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nocto's review against another edition
5.0
I know loads of people can't stand VI but I love her and I'm glad to see her back. I was disappointed by the first half of the book but the second half was very intense and the only book so far this year (2000) to keep me up all night when I really really needed to be sleeping.
jodi_b's review against another edition
4.0
If I were to teach that class I loved in college, gender and detective fiction, I would include this book. Prison industrial complex, violence against women, media, fast fashion, worker exploitation, and more with V. I. Warshawski, a mistake making, never give up, idealistic, feminist detective.
anna_hepworth's review against another edition
This is the first full length novel featuring V.I. Warshawski I've tried reading, and I did not enjoy the experience. I lasted until page 38, at which point I decided that the police harassment of the protagonist, the multiple reflections on how expensive and awful things were, and the general nastiness of the majority of the characters was too much. It was heading into farce with murder, and I'm really not that motivated to read something that just repeats how awful men are to women, and how messed up the American medical and police systems look, particularly when caricatured, as they are here.
[This book was given to me by a friend downsizing their library; I won't be keeping it, as there are too many books I enjoy reading for more than 'so how does the writer get there from here' type questions. ]
[This book was given to me by a friend downsizing their library; I won't be keeping it, as there are too many books I enjoy reading for more than 'so how does the writer get there from here' type questions. ]
bdplume's review against another edition
4.0
Her novels keep getting richer as they progress. New twists on the supporting characters and new trials for VI keep the pages turning.
bjerz's review against another edition
4.0
Sara Paretsky is high up on her soap box in Hard Time, preaching (to the choir in this case) about the evils of corporate-run prisons and political influence. Her wonderful character, V.I. Warshawsaki, comes out beaten but unbowed, having vanquished several modern dragons. Paretsky and Warshawski just keep getting better. An intense, addicting read from beginning to end.
gazakas's review against another edition
5.0
The best book of the series so far; not just a crime novel, but also a very realistic -and surprisingly leftist- glance on USA's penitentiary system.
geriatricgretch's review
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Wow this book. I don't think I can really talk about it without spoilers, but this was one of the most powerful of Paretsky's novels for me so far. An engaging mystery about corruption in Illinois that still rings very very true today. Even though I had a strong (and correct) hunch about the big reveal, this book was still very suspenseful.
The crux of this novel is heartbreaking, because it hinges on keeping prison production for commercial entities secret, because that's illegal in Illinois. That is no longer the case, as far as I can tell, and to think now we'd just be like "okay" and not horrified that a company is exploiting prison labor is so sad. I knew immediately what the mystery was going to be, because I know about horrific things in prison (and rightly assumed these were not the public norms in the 1990s). VI's time in a women's prison/jail is horrific, and one of the best fiction arguments for prison abolition that I've seen. I think nonfiction works on this is vital, but I think fiction accounts do a lot of work to persuade those of us who have never had first-hand experience of humanizing and contextualizing these issues.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Physical abuse and Sexual assault
Much of this book takes place in a prison and Paretsky is very open about the abuses of power that take place there.tenisonpurple's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.0
Very hard boiled and at times extremely irritating. Particularly when VI is getting herself into deep trouble and you can just see it coming and she says ‘I knew I shouldn’t be doing x’. But the ending was gripping