Chicago private investigator V. I. WARSHAWSKI is asked to look into the disappearance of a young African-American August Veriden, who works as a trainer in a university gym, but is also an aspiring filmmaker. It seems he vanished along with a Black movie star, Emerald Ferring, whose days of glory are past. There was a break-in in the gym's medical supplies, but even without having met Veriden, V.I. is convinced he is innocent of the theft, but where is he, and why with Emerald? Emerald had been an activist in her home state of Kansas, clamouring to stop the nuclear arms race in the early 1980s. V.I. sets out for Kansas with one of her dogs. August and Emerald are nowhere to be found, but every step of the way, the clues and morsels of information V.I. acquires point to something that could prove too much for her to handle, while trying to stay alive.

It had been too long since I had read a Sara Paretsky novel, I had nearly forgotten how engrossing V.I. Warshawski's adventures are. V.I. is a seasoned and serious investigator, she does not make silly beginners' mistakes; when she's on to something, she won't let go, and in FALLOUT, V.I. stirs up a deadly hornet's nest. Specters from thirty years ago raise their ugly heads, racial tensions are still present and impede V.I.'s investigation. Many secrets thought long-buried lead to too many trails, and either people honestly don't know, or don't want to talk, but nothing seems to lead to August and Emerald.

FALLOUT is over 400 pages long, and I think there might be as many layers to the story as there are pages to the book! Ms. Paretsky thoroughly researched her subject, and what inspired the author to write this book is fascinating. Ms. Paretsky's attention to detail gives FALLOUT a cinematic vibe, and a chilling understanding of all that is happening, without burdening the reader with unnecessary information, while providing just enough to keep us in the loop. The pace is nice and steady, which helped hold my interest throughout, and the writing is elegant yet simple. There are many characters, so well fleshed out, several discoveries and plot twists, all plausible, and I never felt confused or overwhelmed. FALLOUT ends with a tremendous bang, and I will not wait so long next time to read my next book by the remarkable Sara Paretsky!

Book Summary

P.D. JAMES called her "the most remarkable" of today's suspense writers.

STIEG LARSSON loved her work so much, he named her in his novels.

And now SARA PARETSKY returns with the most extraordinary novel of her legendary career: FALLOUT.

Before there was Lisbeth Salander, before there was Stephanie Plum, there was V.I. WARSHAWSKI. To her parents, she's Victoria Iphigenia. To her friends, she's Vic. But to clients seeking her talents as a detective, she's V.I. And her new case will lead her from her native Chicago... and into Kansas, on the trail of a vanished film student and a faded Hollywood star.

Accompanied by her dog, V.I. tracks her quarry through a university town, across fields where missile silos once flourished -- and into a past riven by long-simmering racial tensions, a past that holds the key to the crimes of the present. But as the mysteries stack up, so does the body count. And in this, her toughest case, not even V.I. is safe.

Exciting and provocative, fiercely intelligent and witty, FALLOUT is reading at its most enjoyable and powerful.