Critical Mass (V.I. Warshawski) - Hardcover

Paretsky, Sara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399160566 ISBN 13: 9780399160561

Publisher: Putnam Pub Group, 2013

Synopsis

Called a "career-crowning triumph" and named one of the the top 50 mysteries and thrillers of the last 5 years by the London Sunday Times, Sara Paretsky is back with Critical Mass the latest entry in the VI Warshawski series,

"Vic is at her stubborn, reckless, compassionate best in this complicated page-turner about selfish secrets passed down through generations. Paretsky has been on a roll lately, her long-running, trailblazing series at its most dynamic since the early days." ?Booklist on Critical Mass
V.I. Warshawski’s closest friend in Chicago is the Viennese-born doctor Lotty Herschel, who lost most of her family in the Holocaust. Lotty escaped to London in 1939 on the Kindertransport with a childhood playmate, Kitty Saginor Binder. When Kitty’s daughter finds her life is in danger, she calls Lotty, who, in turn, summons V.I. to help. The daughter’s troubles turn out to be just the tip of an iceberg of lies, secrets, and silence, whose origins go back to the mad competition among America, Germany, Japan and England to develop the first atomic bomb. The secrets are old, but the people who continue to guard them today will not let go of them without a fight.

About this title

Review:

A daring departure for Paretsky . . . and a career-crowning triumph. (The Sunday Times)

Paretsky's most ambitious novel so far: interesting, exciting and well worth reading. (Literary Review)

A literary comfort blanket with all the must-loved elements - Warshawski risking her neck for friends, cooing over cute dogs, exchanging sassy dialogue with her neighbour Mr Contreras and refusing to do housework - reassuringly present. And yet Paretsky never shies away from tough subjects: this latest case takes in everything from the Holocaust to abuses of power by Homeland Security. Paretsky is brave enough to write feel-good reads that often take you to places where you feel far from good. (Telegraph)

Sara Paretsky is American's answer to P.D. James, with added violence. Her private eye, V.I. Warshawski, who comfortingly grows old alongside her readers, is so skilfully embedded in her landscape that I once drove through Chicago guided by a friend solely on her knowledge of the Warshawski oeuvre. Critical Mass is a heady mixture of crack cocaine and nuclear physics, not to mention Nobel Prizes and internet hacking by the security services. (Michael Walsh, Book of the Year The Tablet)

Book Description:

The sixteenth V.I. Warshawski thriller from one of America's greatest female crime writers, combining contemporary issues, the fight against injustice and fast-paced suspense.

About this edition

• Publisher: Putnam Pub Group
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0399160566
• ISBN 13: 9780399160561
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 465