Rating: 4/5
Review:
Good, but not Paretsky's best
Dead Land is is a good, enjoyable read as we’d expect from Sara
Paretsky, but I don’t think it’s one of the very best of the V.I.
Warshawski series.
This time, Vic
becomes involved with a homeless street musician who turns out to be
a once-successful singer-songwriter and political activist. A twisty
plot ensues, involving political corruption in Chicago, some very
painful history in Chile, the right-wing economics of the Chicago
School and a number of other things – plus a welcome cast of
familiar characters, of course.
Paretsky, as always,
writes and structures her plot very well and I enjoyed reading the
book, but I do have some reservations. The large cast of characters
makes it quite hard to follow sometimes and it’s too long – both
reflected in the number of times Vic has to summarise events to
someone for our benefit. Some of the politics, even though I agree
with what she’s saying, is very clunky and heavy handed, the ending
is rather too pat after all the convoluted developments...and so on.
None of this really spoils the book, but I think Sara Paretsky can do
better and a firmer editorial hand might have helped the book.
Reservations
notwithstanding, Paretsky remains a class act and this is still a
good enjoyable read. Recommended.
(My thanks to Hodder
& Stoughton for an ARC via NetGalley.)
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