Rating: 
Summary: Paretsky doesn't slip...
Review: A sweeping mystery that shows off the true power of Chicago money, power, and politics. From V.I.'s apartment to a modernized prison to the fashionable upscale neighborhoods, each new location is brought to vivid detail. In this book, you really wonder who the true victim is? Nicole Aguilando? Robbie? V.I.? All of the above?It starts off simple enough. V.I. is invited to a party featuring the latest action film queen. At the party, she is approached by a childhood friend of the superstar who has more than a few questions on his mind. It sounds simple to start off....right? But, when Victoria Iphigenia Warshawski heads home, she finds Nicole Aguilando lying in the street, badly beaten and clinging to life, her entire world is turned upside down. To top it off, she is wearing a shirt with the action queen's image on the front. Nicole was in prison for stealing a valuable necklace from her employer. Who was her employer? W.I.'s direct competition -- the president of Carnifice Security. Nicole succumbs to her injuries but that doesn't answer how she got out of prison in the first place. Enter a slimy Chicago cop who wants nothing more than to pin something (ANYTHING) on V.I. to put her away. With more twists and turns than you can imagine, V.I. befriends the son of her opponent and even goes to jail for protecting him. It's there she learns about the new jail system and what power and money (and a little political greasing) can accomplish. A highly recommendable action packed read.
Rating:
Summary: Great Audio Book - Unabridged a Must
Review: Since I spend much of my time on the road due to commute and occupation I listen to audio books. This is a great one for on the road commuting. Couldn't wait to get in the car to listen.
It is the first of the V.I. Warshoawski books I have listened to and I plan to listen to any other unabridged versions. The ones that don't have unabridged versions will be read.
I did enjoy some insight into the prison life. I don't think I would like much more then was given. No one likes a lot of real life horrors. I also enjoyed the fact that this was a woman over 40 who could be a hero in her own way.
The performance given was great.
Rating:
Summary: V.I. Warshawski's Impressive Comeback
Review: Being a mystery writer with my first book in its initial release, I fondly recall reading Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series to see how a star of crime fiction developed one of the top mystery series of our time. Then, V.I. vanished. After approximately five years, Paretsky has written a fresh V.I Warshawski mystery, and HARD TIME is as impressive as her earlier works. V.I. and her supporting cast have aged, and Murray has switched from print to television journalism. Murray's career evolution indirectly lands V.I. at a celebrity party that launches this adventure. There is an automobile accident, police abuse of power, corporate corruption, and V.I. standing up to the powers that be. She lands in prison, and our dog-loving detective uses that opportunity to expose more crimes. HARD TIME is a fabulous book, capturing Chicago and its environs in a way few other authors do. I'm thrilled V.I. has returned to the literary scene.
Rating: 
Summary: I Agree with James!
Review: I considered writing a lengthly review but "James" in "New Rochelle" did it for me! Thanks James. I will only add that, although I will certainly read the next Paretsky novel, I surely hope she refrains from the endless, rather gruesome, prison descriptions.
Rating:
Summary: Paretsky's best
Review: Not only do I think "Hard Time" is the best of Sara Paretsky's novels, but I think this is the best mystery novel I've read in the past couple of years. Not to knock her previous novels, but some how this one seems to have taken her writing to a new level. Don't ask me to tell you why it's her best, though. Tighter plotting? Maybe -- but Paretsky could always tell a story. Deeper characters? Again, maybe. But they're the same crew of good guys she's always used. Perhaps it was the criminals -- there are many in this story -- and they are much darker and much more realistic than the villains of her previous novels. Or perhaps it was just the rawness of story that coolly describes the ways the powerless abused by the powerful. Anyway, I just put down "Hard Time", and I still haven't put my finger on why I think it's so good -- however, I would have given this novel six stars, but five is the maximum allowed by amazonian law.
Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: I was alittle disappointed in this book. It seemed to drag on and on and the story was very preditable.
Rating: 
Summary: Way Ahead of You, Warshawski
Review: While the story is interesting, the reader sees the answer long before V.I. does, and that's not a good thing. Is the book too long? Possibly. Does it contain too many characters? Definitely. This reads like Paretsky put it out in a hurry, and possibly without a strong editor. Neither of those situations is likely to result in a good manuscript, and the results are evident here. The book isn't bad--it just isn't as good as it can be, and as many of its series predecessors have been.
Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: I have been waiting a long time for the next VI novel, and I was not disapointed! Wise-cracking VI is sticking to her guns and is still as gutsy as ever - and it was good to meet up with her again. Also, it is good to see a different point of view from the typical mystery novel these days; novels that inaccurately portray all cops as model citizens who got into police work to protect and serve, all prison guards as honest churchgoers with impecable motives, all prisons as "country clubs" for those held there, and all prison inmates as not only guilty, but also intrinsically evil "animals" with no prospects of rehabilitation. Just because a person is incarcerated does not mean that they deserve to be raped, beaten, and abused by employees of the system...yet this happens with some regularity (and occasional fatal consequences). Thank you, Sara, for reminding us that it's not always the way our politicians tell us it is!
Rating:
Summary: Fairly Disappointing
Review: I have read all of the other books in Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series, and like many readers, after waiting many years, I eagerly anticipated this new entry in the series. While I enjoyed reading it, in the end I found it rather disappointing. On the one hand, "Hard Time" has everything that made her other novels such a success: expert plotting, great writing, descriptions of place that are so good you feel as if you are there, an ability to explore social concerns without hitting you over the head, and, most important, real and well-depicted characters. On the other hand, "Hard Time" has a number of flaws that contribute to its lack of success. In her previous novels, Paretsky has demonstrated that the is a master a creating full-blown, three-dimensional characters, with one exception: try as she might, she has a very difficult time with the bad guys. Here that flaw is magnified, with all of the bad guys being cardboard clichés (the rogue cop; the power-hungry, money-hungry corporate executive; the unscrupulous journalist; the sadistic prison guard; etc.). There is a running joke in the series about people being unable to pronounce her last name: in this novel, all of the good characters can pronounce it on first hearing, while all of the bad characters never get it right, no matter how many times they hear it. I expect greater depth of character than that from such an accomplished author. Even her trademark - exploring contemporary social issues and giving a voice to the downtrodden and marginalized members of society - here comes off forced and at times heavy-handed. For example, Warshawski is forced to spend several weeks in a women's prison, and she succeeds admirably in exposing the injustices and inequalities of the penal system. However, she strives so hard to paint the women prisoners in a sympathetic light that she makes them appear like angels. They are all there because of society's injustice, because of the oppression of the poor and minorities; none of them seem to be there because, well, they did something wrong. For example, the main appeal to her series character, V.I. Warshawski, is her intelligent, wisecracking outlook on life. In "Hard Time," that attitude has completely disappeared, and she comes off as dour, bitter, whiny, and depressed, to the point where she becomes, frankly, very annoying. I read an article recently where Paretsky compared herself to Dickens. She certainly is, like Dickens, a great storyteller, and she does favorably compare with Dickens in her ability to portray social injustices in a fictionalized setting, but in none of Dickens's novels, even his darker later works, does he present a set of characters that are so universally angst-ridden. Sara Paretsky has demonstrated outstanding talent in the previous books in this series, and that's perhaps why I found this book to be such a disappointment. I for one hope that she takes less time in presenting her next novel, and that she takes the burden from V.I. Warshawski's shoulders and lets her be the intelligent wise-cracker that her readers have come to know and love.
Rating:
Summary: Glad that V.I. has not "grown up"
Review: While I understand where some of the earlier reviews are coming from, I have no desire to see V.I. grow up. One of the things I have always found refreshing about these books, is that V.I. retains her idealism and stubborness, conscience, good sense or age be damned. Who says this isn't an absolutely appropriate role for a woman edging past 40? Most people should be so lucky! This book is a fantastic read, and I only hope we don't have to wait as long for the next installment!
|
