Hardball: A V.I. Warshawski Novel
by Sara Paretsky
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Book Summary Information
Author: Sara ParetskyEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2010-07-27
ISBN: 0451412931
Number of pages: 576
Publisher: Signet Select
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780451412935
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Hardball: A V.I. Warshawski Novel
Book Review: You've met Vic, now get to know her...
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read all of Paretsky;s V.I. Warshawski novels, including one or two short stories, starting from the very first one. Over the years, I've met Vic the Superwoman, Vic the Investigator, Vic the Unstoppable, Vic the Crusader, Vic the Aggravator (she's even good at aggravating her friends), and even Vic the Vulnerable. Here and there have been sprinkled hints and incidents from her childhood, showing how her parents influenced who she is. Mostly, of her two parents, I've become familiar with her mother Gabriella, plucky Italian immigrant married to a dutiful Polish cop whose career was destined to be limited because he was, for one thing, Polish and, for another, honest. Gabriella, who never gave up on trying to bring some beauty into their dingy mill-worker neighborhood filled with metal dust and smoke. Gabriella, denouncer of God, who defended a poor pregnant girl when her Christian family and neighbors wanted to make her an outcast. Defiant Gabriella, who refuses to let life grind her down and instilled this same spirit in her daughter, while not quite instilling the ladylike qualities I get the feeling she wanted Vic to have.
I know Gabriella well, and she is featured here in this story as well. But I've never quite gotten a grip on her father. That problem is largely solved here.
You already know the plot. Vic takes a case that seems to be one thing and turns out to be a symptom of something much bigger and more insidious. It could be an insurance company she'll take down. It could be a supermarket magnate. It could even be the culture of corruption so well-known to Chicago. One thing's for sure: she'll be a thorn in the side of people who just want the course of events to continue as usual, the police won't appreciate her interference in what they consider their business, and she'll fight for the people that everyone else forgets, even when she doesn't want to. Because she's Vic, and once she gets her teeth into something, it's not in her to let go, and being told to back off makes her just clamp down harder.
The surprise here is a delve back into the past, into events involving Tony Warshawski, Vic's cop father. (I suspect she'd glare or something worse at me for putting the "cop" ahead of "father"; as readers will find out, she detests it when people emphasize his cop role - "Be good or Vic's dad will arrest you." Doesn't like it at all, feels it depersonalizes him. When I think about it, I peobably would't like it, either.)
Without revealing things too much...despite the fact that she's enough of her own person that she doesn't like it when women let their parents dominate their lives, Vic still has her dad on a pedestal. Tony Warshawski, veteran cop, honest and true. She finds out here that he is not so much a statuesque hero, but rather a mortal man like the rest of us, forced to make hard choices and sometimes compromises. The novel ends with Vic still trying to get a grip on this new image of her father.
If you're looking for a story where every single thing is logical and entirely likely to happen, I don't think you've got it here. There's a few too many coincidences. On the other hand - in reality, as Woodward and Bernstein were investigating Watergate, they were conveniently contacted by Deep Throat, who pointed them in the right direction. So, coincidence does happen in real life. Read the book, make the call.
Myself, as a fan of Vic and what makes her tick, I loved the book because I got a better image of Tony, and because it turns out he was a Cubs fan.
Summary of Hardball: A V.I. Warshawski Novel
The long-awaited return of V.I. Warshawski
Chicago politics-past, present, and future-take center stage in New York Times bestselling author Sara Peretsky's complex and compelling new V.I. Warshawski novel. When Warshawski is asked to find a man who's been missing for four decades, a search that she figured would be futile becomes lethal. Old skeletons from the city's racially charged history, as well as haunting family secrets-her own and those of the elderly sisters who hired her-rise up with a vengeance.
Chicago politics-past, present, and future-take center stage in New York Times bestselling author Sara Peretsky's complex and compelling new V.I. Warshawski novel. When Warshawski is asked to find a man who's been missing for four decades, a search that she figured would be futile becomes lethal. Old skeletons from the city's racially charged history, as well as haunting family secrets-her own and those of the elderly sisters who hired her-rise up with a vengeance.
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