Not a die-hard fan of Sara Paretsky’s famous character, V.I. Warshawski (although Washawski is a good character that I have enjoyed reading about previously), I found that Dead Land was hard to get into and I quickly lost interest in the story. That is not to say that the writing isn’t good – actually Paretsky is an excellent writer. This one, however, just didn’t do it for me, and I found it very difficult to finish, and, in fact, abandoned my intentions and put the book down early on.

The premise of the story involves the fact that unscrupulous politicians use their power to develop land that shouldn’t be developed according their greedy desires, with no thought to what the consequences are. The novel exposes what is actually happening in America today as far as political gain and power. Land use, is one of those subjects that doesn’t interest many of us.

Even though Paretsky, a celebrated best-selling author, writes thriller books that keep readers on the edges of their seat, the subject matter of this one was disappointing and actually quite boring. The characters were well-developed, as in her previous novels, but the storyline just didn’t grab as in her previous novels. In fact, it was an exercise in perseverance to continue reading as far as I did. I don’t doubt that if I had kept reading, things would have turned around and the book would have become compelling. However, there are so many really fascinating books out there by excellent authors, I didn’t want to waste my time.

Paretsky die-hard fans will want to pick this one up; those of us who aren’t will want to skip it.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

Published by William Morrow on April 21, 2020

Dead Land is Sara Paretsky’s twentieth V.I. Warshawski novel. I haven’t read them all, but I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve read, Dead Land included. Paretsky always mixes Chicago’s colorful history and atmosphere into a solid, traditional detective story. Much of Dead Land takes place on Chicago’s south side, in parkland near Lake Shore Drive.

V.I.’s goddaughter, Bernie Fouchard, is coaching a preteen girls’ soccer team that is sponsored by the South Lakefront Improvement Council (SLICK). V.I. and Bernie attend a SLICK meeting where the team is scheduled to be given some love. Before that can happen, the meeting addresses a plan to fill in part of the lakefront with a sand beach, some playground equipment, and maybe a nice restaurant or bar. The presentation is interrupted by a protestor named Coop who believes there is more to the proposal than they are being told. Naturally, the Chicago cops hustle Coop away so that the people in power can continue steamrolling the unsuspecting neighborhood residents.

V.I. and Bernie make their way into the park, where they hear Lydia Zamir singing a song called “Savage” that earned her a loyal following. Lydia is now homeless and a bit feral, playing her music on a toy piano and deathly afraid of anyone who comes near her. V.I. wants to help her, but Coop arrives and establishes himself as Lydia’s protector.

V.I. recounts all of this to her reporter friend, Murray Ryerson, who thinks there is a story in (1) the resurfacing of Lydia and (2) the plan to build a little beach area that might actually be a plan to do something else. When the news breaks about Lydia, her fans flock to the area, enraging Coop. After Lydia disappears, V.I. learns that Lydia went off the deep end four years earlier when environmental activist Hector Palurdo was killed by Arthur Morton, a sniper who carried out a mass shooting. Lydia was standing onstage next to Palurdo when he was shot. The law firm that swooped in to defend the mass killer got a restraining order against Lydia when she seemed to be losing it.

Paretsky's intricate plot involves nefarious developers, sneaky lawyers, corrupt politicians, a disputed South American inheritance, and a multitude of murders. Coop is suspected of killing the man he interrupted at the SLICK meeting, but V.I. has her doubts. She’s more interested in finding Lydia, as is the law firm that Lydia allegedly harassed. The more V.I. digs into Lydia’s history, the more she suspects a connection to murders — and to attempts to murder her —although the connections are elusive. The reader is invited to join V.I. as she juggles the puzzle pieces until they can be assembled into a recognizable picture.

The reader need not fear being overwhelmed by all the players and clues because Paretsky provides internal summaries to keep the details alive in the reader’s memory. She balances action scenes with pavement pounding detective work to keep the story moving at a good pace. The central characters are well established and offer no surprises, but Coop and Lydia give Paretsky a chance to explore damaged but decent individuals who are struggling with mental health issues in different ways. Paretsky writes about the unfortunate with compassion while entertaining the reader as V.I. unravels a challenging mystery one thread at a time.

RECOMMENDED

DEAD LAND by Sara Paretsky is the latest V. I. Warshawski mystery. I always enjoy these, due in part to their Chicago settings, and here is a classic involving real estate development and potential corruption from government officials. V. I. becomes involved due to pleas from her goddaughter, Bernie Fouchard, who has become obsessed with rescuing Lydia Zamir, a songwriter now living on the streets. Zamir's mental health is in peril due to witnessing the murder of her lover at an outdoor concert's mass shooting. But, of course, the story is more tangled than that. A local community group is involved, too, and one of their members dies after questioning land use along the lakefront. DEAD LAND received a starred review from Booklist while Kirkus said [Paretsky focuses on] "uncovering a monstrous web of evil, and this web is one of her densest and most finely woven ever." Highly recommended.

Great story but I personally found the intrusion of Paretsky's politics off putting and broke immersion. Loved the Kansas section of the book, it was nice to see VI outside of Chicago.

When it comes to crime novels, I have a massive affinity for hard-boiled mysteries with strong female protagonists kicking butt and showing everyone how detective work is done. And boy, does V.I. Warshawski do just that.

In this novel, we meet V.I. Warshawski or simply Vic, one of Chicago's most experienced detectives. I really liked how her entire identity is based around being that badass, accomplished investigator who's not afraid to delve into Chicago's notoriously dangerous districts; I found her strangely addictive. Together with her granddaughter Bernie, they are trying to help Lydia, a homeless singer whose lover was murdered. The plot is jam-packed with action and unexpected turns of events involving international crime.

Even though I haven't read the previous books in the V.I. Warshawski Novels series, I didn't have any problems understanding the characters or the plot. However, I did feel that it was slightly tedious with many details, which could have been shortened; at the same time, the complexity of the story makes the events more unpredictable. And since the books in the series aren't connected too tightly, you can read them in any order. So while it was my first novel by Paretsky, I will definitely check out her earlier work.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Dead Land is the 20th book in the V.I. Warshawski series written by Sara Paretsky. I have not read the first nineteen books and was able to follow the characters and plot with no prior knowledge of the series. V.I find herself trying to track down a homeless street musician and uncover a shady partnership to develop the Chicago lakefront between corrupt politicians and greedy property developers. These parallel plots weave together for a twisty mystery. I enjoyed this book and plan to read other books in this series.

Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers - William Morrow for an advance digital review copy in exchange for a review.

Warshawski comes through again and she lives to tell about it. Lordy, I sort of agree with her neighbor who wants her out of the condo. Washawski is a problem, and yet her death-defying detective work is always done to help someone who really needs it. I’m glad I don’t have to write a synopsis for this book. Its like an octopus with tentacles reaching out in different places yet connected to one central body. I enjoyed this 20th novel in the series, and hope that Warshawski continues to survive and go after some bad guys in another book.

Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) provided by the Author and Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an fair and honest review.

The first V.I. Warshawski book was published in 1982. This has been a long and wonderful series with Chicago as its' home and heart. The books all contain a great mystery plot and show Vic as a Social Justice Warrior, although she would deny that vehemently. The loss of Vic's mother continues to haunt her and that is a foundation block for this series. Another foundation block is her tenacity with things that catch her interest, whether she is being paid or not. She is perpetually 30-40 something, even after 38 years. She has added a boyfriend over the years and he is an affable sort who tolerates Vic chasing after that elusive thing that she just can't pin down. If you follow my reviews you know that hard mystery is so not my genre, but I've read a few of the early books in this series and decided to see how the series has aged. It has aged very well.

When Vic's goddaughter's, Bernie Fouchard's, rec league soccer team receives its' awards at a neighborhood SLICK community meeting, more than the awards are on the agenda. A development proposal causes tempers to fly and Bernie's boyfriend is in the middle of it all as the IT consultant to the group. "Pay to Play" has long been the way business in Chicago is conducted and a mysterious man named Coop is taking issue with this particular project.

After the meeting and completely by chance Vic and Bernie come across a homeless woman whose music Bernie recognizes and which strikes a chord with Vic. Bernie tries to help the woman who turns out to be Grammy Award winner, Lydia Zamir, whose tragic story gets both Bernie and Vic in way over their heads. The mysterious Coop appears to have appointed has himself as Lydia's guardian and takes exception to any attempts to contact her, with good reason it turns out.

When corrupt developers, the murder of Bernie's boyfriend, and the tragic death of Lydia's lover four years ago collide, Vic is way over her head as she chases a conspiracy that is covering up one of the darkest chapters in America's dealings with South America and that may just cost Vic her life.

Sara Paretsky characterizes her newest book Dead Land as the first book she has written without her beloved husband who died in 2018. V.I. Warshawski tackles city hall as she gets involved in a fight about land use on Chicago’s lake front thanks to her goddaughter’s interest in the project. Before long people are dead and a once-popular singer-songwriter, Lydia Zamir, is missing. Zamir’s boyfriend was killed four years earlier, and she has never recovered. Before he was killed, Hector traveled to South America in search of his roots, stirring up a hornet’s nest.

V.I.’s involvement brings her another dog, Bear, left to her by mystery man Coop, who is involved not only with protesting plans for land use but who is also a self-appointed guardian of the singer-songwriter Lydia Zamir. V.I.’s search for Zamir and Coop takes her to Kansas where she is shot at not once but twice. Before she can untangle this web, reporter Murray Ryerson will also be injured as someone tries to put him out of commission before he can finish his story about the problems on the waterfront.

I never miss a Sara Paretsky book as she is an amazing writer, and her V.I. Warshawski is one smart cookie. Mystery fans will love the latest from this Chicago-based writer.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting April 21, 2020.

I’d like to thank HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

Sara Paretsky unites three very separate plots in Dead Land, her 20th V.I. Warshawski crime thriller. V.I. accompanies her goddaughter Bernie to a community meeting where a new waterfront development is proposed. This being Chicago, where V.I. knows corruption is a behind the scenes player, the new plans lead to mystery, threats and murder. There’s also the sad story of Lydia Zamir, a Kansas born, classically trained composer and pianist, now mentally ill and homeless. Throw in the horrors of Chile when ruled by Pinochet, and you have a satisfying mystery that knits up all loose ends.

Joined by a stellar cast of characters, V.I. wades through bureaucracy, searches for Lydia’s mysterious protector, dog sits, and finds almost as many threats in the midwest as she does in Chicago. This is one of Paretsky’s best. 5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins Publishers and Sara Paretsky for this ARC.

I am happy to report that Ms. Paretsky does not disappoint. I have read her books for years but then dropped off reading them. Not sure exactly why but I think because in general, I’m really not into mystery books these days. As I have gotten older my taste in reading have changed. Thanks to Netgalley for giving me an ARC copy, I decided it was time to get my toes back in to the world of V.I. Warshawski. One reading this review years from now won’t realize the significance of the time frame in which I’m reading, but we are in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic. There’s something about reading a familiar character that provides stability and comfort during times of uncertainty. and I now see that maybe I’ve gotten bored with mysteries because much of the writing out there is dumbed down. I love the internal dialogue Warshawski works through during her day. It’s amazing to me that all these years later that Ms. Paretsky still writes a solid book!

4.5 Stars

This is the twentieth book in the V.I. Warshawski series by Sara Paretsky.

It is hard for me to admit that I had never read a V.I. Warshawski novel until now. I have indeed heard of her over the years but never in enough detail to warrant reading one of her cases. This one was in a newer vein since Sara and her husband used to co-author these books and now she is doing it on her own.

This book is mostly set in Chicago and it reads a lot like a movie. It is easy to picture what is happening and how sometimes V.I. feels a bit like she is falling behind in all the technology. And in other ways she seems a master at figuring out whodunit. When she finally came to the realization of the killer, I was still clueless.

The only problem I had with this book was that it felt like it was 50 to 80 pages too long. They kept recapping things they had already said previously more than once. But the plot and storyline itself was beyond stellar. It felt like a plot pulled out of real life. And watching this all through V.I.’s eyes was quite an eye opener.

I will definitely be picking up other books in this series. I am hooked and just want to know more about this intriguing character.

If you love a good mystery/PI/detective fiction, definitely check this one out. You won’t be disappointed.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

The plot was good, but it just seemed to go on with lots of characters and not enough happening. I like most of the author's work, but I struggled keeping interested in this one. I managed to get through only by skipping 1/4 of the book (read the first half, then picked it up toward the end). I missed a little, but my only other option was abandoning it and trying later.

3.75 stars

Another stellar V.I. Warshawsky adventure. You know you will get attitude and action when you hang out with this Chicago private eye.

Vic gets embroiled in a mess via her goddaughter. What starts out to be a random sighting of a mysteriously disappeared former singer turns into a major mystery with many serious and tangled threads: South American death squads, embezzlement and pocket-lining at the Chicago municipal level, fallout from a concert mass shooting, more than a bit of various conspiracy theories and just plain corporate greed.

Vic would be tough for anybody to keep up with. She never backs down, never takes any crap from anybody, and always manages to hone in on what's really at stake. She's always on the side of the underdog, the underserved, and the underprivileged. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Are you a fan of P.I. fiction?   During the plague, I recommend losing yourself in a good detective novel.  The award-winning Sara Paretsky has a brilliant new novel out, "Dead Land," the twentieth in the V. I. Warshawski series.
 
V.I. Warshawski is a Chicago lawyer-turned-P.I., with a social conscience as well as detective skills.  She embarks on chilling adventures as she investigates violent crimes that are often linked to corporate corruption.  V.I. is far from ladylike:  she goes running with her two big dogs, which she shares with her 90-year-old neighbor, is an amateur climber, and seems to know everything about street fighting and guns.  Paretsky’s descriptions of V.I’s legwork, risky interventions, and investigations of the rich and powerful  will transport you completely into this well-plotted mystery.

In the opening chapter,  V.I. and her goddaughter, Bernie, a university soccer star, encounter a homeless woman who is playing a haunting song on a toy piano. Bernie recognizes this woman as Lydia Zamir, a classically-trained musician whose songs about social issues were very popular wth the young, until Lydia disappeared four years ago after her Latino husband was killed in a mass massacre at a music festival in Kansas. 

V.I. connects Lydia’s plight to two murders and the redevelopment of a park on the South side of Chicago. V.I. also takes a dangerous trip to Kansas, Lydia’s birthplace, after Lydia disappears a second time.   Plain,  brisk writing, unputdownable , and a seamless plot.

In Dead Land, Sara Paretsky presents V. I. Warshawski with one of her most complex and dangerous cases. Her goddaughter Bernie, a skater on the women’s hockey team at the University of Chicago, has asked her to accompany her to a local organizers’ meeting which a friend is assisting. Then Bernie realizes that a homeless woman making odd music near a train station is actually a known singer songwriter, famous to Bernie’s generation, though not to V. I. Yes, the beginning is complex and there is more to come.

There are many characters in this story that are important to the plot: Lydia, the homeless woman; her mother-in-law; a neighbor who threatens to have V.I. evicted due to her disruptive life; Murray, V. I.’s erstwhile “frenemy” newsman; multiple civic and police persons in Chicago as well as her usual cohorts. Then there are the people of Kansas, as Vic travels there to seek answers in this increasingly muddy case.

The plot is both cerebral and very physically active with close calls for V.I as she confronts suspects and chases clues while she uses these fragile clues to construct a theory.

Once again, I definitely recommend this book. It builds on the successful series which is based on a very human-seeming lead.

Paretsky writes in her afterword that this is the first of this now 20 book series that she has written since the death of her husband. I wish I could tell her how wonderful it is to see what she has produced in spite of her grief. I’m also so happy to see she continues writing as she is one of my favorite authors.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Detective Vic Warshawski was born in 1982, a time when a woman advocating for herself, or another woman, or women on the whole were few and far between. Such a woman often spoke softly, hesitantly, and to reassure the listener that she wasn’t stark raving mad, she might begin by saying, “I’m not a feminist or anything, but…” And so for the lonely few of us that were uncloseted, audacious feminists, this bold, brazen, unapologetic character was inspirational. Vic is fictional, but Paretsky is not. It was leading lights such as hers that made me feel less alone. I have loved her from then, to now.

Paretsky is no longer a young woman. I know this because I am a grandmother myself, and she is older than I am. For her readers that wonder if she’s still got it, I have great news. She’s better than ever.

By now I should have thanked William Morrow, Net Galley, and Edelweiss Books for the review copies. You can get this book April 21, 2020.

Victoria’s young goddaughter, Bernie Fouchard appears in an earlier story, and now she returns. Bernie’s youthful passion and impetuous disposition counter Vic’s experience and more measured responses. I liked Bernie when she was introduced, and am glad she is back. Chicago’s shady politicians are about to quietly sell a prime chunk of the city’s park lands to developers; the corrupt nature of the deal makes it essential that the whole thing be done fast and with as little publicity or public input as possible. Bernie and a handful of others learn of it, and they protest at a meeting at which the city fathers had hoped to slide this oily project through. There are arrests, and soon afterward, Bernie’s boyfriend is murdered.

At the same time, Bernie tries to help a homeless singer named Lydia Zamir. Zamir is brilliant and was once very famous, but everything crumbled around the time that her lover was shot and killed; she’s been living under a bridge, filthy, disoriented, playing her music on a child’s toy piano. Now Lydia is missing. Lydia’s champion has been a man named Coop, and Coop is missing too. Before pulling a bunker, Coop deposits his dog outside Vic’s apartment, earning her the enmity of neighbors that are already up in arms over the barking of Vic’s own dogs when she is gone. Now Vic has every reason to help find Coop, Lydia, and the murderer. At the same time the reader must wonder how the sleazy deal, the murder, and the disappearances are connected. The pacing is urgent and my interest never flags; the haunting mental image of Lydia and her small, battered piano tug at my social conscience, all the more so as the world is hurtled into quarantine.

Long-running characters Lottie and Max, who are like parents to Vic, and newspaperman Murray, a close friend of Vic’s, return here, and I love them all. No doubt this colors my response as well. I have known these characters longer than my husband of thirty years; at one point I realized that somewhere along the line, I had separated the other books I was reading (some of them quite good) from this one. I had my books-to-read category, but I had mentally shifted this story into the same category as my family business. I should check on my sister, who’s been ill; I wanted to set a lunch date with one of my kids; and I should check and see whether Vic is having any luck finding…oh hey. Wait a minute.

Can you read this story as a stand-alone? You sure can. However, this bad-ass, hardboiled Chicago detective is an addictive character; once you’ve read it, you’re going to want to go back and get the other 21 in the series. I swear it. You probably won’t experience the nostalgia that I do, but a damn good read is a damn good read, any way you slice it.

Highly recommended.

Dead Land is the 20th book in the V.I. Warshawski series written by Sara Paretsky. I began read these books nearly twenty years ago, enjoying the balance between mystery, thriller, suspense, and hard-core crime novel. Paretsky is never afraid to tackle difficult social topics, and the mysteries are thoroughly complex and entertaining. This one comes out in the next few weeks, but I was lucky enough to get a copy via NetGalley earlier this year. I'm glad I stuck with them as this is a really intricate and clever set of books.

Dead Land revolves around the mysterious disappearance and death of a few young adults who have a connection to Chile, Kansas prairies, and music. V.I., our resident private investigator, happens upon the missing girl when she takes cover as a homeless person after suffering through unimaginable horror and pain. Toss in V.I.'s niece getting in the middle of a political war, then a stranger who drops his dog off in the middle of all this drama, and our heroine doesn't know what to do with herself.

There are at least eight different tentacles to this plot, and I won't try to summarize them any further. They weave together nicely and push you to keep turning the pages. At times, it got a little tedious and vague, and as a result, it felt repetitive when we kept being lead to similar conclusions based upon each piece of evidence coming to light. Mr. Contreras and Lotty were missing from this book (except for a few small scenes) which made us feel as if V.I. was all on her own. I like seeing her being grounded every 100 pages or so... and for these reasons, I couldn't push it up to a 5-star rating.

Otherwise, it was a fantastic mystery chock full of political statements, culture lessons, historical references, and interesting relationships. I can see a few of these characters popping up again in the future... which I hope happens, as the author takes a couple of years to deliver each book, and she's in her retirement years, so... we might only get one or two more. This is worrisome, but I also cherish all the time I've spent with the books and plots, so I will continue to happily read and be saddened when they end.

DEAD LAND by Sara Paretsky is the twentieth book in the V.I. Warshawski private detective series and the ninth book that I have read by this author. This book is set in Chicago and in Kansas. V.I. Warshawski gets involved with a case through her goddaughter who tries to rescue a singer-songwriter, Lydia Zamir that is living on the Chicago streets. Lydia’s life changed when her partner was murdered during a mass shooting at an outdoor concert in Kansas. Along with this, there seems to be some political shenanigans going on with a park proposal. The more V.I. digs into the situation, the more complicated and involved they become.

The author has done a great job of developing competing and sympathetic characters that felt real and three-dimensional. Their motivations seemed believable and well-drawn. The stakes were high and the pace accelerated throughout the book. The prose was well-written, engrossing, and compelling. The plot was moving, powerful, thought-provoking and complex. There were several twists and turns and surprises as V.I. unravels the mysteries in this novel.

Overall, this was a complex, compelling, and suspenseful read. Themes include murder, attempted murder, mass shooting, international politics and history, political corruption, and much more. I am looking forward to reading more books in this series.

Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow and Sara Paretsky for a complimentary ARC of this novel via NetGalley and the opportunity to provide an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

Sara Paretsky has the excellent ability to describe V.I Warshawski's universe in such a way that you care and are concerned about her world. I cannot wait for the next book.