Rating: 
Summary: A muddled read
Review: I plowed through this latest VI Warshawski book. It was hard concentrating on the story itself when I kept trying to figure out how Paretsky tied all the threads together in the first place. Lotty is brusque as usual, but this time she is also just plain miserable. Carl is miserable, Don is miserable, Calia is miserable - in fact everyone in this latest disaster is miserable. The only goodness comes from VI and Morrell, but it's not a "good" goodness. VI has changed. No more fighting, fuming, or chasing. The down-on-her-luck, tough as hell VI seems to have disappeared and has been replaced with this gentle soul who has found true love. BLAH! Couple this with the fact that we're treated to Paretsky's (and I guess VI's) political views on the Holocaust, slave reparations, and even the Taliban. I liked VI so much more before I found out she was a liberal!
Rating:
Summary: A muddled read
Review: I plowed through this latest VI Warshawski book. It was hard concentrating on the story itself when I kept trying to figure out how Paretsky tied all the threads together in the first place. Lotty is brusque as usual, but this time she is also just plain miserable. Carl is miserable, Don is miserable, Calia is miserable - in fact everyone in this latest disaster is miserable. The only goodness comes from VI and Morrell, but it's not a "good" goodness. VI has changed. No more fighting, fuming, or chasing. The down-on-her-luck, tough as hell VI seems to have disappeared and has been replaced with this gentle soul who has found true love. BLAH! Couple this with the fact that we're treated to Paretsky's (and I guess VI's) political views on the Holocaust, slave reparations, and even the Taliban. I liked VI so much more before I found out she was a liberal!
Rating: 
Summary: The Best VI Yet!
Review: I was hooked from the first page. I had held off on reading this one, something about the previews kept me away. I have enjoyed it from start to finish. The plot was great, and I thought her writing was really able to make me feel VI's frustration at several points. I'm about to go buy this for my mother. . . I can't give it high enough praise.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much book, too little reward
Review: I've read all of Paretsky's books so far, and I will read more--because she's a good writer, and I'm not giving up after one grindingly boring experience. Yes, there were good moments in this book, and a glimmering of history which redeems it. But in a world saturated with holocaust stories, Paretsky's use of this background and character motivation was neither exceptional nor believable. And in a genre which depends on strong characters, suspense, and careful plotting, the obsession with the WW II background causes the novel to trip and stumble, and the reader to yawn and wish the book would come to an end.
Rating: 
Summary: "Total Recall" is truly forgettable
Review: In Sara Paretsky's 2001 V.I. Warshawski novel, the private investigator's boyfriend tells her that she bounces all over Chicago like a deranged ping pong ball.
Listen up Sara. You're trying to tell yourself something.
In "Total Recall" Warshawski spends far too much time in the car. In fact, she seems always to be in the car. And it's not that interesting a drive.
When not scooping the Loop, Paretsky takes the reader down a tortured and twisted Nazi Germany survivor side plot that isn't very diverting and comes into 21st Century America in a very confusing fashion. But through it we learn more about V.I's physician friend Lottie.
Still, learning about Lottie at this late date is too high a price to pay when she becomes the only character in the decades-old series with any depth.
And if Sara Paretsky continues to introduce parallel plots, she'd do well to make sure that she gives V.I. as much of a life as she gives history a voice.
Rating:
Summary: V. I. Warshawski is so contentious
Review: in this novel, I don't believe there is anyone in the book that she doesn't "mix it up with", other than her current love interest Morrell. There is a lot of the story dialogue wasted on arguments with Vic, insults to and from Vic and misunderstandings with Vic. There is so much to be admired about Paretsky's Chicago heroine, it is doubtful that the reader will enjoy seeing her turned from being feisty in career and relationships to downright stubborn and opinionated.The ending of this story, with its insight into Lotty Herschel's past and persona, is touching, and makes the book worth finishing. An interesting premise, dealing with Holocaust reparations, is spoiled when it is entwined with Chicago politics, hypnosis, and a slightly demented protagonist known as Paul Radbuka. There is lots of action, but it feels as though VI is trotting back and forth all over town, tying up loose ends to an annoying, rather than thrilling, series of events. In the final outcome, the villains are implausible, although the reader doesn't really care who's responsible, he/she just wants to learn what the shrouded past of Doctor Lotty is, and what is causing her to behave in such an uncommon way. Not a good follow up to Hard Time, and hopefully, Paretsky will be a little more innovative in her choice of theme in future VI
Warshawsky novels.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing for a true fan
Review: Let me preface my remarks by saying I have read every V.I. Warshawski novel, and overall I have greatly enjoyed the series, the character's development throughout the different books, and Paretsky's clean writing style. Total Recall was not one of Paretsky's best, as far as I'm concerned. The plotting was hectic, muddled, and circular, rather proceeding tautly in a straight line like many of her other books do. Two of the characters do not ring true to me at all - Paretsky does not give the reader enough information to explain truly why and how the Paul character and the wealthy European characters do what they do. This is too bad, as Paretsky usually does an excellent and thorough job of characterization. As a fan, I'm happy I read this book so I'll know how things stand with V.I. on her next outing, but as a reader, I was left with frustration and a bad taste in my mouth. Also, as a therapist, I was not happy with the portrayal of the therapist character. Being in the mental health business is hard enough, and we need more positive, realistic literary versions of our profession to be put before the public.
Rating:
Summary: This book is Terrible!
Review: My first and last book by this author. The writing is horrible; the dialogue is simply awful. The plot is just stupid and the character development is unbelievable. The detective commits so many crimes herself in this story that in real life she would be charged, tried and convicted in about 10 minutes (but this author would stretch it out to 100 pages). If you want real writing, look to Stuart Woods or Michael Connelly. Don't look here, however.
Rating:
Summary: CHASING RABBITS
Review: Private detective Victoria Washawski has an easy task. Her client has been denied an insurance claim that was supposidly paid out ten years ago. Off she goes to resolve this matter but not before she detours into Chicago politics, the puzzling behavior of her friend Lotty, a so-called holocaust survivor, a few murders here and there and insurance fraud. To make matters worse she makes all the people associated with her quest for justice resentful and angry at her. Whew, what a full plate of intrigue. Sara Paretsky has given us a great story but we find Victoria going around chasing various rabbits leading to no where. The convoluted twists and subplots get to become so confusing to the point where you're wondering exactly what is this story about. The answers can be just as puzzling... You are lead from one thing to another not sure of the point of Paretsky's plot. Eventually you may come to some resolution if any at all. In spite of the rabbit chasing the story is pretty interesting. One thing I found interesting is her portrayal of the Black characters in this book. Ms Paretsky certainly is unable to capture the nuances of African-American dialect which is very apparent in her work. She peppers her characters with the stock Black stereotypes of men and women. They come across as surly, ungrateful, greedy, criminal and overly sensitive to race. Ms Paretsky needs to do more research in portraying Black and other non-white characters in her work. Sticking to stereotypes just doesn't work.
Rating:
Summary: Paretsky's Holocaust novel is interesting
Review: Sara Paretsky has something in common with Dick Francis. Every one of Francis' novels is about horse racing, and something else. The other topic is something esoteric (photography, flying planes, meteorology) and the author and his wife research the second topic so that the book is interesting. Paretsky does the same thing, only with issues. One book was about the Catholic church, another about hospitals. This current one is about the Holocaust, and the ensuing lawsuits against various business entities that profited from either the Holocaust or slavery and other civil rights abuses. Paretsky's main character, female private eye V.I.Warshawski is hired to investigate the status of an insurance policy that should be paid out now, but apparently was cashed in a decade ago. The insurance company claims no knowledge of the policy's end, and are refusing to pay when the policyholder dies. Meanwhile, Warshawski is caught up in another mystery, as an individual claiming to be a holocaust survivor shows up in Chicago. He's been to a recovered memory specialist who hypnotizes her subjects, and then gets them to remember things that happened when they were very young. Paul Radbucka remembers that he was abused, and that his father was a Nazi. He also remembers his name (he grew up with a different one) and other things that make him believe he might be related to a small group of people, one of whom is Warshawski's best friend, Dr. Lotte Herschel. We've known from previous books that Lotte was a holocaust survivor herself, but no details are ever forthcoming, because she believes in putting the past behind her. Now it's come back to haunt her, and all she wants to do is run and hide. It's up to V.I. to figure out what's going on and make sense of things. I enjoyed this book more than I have some of Paretsky's other novels. Occasionally she gets preachy about her ideas on a particular issue, and whether I disagree with her ...or don't really care...it's annoying to spend your afternoon reading a detective novel and getting preached to. Total Recall, however, is a good book, and it doesn't seem preachy because the author doesn't seem to have much of an axe to grind. Anyway the plot is fascinating, and has at least one twist that I didn't see coming, and I enjoyed the book thoroughly.
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