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Available
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Description
V.I. Warshawski may have left her old South Chicago neighborhood, but she learns that she cannot escape it. When V.I. takes over coaching duties of the girls' basketball team at her former high school, she faces an ill-equipped, ragtag group of gangbangers, fundamentalists, and teenage moms who inevitably draw the detective into their family woes.
User reviews
LibraryThing member bastet
Not one of Paretsky's better mysteries, but it still beats the hell out of most of the pulp you get on the shelves these days. I was disturbed by her strange chronology of events, but the mystery was sound.
LibraryThing member unrequitedlibrarian
Tone of language: Emotional, wrenching, self-deprecating
Characters: A fierce, independent, empathetic heroine, with almost superhuman endurance and dedication, who takes care of everybody in need
Plot twists: Multiple narrative threads twist together in unimaginable ways
Pace: Lengthy pauses to
Values: You can't fix everything in the world, but you can take care of one thing at a time
Sexuality: A background of adultery and teen motherhood as a consequence of poverty
Background research: Basketball coaching, ghetto culture, family corporations, dog training
Targeted audience: Everyone
Objectionable to any groups: Corporate officers
Flaws: Everyone gives the PI confidential information even though they don't want anything to do with her. They have no motives to reveal information to her.
Characters: A fierce, independent, empathetic heroine, with almost superhuman endurance and dedication, who takes care of everybody in need
Plot twists: Multiple narrative threads twist together in unimaginable ways
Pace: Lengthy pauses to
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explore innner feelings and consider possible explanations of crimesValues: You can't fix everything in the world, but you can take care of one thing at a time
Sexuality: A background of adultery and teen motherhood as a consequence of poverty
Background research: Basketball coaching, ghetto culture, family corporations, dog training
Targeted audience: Everyone
Objectionable to any groups: Corporate officers
Flaws: Everyone gives the PI confidential information even though they don't want anything to do with her. They have no motives to reveal information to her.
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LibraryThing member franoscar
On & on it went. VI takes on a Walmart-like company, complete with belligerent, right-wing, stupid family leadership & old-fashioned dirty tricks. VI goes through her usual steps and gets hurt and miraculously survives and is dumb until the plot requires her to be smart. The characters don't seem
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like real people to me. The evils she writes about need to be written about but she had even me feeling like the portrait of the evil tycoon was too one-sided. Just reading this book left me feeling worn out. Show Less
LibraryThing member mairangiwoman
After reading other reviews I don't think I'll bother with this one then! Her latest book [2009] is rather preachy -about religious dogmatists, etc. got a bit tedious even though the point is worth exploring.
LibraryThing member Joycepa
I've always enjoyed the V.I. Warshawski series, and this one is a good addition to it. V.I, has been sucked back into her old South Chicago neighborhood, "temporarily" coaching the girls' basketball team at her old high school since the permanent coach (who was V.I.'s mentor) is out, combatting
However, Paretsky does have one weakness as an author. While V.I.., Mr Contreras, Peppy and Mitch (the dogs), and other long-time members of the series are complex-well drawn characters, most of the one-timers are not. They tend to be one-dimensional and this is very evident in Fire Sale; the villains are really just too mindless and border on boring.
Other than that, it's an excellent read.
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cancer. V.I. inadvertently becomes involved in the neighborhood labor problems, and this leads to the usual action-packed, fast-paced plot that Paretsky does so well.However, Paretsky does have one weakness as an author. While V.I.., Mr Contreras, Peppy and Mitch (the dogs), and other long-time members of the series are complex-well drawn characters, most of the one-timers are not. They tend to be one-dimensional and this is very evident in Fire Sale; the villains are really just too mindless and border on boring.
Other than that, it's an excellent read.
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LibraryThing member jepeters333
Vic gets involved with a wealthy family and with poor families from her South Chicago neighborhood. A plant mysteriously explodes. Vic tries to find a cruel murderer.
LibraryThing member nocto
As fab as ever. Possibly more so.
LibraryThing member edwardsgt
Another story about Chicago PI VI Warshawski. In this one she's drafted in as temporary basketball coach to a school in a disadvantaged neighbourhood of south Chicago, where the poverty of most of the population is in stark contrast to the multi-billionnaire owners of a chain of stores, By-Smart,
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who employ many locals. VI starts getting interested in By-Smart after a fire at a local textile firm supplying By-Smart and finds herself dragged in ever deeper. Appealing characters and amusing dialogue together with good plotting and detailed authentic locations make this an easy read. Show Less
LibraryThing member FerneMysteryReader
Finished reading "Fire Sale" and if you missed it earlier as I did, you'll definitely want to find a copy! I love strong female characters especially in the mystery/private-eye genre and V.I. Warshawski is definitely a favorite created by Sara Paretsky. One of the main delights is the prose of the
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novels is so pleasing to read - a definite step up from street talk, without the 4-letter words, and at times leaves further descriptions to the reader's imagination. I'm ready to find another in the series! Show Less
LibraryThing member olegalCA
The first Sara Paretsky book I've read in many years and it was a worthy addition to the V.I. Warshawski series. I enjoyed it very much and wish Paretsky would write faster!
LibraryThing member christinejoseph
V. I. Warshawski novel — good detective gives back to south Chicago home
No Blood, guts, gore — Weird People only — nice for a change
A conscience can weigh a PI down more than the heaviest firearm—and get her into more trouble too. It’s that nagging conscience that makes V. I. Warshawski
No Blood, guts, gore — Weird People only — nice for a change
A conscience can weigh a PI down more than the heaviest firearm—and get her into more trouble too. It’s that nagging conscience that makes V. I. Warshawski
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agree to fill in as coach for the girls’ basketball team at her South Chicago alma mater—which in turn leads her to the headquarters of By-Smart, the global retail empire where V. I. hopes to get some desperately needed funds for the struggling squad. But conscience seems to be in short supply at By-Smart… with the exception of Billy Bysen, the earnest teenage grandson of the chain’s gruff, tightfisted founder. And when Billy disappears—along with a mysterious document much desired by By-Smart’s management team—V. I. is hurled onto a twisted, body-strewn path that runs through Chicago’s dirtiest places and reveals some of its dirtiest secrets.… Show Less
LibraryThing member JenniferRobb
What I liked:
*The parts about the girls basketball team that V.I. is volunteered to coach, particularly how V.I. ends up bonding with them when she didn't expect to.
*That V.I. is encouraging the basketball team to keep up their studies and to try to go to college as well as giving them life
*"Billy the Kid" who seems to be the only family member who truly cares for the South Siders.
*Learning about long QT syndrome
*Coach McFarlane also seems to have encouraged her players and cared about them--enough so that V.I. feels she owes it to her coach to do as she's told.
What I didn't like:
*The way Christians are portrayed. The pastor damages a gang member's vehicle because the guy plays loud music outside the church trying to entice his girlfriend to come out to hang with him. The same pastor damages a local business's locks. The church seems to teach that birth control and abortion are sins but doesn't seem to teach the kids about abstinence or why it's important, or about the facts of life (such as you CAN get pregnant the first time you have sex). Billy the Kid is ridiculed for his beliefs.
*Sex is treated casually by many characters. Freddy seems to have kids by several women. Bron has multiple girlfriends.
*The privileged attitude of the Bysen family
*The parts about the girls basketball team that V.I. is volunteered to coach, particularly how V.I. ends up bonding with them when she didn't expect to.
*That V.I. is encouraging the basketball team to keep up their studies and to try to go to college as well as giving them life
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lessons.*"Billy the Kid" who seems to be the only family member who truly cares for the South Siders.
*Learning about long QT syndrome
*Coach McFarlane also seems to have encouraged her players and cared about them--enough so that V.I. feels she owes it to her coach to do as she's told.
What I didn't like:
*The way Christians are portrayed. The pastor damages a gang member's vehicle because the guy plays loud music outside the church trying to entice his girlfriend to come out to hang with him. The same pastor damages a local business's locks. The church seems to teach that birth control and abortion are sins but doesn't seem to teach the kids about abstinence or why it's important, or about the facts of life (such as you CAN get pregnant the first time you have sex). Billy the Kid is ridiculed for his beliefs.
*Sex is treated casually by many characters. Freddy seems to have kids by several women. Bron has multiple girlfriends.
*The privileged attitude of the Bysen family
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LibraryThing member susandennis
I started reading mysteries in about 1987ish because I saw Sara Paretsky on the Today Show and she made her V.I. Warshawski character sound like someone I wanted to know. She was right and I went on from there to meet many other wonderful characters in many other mystery books but Sara and V.I.
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will always have a special place in my heart. In Fire Sale, V.I. is back in her old South Chicago neighborhood to help her old high school basketball coach who is too sick to coach and needs V.I. to temp. When one of the players' mom asks for her help looking into something at work and that work then mysteriously burned to the ground, V.I. got her next case. It's as good as all of her adventures. Show Less