Hardball

This is the first Paretsky I've read, having heard many positive reviews of the V.I.Warshawski novels. It wasn't as brilliant as I'd hoped for, and I did almost give up a third of the way in. But I'm glad I stuck it out, as it got better, and turned into a very interesting thriller towards the end. Weaving into the story the history of the race riots of the early 1960s, and Martin Luther King, was what made it for me.

I agree with the other reviews here that suggest there was extraneous detail that can be skipped, and that the flashback plot device detracted from the flow. The final few chapters which tidied up all the loose detail after the climax, were (unsurprisingly) somewhat of an anticlimax.

In the thirteenth novel to feature Chicago private detective V.I. Warshawski she is hired by a pair of elderly sisters to find their son/nephew Lamont Gadsden who disappeared 40 years previously during a wild winter storm that brought the city to a halt. V.I. reluctantly agrees to take on the case despite her misgivings about the huge time gap since the Gadsden was last seen and his probable involvement with the Anacondas, one of the city’s roughest street gangs which remains active though its leader is in prison. Just as she embarks on the investigation which takes her back through the city’s history and that of her own family, V.I.’s young cousin Petra arrives in the city to work on the senate campaign of an old friend of her show more father’s and soon becomes embroiled in V.I.’s life.

As I mentioned in a post last year I was a huge fan of the early novels in this series but had grown a little weary of the unrelenting lecturing to be found in the later installments. Happily in Hardball though the politics is present it’s not nearly as strident as in novels like Blacklist and, more importantly, is woven into the tale as it should be: with deft characterisations and great storytelling rather than the repeated bludgeoning with Important Messages that occurred in a couple of the previous novels. The novel does tackle tough subjects such as police corruption and institutional racism but these themes are woven into an intriguing tale that contains an unorthodox mix of characters and links the present day back to the late 1960’s when racial tensions were high. The book is all the more poignant because of its very realistic portrayal of this part of history.

As always V.I. is far from perfect, being quick to let her anger show and one of the most stubborn women on earth, but far more believable because of her imperfections. To balance things out she’s fiercely loyal, smart and almost bursting with a social conscience that she translates into practical action in a way that I imagine many of us would envy. In Hardball her working class family’s history, a constant theme across the series, is further revealed as her now dead father’s early years on the police force are highlighted and, toughest of all for V.I., his integrity is questioned. Paretsky has always done a terrific job of showing snippets of V.I.’s past to reveal how it is she has grown into the woman she is and this book adds beautifully to that character development. None of the familiar people in V.I.’s life do much more than make appearances in Hardball which might be a little disappointing for die-hard fans. However young Petra, a new character to the series, is introduced nicely and without the older person’s disdain for the youth of today that populates many novels by ‘people of a certain age’. I imagine Petra might just have done enough of interest to make a return in future books.

This is a return to Paretsky’s finest form and was a thoroughly unexpected treat for me. It’s pure guesswork on my part but I suspect that Paretsky’s own anger at the world and its many injustices has diminished a smidgen since the changeover in the American presidency and it is perhaps this that has enabled her to return to the high standards of her original work. Whatever the reason I’d highly recommend Hardball to both fans of the early Warshawksi novels and those who’ve always been curious about the series but don’t have the energy to start with the first book as it can easily stand on its own. I could not put this down for the last 150 or so pages and am now eagerly anticipating the next book which according to Paretsky’s blog is to be called Body Works and is well under way (you can read chapter 1 here). show less

The good news is that Sara Paretsky is back. Even better news, though, is that she brought V.I. Warshawski with her this time around - and that longtime fans of Paretsky's Warshawski novels will find reading "Hardball" to be a little like experiencing old home week. Not only will they be able to catch up on what V.I. has been up to since 2005's "Fire Sale," they will get to spend some time with other favorite characters like Vic's elderly neighbor, Mr. Contreras, and her doctor friend, Lotty Herschel.

When, as a favor to a nursing home pastor, Vic agrees to do a cut-rate search for a young black man who disappeared in 1967, she opens up a can of worms with the potential to ruin the reputation of her deceased father, Tony, a longtime show more Chicago policeman. 1966 was not a pretty year in the history of Chicago race relations and, when Martin Luther King led a peaceful march through one of the city's parks, white protesters erupted in a riot that claimed the life of a young black woman marching near Dr. King. Vic knows that the man she wants to find was part of that march but she knows nothing about what happened to him after.

Lamont Gadsden has not been seen since he entered a neighborhood club one night, and the deeper she digs into the circumstances of his disappearance, the more complicated Vic's life becomes. Her investigation is somewhat complicated by the unexpected appearance of an exuberant young cousin of hers who has come to Chicago for a few weeks to work on a political campaign. Although the two had never met before, Vic finds herself spending almost as much time with her enthusiastic cousin on a tour of Warshawski family history as she does on the search for Lamont Gadsden.

It all may seem like ancient history to Vic, but her investigation has made some very important people willing to play hardball to stop her from uncovering the truth about the 1966 murder and its aftermath. When her young cousin disappears, possibly at the hand of kidnappers, Vic finds herself searching for two people instead of one - and running for her life.

"Hardball" is a frank look at a subject as much in the news today as it was in the sixties, the rampant political corruptness of America's third largest city and the related problems within the city's law enforcement agencies. V.I. Warshawski is a social activist, a true believer who has lived in Chicago her whole life, and she refuses to look the other way even if her father might have been involved in something shady more than four decades earlier. Let's hope that there are equally determined people in real world Chicago today.

Rated at: 5.0 show less

Apparently the Wash. Post Book World wrote, a few years ago, something to the effect that the Warshawski books get better as the series goes on, in contrast to other unnamed (Grafton, Cornwell, Patterson, Lescroart, Fairstein...) mystery series, which go downhill, inspiring one to write to the authors and beg them to kill off their detectives. (I paraphrase and add my own thoughts of course.) And I agree.
Paretsky blazes her anger and bitterness over the state of affairs in the USA and always has, and in this book she sets her sights on constant government surveillance (The Age of Fear she calls it) and prisoner torture. Warshawski's a pretty decent shot, and so's Paretsky.
What's amazing to me about these books is that you feel like show more you're living Vic's life with her, and somehow her dangerous life seems realistic. She ages, she makes hard choices, her relationships go through changes and she even learns something sometimes despite being extremely hardheaded. Bottom line: I expect a lot from this series and, again, I was not disappointed. show less

Sara Paretsky was, is and always will be the goddess of PI crime fiction to me! And HARDBALL is one of her strongest works yet -- digging deep into Vic's complicated relationships that, quite frankly, I can relate to: with her dad, the early loss of her mom, and her own temper and tempestuousness. And, of course, Chicago plays a character in its own right.

Sara Paretksy writes the best of PI type books in my opinion and this is up there with her best. I managed to fall behind in this series, so it's been a while since I read one. VI is at her best here, and it was a joy to read - thrilling, poignant, thought-provoking, and exhilarating. A very human heroine, which is what makes her so believable. She doesn't end up in ridiculous positions because the plot needs to progress. And a return for one my favourite auxiliary characters, although I would have been tempted to go for 5 stars had that character featured more.

V. I. Warshawski mysteries come along very slowly so when I found Hardball in a gift box I was thrilled. This has everything in it: Chicago neighborhoods, politics, activist nuns, a gang, dirty cops, a 1966 visit to the city by Martin Luther King, and a cold case. It's a long book but I just couldn't put it down. V.I. is so human (she's actually frightened when she's in danger!) and her neighbors and friends are too. I love these characters. Excellent book, highly recommended especially if you love Chicago as I do.