Sara Paretsky, Blacklist: A V.I. Warshawski Novel, Signet Books, 2004.
I hadn't read a Paretsky book in a while, and picked this from a pile a book club mate had brought to pass along at our last meeting. It's interesting to me that this book is also about fear, fear on a national level, about the success of terrorism not being what many of us might not have imagined in the recent past. Terrorism wins in our heads, and perhaps more often there than in the senseless suicide bombing attacks, or the ongoing senseless wars.
Paretsky has created a wonderful character in V.I Warshawski. I've always liked her, and found her engaging. And as with many of the mystery writers I most enjoy, Paretsky always has something for us to think about.
The blacklisting of progressive writers and artists in the 1950s is still a huge blot on the escutcheons of the government of the United States. The reminder this book provides about what happened then and why is timely to say the least. Homosexuality was anathema to right wing counter-progressives, but not talked about by those who fancied themselves progressives [partial progressives?]. Paretsky shows us how the present day is reflected in the mirror of the past. Gave me the creeps.
A good story, page-turner as usual. Worth a read on a plane, in a train, or before you go to sleep.
