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reikista's review against another edition
4.0
The son of an Austrian physicist goes missing and Homeland Security is involved.
claudiafp's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
melissa_who_reads's review against another edition
4.0
VI Warshawski is hired to find a missing young man (Martin) by his grandmother, Kitty, an old childhood connection of VI's friend Dr. Lotte Herschal.
The book opens with VI finding a body in a cornfield in southern Illinois. She had gone to the farmhouse at the behest of Lotte, as a disturbing message had been left on the answering machine by Martin's drug-addicted mother, Judy. VI doesn't find Judy, but does rescue a dog, and finds the body; when she goes to talk to Judy's mother about her missing daughter, Kitty is more concerned about her missing grandson than whatever happened to her daughter.
Kitty's mother Martina also plays a large role: she is a physicist who is presumed not to have survived the Holocaust. In love with physics, and judged as lacking warmth for human contact by her daughter, her mother, and her lover, her story shadows that of her descendants. VI has to figure out who was Kitty's father, and what really happened to Martina, in order to find Martin.
The story behind it all ranges back to Vienna in the 1930s, through the Cold War, to the current state of national security and the threat of terrorism. It confronts both myopic choices on the part of those in power and their actively destructive and evil actions. Some parts of the story are set in Vienna before and during the Second World War, and some show us what happened in the US in the fifties, when Nazi scientists were brought to the US to help with making nuclear bombs. And how the repercussions of those decisions haunt and inform the descendants today.
By the end, VI has tangled with Holocaust survivors, a local sheriff, Chicago cops, a large corporation and it's forceful CEO, the librarians at University of Chicago's special collections in Manseuto Library, a Nobel laureate's family, a drug dealer, and Homeland Security.
It's a wide-ranging story, complex in its story-telling, and I found it enthralling.
The book opens with VI finding a body in a cornfield in southern Illinois. She had gone to the farmhouse at the behest of Lotte, as a disturbing message had been left on the answering machine by Martin's drug-addicted mother, Judy. VI doesn't find Judy, but does rescue a dog, and finds the body; when she goes to talk to Judy's mother about her missing daughter, Kitty is more concerned about her missing grandson than whatever happened to her daughter.
Kitty's mother Martina also plays a large role: she is a physicist who is presumed not to have survived the Holocaust. In love with physics, and judged as lacking warmth for human contact by her daughter, her mother, and her lover, her story shadows that of her descendants. VI has to figure out who was Kitty's father, and what really happened to Martina, in order to find Martin.
The story behind it all ranges back to Vienna in the 1930s, through the Cold War, to the current state of national security and the threat of terrorism. It confronts both myopic choices on the part of those in power and their actively destructive and evil actions. Some parts of the story are set in Vienna before and during the Second World War, and some show us what happened in the US in the fifties, when Nazi scientists were brought to the US to help with making nuclear bombs. And how the repercussions of those decisions haunt and inform the descendants today.
By the end, VI has tangled with Holocaust survivors, a local sheriff, Chicago cops, a large corporation and it's forceful CEO, the librarians at University of Chicago's special collections in Manseuto Library, a Nobel laureate's family, a drug dealer, and Homeland Security.
It's a wide-ranging story, complex in its story-telling, and I found it enthralling.
mg_in_md_'s review against another edition
4.0
I received a copy of this one at the 2015 Malice Domestic conference and had the great fortune to meet the author, who was honored with the Lifetime Achievement award and was absolutely lovely, gracious, and witty. While I've only recently started reading the V.I. Warshawski series, I've really enjoyed the ones I've read so far and this was no exception. What's not to like about a strong female P.I. who kicks butt and takes names while solving mysteries in Chicago? :) The case V.I. takes on in this offering is tied to her closest friend Dr. Lotty Herschel's escape from the Holocaust in Vienna in 1939. Despite having drifted apart over time, Lotty's childhood playmate Kitty Saginor Binder turns to her for help when Kitty's daughter finds her life in danger. Lotty then enlists V.I. to take the case, and she quickly discovers that the threats on the daughter's life are just the tip of the iceberg of lies and secrets. I loved the historical angle to the story and how past and present were equally important to solving the mystery. While you might wonder how WWII and the development of the atomic bomb could possibly tie in with a possible case of a drug deal gone bad, the complex story was compelling and imminently readable. Paretsky's writing is crisp and vivid, and kept me wanting to read "just one more chapter" until I realized I was on the last page. The Historical Note at the end is fascinating and explains the real-life inspiration for the plot -- definitely a must-read!
christinebeswick's review against another edition
4.0
It's been quite a few years since I last read one of Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski books. As I remember, I always enjoyed them: they are fast paced, well researched and exciting. This one was no different and I will definitely pick up on this series again.
jendoyleink's review against another edition
4.0
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!!!!!)
.
.
.
.
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!!!!!)
.
.
.
.
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.
lazwright's review against another edition
4.0
VI is tough as nails and I love it when she takes on Homeland Security and the FBI. This novel wove WWII and Cold War history (and physics) throughout in an interesting way, which affected modern relationships. I love to see Vi take on big corporations-and "sort of" win!
judyward's review against another edition
4.0
Secrets and rivalries are passed down through several generations becoming even more complex because the secrets are all tied up with the research conducted by World War II adversaries racing to develop the atomic bomb. Although this is the 16th book in the V.I. Warshawski series, Sara Paretsky continues to deliver strong and compelling plots.