Tunnel Vision [Audio Cassette]

Sara Paretsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1994

V.I. Warshawski, trying to help a homeless family, comes in contact with a homeless advocates' group that's not all it should be. 4 cassettes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As prickly and principled as ever, Chicago's preeminent female PI, V.I. Warshawski, forcefully unravels several knotted mysteries in Paretsky's ( Guardian Angel ) latest complex, satisfying novel. V.I. encounters a homeless woman and her children in the basement of her derelict downtown office building. When she mentions the family at a board meeting of a shelter for abused women, board member Deirdre Messenger offers to seek help from Home Free, another organization she is involved with. Soon, however, Deirdre's bludgeoned body is found in V.I.'s office. Setting out to find the murderer, the almost-40 detective gradually uncovers a mammoth financial scam that may link the dead woman's husband (an ambitious University of Chicago Law School professor), the ranking U.S. Senator from Illinois, a Chicago bank owner and Home Free's director, a radical activist who was at law school with V.I. in the '60s. Equally compelling--to V.I. and the reader--are the plights of the homeless family and of the Messenger children, teenaged Emily and her two young brothers, who disappear soon after their mother's death. Breaking laws and alienating friends--including her lover Conrad, a Chicago police detective--V.I. faces down rats in high places and low, from the cornfields of the Senator's agribusiness to the tunnels, deep under the Chicago Loop, flooded by a water-main break. Paretsky's V.I. is a rare literary entity, a woman quick to anger and action, yet sympathetic and credible. Literary Guild, Mystery Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

YA?The world seems to be caving in on V.I. Warshawski?the building that houses her office is dilapidated; her bills are mounting rapidly; and the one client who is saving her from financial collapse insists that she find his computer-hacking son a community service job to keep him out of jail. Added to this is her concern about a homeless family living in her soon-to-be condemned building. The family takes on greater significance when an acquaintance of Warshawski's is murdered in her office. She strongly suspects the victim's spouse, but on her way to proving his guilt more obstacles arise that jeopardize her investigation. While certainly a fine mystery, this book also addresses the social issues of child abuse and homelessness, illegal aliens, political power, and payoffs. Paretsky has again woven a tale of intrigue that's sure to keep readers engrossed.?Diane Goheen, Topeka West High School,
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Dove Entertainment Inc; Abridged - Read by Pamela Hensley Vincent. V.I. Wa edition (May 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558009752
• ISBN-13: 978-1558009752
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,074,773 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

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paretsky at her incredible best!, April 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Tunnel Vision (V.I. Warshawski Novels) (Paperback)

I've read many reviews who fault Paretsky on the believability of this book - but I say who cares? Vic Warshawski isn't meant to be realistic (a real PI would never be as interesting!) Vic is the kind of character everyone can relate to - she's fast and tough, but thoughtful and very kind hearted. Her escapades in Tunnel Vision - including a run in with a rather large aeroplane and a fight with a Romanian muscle mountain - are engaging, exciting and fabulous to imagine. Paretsky is one of the very best crime/thriller writers around today! If this is the first Paretsky you have read - the others are a must!!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of V.I.'s Best!, April 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tunnel Vision (V.I. Warshawski Novels) (Paperback)

Sara Paretsky's character, V.I. Warshawski, is a tough-talking; tender-hearted; justice-seeking; single-minded woman who is approaching middle-age and beginning to feel it. I can really identify with the "beginning to feel it" part, which is part of the reason I find her so engaging. Her tactics may not always be perfect, but her heart's always in the right place!

In Tunnel Vision, once again, she goes after the truth taking her friends, her dogs, her police contacts, and her neighbor/protector, Mr. Contreras along with her. She discovers the truth, too, but only after putting herself and her closest personal relationships at great risk.

I don't think she's meant to be believable 100% of the time, after all this is fiction. V.I.'s just supposed to be cool. And she is.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Delivers good value in a mystery, January 10, 1999

By 

George D. Girton (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tunnel Vision (V.I. Warshawski Novels) (Paperback)

Sara Paretsky has packed a huge amount into a single novel, probably enough for 4 or 5 thriller movies. I've had the same sense of surprise with another of the V.I. Warshawsky novels -- after 30 or 40 pages to be only that far into it. The behaviour of many if not most of the men in this book is implausibly stupid, serving perhaps as an inexcusable excuse to examine abuse and inhumanity between and among the sexes. V.I.'s tendency to argue unproductively with most of the other characters in the novel is annoying at times, too, but there's always a lot going on, continuous plot motion, and plenty to think about. And it's nice to have a PI who doesn't pull out a gun and threaten to blow the bad guy's head off if he doesn't come across with the information. This is a slow read and a good one.