Customer Reviews

Guardian Angel (ISIS Large Print)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

V.I. Warshawski - best known through Kathleen Turner's representation of her in the '80's - is not your typical detective, and this is not your typical detective story. If you're looking for Mickey Spillane or Erle Stanley Gardner type grit, this isn't the place. Thus, I would classify this more along the lines of a detective story for the fairer gender. Still, Paretsky manages to write a gritty detective novel while weaving her stories in such a way that her reader's get an idea about the inner lives of her characters. Vic has problems outside of the detective business, and Paretsky incorporates just enough of the daily chore of living into the story without letting it overwhelm the reader. By the end, you can feel you're reading about a friend, and you can cheer when she wins because you know her. Another great thing about this novel, Paretsky has managed to keep a positive sense of life throughout, despite the trials that Vic faces. Vic has it hard, but there's no whining deprecation to the character. All in all a wonderful book to curl up with on a Sunday morning while you have your coffee.

Sara Paretsky is a lot more than a plain detective story writer. She describes a whole society, in this case that of Chicago and its crime, or crimes. Violent crime is not number one on her agenda, though it comes in due time. She is mainly interested in white collar crime, the type you find in business and finances. These criminals are highly qualified and educated and some believe that they can have all they want, just because they have the education, the money or the power it takes to command the world. Violence only comes up when some outsiders, first of all the private investigator of this book, try to get into the circle to find out about those criminal acitivites. After moral or social intimidation violence comes in the same line, and it can go all the way to elimination. But this classy world does not accept to be endangered and they are ready to sacrifice some of their children in order to save the system. You can become an outcast overnight if your actions or initiatives endanger the power of the bosses of this society. It is a clan and those who do not accept these clannish procedures are rejected. But Sara Paretsky goes a lot beyond and gives also a fair picture of some burning issues in our socieries. She does not put them all on the front burner but she does for the position of women : they can do all they want, no profession is beyond their reach, because an equal society has to reject any privilege or segregation. A fascinating page turner.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

This is one of the best in the series! In the 7th installment V. I. Warshawski, Chicago's PI, Vic becomes involved with her neighborhood. An old friend of Mr. Contreras is in trouble and then missing. The neighborhood has its own problems with new neighbors complaining and harassing the neighbors who have been around for many years. It includes more details on her ex-husband, a new love interest and a strained old friendship.

Vic is my favorite among the female detective series. She is tough and no nonsense. I do wish that she would tell Lotty to take a big jump sometimes...

This one, to me, is a bit of a departure from Paretsky's norm and not an altogether happy one. The tone seems rather bleak and sour. The dauntless PI, Vic Warshawski, spends a lot of her time exhausted, or injured, or in a rage that makes her do dumb things. At the end of the book she still has a huge problem in her relationship with her previous all-time best friend, Lotty, and has doubts about the relationship she has entered into with the black detective - will it ever work for cop and PI to be together? And this was published in 1993: Paretsky documents the prejudice Vic encounters, and the casual use of the n-word.

Still, like any Warshawski story, it's a page-turner, and also fun to step back to the time before cell-phones, and when computers had a blinking cursor or a menu - no Windows - and her trusty Olivetti is her standby (do some younger readers know what Paretsky's talking about?) And the disgust at corporate shenanigans and ripoffs can still resonate today. Worth a read.

One of her better ones in the VI Warshawski series. More dense, character driven. Yes, the author could have provided more clues and made the who/what/why ending a bit more exciting, punchy. But it's the ride and characters in this book that make it a strong read.

Paul

GUARDIAN ANGEL is book seven in Sara Paretsky's female detective series and it is a serious departure from previous works. This is why Paretsky is so much fun to read, you never know where her stories will take her intrepid PI.
Her low-income neighborhood is going upscale and the residents can't afford the boost in prices. The worst offender is Hattie Frizell and her five dogs. Hattie ends up in the hospital, a lawyer has himself declared legal guardian and the dogs are destroyed.
Then another resident disappears and the block is scared and come to V.I. for help. Working the case she runs into her ex-husband and fireworks fly.
A great series that keeps getting better.
Nash Black, author of QUALIFYING LAPS.

Likeable and properly despicable characters populate this story about fraud and the lengths people will go to cover their tracks. V.I. Warshawski does a commendable job of pulling all the loose threads together and solving the mystery. I got a little tired of her sarcastic banter with her former husband Dick, though. Early on it was cute, but toward the end it was just annoying. Otherwise, a pretty good read.

When I first met V.I. Warshawski in the pages of "Guardian Angel" I found incredible likenesses with Sue Grafton's heroine of her Alphabet series. And by the end, I was equally annoyed and bored by her dull exposition and smarty-pants comments that were just not funny. I would have liked more thought in presenting some clues (we were presented with answers instead of clues that rolled out for us to piece together with the detective) than all the endless droning about cranky neighbors, jerky ex-husbands, pregnant dogs and worn-out running shoes.

I found myself annoyed with myself halfway through for bothering to finish "Guardian Angel" because I honestly, could not have cared less about what happened.

Most detective stories, if boiled down to the bone, are stories of very simple crimes. Yet good writers know how to stretch a simple story into a few hundred pages without losing readers' patience. Agatha Christie is the master of the art: Most of her stories are simple crimes committed by simple people. Yet the way she unfolded the plots and developed the characters is so captivating that we turn page after page with great anticipation of the final conclusion. We like to read detective stories because we, subconsciously, assume the role of the detective in the stories. We follow little clues dished out by the authors and try to hand out our own verdict before we turn to the last page. Then of course to our great satisfaction the truth is not what we have thought all along. Guardian Angel, if boiled down to the bone, is also a very simple crime story that could have been told in a few pages. Yet, how does the author stretch it into an inch-thick novel? By putting loads of irrelevant side-shows and annoying dialog. There is so much fuss about dogs, street kids, friends and neighbours. It doesn't give us any clues about the crime, but simply slows down the story and side-tracks our attention. The private detective Warshawski is written as an unpleasant character. 90% of the time she is bitching about everyone and everything around her. Sometimes a little spice in the dialog could be fun to read, but when all the characters speak and act like giant sea urchins, it becomes annoying.