Blood Shot

V.I. Warshawski, Book 5

By: Sara Paretsky

Narrated by: Susan Ericksen

V.I. Warshawski isn't crazy about going back to her old south Chicago neighborhood, but a promise is something she always keeps. Caroline, a childhood friend, has a dying mother and a problem - after 25 years she wants V.I. to find the father she never knew. But when V.I. starts probing into the past, she not only finds out where all the bodies are buried - she stumbles onto a very new corpse.

Now she's stirring up a deadly mix of big business and chemical corruption that may become a toxic shock to a snooper who knows too much.

©2009 Sara Paretsky (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

exciting action

Blood shot is book five in the Sara Paretsky’s V. I. Warshawski series. V.I. is an attorney turned private investigator in Chicago. In this book Paretsky gives us a tour of Chicago with all the sights, sounds, smells and history of Chicago’s South side. This book was written in 1989 when computers were just starting to be common place but cell phones were rare and expensive. V.I. is hunting for phone booths while searching for change and is using a word processor in her office. Vic returns to the South side to her high school basketball team’s 20th re-union of winning the championship as the current team is on the brink of winning. Carolyn who had lived next door to Vic wants her to find out who her father was. Carolyn’s mother is dying of kidney cancer. She had worked all her life at the local Xerxine plant. In hunting for men her mother knew from work Vic finds many have died of kidney or liver cancer and discovers how toxic Xerxine is. The author juggles wisecracks, tenderness, and grit in a fast pace action filled story. Paretsky always has created great characters and this book is no exception. The book has a great plot and numerous sub plots that keep the readers on their toes. Susan Ericksen does an excellent job narrating the book.

Great read

A great read written in a good snd wonderful series. Live the characters in all

Good story, holds up well, narrator not my style

As a fan of the VI Warshowski series in print, i did enjoy the story overall. There were a couple of instances of lazy research, such as a scene in which the main character feeds grapes to her dog (well known that they cause kidney failure in canines), that just struck me as cheating, but I'm a harsh editor, I suppose.

The narrator, however, was very harsh and brusque in her delivery and everyone sounded angry all the time. Would have preferred more variation in tone and cadence to even our the rough edges.

What I like about Paretsky is at its best

Each character, the growing and changing relationships of VI, how VI came to be who she is, and how other significant characters came to be who they are, are all the fodder of this novel. I can't imagine it being better.Sadly, I think I have listened to all of her books. I love the audio performances, and what I love most is the most evident in this one. Perhaps it is a bit over the top in its final action scene, but I didn't care, because I can listen to this performance of this particular book and be completely and totally captivated.

If only there were more of these.

Narrator

Susan Erickson brings the story to Life!
Love her interpretations of the characters in this series.