ago. Nothing kinky.
Yes, definitely five stars. I even had some moisture in my eyes in the last section.
June 15, 2017
This was a frustrating read to me. And honestly this and the next few books in the series started a slow slide of quality IMHO with this series. "Hardball" is way too unbelievable to be believed. And I really hated the introduction of VI's cousin Petra (called Petey) that everyone including Mr. Contreras is infatuated with. I had a hard time that VI's dogs would not have been impounded at this point with her dragging them along when she's investigating and or when people come to her apartment to be shouted at by her and her annoying downstairs neighbor. There were so many scenes like this in this book that took me entirely out of the book.
We have VI going asking questions that somehow according to her partially estranged Uncle Peter has caused her cousin Petra to be kidnapped. The book then jumps back in time to what exactly was VI up to that would have caused Petra to be kidnapped and what does it have to do with a murder that occurred during the Civil Rights Era.
I think the whole story was terrible. Not that I don't believe that something like this could have happened back then (hello look at news headlines now) but because I think VI tried to force fit too many things in this one dealing with her family, her dead parents, her investigation that turned into something else, that turned into something else. I mean at one point we have nuns in this one and there's a fire and someone is dead and VI who at this point should be in the hospital is still running around. It's just unbelievable at this point that she's not suffering from some long term medical issues due to her always being beat up, shot, or something is blowing up near her in every book.
We have VI going asking questions that somehow according to her partially estranged Uncle Peter has caused her cousin Petra to be kidnapped. The book then jumps back in time to what exactly was VI up to that would have caused Petra to be kidnapped and what does it have to do with a murder that occurred during the Civil Rights Era.
I think the whole story was terrible. Not that I don't believe that something like this could have happened back then (hello look at news headlines now) but because I think VI tried to force fit too many things in this one dealing with her family, her dead parents, her investigation that turned into something else, that turned into something else. I mean at one point we have nuns in this one and there's a fire and someone is dead and VI who at this point should be in the hospital is still running around. It's just unbelievable at this point that she's not suffering from some long term medical issues due to her always being beat up, shot, or something is blowing up near her in every book.
July 6, 2011
Forty years after Lamont Gadsden disappeared in a humongous Chicago blizzard, his dying aunt hires V. I. Warshawski to discover what became of him. 1967 was a time of brutal racial unrest in Chicago, and Warshawski soon discovers that Gadsden's disappearance is somehow linked to the murder of a civil rights worker earlier that year. As she digs deeper into the mystery, Warshawski raises a lot of uncomfortable questions about what took place that year, raising suspicions even about members of her own family, and in the process, she antagonizes a lot of powerful people who would prefer that the mysteries of the past stay dead and buried.
Into the middle of this tangled web steps V. I.'s cousin, Petra, who arrives in the Windy City to take a job with a local political campaign. But she, too, soon gets caught up in the action that's unfolding around V.I., and before long, Petra too has disappeared, adding one more problem for the besieged Warshawski to handle.
As always in these books, Paretsky's strong social conscience is at the forefront of the book. The bad guys are really, really bad; V.I. and those who support her are really, really good; and for a long time, we're not so sure about the cousin, Petra. V. I. Warshawski can sometimes seem to be unbearably sanctimonious and impossibly humorless, but she is a unique creation and Sara Paretsky is unquestionably the Godmother of the feminist school of crime fiction. Those who have enjoyed this series from its beginning in 1982, will surely enjoy this entry.
Into the middle of this tangled web steps V. I.'s cousin, Petra, who arrives in the Windy City to take a job with a local political campaign. But she, too, soon gets caught up in the action that's unfolding around V.I., and before long, Petra too has disappeared, adding one more problem for the besieged Warshawski to handle.
As always in these books, Paretsky's strong social conscience is at the forefront of the book. The bad guys are really, really bad; V.I. and those who support her are really, really good; and for a long time, we're not so sure about the cousin, Petra. V. I. Warshawski can sometimes seem to be unbearably sanctimonious and impossibly humorless, but she is a unique creation and Sara Paretsky is unquestionably the Godmother of the feminist school of crime fiction. Those who have enjoyed this series from its beginning in 1982, will surely enjoy this entry.
June 29, 2015
Sara Paretsky's 14th novel is possibly her best yet. I have been reading them in the order she wrote them and she never rests on her laurels. She seems to challenge herself everytime. Hardball takes place in the early 2000s but her investigation takes her back into the days of the Civil Rights movement, thus combining racism, Chicago politics, and a shocking revelation about her beloved father's early years in the police force.
I read the book shortly after the massacre in Charlston, SC. That made it more intense. VI is tougher than ever even as she must come to terms with complex moral questions in her own life. I think Sara Paretsky is the best crime writer around these days. It is a big deal that she is a female crime writer!
I read the book shortly after the massacre in Charlston, SC. That made it more intense. VI is tougher than ever even as she must come to terms with complex moral questions in her own life. I think Sara Paretsky is the best crime writer around these days. It is a big deal that she is a female crime writer!
October 25, 2009
Once upon a time, I had to have each new V. I. Warshawski novel as it came out. However, after about four of them, I got tired of her perpetual bad humor and inability to get close to anyone. The atmosphere along such lines of the works just became too oppressive to me, so I bowed out of reading the next set. After having read a recent review of this book, I plunged back in. And am glad that I did.
In the early books, she was still young; here, she is about 50 or so, based on some of her comments. As she has aged, the same poor humor and inability to get close to others remains. But, somehow, this has become poignant and adds pop to this novel. Her character, Vic to acquaintances, in a sense, has grown richer since the last time I read one of these works.
This novel has several seemingly unrelated threads that end up coming together in a powerful ending. Paretsky's novels in this series often contain politically oriented issues. No different this time. The key event is racial rioting in Chicago in the latter m1960s, including an attempt on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. at an event in Chicago. What went down then? Police arrested a young man for murder and tortured him to get an arrest.
Move forward 40 years. Plot line # 1. Vic's (V. I.=Victoria Iphigenia) cousin shows up. She is working for a charismatic candidate (Kennedy-esque)U. S. Senate seat. Plot line # 2. An old, dying woman wants to know what happened to her son 40 years earlier. The two plot lines, of course, seem completely different. However, Paretsky brings them powerfully together.
In the process, we continue to be touched by how important Vic’s parents, dead for years, remain to her. It is also part of the poignancy of her rather empty life that they retain such an emotional effect on her. Elements that are a part of this story: the coerced confession; her father Tony's role in this (and his subsequent dead end career as a police officer); ex-police officers becoming powerful figures in Chicago; a former gang leader imprisoned; the person charged with the murder now free; a nun working to make the lives of immigrants a bit better and her fate; and on and on. The story develops richly, with many components (as one can tell from the preceding partial listing) a Paretsky trademark. And, at the end, perhaps a wisp of hope that V. I. is learning something about herself and might be able to address her demons. Only a wisp, I emphasize.
At any rate, this book has reintroduced me to this tough Private Investigator, and I'll read at least the next novel to come out.
In the early books, she was still young; here, she is about 50 or so, based on some of her comments. As she has aged, the same poor humor and inability to get close to others remains. But, somehow, this has become poignant and adds pop to this novel. Her character, Vic to acquaintances, in a sense, has grown richer since the last time I read one of these works.
This novel has several seemingly unrelated threads that end up coming together in a powerful ending. Paretsky's novels in this series often contain politically oriented issues. No different this time. The key event is racial rioting in Chicago in the latter m1960s, including an attempt on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. at an event in Chicago. What went down then? Police arrested a young man for murder and tortured him to get an arrest.
Move forward 40 years. Plot line # 1. Vic's (V. I.=Victoria Iphigenia) cousin shows up. She is working for a charismatic candidate (Kennedy-esque)U. S. Senate seat. Plot line # 2. An old, dying woman wants to know what happened to her son 40 years earlier. The two plot lines, of course, seem completely different. However, Paretsky brings them powerfully together.
In the process, we continue to be touched by how important Vic’s parents, dead for years, remain to her. It is also part of the poignancy of her rather empty life that they retain such an emotional effect on her. Elements that are a part of this story: the coerced confession; her father Tony's role in this (and his subsequent dead end career as a police officer); ex-police officers becoming powerful figures in Chicago; a former gang leader imprisoned; the person charged with the murder now free; a nun working to make the lives of immigrants a bit better and her fate; and on and on. The story develops richly, with many components (as one can tell from the preceding partial listing) a Paretsky trademark. And, at the end, perhaps a wisp of hope that V. I. is learning something about herself and might be able to address her demons. Only a wisp, I emphasize.
At any rate, this book has reintroduced me to this tough Private Investigator, and I'll read at least the next novel to come out.
October 17, 2009
The title of this novel, "Hardball," pinpoints the metaphor at the center of this suspense tale—a story that spotlights civil rights, baseball, politics, and police corruption.
When V. I. Warshawski inadvertently saves a homeless man's life, she meets a woman of the clergy, who also assists the man; this pastor is so taken with the detective's compassion that she introduces her to a woman searching for her son who has been missing for more than forty years.
The search links V. I. to an incarcerated member of the Anaconda gang, who allegedly has information about the missing man, and then sets her on a convoluted trail leading to old gang members, political candidates, retired cops, and an old murder case from the 1960s.
Everything suddenly heats up when V. I.'s cousin Petra comes to work for a political candidate and begins snooping around in V. I.'s personal possessions, supposedly to learn more about her own "roots." Suddenly fire bombs are exploding, Petra goes missing, and V. I. herself is in danger.
What secrets connect cops, politicians, and gang members, leading back to a civil rights demonstration in 1966, and what do any of these events have to do with the missing man?
Answering these questions will propel V. I. forward in the pursuit of her life, as she scrambles around, trying to stay alive long enough to find out.
As the clues begin to assemble and form patterns, I kept turning pages as fast as I could to the final resolution.
Just as in previous V. I. novels, Paretsky's finest skill lies in creating a winning combination of flaws, persistence, toughness and gutsiness in her lead character that keeps the reader plowing along, even when the clues don't add up as quickly as one might like.
A definite five-star read!
When V. I. Warshawski inadvertently saves a homeless man's life, she meets a woman of the clergy, who also assists the man; this pastor is so taken with the detective's compassion that she introduces her to a woman searching for her son who has been missing for more than forty years.
The search links V. I. to an incarcerated member of the Anaconda gang, who allegedly has information about the missing man, and then sets her on a convoluted trail leading to old gang members, political candidates, retired cops, and an old murder case from the 1960s.
Everything suddenly heats up when V. I.'s cousin Petra comes to work for a political candidate and begins snooping around in V. I.'s personal possessions, supposedly to learn more about her own "roots." Suddenly fire bombs are exploding, Petra goes missing, and V. I. herself is in danger.
What secrets connect cops, politicians, and gang members, leading back to a civil rights demonstration in 1966, and what do any of these events have to do with the missing man?
Answering these questions will propel V. I. forward in the pursuit of her life, as she scrambles around, trying to stay alive long enough to find out.
As the clues begin to assemble and form patterns, I kept turning pages as fast as I could to the final resolution.
Just as in previous V. I. novels, Paretsky's finest skill lies in creating a winning combination of flaws, persistence, toughness and gutsiness in her lead character that keeps the reader plowing along, even when the clues don't add up as quickly as one might like.
A definite five-star read!
November 6, 2009
This has got to be one of the slowest reading books that I've read in a long time. I love Vic, have for years. But this whole thing is just plodding along for me. I'm not even sure I'll finish it. I'm so bored trying to read it.
November 16, 2009
Sara Paretsky is back with another blockbuster, and Victoria Iphigenia Warshawski, Chicago's favorite PI is at the top of her game. With 15 prior novels, 12 of them about V.I., Sara has kind of been wandering in the wilderness lately. She nails it with this one. It is one of the best I've read.
We learn more about V.I.'s parents in this story: her mother, the Italian immigrant opera singer who gave up so much for her husband and daughter and her father, the upright Chicago cop.
With the story beginning in 1966-7, there are lots of flashbacks to the giant blizzard, civil rights marches and the blatant bigotry of the times. This is another story taken directly from the newspaper front pages: cops torturing suspects to get confessions. As usual, V.I. stirs up lots of trouble leading to murders, arson, kidnapping (maybe), and lots of shots fired.
Plus a big personal surprise for us...one of the major characters turns out to be named after a friend who won naming rights through a silent auction. The fictional chaplain Karen Lennon is a lot like the real businesswoman/political maven, caring and active in lots of projects to make Chicago a better place. Currently Board Chair of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Karen has been a very positive force for small businesses, especially women owned.
Hardball could be adapted easily to the big screen, although casting would be a fun problem. It is easy to visualize.
We learn more about V.I.'s parents in this story: her mother, the Italian immigrant opera singer who gave up so much for her husband and daughter and her father, the upright Chicago cop.
With the story beginning in 1966-7, there are lots of flashbacks to the giant blizzard, civil rights marches and the blatant bigotry of the times. This is another story taken directly from the newspaper front pages: cops torturing suspects to get confessions. As usual, V.I. stirs up lots of trouble leading to murders, arson, kidnapping (maybe), and lots of shots fired.
Plus a big personal surprise for us...one of the major characters turns out to be named after a friend who won naming rights through a silent auction. The fictional chaplain Karen Lennon is a lot like the real businesswoman/political maven, caring and active in lots of projects to make Chicago a better place. Currently Board Chair of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Karen has been a very positive force for small businesses, especially women owned.
Hardball could be adapted easily to the big screen, although casting would be a fun problem. It is easy to visualize.
April 1, 2019
I recall reading a few of the Warshawski novels many years ago and liking them well enough, but for whatever reason not reading on. I picked this up out of desperation, having abandoned a number of clunkers, and was well-rewarded. This is a very good story, and it is very well told. It has depth, and tension, and the pacing is excellent. Being rooted in the systemic corruption, endemic racism, and vicious brutality of the 1960's Chicago police and justice system gives it a timely relevance despite its 2009 publication date.
I have a few quibbles - I found one of the key protagonists highly annoying - but that was minor compared to how much I enjoyed reading a really compelling tale.t
On edit: I happened across this story today, and it clarified the niggling sense of something bothering me while reading this that I could not put my finger on:
http://www.fox32chicago.com/news/crim...
There is scarcely a day that I do not read about police corruption, brutality, and racism from around US. While "Hardball," does not in any way exonerate or excuse history, there is a subtle thread throughout suggesting greater contemporary probity in those same institutions. Not that there are not "bad apples" - there are. But the barrel is presumed to be crisp and fresh. I think this is typical of most detective fiction and why I stopped reading it for many years. It posits a mythical benign order emanating from TPTB and enacted by the law enforcement and justice systems as a protection from the chaos of crime. In that sense, it is a profoundly conservative genre.
This does not make me less interested in reading more of this series - I think that this construct is more nuanced and less sturdy in "Hardball" than in most detective fiction. I'm more interested in fact to see how Paretsky handles it in earlier and later installments.
I have a few quibbles - I found one of the key protagonists highly annoying - but that was minor compared to how much I enjoyed reading a really compelling tale.t
On edit: I happened across this story today, and it clarified the niggling sense of something bothering me while reading this that I could not put my finger on:
http://www.fox32chicago.com/news/crim...
CHICAGO (AP) - A judge has overturned the drug convictions of 10 more men who were framed by a disgraced former Chicago police sergeant, bringing the number of people cleared in the scandal to 63.
There is scarcely a day that I do not read about police corruption, brutality, and racism from around US. While "Hardball," does not in any way exonerate or excuse history, there is a subtle thread throughout suggesting greater contemporary probity in those same institutions. Not that there are not "bad apples" - there are. But the barrel is presumed to be crisp and fresh. I think this is typical of most detective fiction and why I stopped reading it for many years. It posits a mythical benign order emanating from TPTB and enacted by the law enforcement and justice systems as a protection from the chaos of crime. In that sense, it is a profoundly conservative genre.
This does not make me less interested in reading more of this series - I think that this construct is more nuanced and less sturdy in "Hardball" than in most detective fiction. I'm more interested in fact to see how Paretsky handles it in earlier and later installments.
October 6, 2009
Paretsky is one of a handful of writers I'd have to rank as the best living authors of detective fiction. I don't know that it's still meaningful to refer to her work as 'hard boiled' any more, but both Paretsky and her detective, VI Warshawski have evolved.
I always hate it when someone says a novel is so good it 'transcends the genre' because I think good mystery fiction is a genre that doesn't need to be 'transcending.' But this novel is about a lot of things--one's family past, a city's painful racial history, person loss, poverty and social injustice--and the detective tale is a framework that allows Paretsky to explore these issues. If 'Hardball' 'transcends' the genre, it's because the novel is so thoroughly IN the genre of detective fiction that it shows how genre fiction can create as serious a novel as 'literary' fiction can. Plus, this is still a damned fine read.
The impetus of the story is that VI (Vic to her friends) has been hired by to old ladies, one of whom is dying, to find out what happened to Lamont Gadsden, a 19 year old who diappeared a few days after a race riot in South Chiicago. It's a case Vic doesn't want to take for a number of reasons--it's a forty year old disappearance, the victim's own mother thinks her son is a gang banger who was up to no good, and the likelihood of being paid anything like what her time is worth is minimal.
About the same time, a young cousin named Petra shows up. She's the daughter of Vic's father's youngest brother, a man who was born after her father had grown up and was living on his own. Petra grew up in Kansas City, and has moved to Chicago to help the child of one of her father's sons as he runs for the US Senate.
As Vic delvers further into the case, she is warned off by nearly everyone--police, politicians, even many from Lamont's old neighborhood who say it is best to let the past be the past. ALong the way, as she gets to know Petra better, she relives some of her own past by showing her young relative family memorabilia and by taking her around to places where the family used to live.
Vic begins to realize both that some of the family history she has been given is inconsistent, as is the information about Lamont. Then, Petra disappears, and she must face the blame of her family for living a 'careless' life that endangers others.
Ultimately, the story comes out on multiple levels--she must confront the legacy of race left in Chicago those past thirty years, including police corruption that Vic is not sure her much beloved father was involved in or not. It turns out that, during the race riot, a young African American woman named Harmony was killed and one of Lamont's friends Steven was convicted of the murder; Vic's father was the arresting officer.
Steven was tortured into confessing; the mounting evidence suggests that it was not he who was the murderer and that the missing Lamont must have known who the killer was. Ultimately, old photos are found that shows clearly that it is the sentatorial candidate's father who killed Harmony (with a baseball that had nails driven into it, thus the novel's title), that Vic's uncle (petra's father) was present, and that a number of policemen conspired to protect 'their own' and pinned the murder on Vic.
It is also revealed that Vic's father tried to stop the totrurous interrogation techniques, filed a protest in the department, and ultimately ruined his career trying to bring about justice for Steve, the young man accused of killing Harmony. But it is also true that, outside the bounds of the justice system, he kept quiet to protect his own brother. Vic has a hard time reconciling these acts, wanting to believe her father was flawless and honorable, yet seeing both honor in his actions and dishonor in his silence.
Ultimately, it's a thoughtful novel. It confronts the past painfully but in a balanced way; although it does not condone white violence, it does attempt to recreate the time to show why poor immigrant whites, who'd faced their own discrimination to get a hold on a decent life, felt threatened by african-americans who were denied their rights. The novel shows that some people who are clearly "bad" men, such as a ganbmember responsible for many deaths, are capable of the occassional noble dead, as when the gang member save Dr. Martin Luther King's life.
Lamont has been dead a long time, but his family members can at least die knowing what happened to him, and with the knowledge that his death was brought about by his attempts to use the photographs to exonerate his friend Steve. Belated, but while he is still alive, Steve is exonerated. Those who committed or covered up crimes are called to account for it, and the City of Chicago must, very publically, investigate the wrongdoings of some of its officers.
This is a heck of a good book. It's a time of growth for Vic; it deals with serious issues in a balanced way, asking how people of good intent on both sides can get to the point that they are capable of viciousness, and it suggest, tentatively and without sap, that it is possible to achieve some understanding and move forward. Not all wounds heal, but those with them can recover to the point where they can go forward and not be defined by their wounds. So it is with people, so it is with Chicago and cities like them.
I like Paretsky so much because, unlike many other hardboiled detectives, her hero isn't static--she grows, changes, and develops. If you don't know VI Warshawski, she is well worth knowing. Each of the novels she appears in stands alone, so that it's not necessary to start at the beginning of the series to enjoy the current novel. Hardball is as good a place as any to start exploring Vic's world; I heartily recommend you start doing so.
I always hate it when someone says a novel is so good it 'transcends the genre' because I think good mystery fiction is a genre that doesn't need to be 'transcending.' But this novel is about a lot of things--one's family past, a city's painful racial history, person loss, poverty and social injustice--and the detective tale is a framework that allows Paretsky to explore these issues. If 'Hardball' 'transcends' the genre, it's because the novel is so thoroughly IN the genre of detective fiction that it shows how genre fiction can create as serious a novel as 'literary' fiction can. Plus, this is still a damned fine read.
The impetus of the story is that VI (Vic to her friends) has been hired by to old ladies, one of whom is dying, to find out what happened to Lamont Gadsden, a 19 year old who diappeared a few days after a race riot in South Chiicago. It's a case Vic doesn't want to take for a number of reasons--it's a forty year old disappearance, the victim's own mother thinks her son is a gang banger who was up to no good, and the likelihood of being paid anything like what her time is worth is minimal.
About the same time, a young cousin named Petra shows up. She's the daughter of Vic's father's youngest brother, a man who was born after her father had grown up and was living on his own. Petra grew up in Kansas City, and has moved to Chicago to help the child of one of her father's sons as he runs for the US Senate.
As Vic delvers further into the case, she is warned off by nearly everyone--police, politicians, even many from Lamont's old neighborhood who say it is best to let the past be the past. ALong the way, as she gets to know Petra better, she relives some of her own past by showing her young relative family memorabilia and by taking her around to places where the family used to live.
Vic begins to realize both that some of the family history she has been given is inconsistent, as is the information about Lamont. Then, Petra disappears, and she must face the blame of her family for living a 'careless' life that endangers others.
Ultimately, the story comes out on multiple levels--she must confront the legacy of race left in Chicago those past thirty years, including police corruption that Vic is not sure her much beloved father was involved in or not. It turns out that, during the race riot, a young African American woman named Harmony was killed and one of Lamont's friends Steven was convicted of the murder; Vic's father was the arresting officer.
Steven was tortured into confessing; the mounting evidence suggests that it was not he who was the murderer and that the missing Lamont must have known who the killer was. Ultimately, old photos are found that shows clearly that it is the sentatorial candidate's father who killed Harmony (with a baseball that had nails driven into it, thus the novel's title), that Vic's uncle (petra's father) was present, and that a number of policemen conspired to protect 'their own' and pinned the murder on Vic.
It is also revealed that Vic's father tried to stop the totrurous interrogation techniques, filed a protest in the department, and ultimately ruined his career trying to bring about justice for Steve, the young man accused of killing Harmony. But it is also true that, outside the bounds of the justice system, he kept quiet to protect his own brother. Vic has a hard time reconciling these acts, wanting to believe her father was flawless and honorable, yet seeing both honor in his actions and dishonor in his silence.
Ultimately, it's a thoughtful novel. It confronts the past painfully but in a balanced way; although it does not condone white violence, it does attempt to recreate the time to show why poor immigrant whites, who'd faced their own discrimination to get a hold on a decent life, felt threatened by african-americans who were denied their rights. The novel shows that some people who are clearly "bad" men, such as a ganbmember responsible for many deaths, are capable of the occassional noble dead, as when the gang member save Dr. Martin Luther King's life.
Lamont has been dead a long time, but his family members can at least die knowing what happened to him, and with the knowledge that his death was brought about by his attempts to use the photographs to exonerate his friend Steve. Belated, but while he is still alive, Steve is exonerated. Those who committed or covered up crimes are called to account for it, and the City of Chicago must, very publically, investigate the wrongdoings of some of its officers.
This is a heck of a good book. It's a time of growth for Vic; it deals with serious issues in a balanced way, asking how people of good intent on both sides can get to the point that they are capable of viciousness, and it suggest, tentatively and without sap, that it is possible to achieve some understanding and move forward. Not all wounds heal, but those with them can recover to the point where they can go forward and not be defined by their wounds. So it is with people, so it is with Chicago and cities like them.
I like Paretsky so much because, unlike many other hardboiled detectives, her hero isn't static--she grows, changes, and develops. If you don't know VI Warshawski, she is well worth knowing. Each of the novels she appears in stands alone, so that it's not necessary to start at the beginning of the series to enjoy the current novel. Hardball is as good a place as any to start exploring Vic's world; I heartily recommend you start doing so.
November 20, 2024
Ironically, I picked up this book to read something less intense than the election news, but it brought all the issues of sexism and misogyny into view. Granted it was easier to read as fiction.
This was the first time I read anything by Sara Peretsky, but knew of Kathleen Turner’s portrayal of V. I. Warshawsky, so have wanted to read this series for years. I grabbed on of the books on the library shelf with the latest date. This did not disappoint!
The writing and pacing of the novel was great for me. I didn’t feel any lulls nor did I feel there were any superfluous twists and turns which I sometimes feel some mysteries take. The characters were well-developed for me to form likes and dislikes and suspicions. Once I kind of knew who was responsible, I still wanted to read for the tie-up at the end of the story.
Vic is a witty and smart detective that doesn’t take any guff from the men who think they know more than her, and Sara Peretsky writes it in a fun and endearing way!
This was the first time I read anything by Sara Peretsky, but knew of Kathleen Turner’s portrayal of V. I. Warshawsky, so have wanted to read this series for years. I grabbed on of the books on the library shelf with the latest date. This did not disappoint!
The writing and pacing of the novel was great for me. I didn’t feel any lulls nor did I feel there were any superfluous twists and turns which I sometimes feel some mysteries take. The characters were well-developed for me to form likes and dislikes and suspicions. Once I kind of knew who was responsible, I still wanted to read for the tie-up at the end of the story.
Vic is a witty and smart detective that doesn’t take any guff from the men who think they know more than her, and Sara Peretsky writes it in a fun and endearing way!
April 9, 2017
This novel has a contemporary setting with flashbacks to Chicago during the civil rights movement in the 1960s. V.I. is hired to find what happened long ago to Lamont Gadsden by his elderly ailing aunt. He was around with a Chicago gang in the 60s. Meanwhile, Vic's cousin Petra comes to town to intern with a rising politician. And then Petra goes missing as well. So our fearless hot tempered detective has to find out what happened to her as well, and it turns out to be complicated and intertwined. A good story, well plotted.
My only caveat is that the aunt, who could hardly talk due to a stroke at the beginning, suddenly can talk in complete sentences at the end.
My only caveat is that the aunt, who could hardly talk due to a stroke at the beginning, suddenly can talk in complete sentences at the end.
September 3, 2018
Wonderful protagonist and a strong writer who doesn't mail it in just because she has a successful franchise.
Her secret? She gives us deep characters. These people are breathing.
Her secret? She gives us deep characters. These people are breathing.
January 18, 2024
A bit too long a bit contrived
August 19, 2018
Another audio book in the bag—this was a V. I. Warshafski (spelling) novel —and the longest one I’ve listened to yet. Very (way too?) complicated with too many bit characters and complications to the plot. Centered on an annoyingly spoiled niece, an unbelievable election campaign, and family drama, this book bordered on the tedious but managed to squeak by in the end due to my appreciation of strong female characters. Slowed me down in making my book read goal but overall, a fairly entertaining book..
May 31, 2010
I am a little over halfway through this novel - the 13th V.I. Warshawski story author Sara Paretsky has written. She started writing them when she was 32 and the protagonist, a female private investigator in Chicago, was 30. Parestsky is now 60+ and her heroine is in her 50's. I like that. It adds authenticity. But, "Hardball"l has become tedious. Writing a book is not easy. Getting it published is not easy. Getting people to read it is not easy. And today, according to writer and story teller Garrison Keillor, there are 18 million authors in America with an average readership of 14; annual income of $1.75. What's a reader to do? (Who even reads my reviews, much less my own publications?) There is now software, bought by retailer's called "recommendation engines" that suggest to you what you might like, based upon what you have shown an interest in before. This is why I like Parestky, and also T. Jefferson Parker, who are taking chances with their serial novels. V.I. is getting old. Charles Hood, Parker's protagonist in his latest three novels is growing, too. Though Hood is 28 and Parker 60+. These are actually character studies, in psychological jargon, longitudinal studies of personality. I've become bored with V.I. but not Hood. Many reader/reviewers complain when the author deviates from the template, or the genre. They know what they like and that's what they want. That says more about them than the book, or blog, or whatever. I like having my mind challenged by what is possible as well as what and why something happened. That says something about me. Parker is now questioning "reality" in his crime novels. Paretsky could use some of that; but maybe that's not something she's capable of? They are both famous and well respected authors who, most likely, don't need the money. Another favorite of mine Is Richard North Patterson - he's still going strong writing about current affairs through the characters he creates. Yet there are patterns in all of these writer's works. The same themes emerge. Themes, no doubt, important to the authors, consciously or unconsciously. Writing is all about choices - what to put in, what to leave out. Life is all about choices, too. Most choices, by most most people, are made by unconsciously - I think. I'm not bothered that there are 18,000,000 authors. There are, after all, 7 billion people. Write it down, I say. PUBLISH IT! Every so often I will find that diamond, and that is so thrilling and exciting. Every so often someone will say something that just makes me think about something I never thought about before and i will say, "Damn, that's some good thinking, that's a damn good idea ... you, writer, just might be on to something. Thank you.
March 24, 2022
Several years ago, I made a concerted effort to start reading Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series in the order that they were written. I'd already read quite a few books in the series, but really wanted more of a sense of time-flow: When someone is mentioned in one book as an ex-lover, or a reference is made from an earlier book, I wanted to be able to relate.
In Hardball, by Sara Paretsky, V.I. reluctantly takes a case to find Lamont Gadsden, an African-American man who's been missing for 40 years, a case that unearths the seamy side of Chicago politics.
In 1966, a nail-studded baseball kills Harmony Newsome as she attends a civil rights gathering. Gang member Steve Sawyer is wrongly convicted, after being tortured to confess.
During his trial, Sawyer states that Lamont Gadsden has photos of who really killed Harmony. However, Gadsden has disappeared.
Fast forward to the present: Vic's cousin Petra, a recent college grad, is in town to help with a local political campaign. However, the campaign involves people who were instrumental in the death of Harmony Newsome, in the torture of Steve Sawyer, and the death and disappearance of Lamont Gadsden, and the death of a nun who marched with Harmony. Vic must unravel the threads in this case before both she and her cousin are killed in an effort to keep the truth secret.
While I've been a fan of Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series for years, I am partial to Hardball, and feel that is is one of Paretsky's best that I have read thus far. This is definitely worth reading (and rereading). I highly recommend it.
In Hardball, by Sara Paretsky, V.I. reluctantly takes a case to find Lamont Gadsden, an African-American man who's been missing for 40 years, a case that unearths the seamy side of Chicago politics.
In 1966, a nail-studded baseball kills Harmony Newsome as she attends a civil rights gathering. Gang member Steve Sawyer is wrongly convicted, after being tortured to confess.
During his trial, Sawyer states that Lamont Gadsden has photos of who really killed Harmony. However, Gadsden has disappeared.
Fast forward to the present: Vic's cousin Petra, a recent college grad, is in town to help with a local political campaign. However, the campaign involves people who were instrumental in the death of Harmony Newsome, in the torture of Steve Sawyer, and the death and disappearance of Lamont Gadsden, and the death of a nun who marched with Harmony. Vic must unravel the threads in this case before both she and her cousin are killed in an effort to keep the truth secret.
While I've been a fan of Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series for years, I am partial to Hardball, and feel that is is one of Paretsky's best that I have read thus far. This is definitely worth reading (and rereading). I highly recommend it.
September 28, 2009
Two missing persons - one that lawyer and private investigator V. I. Warshawski is hired to find, the other someone that she must find. Those who want to learn more about the city of Chicago, past and present, will certainly get a lot from reading Hardball.
Synopsis: V. I. Warshawski, lawyer and private investigator, is hired to find a missing man, Lamont Gadsgen. In the meantime her cousin Petra disappears, possibly abducted while visiting Warshawksi's office with two unknown men. The security cameras capture the three blurred figures on film. Warshawski has to find Lamont, who has been missing for many years, and also try to find Petra and calm down her father, who blames her for Petra's mysterious disappearance. The plot ties into the history of Chicago in the 1960s.
I like a cleaner, more focused mystery than the current one by Paretsky, however. Maybe I'm too familiar with Chicago, but I felt that Paretsky tried to cram as much of Chicago as possible into her book. There was way too much of the city, more than the plot warranted. Chicago's southside urban ghettos and its gangs and the 1967 race riots in Marquette Park are central to the plot, but the author also throws in Navy Pier, the Polish community, a lot of Chicago politics, and more. I found it distracting.
Also, I was put off by the number of different characters introduced at the beginning. I didn't know where to put my focus. The book would have been better had the writing and plot been more streamlined and less all-inclusive of the city of Chicago. Even then, you really can't describe all aspects of this city in one book.
I also found it interesting that Warshawski's love interest is named Morell. The name reminded me too much of Stephanie Plum's on-and-off-again boyfriend Morelli in the Janet Evanovich mystery series. Another unnecessary distraction.
Synopsis: V. I. Warshawski, lawyer and private investigator, is hired to find a missing man, Lamont Gadsgen. In the meantime her cousin Petra disappears, possibly abducted while visiting Warshawksi's office with two unknown men. The security cameras capture the three blurred figures on film. Warshawski has to find Lamont, who has been missing for many years, and also try to find Petra and calm down her father, who blames her for Petra's mysterious disappearance. The plot ties into the history of Chicago in the 1960s.
I like a cleaner, more focused mystery than the current one by Paretsky, however. Maybe I'm too familiar with Chicago, but I felt that Paretsky tried to cram as much of Chicago as possible into her book. There was way too much of the city, more than the plot warranted. Chicago's southside urban ghettos and its gangs and the 1967 race riots in Marquette Park are central to the plot, but the author also throws in Navy Pier, the Polish community, a lot of Chicago politics, and more. I found it distracting.
Also, I was put off by the number of different characters introduced at the beginning. I didn't know where to put my focus. The book would have been better had the writing and plot been more streamlined and less all-inclusive of the city of Chicago. Even then, you really can't describe all aspects of this city in one book.
I also found it interesting that Warshawski's love interest is named Morell. The name reminded me too much of Stephanie Plum's on-and-off-again boyfriend Morelli in the Janet Evanovich mystery series. Another unnecessary distraction.
October 20, 2009
After a four-year hiatus, Chicago private investigator V.I. Warshawski makes a characteristically noisy return in “Hardball.”
Smarting a little from a breakup but rested from a trip to Italy, V.I. takes on a 40-year-old missing-person case just as her human hurricane of a cousin, Petra, blows into town with a new job. As headstrong V.I. delves into the case, it leads her to prison chats with an incarcerated gang leader who may have some information, to a decades-old murder that happened during a violent civil rights demonstration, to her late father and his not-so-by-the-book comrades on the police force, to nuns who work at a social-justice center, and finally to the senatorial campaign her cousin is working on.
In her rich, unhurried story, Paretsky builds layer upon layer of seemingly unrelated connections, intrigue and long-buried secrets. But this is Paretsky, and we know she’ll tie it all together eventually, as well as weaving in social issues — contemporary and historical, in this book — along the way. A definite point of view comes through, but it’s part of the story, not tangential preaching.
As V.I. digs deeper into the history of the South Side and the cases that some people would rather not see reopened, she’s in no small amount of danger, and when a nun is killed and Petra goes missing, the urgency mounts and the pages fly. It’s hard to tell who’s scarier: the leader of the Anacondas, the eavesdropping feds or the ruthless campaign manager. But we know who’ll eventually come out on top, and we’re rooting for her all the way.
Smarting a little from a breakup but rested from a trip to Italy, V.I. takes on a 40-year-old missing-person case just as her human hurricane of a cousin, Petra, blows into town with a new job. As headstrong V.I. delves into the case, it leads her to prison chats with an incarcerated gang leader who may have some information, to a decades-old murder that happened during a violent civil rights demonstration, to her late father and his not-so-by-the-book comrades on the police force, to nuns who work at a social-justice center, and finally to the senatorial campaign her cousin is working on.
In her rich, unhurried story, Paretsky builds layer upon layer of seemingly unrelated connections, intrigue and long-buried secrets. But this is Paretsky, and we know she’ll tie it all together eventually, as well as weaving in social issues — contemporary and historical, in this book — along the way. A definite point of view comes through, but it’s part of the story, not tangential preaching.
As V.I. digs deeper into the history of the South Side and the cases that some people would rather not see reopened, she’s in no small amount of danger, and when a nun is killed and Petra goes missing, the urgency mounts and the pages fly. It’s hard to tell who’s scarier: the leader of the Anacondas, the eavesdropping feds or the ruthless campaign manager. But we know who’ll eventually come out on top, and we’re rooting for her all the way.
September 3, 2009
Missing People + Murder + Old Family Secrets = Intense Read! The novel started off a little slow for my tasting but once you got the background stuff out of the way, it got really interesting. I could not put this novel away! I usually don’t read genres like this but I honestly really loved this novel! It was like you were pieces the pieces together alongside V. I. Warshawski. The author keeps giving you little hints through out the entire novel and then they all tie nicely at the end. The character were unforgettable, from the young and beautiful cousin Petra, to her neighbor Mr. Contretas, the old lady trying to find her nephew on her death bed Miss Claudia, among other lively characters! The one I always felt myself drawn to was her cousin Petra, I guess it was because she reminded me of myself. She’s young, hopeful and full of energy as any girl her age would be; especially with the kind of job she landed! This is actually a book as part of a series and I hadn’t read any of the previous V.I. books but the author doesn’t write the book in a sense that you have to read the other books in order to get this one, which is quite awesome because if not I would have been really lost. The author does a great job describing events and places through her writing. I felt as though I was there as V.I.’s shadow getting a glimpse of life filled with danger, as well as excitement. I also enjoyed that she included things like the current president, Barrack Obama, and Twitter as well as Myspace. I’m definetly checking out some more of Sara Paretsky’s novels! I’m totally hooked
October 16, 2009
Pretty good Paretsky is miles ahead of most mystery writers, and this book is pretty good.
While not having the depth and detail of her best (Blacklist) this is a similar story of past crimes influencing current events. What does a civil rights worker killed at a 1966 march of Dr. King in Chicago have to do with a man who has been missing all those years? Can Vic survive her peppy young cousin, in Chicago to work on a senate campaign, and her efforts to snoop into Vic's life? What the hell is wrong with Vic that she is so hot tempered and can't keep friendships?
Except for the last, all these and more are answered. Paretsky's mystery series is one of the few that takes place in what could be the real world. All the political and personal beliefs, actions, oppressions, and more are integrated into the story (just like in real life). That doesn't sound like a big deal, but consider that most mysteries pick out a political stance or belief then drape the whole story on this flimsy framework. Another nice thing about Paretsky's books is the clear class consciousness, the feminism, and the anti-racism.
A couple dialogue interactions here were a little weak. Related, a couple characters were pretty thin and conveniently doing what needed to be done (or said) to move things along. And--as is typical of most PI stopries--Vic gets severely hurt, then she's kicking ass a mere two weeks later (not bad for a woman in her late fifties!).
While not having the depth and detail of her best (Blacklist) this is a similar story of past crimes influencing current events. What does a civil rights worker killed at a 1966 march of Dr. King in Chicago have to do with a man who has been missing all those years? Can Vic survive her peppy young cousin, in Chicago to work on a senate campaign, and her efforts to snoop into Vic's life? What the hell is wrong with Vic that she is so hot tempered and can't keep friendships?
Except for the last, all these and more are answered. Paretsky's mystery series is one of the few that takes place in what could be the real world. All the political and personal beliefs, actions, oppressions, and more are integrated into the story (just like in real life). That doesn't sound like a big deal, but consider that most mysteries pick out a political stance or belief then drape the whole story on this flimsy framework. Another nice thing about Paretsky's books is the clear class consciousness, the feminism, and the anti-racism.
A couple dialogue interactions here were a little weak. Related, a couple characters were pretty thin and conveniently doing what needed to be done (or said) to move things along. And--as is typical of most PI stopries--Vic gets severely hurt, then she's kicking ass a mere two weeks later (not bad for a woman in her late fifties!).
May 9, 2010
This is the latest VI Warshawski mystery, and it's fantastic. If you like mystery novels (especially if you like to read series and not standalones) and haven't read Sara Paretsky yet, you are in for a huge treat.
VI (usually called Vic by her friends and various unpleasant names by people who are emphatically not her friends) has been hired to find a missing person. Lamont Gadsden has been missing for 40 years; he disappeared around the time of a race riot in Chicago. She's also trying to find her missing cousin, Petra, which may or may not be related to the Gadsden case.
It occurred to me the other night that I started reading her books when I was in sixth or seventh grade (so either elementary or middle school, depending on which grade it was). This means that, except for Stephen King, this is the longest literary relationship I've had.
I can't really explain why I like VI so much. She's smart and funny and forthright and just a force for justice in a world that sorely needs it. I like to think we'd be friends if she were a real person. Honestly though, I think I'm a little too lazy for VI's taste. I see wrongs but I don't work to make them better--I just complain.
(I love her, but she makes me feel a little guilty.)
VI (usually called Vic by her friends and various unpleasant names by people who are emphatically not her friends) has been hired to find a missing person. Lamont Gadsden has been missing for 40 years; he disappeared around the time of a race riot in Chicago. She's also trying to find her missing cousin, Petra, which may or may not be related to the Gadsden case.
It occurred to me the other night that I started reading her books when I was in sixth or seventh grade (so either elementary or middle school, depending on which grade it was). This means that, except for Stephen King, this is the longest literary relationship I've had.
I can't really explain why I like VI so much. She's smart and funny and forthright and just a force for justice in a world that sorely needs it. I like to think we'd be friends if she were a real person. Honestly though, I think I'm a little too lazy for VI's taste. I see wrongs but I don't work to make them better--I just complain.
(I love her, but she makes me feel a little guilty.)
August 15, 2012
I have a soft spot for Sara Paretsky. And for VI Warshawski. We go back a bit and that probably accounts for three rather than two stars. As with many of her books she doesn't duck the big issues. Here, they're not dealt with particularly elegantly. In part, in this novel they allow for a bit more character development of VI as she struggles with personal demons whilst the novel explores social ones.
It felt like a good part of this novel was taken up with introducing the character of Warshawski's niece. Can't help but think we'll be meeting her again. (I remember Paretsky worrying about the implied age of her PI more than 20 years ago as she rattles through her series of escapades - and suggesting that the series would and should be finite because of this constraint. On which, Bobby Mallory, VI's father's one-time police colleague features again in this novel. Still tied to the yoke. Still in uniform. How old must he be by now?)
Despite its slghtly clunky, heavy-handed narrative I could only ever exhort Paretsky to keep them coming. The afore-mentioned history with the gutsy PI; who exposes herself to the utmost jeopardy but then will put it and the ensuing damage/pain behind her with a run round the lake with the dogs and a long hot shower.
It felt like a good part of this novel was taken up with introducing the character of Warshawski's niece. Can't help but think we'll be meeting her again. (I remember Paretsky worrying about the implied age of her PI more than 20 years ago as she rattles through her series of escapades - and suggesting that the series would and should be finite because of this constraint. On which, Bobby Mallory, VI's father's one-time police colleague features again in this novel. Still tied to the yoke. Still in uniform. How old must he be by now?)
Despite its slghtly clunky, heavy-handed narrative I could only ever exhort Paretsky to keep them coming. The afore-mentioned history with the gutsy PI; who exposes herself to the utmost jeopardy but then will put it and the ensuing damage/pain behind her with a run round the lake with the dogs and a long hot shower.
July 5, 2014
Vic's search for a missing gang member leads to revelations about the death of a young civil rights worker during a white riot against a march led by Dr. Martin Luther King during the Chicago Open Housing Movement in 1967. These revelations come to include not only a cover-up surrounding that killing but also details of the Chicago police torturing suspects to gain confessions (Paretsky wrote this novel in the wake of revelations of actual torture cases by the Chicago Police and during the unfolding of the John Burge trial). Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski has gotten better and better over the years; while always involving some aspect of the infamous level of corruption in Chicago, the later books have become more expressly political in a very left/liberal fashion. This aspect was most well developed in Blacklist (which linked the modern War on Terror with McCarthyism and repression during the 1950's Red Scare - also highly recommended) but it is also well represented here. I do not think Paretsky is quite as good a writer as, say, Walter Mosely (her prose and especially the dialogue is a bit clunky at times) but her books are always well plotted and exciting, real page-turners, and this one actually had me in tears by the end. Highly recommended.
September 25, 2009
A first reads win!
Wow, what an intense, refreshing mystery. So many of the mysteries/suspense I read seem to be constant action and little development of plot. This one had both. Kind of reminded me of the movies "The Pelican Brief" or "The Fugitive" rather than the intense scene after intense scene in movies like "The Italian Job" or "Mission Impossible." For me, I much prefer plot development as well as action. I like to know how people solve the crime rather then just having everything fall into place. That certainly didn't seem to happen with V I Warshawski. She had to work to get her answers, piece things together, and avoid danger. There were parts that were harder for me to follow and some strong language I avoid in my average reading (though much less than most mystery/suspense novels). I think reading previous VI books would help clarify some of the confusing parts. If you enjoy a good mystery you can't go wrong with this book!
Wow, what an intense, refreshing mystery. So many of the mysteries/suspense I read seem to be constant action and little development of plot. This one had both. Kind of reminded me of the movies "The Pelican Brief" or "The Fugitive" rather than the intense scene after intense scene in movies like "The Italian Job" or "Mission Impossible." For me, I much prefer plot development as well as action. I like to know how people solve the crime rather then just having everything fall into place. That certainly didn't seem to happen with V I Warshawski. She had to work to get her answers, piece things together, and avoid danger. There were parts that were harder for me to follow and some strong language I avoid in my average reading (though much less than most mystery/suspense novels). I think reading previous VI books would help clarify some of the confusing parts. If you enjoy a good mystery you can't go wrong with this book!
January 21, 2015
I confess I almost gave up on Sara Paretsky's Warshawski novels a few years back after reading Total Recall. I simply lost interest in a series which seemed to be stuck in a rut of the "same ol', same ol'" variety. But I kept on slogging through Blacklist and Fire Sale, both of which I enjoyed more than the few I'd read prior, until I got to this one. Hardball, IMHO, is one of the best of the Warshawski brood--mostly, I think, because it's about family, both V.I.'s and those of others. Was it shockingly original? No. Did it follow the tried-and-true Warshawski formula? Yeah, mostly. But it was socially and politically aware without being too preachy, proceeded relentlessly at a breakneck pace, and kept me engaged with new, fresh characters throughout. Relationships were complicated, moving, and yet remained believable. I read this relatively longish novel in just two sittings and even felt its pull when I wasn't greedily turning the pages. In short, it's a good 'un. Give it a chance!
August 8, 2010
Chicago private investigator V.I. Warshawski is back for another adventure in Hardball by Sara Paretsky. When Vic is hired to find out what happened to a man who disappeared 40 years ago, she stirs up all kinds of buried secrets about corrupt cops, race riots, and more -- and there are several people determined to keep Vic quiet no matter what.
I think Vic is a great character -- smart, sassy, and tough -- and I think Paretsky has a lot of interesting things to say about feminism, race relations, and more. However, I did feel that the pace of the book was a little slow. The action doesn't really get going until about halfway through, and it seems like Vic doesn't investigate as much as she stumbles across clues.
Overall, this isn't the best book in the Warshawski series, but it's still an entertaining, thoughtful read.
I think Vic is a great character -- smart, sassy, and tough -- and I think Paretsky has a lot of interesting things to say about feminism, race relations, and more. However, I did feel that the pace of the book was a little slow. The action doesn't really get going until about halfway through, and it seems like Vic doesn't investigate as much as she stumbles across clues.
Overall, this isn't the best book in the Warshawski series, but it's still an entertaining, thoughtful read.
October 22, 2009
Loved this book mostly because it was written about the part of Chicago in which Sara and I both grew up -- the south side. It helped to be really familiar with the area, the times during which the action takes place, and also to be able to catch some of Sara's "inside jokes."
I saw Sara at the annual mystery convention last week in Indianapolis and she got a real kick that I caught the significance of her naming one of the bad guys "Krumas." This just happens to be the Lithuanian word for "bush." HAH!!
V.I. is her usual brash self [notice another reason I love this series?:] and gets her man as always. One of my faves.
I saw Sara at the annual mystery convention last week in Indianapolis and she got a real kick that I caught the significance of her naming one of the bad guys "Krumas." This just happens to be the Lithuanian word for "bush." HAH!!
V.I. is her usual brash self [notice another reason I love this series?:] and gets her man as always. One of my faves.
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