(2010)Another fine example of VI Warshawski mystery. This time she is hired to clear a former Marine who is charged with killing a girl outside of a club where a performance artist is performing. Leads to a armored vest supplier for the military which is cutting corners on their product that results in worthless vests. Very good.From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. Paretsky's superb 14th novel featuring PI V.I. Warshawski (after Hardball) delves into Chicago's avant-garde art scene. At the trendy Club Gouge, where Warshawski is keeping an eye on Petra, a young cousin who caused trouble in the previous book, performance artist Karen Buckley (aka the Body Artist) invites members of the audience to step on stage to paint her nude body. The intricate design that one woman paints on Karen's back provokes a violent outburst from Chad Vishneski, a troubled Iraqi war veteran. When two nights later, someone shoots the woman who upset Chad outside the club, Chad is the logical murder suspect. Hired by Chad's estranged parents to clear his name, Warshawski straddles a minefield that reaches from the Windy City's neighborhoods to the Gulf War battlefields. Scenes with her aging neighbor and a new love interest give a much needed balance to the serious plot. This strong outing shows why the tough, fiercely independent, dog-loving private detective continues to survive.

I seldom start a book without finishing it, but in this case I gladly made an exception. I listened to it as an audiobook, and made it through just 2 disks of the total of 7 -- over 25%, I found the story line incongruous and far fetched, and every character, including the protagonist, most unpleasant. Meanwhile, the narration was delivered in angry, querulous tones -- as called for by the content -- such that listening to it was an ugly experience. Far from looking forward to the next episode, I found myself yelling at the narration (while alone in the car, fortunately). Online reviews revealed that in upcoming chapters, the number of characters would mount greatly, and the plot become convoluted and not believable. Facing many more hours of daily commutes with this work, I gave up on it. I am mildly curious what message the bar patron was transmitting by painting long strings of numbers on "the body artist's" body, but not enough to put myself through any more of this audio book. ( )

I listened to this as an audiobook while driving. I enjoyed it, but at times it did seem to drag on a bit long. I do admire how Paretsky can spin so many threads and then weave them all together into a coherent crime.

V. I. answers her cousin Petra's cry for help at the club where Petra waitresses and finds herself holding a dying girl then trying to prove the innocence of the man accused of shooting that same girl. The story introduces two veterans who I hope might show up in future installments of V. I.'s series. ( )

This was terrible. I am so mad that I even wasted my time finishing this book. I really should have DNF it at 25 percent, but I am a perverse reader sometimes and finished the book.

Nothing makes sense.

Petra (VI's cousin from Hardball) is back in this one and still the most annoying character ever. She and Mr. Contreras are awful. I think at one point VI says that he (Mr. Contreras) is in his 90s and I hope we have a book soon with him dying. I am just over him. He's worthless.

And at this point, VI is 50 or almost 50 and her picking a fight with the police or anyone in authority is getting old. In fact, it is old at this point.

The main plot is convoluted and there's a whole lot of coincidences to even have things make sense. I think the worst part for me was the ending though. I just rolled my times about a million times. It was crap and I have to say it was really stupid how VI brings all the parties together a la Poirot to get someone to spontaneously confess. The next book does this mess too and it just seems a lazy way to end a book.

There is a lot of people telling VI things and her telling people things and I think a couple hundred pages could have been cut and it would not have affected this book one way or the other. ( )

I came upon this in a church sale along with quite a few others of its type. The bookseller in me couldn't resist, hard cover, dust-jacket, 3CHF, even though the reader in me has moved on. So far out I've read four of the 'bargains' and you get what you pay for. Three duds, this being one of them....

I used to really enjoy these, this one disappoints. Way too long, too much padding. As always, however, the description of Chicago are great - saying that as somebody who has never been there, but they ring true and sort of make me want to go and look, even though there is nothing about the place that sounds attractive.

Having said that, it may be that I didn't like this one because it was too modern for me, or because I'm more fussy than I used to be. I can't tell. But it seems to be an on-going tale, the writer whose work ends up seeming like there is little to it but Pink Batts. ( )