too many characters & plots to keep track of.

First edition as new

I was not able to get book #9 (still on hold) but snatched up book #10 when I saw it was available via Overdrive. So I am missing one whole book and some things are mentioned here and there that of course I assume get brought up in the last book.

"Total Recall" was interesting. We get two POVs in this one. VI and her friend and mother figure Lotty. I wish that we had gotten more of Lotty's POV in this one. It seems to come in random places here and there. And I have to say that I honestly wish that VI had knocked some sense into a few people.

VI now has an assistant in this one and is charging more money upfront in order to make ends meet. She's happily involved with a war correspondent who is getting ready to head to Afghanistan. She seems more settled in this one. And doesn't seem reluctant to share his living space like she did with past lovers.

When VI is asked to look into a case where an African American family (close to her old lover Conrad) claims that the insurance company is incorrect about them cashing a deceased's life insurance policy. This case doesn't seem that important, until it gets tied up into protesters demanding slave reparations by insurance companies that operated before and during the Civil War. To make matters more complicated, there are protesters demanding recovery of Holocaust assets from insurance companies too.

Paretsky someone does a good job juggling these two cases. You wonder how everything is tied together, and it takes til almost the very for all to be revealed.

At this point I can't tell how many times that VI has been knocked out. She has to have permanent brain damage though. Also I don't see how she is up fresh as a daisy everytime she gets into a brawl. I have bruises from hiking and could barely walk for a day afterwards and I am not 40 like she is at this point. That's another thing, VI's age changes in this one. In book #8 she turned 40. In this 10th book it's said she will be turning 40. I was a bit confused by that.

I do like how Paretsky gets into recovered memories though. It becomes really apparent that a man claiming to be a Holocaust survivor is unhinged. His therapist was a hot mess and I wanted her to get into trouble for revealing information about Lotty's longtime companion Max. It seemed very odd to me that no one was concerned that this guy changed his story every five minutes and was stalking Max and his family. We do get the Streeters in this one who take over bodyguard duties for Max and his family.

I have to say though I did enjoy Lott's POV, her behavior during VI's POV was out of hand. I called BS on her whole story and when we get to the end to figure out why Lotty has been acting the way she has I was kind of appalled. I wonder what this is going to do to her relationship with Max and her former lover that is part of their group now? ( )

I love every one of the V.I. Warshawski books, but I may just love this one the best. This is a wonderful, meaty read. V.I.'s friend, Lotty Herschel, is totally freaked by a guy who, through therapy, has recalled the memory of his mother. His newly recovered memory places him in Nazi territory during the occupation and makes him Jewish. While Paretsky generally weaves a decent plot around really interesting characters, this time she has a great plot, too. ( )

3.5 stars (rating shown may vary depending on whether site allows half star rating)

In this book, we get to learn some of the history of V. I.'s friend, Lotty Herschel.

V. I.'s former boyfriend's sister recommends V. I. when a family's life insurance claim is denied because the insurance company claims they paid out the policy 10 years ago.

I guessed parts of the plot long before V. I. figured them out. ( )