Privilege, politics, and perfidy jointly propel the circuitous plot of Blacklist, Sara Paretsky's 11th novel featuring tenacious Chicago private-eye V.I. Warshawski. By the time this story runs its course, V.I. will have harbored an alleged Arab terrorist, resurrected the ghosts of America's 1950s anti-Communist hysteria, and questioned the integrity of a man she once admired "to the point of hero worship." In other words, it's a typical case for this hard-headed, sarcastic, and perpetually sleep-deprived sleuth.

Still suffering from "exhaustion of the spirit" in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, V.I. is hired to find out who may be sneaking into a vacated suburban mansion. Geraldine Graham, the home's 91-year-old former owner, who still lives nearby, claims she's seen lights in the attic at night. Our heroine suspects this is simply a bid by the wealthy dowager for greater attention, but agrees to do some nocturnal prowling--only to stumble (literally) across the body of a dead black journalist, Marcus Whitby, in the estate’s ornamental pond and encounter a teenage girl fleeing the scene. The girl turns out to be Catherine Bayard, the granddaughter of Calvin Bayard, an unapologetically liberal book publisher who survived a hounding by the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee in the '50s without being blacklisted like so many of his authors. Digging deeper, V.I. learns that Whitby was doing research for a book about an African-American dancer and anthropologist who had enjoyed Bayard's support before she too was branded a Communist. Was Whitby killed en route to visit Bayard, one of Graham's neighbors--and a man who has strangely vanished from public view? And is there any connection between this murder and the disappearance of an Egyptian dishwasher, or the recent demise of a right-wing attorney and Bayard foe, in whose apartment V.I. is attacked by an intruder?

Except for a few astounding turns of luck (including the 11th-hour discovery of a revealing audiotape left in a car's player), Paretsky rolls out a credible yarn here, enriched by meticulous character development and an agreeably ambiguous conclusion. The author's intention to link McCarthy-era abuses with post-9/11 government assaults on civil rights is obvious, without being didactic, and it adds currency to a fictional investigation that's already rife with sex, betrayal, and long-held secrets among the rich. It's good to see that V.I. the P.I. hasn't lost the compassion or righteousness that first made her attractive two decades ago, in Indemnity Only. --J. Kingston Pierce

From Publishers Weekly
Chicago private eye V.I. ("Vic") Warshawski needs all her strength and ingenuity to deal with the tragic effects of discrimination past and present in this riveting exploration of guilt and fear, the 12th installment in Paretsky's stellar series. Longtime client Darraugh Graham asks Vic to investigate his mother Geraldine's suspicion that trespassers are living in the empty mansion her father built in the suburban Chicago enclave where she has spent most of her life. Vic literally tumbles into trouble when, upon falling into a pond on the property, she comes up clutching the hand of a dead man. He is identified as Marcus Whitby, a young African-American journalist who was writing about members of the 1930s Federal Negro Theater Project especially a beautiful Negro dancer once championed by local liberals and blacklisted during the Communist witch hunt. Hired by Marcus's sister to look into his death, Vic spans cultures and generations in her investigation. Is Benji, the young Arab student sheltered in the mansion's attic by 16-year-old Catherine Bayard (whose politically daring publisher grandfather Calvin was once Vic's hero), somehow connected? Whether or not he has terrorist ties, Benji is at risk, so after Vic finds him she persuades Father Lou, a tough but caring community activist, to hide him in spite of post-9/11 dictums. Digging deeper, Vic must face disturbing allegations about Calvin Bayard and the likelihood that her lover, Morrell, on assignment in Afghanistan, is in danger. Paretsky reminds us that although victims change, prejudice is still alive and all too well. With this top-notch offering, she earns another vote of confidence for V.I.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
In her essay "Writing, Speech, and Silence" [BKL My 1 03], Paretsky speaks frankly about free speech, including the devastation caused by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and the implications of the recent Patriot Act on individual freedoms. The topic is central to her latest V. I. Warshawski mystery, a stellar entry in a celebrated series, which offers a provocative history lesson along with very contemporary commentary on loyalty and betrayal and how the past shapes the present. Paretsky picks up where Total Recall (2001) left off: Warshawshi's love interest, Morell, is unreachable in war-torn Afghanistan, leaving an anxious V. I. to throw herself into her work. Departing from her familiar Chicago territory for the city's suburbs, she takes a case for a cranky regular client whose mother, living in a retirement community bordering on an estate once owned by the family, sees lights at night in the empty mansion. When V. I. investigates, she comes across a teenage girl prowling around the property and gives chase, only to stumble, literally, upon a dead man. As puzzles make her curious ("even when they're not my business"), V. I. is off and running. A tightly woven and thoughtful thriller, this enticing mix of history and mystery showcases sharp, clever, vulnerable V. I. at her best. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Buffalo News
One of the best suspense stories this year.

Washington Post Book World
A thoughtful high-tension mystery.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
In the wake of 9/11, Sara Paretsky examines the devastating effect of personal fear set against an escalating climate of national paranoia and despair. Blacklist, the 12th outing for private eye V. I. Warshawski, is rife with weighty themes, including terrorism, McCarthyism, and the never-ending fight to preserve the First Amendment; but the author balances out the heaviness with plenty of her trademark dark humor, one-line zingers, intense action, and thrills galore.

V. I. "Vic" Warshawski agrees to investigate the story of a 90-year-old female nursing home resident who claims to have seen lights in a nearby abandoned mansion. In no time, Vic has stumbled across the corpse of a reporter who was hunting down a reclusive dancer blacklisted in the Red Scare of the 1950s. Each event combines with others to reveal a complex cover-up involving the FBI and terrorists at large.

Blacklist, a powerful entry in Paretsky's popular series, gives Vic a chance to show her tender, vulnerable side, as the plucky P.I. wrestles to overcome her feelings of anxiety and powerlessness. Offering up a solid mixture of excitement and thought-provoking issues, the author pulls us into a story that combines the best elements of political intrigue with a classy, first-rate mystery. Tom Piccirilli

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Blacklist is a story of secrets and betrayals that stretch across four generations, but with particular resonance for today.

The secrets are many - political, social, sexual, and financial - and they all have the power to kill, as V.I. soon learns. Eager for physical action in the spirit-numbing wake of 9/11. V.I. is glad to take on a routine stake-out for her most important client, Darraugh Graham. His ninety-one-year-old mother sold the family estate when she could no longer manage it, and now that it's standing empty, Geraldine Graham keeps a fretful eye on it from a retirement apartment across the road. When the old woman sees lights on in the middle of the night, V.I. checks it out - and finds a dead man in the ornamental pond.

A reporter, it turns out, for an African-American publication, and as far as the suburban cops seem to feel, a black criminal who stumbled to a drunken death. Furious, the man's family hires V.I. to investigate - and that's when things begin to get complicated.

As she retraces the dead reporter's tracks, V.I. is sucked into the middle of a gothic tale of sex, money and power, the trail leading her back to the McCarthy-era blacklists, and forward to some of the darker aspects of the Patriot Act. As she scrambles desperately for a way to save herself and her clients, V.I. finds herself penned into a smaller and smaller space by an array of people trying to silence her, and before she can untangle the whole sordid truth, not only will two more people lie dead ... but her own life will hang in the balance.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

Sara Paretsky's Chicago private eye, V. I. Warshawski, is one tough cookie. But the outspoken, often abrasive P.I. isn't entirely fearless, and Blacklist plays on her worst nightmare -- of being deprived of the right to sound off -- by drawing grim parallels between the repressive political climate of the McCarthy era and present-day threats to First Amendment freedoms in the name of national security. — Marilyn Stasio

The Washington Post

The dependable delights of a Warshawski novel are also in abundant supply: witty dialogue, Warshawski's "bad girl" behavior when confronted by authority, taut action scenes, sharp social commentary and the return visits of series regulars like Lotty Herschel and the always fretting Mr. Contreras. The real triumph of Blacklist, however, is the intelligence it brings to bear on the once again urgent issues of political dissent and national security: Whatever your views on those subjects, this is a provocative mystery that should prompt you to examine them more rigorously. — Maureen Corrigan

Chicago Tribune

...a genuinely exciting and disturbing thriller...

Bookpage

...a compelling mystery and an indictment of the McCarthies of all era. Who could ask for more?

Seattle Times