Blood Shot [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Sara Paretsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1990

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 twenty-five 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.


From the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The fifth and finest in Paretsky's praised series returns heroine Victoria (V. I.) Warshawski, lawyer/private detective, to describe mysterious circumstances arising from a seemingly insignificant case. A visit to a childhood friend in South Chicago, Caroline Djiak, ends with Warshawski agreeing to look for the father Caroline never knew and whom neither her mother Louisa, although she's dying, or maternal grandparents will name. Almost at once, however, Caroline begs the detective to stop the search. She is badly frightened when a co-worker in a neighboring recycling plant is murdered, but Warshawski won't quit the investigation now that she suspects criminals have a bigger motive for killing than keeping the father's identify secret. The decision to fight on entangles V. I. with the powerful owner of a chemical company and his minionsa venal doctor who falsifies employee records, South Chicago's corrupt alderman, a gangster profiteer with a stranglehold on the city's trash collectionsand thugs hired to kill "the snoop." It's a gripping, entertaining story, although sobering as a warning against thieving officials who pollute natural resources and rob the public. Mystery Guild dual main selection; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"The best boldest work to  date...A criminal investigation that is a genuine heroic  quest." --The New York Times Book  Review.


From the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Random House Audio; abridged edition edition (April 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553452150
• ISBN-13: 978-0553452150
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,525,984 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sara Paretsky is the award-winning creator of the V I Warshawski detective novels. When Sara introduced V I in Indemnity Only in 1982, she revolutionized the mystery novel. By creating a female investigator who uses her wits as well a her fists, Sara challenged a genre in which women were traditionally either vamps or victims.

V I is the quintessential urban woman. She grew up in the shadow of the old steel mills on Chicago's Southeast side and knows her way around every alley in town. She's a street fighter, a singer, a bit of a clothes horse, and a woman of great intensity and passion.

So how much like V I is her creator? They certainly come from very different places. Sara grew up in rural Kansas where she attended a two-room school. She continues to believe the high point of her life came at the age of twelve when she was picked to play third base for the Kaw Valley District 95 baseball team.

Bleeding Kansas, Sara's 14th novel, is set in the part of the Kaw River Valley where Sara grew up.

Sara first came to Chicago in 1966 to do community service work in the same neighborhood where Martin Luther King was organizing. It was a time of fierce passions in the city and in the country as people fought over racial justice, the rights and wrongs of the war in Vietnam, and women's rights. Sara has always felt that that summer changed her life forever, and when she finished her undergraduate degree at the University of Kansas, she came back to make Chicago her home. Some of the history of that summer is recounted in her essay collection, Writing in an Age of Silence.

Like V I, Sara likes to sing, in an amateur way, has a hopeless passion for the Cubs, loves Italian shoes'and is obsessed by the search for the perfect cappuccino, so much so that she even went to cappuccino school.

In other academic ventures, Sara received a PhD in American History and an MBA from the University of Chicago. In 1976, she married physics professor Courtenay Wright. The two live in the city of Chicago with their wonder dog Callie. Their lives are made brighter by their adored granddaughter, Maia.

Sara shares V I's passion for social justice. She founded Sisters in Crime in 1986 to support women readers and writers in the mystery world. To give back to the community, Paretsky established the Sara and Two C-Dogs Foundation, which primarily supports girls and women in the arts, letters, and sciences. She has endowed several scholarships at the University of Kansas, and has mentored students in Chicago's inner city schools. She serves on the advisory boards of Literature for All of Us, a literacy group for teen moms, and Thresholds, which serves Chicago's mentally-ill homeless.

Sara has received numerous awards, including the Diamond Dagger for Lifetime achievement from the British Crime Writers Association, the Gold Dagger for best novel for her book Blacklist, and the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from several different universities. Sara's books have been translated into almost thirty languages.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An exciting intro to VI, May 13, 2001

By 

Christina P. Branson "Strixaluco" (Fort Collins) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blood Shot (V.I. Warshawski Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

This was the first VI Warshawski book I ever read, and it did an excellent job of whetting my appetite for more. I think Paretsky did an excellent job of drawing me into VI's world, which is rich with unique characters. VI comes across as individualistic and principled, and I like how Paretsky resisted cliché temptation on several counts: the complex issue of chemical responsibility is not wrapped up in a tidy bundle by the end of the book, and there is no "obligatory sex scene." Not that sex scenes don't have their places, but I just hate it when I'm reading along and I can almost hear the agent say, "Okay, author, you need to steam this up a bit right here if you want to sell this book." In this story, VI is all business, which is a delightful change of pace.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Blood Shot is another example of Paretsky's honesty, February 24, 2000

By 

Francesca Pieraccini - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blood Shot (V.I. Warshawski Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

Sara Paretsky's writing has its faults and its biases, but I enjoy her Warshawski novels for their honesty, the uniqueness of her detective, and the warmth of some of her characters, like the older neighbor Sal Contreras. I don't think V.I. is in the least like Kinsey Milhone, in fact, she is more like Sam Spade, and I appreciate her for it. The Warshawski novels get progressively better, with Killing Orders as the worst, for its hints of bigotry, and Guardian Angel as the best, for its humanity. Deadlock is another favorite of mine, for the characters and the tremendous writing of the shipping business and the shipping catastrophe. V.I. is unique, and I cannot get enough of her.

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting and likable lead character, September 17, 2010

By 

makedah - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blood Shot (V.I. Warshawski Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

This was my first Paretsky novel. I find V.I. interesting and likable, and the writing style is enjoyable. I like the general premise, that V.I. gets more than she bargained for. I think that the novel gets too crowded with characters. It's not a short book, so I easily forgot who people were (especially the men). I also would have liked a shorter book - some aspects of the plot go on for longer than they need to.

Some people complain that the book is too formulaic. It's easy to say that about genre fiction. I'm not bothered by the formula. The interesting thing to me is how the heroine gets in and out of this particular jam. It was a good read.