Customer Reviews

V is for Vengeance

5 star:		(126)
4 star:		(42)
3 star:		(32)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Following U IS FOR UNDERTOW, Kinsey Millhone is back with a vengeance! She gets a 38th birthday "punch in the face and busted nose," in May 1988. A cake would have been nice. Kinsey is a pragmatist, "a big fan of forgiveness as long as I'm given the opportunity to get even first."

Reluctantly shopping at an upscale retailer, Kinsey spies Audrey Vance stealing expensive silk PJs. The civic-minded P.I. discovers that the woman is in cahoots with another and reports them both. Vance is arrested, while the other scofflaw nearly runs Kinsey down in the parking garage with a Mercedes. Vance is later found dead, an apparent suicide, but homicide is soon suspected.

In a parallel plot, Lorenzo Dante, Jr., known simply as Dante, is a loan shark with alleged Mafia ties. Dante has quite an inferno of illicit businesses burning --- and a red-hot romance with a powerful attorney's wife. One of those enterprises is a highly organized ring of shoplifters, whose kingpin was Audrey Vance. Vance's unsuspecting fiancé hires Kinsey to investigate what he thinks are bogus shoplifting charges, and the improbable suicide. Thrown into the mix are a corrupt cop, and a gambling addict who sells his soul to Dante.

Predictably, characters face death during the investigation, and Kinsey is pulled into the vortex. Ghosts from novels past haunt Kinsey, even likeable petty criminal Pinky Ford is instrumental in the dénouement. Vixen reporter Diana Alvarez from "Undertow" is a thorn in Kinsey's side but eventually proves beneficial. Heartthrob and former flame Cheney Phillips keeps readers guessing if the fire will rekindle. Unfortunately, friend and landlord Henry is away, visiting one of his ancient siblings with a broken hip.

The structurally complex plot is simplified with the help of Kinsey's index cards that are "like the pieces of a puzzle that would fall into place once I understood what I was looking at." That, and her intuition. "The purpose of intuition is to warn us when the wolf arrives at the door dressed as Little Red Riding Hood."

Any Sue Grafton novel reads like a welcomed but long-overdue letter from the iconic private eye, bringing readers up to speed with her latest escapade. The queen of Alphabet Soup-titled mysteries (who earned the title of Grand Master by Mystery Writers of America) has made a quantum leap by taking on social issues in the last few of her 22 too-realistic-to-be-fiction works.

With perpetrators identified early on, this is more of a whydunit than a whodunit, validating Grafton's title of Grand Master bestowed by her peers. While Kinsey--an average Jo--has learned to leap hurdles in her career, Sue Grafton has become an Olympic-class pole vaulter in hers. Impeccable plot, prose as rich as Wall Street, and everyone's favorite investigator make this a sure-fire bestseller.

V is for Vengeance (Kinsey Millhone Mystery)
--- Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy

Sue Grafton's V is for Vengeance is a thrill a minute. We start out with a prologue about a young man named Phillip Lanahan in August 1986. We quickly find out that Philip likes poker and loses money. Going to a loan shark named Dante he's given a week to repay his loan. Unfortunately for him things end badly.

The story shifts gears to Kinsey and May 5 1988 (for those in the know Kinsey's birthday). Than we switch to several weeks before her birthday and a few weeks after the events in U is for Undertow. Kinsey while shopping witnesses a shoplifter and at the end is almost getting run over. Somehow Kinsey by witnessing a minor incident becomes embroiled in something bigger than she imagines.

Throughout the novel the point of view shifts between Kinsey, Dante, and Nora (a rich housewife tiring of her husband).

Grafton has gone back and forth with third and first person in her most recent novels. However its my humble opinion that this is the first one out of the bunch that was expertly done. I was able to see so many layers in all three of the main characters in this story.

We don't at first see how these three people will fit together but when you start to see the connections you are gobsmacked by Grafton's well crafted plot.

Already waiting on bated breath for W.....

Overall grade: A+

V is for Vengeance starts off with the story of a young man who meets a bad end at the hands of a loan shark and his brother. The book then moves to the present day of the book (1988) and starts off with Kinsey Milhone witnessing a shoplifting incident with two women. One gets caught and the other literally drives over Kinsey in the parking lot making her escape. Two days later, the woman who was arrested ends up dead in the same spot as the young man in the beginning of the book. Kinsey is hired by the man who was engaged to the dead woman to find out what really happened because he does not believe she committed suicide. Kinsey is soon involved in uncovering a ring of professional thieves, a police conspiracy, blackmail, and a man with interesting family connections known as "Dante". All the while she has an obnoxious reporter dogging her investigation and causing trouble.
Also weaving through the book is the story of an unhappy wife named Nora, who realizes her husband is cheating and takes steps to protect herself. In the course of covering her bases financially, she meets Dante and begins an unlikely relationship with him. There is an interesting twist in the book that involves both of these people and ties into the modern day activities.
One of the things I enjoy about this series is the fact that it is set in the 80's. Kinsey has to rely on research, hard work, and legwork to get her job done. She has no internet or cell phone to do work for her. I love it when she needs to get to a pay phone to call someone when she is out working on a case or making a carbon copy of something. I find myself thinking "If she only had a ........."
Kinsey is a solitary person who has very few real relationships in her life. She can only rely on herself this book reinforces that fact. Her ex-boyfriend Cheney is working with a cop who hates Kinsey so she feels cut off from one of her resources. Her neighbor and best friend Henry is gone to visit an ailing relative so Kinsey doesn't have him to run things by. She works and lives alone with the occasional acquaintance that comes into her life. Her solitary nature is a running theme through all 22 books in the series and I felt she was particularly alone in this book. It is a common theme for a male detective to be a "loner" but not so common for female sleuths. It is possible the lack of people distracting her contributes to her strong intuition about cases and her excellent observation skills.
This book has plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader interested. The continuity of the story from earlier books makes it enjoyable for long time readers but it can be enjoyed by a new reader as well. I wonder what we will all do when Ms. Grafton reaches the end of the alphabet!

There is something bleak in the new Kinsey adventure. At 38, the detective is lonelier than ever. Maybe this is why she lets herself get involved in two apparently unconnected affairs, neither likely to bring in the big bucks. The pace is slow, at times bordering on sluggish. While she plods on, two other characters are brought in. We sense that there will ultimately be a connection, but do not care greatly. Of course, towards the end everything fits neatly - too neatly? with some highly improbable developments. To tell the truth, by that time one just wants it over and done with. Yet this is not a bad book, and a host of well loved characters make cameo appearances (though we could do with less details about Rosie's cooking).
What can I say, I shall buy the next Sue Grafton...

Did Sue Grafton contract Janet Evanovich as a ghost writer? Has kinsey morphed into Stephene Plum? is Santa Terresa the new burb? Hary's brother William has become Grandma Plum going regularly to funerals, Rosie is cooking suddenly inedible food concoctions and the neighborhood is full of Jersey Shore Mafia types stealing, strutting and preening and occasionally murdering. Flat writing, a convoluted plot or plots and a kinsey devoid of any of her old personality but with the mannerisms that work for character identification and to differentiate her from Stephene--Stephene has a hamster and two "really hot boyfriends" Kinsey has Harry, the same devotion to junk food, blue jeans, and underwear. Lots of irrelevant detail here--on streets, the highway, parking granges, and even tract housing developments to hide the lack of story or depth that characterize Sue Grafton as a writer. And it's carelessly edited. Although it's supposed to be the late 80's, 21st century terminology and technology keep creeping in. Well, at least nobody pulls out a cell phone. Janet can keep writing, as predictable and as formulaic as the Stephene Plum series has become. She has the advantage of numbers. Grafton must be looking forward to crossing that "z" finish line.

Sue Grafton gets back in form in V is for Vengeance. Grafton is a master of the first-person narration, and while she uses a larger than normal serving of third-person narration in this release it's a pleasure to watch Private Detective Kinsey Millhone bluff and blunder her way to figuring everything out.

Millhone turns 38 in this book, on May 5, 1988. She's getting a little older, but it turns out that Grafton made a smart move by keeping her series set in roughly the same years, before the internet and cell phones, with a principal figure who ages little book to book. Tentative but tough, and always in her little rented home in Santa Teresa, Millhone is rooted not just in a place but in time, and as time goes by this will make the series even more of a classic than it appears now.

Having said that, V has some faults. The plotting, though vigorous, relies on so many coincidences and unlikely relationships that it leaves the reader suspicious. More than that, the key plot turn, which I won't disclose, is so forced, and its human resolution so unlikely, it makes me think Grafton does her plotting on top of characters instead of letting the story line develop out of the characters. With its richly layered if labored plotting, perhaps Grafton is hoping V will work as a movie.

I also regret that Henry, one of Grafton's most appealing characters, plays such a small role in this volume.

Still, this is a heck of a read. We have to thank Grafton for creating one of the best continuing series in modern mysteries.

--Lan Sluder

I have been a long-time fan of Kinsey Milhone and Sue Grafton, but when Ms. Grafton changed the format of the books (I believe around book "S") to go back and forth between the present (meaning the 1980's) and the past, and back and forth between different characters, I started being disappointed in the books. For me, there isn't enough Kinsey in the books now. And it seemed like in one book Kinsey and Cheney Phillips were starting a relationship, and then the next book barely touched on that, and then the relationship just kind of faded away. Don't get me wrong, I think Sue Grafton is a great writer, but it seems that writing the whole series from A-Z got too boring for her and she had to "change it up" so she could stay interested. Unfortunately, I lost interest at that time. I used to always faithfullly buy the hardback books as soon as they came out. Last one I bought in hardback was "T," "U," I bought as a paperback, and "V" is the last I'll pay money for. I loved the early books, and highly recommend those, but can't recommend the last ones.

First Line: Phillip Lanahan drove to Vegas in his 1985 Porsche 911 Carrerra Cabriolet, a snappy little red car his parents had given him two months before, when he graduated from Princeton.

Phillip is a typical young man who believes he's ten feet tall and bullet proof. He also thinks he's a first-rate gambler, even though he owes thousands to a loan shark. If you're under the impression that his story doesn't end well, I won't try to change your mind.

From Phillip's story, we move to Kinsey Millhone, who's just celebrated her thirty-eighth birthday by being on the receiving end of two black eyes and a busted nose. (Who says trying to collar a shoplifter is easy work?) But this particular shoplifter winds up jumping off a local bridge, and Kinsey's gut tells her there's a lot more to the shoplifter's story than overwhelming guilt at being caught.

The story moves on in alternating points of view as each of the main characters is introduced-- a man who, bereft at the loss of his fiancée, wants answers; a straying husband who plays by his own rules; a dirty cop who believes he'll never get caught; a wife whose life is about to implode; and seemingly at the very center of the web, a baleful gangster and a professional shoplifting ring.

Professional shoplifting rings don't cross the minds of most citizens, but they do exist, as anyone who's worked retail for any length of time can tell you. My personal favorite, although they weren't part of a ring, were the elderly couple who came into my store almost everyday. The wife was confined to a wheelchair, and her husband would push her throughout the store, stopping to chat and laugh with the clerks. Most of us were shocked when they were arrested and we learned that the wife was sitting on top of a big empty compartment that they were filling each and every time they came in the store. Once something like that happens, you begin looking at customers in a very different way!

Even if you don't have personal experience of shoplifters, this will be an interesting part of the plot as Kinsey investigates and uncovers more and more facts about it.

I also appreciated the alternating points of view in the book. There is a strong cast of characters in V is for Vengeance, and Grafton's letting them tell their own stories really lets readers get to know them and form their own opinions about each one. Don't set too much store on your impressions, though. Grafton throws in a few twists so you may not know the characters as well as you think.

A strong, well-paced plot and interesting characters made sure that I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. I may have come late to Kinsey's party (having read only three of the books--and none of them in order), but at least I've finally arrived!

Each year, I eagerly await the next installment in the Kinsey Milhone series. And now for the second time I have been disappointed. "U is for Undertow" left me submerged in indifference and now "V is for Vengeance" became a chore for me to wade through in order to reach a conclusion I found rather obvious. This latest installment is an overblown, turgid tome which either meanders at a less accelerated pace or needlessly editorializes by going back and forth to the viewpoints of certain major characters and consigning Kinsey Milhone to a lesser role. "V is for Vengeance" tries to present psychological profiles (i.e Nora,spouse of a lawyer with questionable ethics, who seethes at her husband's infidelities or Lorenzo Dante, a gangster seeking the elusive trappings of refinement while running a criminal enterprise. The plot shows promise with Kinsey almost being killed by an escaping shoplifter and her investigation into an elaborate shoplifting ring, spurred on by the mysterious death of a suspected perpetrator.
Certain supporting characters are well drawn out such as a grieving fiancee of the dead shoplifter, who refuses to believe his beloved could do any wrong, a malevolent, corrupt cop from Kinsey's past and a burglar trying hard to reform. yet the drawbacks of this novel revolve around its length. A mystery novel should never try to imitate the volume of either a Michener or a Tom Clancy.Then the book becomes a cumbersome tome and tends to obscure the intent of the reason for the mystery to begin with. Sue Grafton still has the talent to take this long running mystery series to the final letter but her final entries should be less weighty and analytical and present more of an original puzzle for the reader to savor than the past two books have.

I always picture a 61 year old Kinsey writing her memoirs...P.I. turned author. I turned 38 in 1988, so I like the same age as me aspect of the stories. I like the way Kinsey is maturing through the series. It kept my mind sharp while reading the different story lines and I admire the way they all came together in the end. I am hoping Sue gets through the whole alphabet before too very long though, two years or more in between books, with four more to go is going to put me in my seventies. Oh well, something to look forward to.