Rating: 
Summary: Engrossing but ultimately disappointing
Review: Another engrossing read from a true professional. Paretsky never fails to deliver a riveting read. Although, this one is not quite up to her previous standards, it is still far and away above most of the mysteries the most popular authors churn out.
There wasn't as much fleshing out of characters as she usually does but perhaps, that is because I really missed reading so little about Lottie and Max.
Rating: 
Summary: Much Ado about nothing
Review: At least I can't cry about the money I spent, since I do use the library almost exclusively. To say this book was too long and too boring would be to simplify things. And how does a character become such a big part of the story when he wasn't even there? I am referring to lost lover Morrell. If V.I. makes a profit in her crazy investigative career it's a miracle. Massage's and motels for a few hours rest, 3 traffic tickets for overparking because she couldn't get back to her car in time, just a few examples. What was the big coverup anyway to justify 3 murders. Livestyles of the rich and famous, you can keep it.
Rating:
Summary: A Lengthy but Good and Insightful Read
Review: BLACKLIST, Sara Paretsky's eleventh V.I Warshawski novel, is a continuation of the colorful career of Vicky (V.I.) Warshawski, Private Investigator. Feeling abandoned by absent boyfriend Morrell, a journalist now working in Afghanistan, Warshawski takes on a case for her wealthy client, Darraugh Graham. Graham's mother, Geraldine, lives in a retirement cottage that overlooks her former home in the suburbs of Chicago. Self-appointed family watchdog over the defunct estate, Geraldine sees late-night activity inside Larchmont Hall. Warshawski's job is to investigate and put to rest rumors of a break-in on the grounds.Her problems compound when she visits the site a second time and apprehends a teenage girl. The two wage a healthy verbal battle. The saucy youngster takes off with Warshawski in pursuit, but is no match for fast young legs. The detective next stumbles into a five-foot deep garden pond and surfaces with a dead body in her grasp. The novel contains a complicated maze of family names. It might have helped to list the characters in a frontispiece to keep the reader's attention. Two family histories are intertwined, with relationships that stretch backwards several generations. It is a tale of wealthy dowagers, gentlemen and their progeny who conceal secrets from days past. Larchmont Hall is the setting where old scores are settled with feuding residents who return to confront former ghosts. The animosities go back to the days of the famous McCarthy hearings in Congress that exposed real and would-be Communists. Historical realities of the Cold War period in America are drawn by the fictional characters that represent intellectuals whose lives were ruined by their political associations. The detective works in a post-September 11th world where terrorists are now the real and imagined threat to law officers. The dead body Warshawski discovers is a black journalist, Marc Whitby, who is researching the life of a famous black dancer-artist, Kylie Ballantine. Ballantine's career was ruined when she was exposed as a member of a Communist-leaning group. Warshawski unearths dirty laundry from an entire elite community whose past history has been long dormant. Her elderly client unwittingly involves herself in the tangled mess of secrets aired. Graham is a plucky sidekick to Warshawski and plays a significant role in the investigation. The long list of characters includes testy small-town legal officers and a confused teenage girl who takes on a truant foreign companion accused of being a terrorist. Warshawski's client, Darraugh Graham, has dark memories of Larchmont Hall and has no desire to return there. Close neighbors include a powerful publishing house family whose patriarch's reputation was smeared in the McCarthy hearings. An elderly legalist dies before his memories are opened to the public. Warshawski is in a constant state of turmoil and comes across as not only feisty but neurotic. She untangles a complicated web of information but appears in a constant mid-life crisis of her own. One would hope that the previous series's novels had pictured her as a more likable heroine. The references to her out-of-the-country boyfriend did little to endear him as a relevant character. Overall, BLACKLIST is a lengthy but good read and gives us insight into a time in recent history that most involved would gladly forget. We are reminded that government can be invasive if allowed. Our most sacred freedoms are not to be taken lightly. --- Reviewed by Judy Gigstad
Rating:
Summary: interesting viewpoint
Review: Contrary to many of the other reviews I did not find this book too political. It was refreshing to see another American view point from the one we often perceive - that the ends justify the means and constitutional rights must be suspended (or, in the case of non-Americans, don't always apply).
It's not unusual for Paretsky's books to set up a target for attack. It's a while since I read the last one, but if my memory is right I recall attacks on the pharmaceutical industry, the Church, big business etc.
I certainly don't always agree with what she says, as sometimes it can be expressed in very black and white terms and I do find VI a bit of whinger, but she is always both entertaining and thought provoking, no less so than in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Paretsky - the LAST
Review: I've avidly read the VI novels over the years, even enjoyed the movie version -- but this will be the LAST I ever read. The 'classic VI' storyline has finally been reduced to mass-regurgitation of characters, formulaic conversations and incidents. The final straw in this book is the total submerging of any faint 'new' plot in a naieve, wandering , nonsensical political diatribe.
Save your money for a REAL author.
Rating:
Summary: preachy
Review: That's it - preachy. I don't read mysteries to get my politics - I read political and historical books for that - this book was just terrible. I wish I could return this book and I hope others just do not order it. Buy another book for a good mystery and then look for whatever you like in Pol/Sc/Hist.
Rating: 
Summary: Secrets, Secrets, Secrets!
Review: This book is full of secrets and betrayals, and VI gets caught up in the middle of a conspiracy that actuallly began 50 years previously. It's been a couple of years since we've heard from V.I., and things have happened in her world - the World Trade Centre, threats of terrorism and Homeland Security, and the love of her life - Morrell has been over in Afghanistan doing wartime reporting. Although Vic misses him terribly, she's trying hard not to look like a clinging female, and continues to pursue her own career in Chicago. She is still chasing bad guys and risking her life trying to uphold law and order. She is asked by one of her more well-heeled clients to determine who has been using his family anscestral home. Although the mansion is supposedly empty, this client's elderly mother still sees lights on inside the building late at night. Looks fairly straightforward until V.I. accidentally falls into the old ornamental pool on the grounds and discovers a dead man. Then she is whirled into a maelsrtom of intrigue, secrets, Communist plots and racism that almost causes her to lose her own life. Paretsky writes a great yarn, and her characters are the most three-dimensional you'll see in this genre. She is without peer in the mystery writing field! Awesome book!
Rating:
Summary: Riveting and relevant
Review: This is a book you will be thinking about long after you turn the last page. The plotline was riveting, and the way current events are woven into the unfolding mystery is both interesting and disturbing. I can't wait to read Paretsky's next book.
Rating: 
Summary: Not too Bad- but Not Satisfying Either
Review: This is my first VI Warshawski novel. I am quite impressed by Paretsky's writing ability, and enjoyed the book mainly because I think she possesses a great command of the English language. I'm also a sucker for any book involving spooky houses which is why I bought this in the first place.
The story itself was a disappointment. The pace is way too sluggish and the ending is unsatisfying. I think that someone who publishes such a long novel should at least reward their readers with a whopper of an ending, which this one fails to deliver. The characters are dry, and I did not find myself empathizing with any of them. I wasn't as troubled by the writer's political rants as other reviewers were, because at one point in the story Warshawski comes out and admits she is a hot-head who lets emotions come before logic (which sort of puts all her political opinions into perspective doesn't it?).
Rating:
Summary: Too Bad
Review: This will be the last Paretsky book that I purchase. I had to force myself to finish it because I can't admit defeat. This was so full of left-wing politics that that the reader has no sympathy for any of the characters. I really didn't care what happened. The last few chapters, after she had expended most of her political venom, the reading was much easier and more enjoyable. There's enough political rhetoric on TV these days without having to endure it while reading a book for pleasure. If I had wanted a political fiction I would have read Bill Clinton's bio.
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