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VI Warshawski is tired. Bone-achingly, soul-wearingly tired. Hardly surprising considering the number of complex investigations she's been involved in over the years. Her Chicago PI business is astonishingly lucky, if that's the right word, in the volume of tragic, gruesome and unusual cases it attracts. This time the problems start when Warshawski heads to a cemetery to round up some curfew-breaking early-teens from her cousin's social project book group. The girls, who are fans of the Carmilla Queen of the Night vampire series, are conducting a ceremony to turn them into shape-shifters. When one runs away, upset by their made-up ritual, she stumbles across a reality far worse. There is a corpse lying on a nearby tomb, a metal bar freshly staked through its heart. As Warshawski investigates she comes up against a complex tangle of money, power and the media. The case turns out to affect some of the richest families in the city - and their enemies - not least because the book group has brought together young immigrants and the daughters of some of the city's foremost powerbrokers. The case also extracts a heavy toll. It puts a strain on everything from VI's wardrobe to old friendships and to her budding romantic relationship with musician neighbour Jake, a rare departure for the detective. Ultimately the complications of hiding past realities prove more sinister than anything supernatural. As ever, VI is driven by her strong sense of social justice - she's working for free throughout much of BREAKDOWN. Pleasingly sarcastic and fearless in the face of authority, Warshawski is definitely the person you'd want on your side, particularly if you were the underdog. Along the way issues such as immigration, poverty, equity, celebrity culture and mental health are encountered but nothing interrupts the flow of the fiendishly complex plot. Some may even feel it's too fiendish as, unusually for Paretsky, there's a hint of a little too much Poirot-style explanation at the denouement. After her 30-year career it's good to see that Warshawski is keeping up to date - BREAKDOWN includes modern touches such as Facebook, mobile phones that can record video, and teen vampire fiction. Despite VI's exhaustion, this is another gripping Chicago tale. Like Warshawski, Paretsky is a pro and she seems to be in it for the long haul. §Liza Kahlua is a writer based in Bristol. She enjoys reading a wide range of fiction, as long as it's not too gruesome.
Reviewed by Liza Kahlua, September 2012
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