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85 of 96 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4 Stars...leaning toward 5 for Grafton's newest outing!, December 20, 2005
It's been too long since I was really excited about a Sue Grafton novel. Way too long since I was 2/3 of the way through and just had to finish it, no matter what other use I was supposed to be making of my time. Although I was a bigger fan of "O" and "P" than most of her readers, I didn't like "Q" at all, and didn't even take the time to review "R". That says a lot. I've felt that Grafton had her heroine, private detective Kinsey Millhone, stuck in a rut she would never break free of. I didn't think she'd let Kinsey grow, similar to what other authors HAVE done (notably Marcia Muller) for their female detectives. I'd have to say the last really good book the series produced was "I is for Innocent". That's a lot of alphabet that has been burned up without a breakthrough. Although Kinsey doesn't move far away from center here, the book comes off in a way in which the older books in series did. This book is different. Grafton employs a couple of strategies that are oft used in mysteries today, the concept of the protagonist taking on a "cold case" (which Kinsey has done before) and the use of a flashback...and the type of flashback that has a new chapter simply taking place in the past, making the cold case characters come alive as Kinsey investigates the in "the future". Grafton's future, the timeframe where she sets Kinsey, is 1987, and the disappearance she is tracking occurred in 1953. Violet Sullivan is a bad girl. Red haired and extremely attractive, Violet disappears in her new car from Serena Station, a small California backwater town. She's been a victim of domestic abuse, but she leaves her small daughter, Daisy, behind, and takes her new Pomeranian with her. After many dysfunctional years of trying to forget, Daisy hires Kinsey, who comes to her attention through a friend. The case has Kinsey leaving her native Santa Teresa and sometime lover Cheney Phillips behind. Typical Kinsey haunts and friends are mentioned only fleetingly in this book. It's hard to know who wants Kinsey involved less....her own conscience, which says she'll probably not find anything, or folks in the little town, who seem to feel she's stirring up trouble. Kinsey pries up a rock or two, and actually stumbles across the fate of Violet Sullivan, after learning about most (but not all) of Violet's affairs. The reader actually gets to see the way Violet meanders through the town's men, but in uncovering the person who did her harm, there are a lot of dead ends, and I confess that I didn't know the identity of who and what. That's what kept me reading. And although, true to form, when Grafton reveals, she shuts down the novel with very little afterplay, well, this book still gave life to what was a dying series. Kudos to Grafton for reviving her heroine and giving us a great, pre-holiday read!
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58 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"I want to know if she's alive or dead.", December 6, 2005
In 1953, on the fourth of July, Violet Sullivan disappeared, along with her little dog and her reputed stash of over fifty thousand dollars. Left behind were Violet's six-year-old daughter, Daisy, and Violet's abusive husband, Foley. Many people in the small town of Serena Station believe that Foley killed Violet in one of his many violent rages. Others maintain that she left with one of her lovers. After thirty-four years, Violet's daughter is still broken up about her mother's disappearance. Daisy has been divorced four times, and she feels that her perpetual misery stems from wondering if Violet could have been so cold-hearted as to leave of her own volition. The police have never been able to solve the mystery, so Daisy hires PI Kinsey Millhone to investigate this very cold case. Throughout most of "S is for Silence," Kinsey repeatedly interviews everyone with information about Violet Sullivan, including Foley, who is now a recovering alcoholic, Chet Cramer, an automobile dealer who sold Foley a beautiful Chevy Bel Air that disappeared along with Violet, Liza Clements, Daisy's former babysitter, Calvin Wilcox, Violet's only sibling, and Sergeant Timothy Schaefer, who was the investigating officer when Violet vanished. There are red herrings galore to confuse matters, and Kinsey begins to think that she is wasting her time going over the same ground over and over again. One day, however, Kinsey finds her Volkswagen's tires slashed, and she realizes that she has struck a nerve. Someone is obviously warning her to back off. Could Violet's killer still be at large, and will Kinsey be his next target? Grafton tells part of her story in first person, through Kinsey's eyes, and the rest of the chapters are flashbacks to 1953. This back and forth works well, giving the reader a perspective that Kinsey lacks. Grafton skillfully fleshes out her large cast of characters. She depicts couples stuck in marriages of convenience, businessmen who are anxious to get ahead if only they could get their hands on some money, and young girls with low self esteem trying to weather the storms of adolescence. The parts of the book that take place in the fifties are an entertaining exercise in time travel. The narrative that takes place in the present, which is 1987, for the most part consists of Kinsey questioning Violet's former acquaintances. By comparing everyone's alibis, recollections and opinions, Kinsey hopes that the truth will somehow emerge. The weakest part of the story is the conclusion, which is too abrupt and insufficiently explained. For the most part, however, "S is for Silence" is an engrossing novel about a small town's unhappy residents and their dark secrets.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unlike any of Grafton's previous novels, December 13, 2005
Violet Sullivan patted her hair, applied her trademark violet cologne, checked the hemline of her purple sundress, and tucked her Pomeranian pup in her straw bag. She poked her head around the bathroom door to say goodnight to her seven-year-old daughter Daisy in a bubble bath and her regular babysitter, Liza. She blew them both a kiss, climbed into her brand new Chevy Bel Air sedan, backed down the drive, filled the gas tank at a highway gas station, and vanished. It was the 4th of July, 1953 in Serena Station, California. Violet was headed for the fireworks celebration but never showed up. Tongues wagged, police investigated, and speculation mounted in the sleepy little town. Old case files would show that Violet had emptied her safety deposit box of a rumored $50,000 insurance cash settlement and that her favorite outfits were missing from her closet. Her reputation as a loose woman around town led some to figure she had left her brutish husband to run off with a lover. Others believed her husband finally had had enough and killed her in a drunken rage during one of their well-known fights. But there was no body, no abandoned car, no wandering puppy --- not a sign of Violet anywhere. Life pretty much went on after the scandal died down. Thirty-four years later, her daughter, Daisy, blames the disappearance of her mother for her current unhappiness. She decides to find out what really happened to Violet Sullivan, come what may. Private detective Kinsey Millhone's established reputation leads Daisy to her office. Missing persons cases are not in Kinsey's resume, but Daisy's story is so compelling that Kinsey names her price and reluctantly takes the case. When Sue Grafton launched A IS FOR ALIBI in the spring of 1982, the book was heralded by readers and critics alike for its sassy protagonist, Kinsey Millhone, and its bravura debut of what looked like a very ambitious undertaking. If A was for alibi, could an alphabet series all the way to Z be in Grafton's future? She had worked as a Hollywood screenwriter for nearly a decade, survived a nasty divorce, and often fantasized, according to one biographer, of ways to murder her ex-husband. Banging out stories on deadline was a way of life, but it was a grind she no longer wanted to continue, so she created the irrepressible Kinsey of the ever-present little black dress and the beater Volkswagen Beetle. Kinsey's career and life have moved forward five years during the first 18 books in the bestselling detective series. The ubiquitous Beetle has been traded for a newer model. The black dress that served as a trusty prop went up in smoke with the original car, but her wardrobe has remained as casual and ready for action as ever. The angst and introspection of Kinsey's own past in recent books is behind her. S IS FOR SILENCE is a departure from the formula that had become the signature of the Alphabet mysteries. Grafton could, as many series writers do, rest on her laurels and pound out another enjoyable read with the same characters --- Rosie at the diner, Charlie her landlord, Cheney her boyfriend. A week in the life of Kinsey Millhone, on the hunt for a bad guy. Instead, she chose to write a novel laced with atmosphere, delivering a plot with punch and action. She takes the reader back to the sounds, the colors, and the peace and quiet of a sleepy California town in the early 1950s. The story of what happened to a flamboyant, bored young woman, her daughter, her husband, the babysitter, and the men in town who hung out at the Moon Bar and Grill is told from the point of view of each of the people who knew and loved Violet. S IS FOR SILENCE is unlike any of Grafton's prior books, some of which readers and critics felt were becoming hackneyed. She's met the daunting challenge of the alphabet by pushing the envelope. With only seven to go, Kinsey exhibits welcome signs of life and excitement ahead. I can't wait for "T." --- Reviewed by Roz Shea
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