Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Review: Overboard by Sara Paretsky

 


 

VI Warshawski is the best dog parent.  She makes sure they get their exercise, and lets them run off leash when she can.

Walking along the Chicago shore, they suddenly smell something and Mitch gets loose, leaving VI to try to hold onto Peppy while following the other dog down to the beach, precariously making her way down huge slabs of broken concrete.

There, in a narrow sort of cave she finds an unconscious young girl.  The dogs want to get in and examine and protect her, but there's no room. The girl's not just unconscious but she's been burnt.

A complaint about a woman and her dogs has the police already at the top of the hill when she makes her way back up to call for help.  They're not there to help, though they do call a rescue squad. Soon TV crews arrive and everyone knows VI Warshawski was a heroine.

So begins a series of escalating run ins with the police.  The worst is a vicious detective named Scott Coney, who takes a heavy handed approach immediately. He hits Vic, threatens to tase the dogs and puts Mr Contreras,Vic's neighbor in cuffs.

When the girl disappears from the hospital, a staffer who assisted Vic is murdered, and everyone thinks VI has something she took from the girl.  Her home and office are searched, she's invasively searched.

As if this wasn't enough, the son of an old classmate who has hated Vic since high school comes to her for help.  

Luckily Vic has friends with unusual and useful skills.  Though they can't keep her safe, they help keep her alive while she tries to find the girl everyone is looking for.


No comments:

Post a Comment