The police suspect a 14-year-old girl of murdering her mother, but V.I. knows that the mother stumbled into something much bigger. ( )

So "Tunnel Vision" is book #8 in the VI Warshawski series. I have to say that this one was very good, I didn't like it as much as book #7, but that's only because once again we have VI just acting like an idiot when she's in danger. I want her to learn some lessons in this series, and not keep acting like depending on other people besides Lotty is a weakness.

In "Tunnel Vision" VI is being forced out of the building she runs her office from. She is one of the lone holdouts and is constantly having to deal with the lights and water not working. When she goes to investigate when a fuse blows she comes across a homeless family living in the building's basement. Though VI knows she should have called social services, she doesn't and instead offers to take them to a doctor (Lotty). Later on VI goes to a committee meeting for a women's shelter she volunteers for and the story is passed around. One of the women, Deirdre Messenger offers to talk to the homeless family since she has some experience with social work. A few short days later Deirdre appears at VI's office and goes looking for the family. When VI returns the next day, she finds Deirdre dead.

This book honestly has a lot of twists and turns in it. It's been a year since the last book and VI is still going strong with Chicago police detective Conrad Rawlings. Though it's an interracial relationship, not much is made of it beyond Mr. Contreras being bothered by the whole thing as well as Conrad's mother. I wish we had gotten a chance to see them out and about more. But most of this book is VI fleeing from danger, not telling Conrad, and sleeping and taking baths. Part of me wonders why she even bothers dating when she acts like this the whole time.

I thought the book did really well there for a while with VI trying to untangle the mystery of who murdered Deirdre and why. We also get an ugly look at Deirdre's home life with her daughter and two sons.

I think what gave me pause though is that VI rightfully for once gets called out on her pigheadedness to what other people are dealing with in order to prove she's right.
( )

I listened to this as an audiobook I checked out from the local library. I got to disc 5 (of 14) and my checkout time was up and I couldn't renew. Then it was a month or so before it made its way back to me again through the library system. By about disc 9 or so I was fighting to not fall asleep while listening to it. I'm definitely not sure I got all the nuances of the plot.

I've mentioned in reviews of previous books in this series that I felt the plots got a bit convoluted--I'd think the book should be done and there'd still be several more chapters of "wrap up" of some other side plots. ( )

If you like Law & Order you will enjoy this book. It's ripped from the headlines. I remember when the tunnels under the loop flooded bringing the heart of the city to a screeching halt. Paretsky artfully weaves that event into this story as one of the several subplots she jumps between to keep the reader wondering what's going to happen next. It's one of the better volumes in this long going series with the characters that feel like warm slippers. We don't need their backstories as we remember them from other volumes. It's not classic literature but it's worth your time. Yes it's flawed, lots of suspension of disbelief required. Yes it's dated and we need to say yes that was true then. Still it keeps you interested to figure out how it will be resolved. ( )

Lots of characters and red herrings with a complicated plot. Not particularly fast moving, but still a satisfying crime story. ( )