The latest in Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series has the titular investigator pulled into a corrupt development deal through her impetuous goddaughter, Bernie Fouchard, whose boyfriend gets murdered along the way. Meanwhile clues lead from Warshawski's home of Chicago to some of the darkest chapters in America's meddling in South American politics
... [a] series bar-raiser ... Paretsky is celebrated for bringing Chicago to life through Vic’s investigations into corporate wrongdoing and political corruption; here, while again mining that territory, she also offers a full-sensory foray into rural Kansas as Vic hunts for Zamir and Coop while dodging an assassin who somehow predicts her every move. A high point in Paretsky’s long-running and much-loved series.
Paretsky packs a lot into each new adventure and though this installment is a multilayered story, it moves at a swift and poppy pace. There are times when Warshawski’s escapades are a bit unbelievable—the trap she sets for the antagonists is highly implausible—but new readers should not look for logic; they should enjoy the fun of solving the mystery and rooting for Warshawski to bring down the bad guys ... This enjoyable romp through political corruption and social injustice in Chicago will please fans of the V.I. Warshawski detective series and readers who enjoy tough women PIs.
As usual, Paretsky (Shell Game, 2018, etc.) is less interested in identifying whodunit than in uncovering a monstrous web of evil, and this web is one of her densest and most finely woven ever. So fierce, ambitious, and far-reaching that it makes most other mysteries seem like so many petit fours.
