Indemnity Only (Mass Market Paperback)

by Sara Paretsky (Author) "The night air was thick and damp..." (more)
Key Phrases: claim draft, Peter Thayer, John Thayer, Earl Smeissen (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"The Chicago writer  whose name always makes the top of the list when  people talk about the new female operatives."  -- Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times  Book Review. -- Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review
"The Chicago writer  whose name always makes the top of the list when  people talk about the new female operatives."  -- Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times  Book Review. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Later Printing edition (December 12, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345336348
• ISBN-13: 978-0345336347
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,965,961 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Watch Out Mickey...Move Over Mike...V.I.'s In Town, August 14, 2000

By	Craig P. Roberts (Diamondhead, MS United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indemnity Only (V.I. Warshawski Novels) (Paperback)

She's as tough as nails, a real smart cookie and she's taking on the Chicago crime scene. Her name is V.(ictoria) I.(phigenia) Warshawski, a contemporary private eye investigating white-collar corruption in the heartland of America. Sara Pareksky has created a female character in her series of books that can rival Mickey Spillane or Mike Hammer in her toughness and wisecracking. Indemnity Only is the first V. I. Warshawski novel written by Pareksky. In this novel she finds herself employed by her client to find his son's missing girlfriend and instead finds the son,and he's dead. Soon she finds herself embroiled with union leaders, mob killings and insurance fraud, as well as continuing her hunt for the young woman whose life may be in jeopardy. This is a novel that will hold the interest of those of us from the babyboomer generation as we relate to Warshawkski's return to her college alma mater. Read this novel for a great introduction to V. I. Warshawski.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Is Anyone Who They Say They Are?, August 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Indemnity Only (V.I. Warshawski Novels) (Paperback)

After a late night visit from a client asking her to find a missing girl, V. I. Warshawski finds the body of a collage student shot in the head at his kitchen table. V. I., Vick, as her friends call her, has a mystery to unravel. The first thing she unravels is that nobody appears to be who he or she says they are.

I truly enjoyed this book. V.I. Warshawski was a wonderful character. Ms. Paretsky did a wonderful job at making her colorful and humorous. Indeed, Ms. Paretsky made all of the characters good. This book, though a little on the older side was the first in the V. I. Warshawski series. Not possessing the extreme descriptions that so many authors in this genre feel needs to be included, Ms. Paretsky described people, places and things providing enough information without overkill.

Ms. Peters (reader) also did a wonderful job at bringing characters to life. Though the male characters weren't overpowering, (tough for a female to do a male characters voice), the female characters were all outstanding, including that of Jill the 14-year girl.

This was my first experience with Ms. Paretsky and found it enjoyable. Being one who listens to many audio books while commuting to/from work. I found this book enjoyable and certainly plan on trying others by Ms. Paretsky.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The beginning of a legend, February 26, 2002

By	Lesbian Reader (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indemnity Only (V.I. Warshawski Novels) (Paperback)

After reading JM Redmann's wonderful Death by the Riverside featuring MIckey Knight, I was so vividly taken with the strong female character that I just had to re-read the other strong female character that I love: VI Warshawsky. Like Knight, Warshawsky is a tough cookie who can hurt, a smart woman who makes human mistakes, and a real pain... for friends who wish she wouldn't get herself into such danger.

Paretsky's gift in storytelling is the way she takes a small incident and lets it mushroom until seemingly unrelated incidents form the picture of a larger, uglier tale. Warshawsky herself is complicated and richly textured character and I loved revisiting her.