O is For Outlaw.By Sue Grafton.Category. Fiction / Mystery.318 pages; ISBN. 0805059555.I once read the first eight installments of Grafton's alphabet series in three days.That's a fact, too, as I had discovered Grafton with the publication of I is for Innocent and heard so many good things about that book.Naturally I wanted to familiarize myself with the series so, since I don't like to read books out of order, picked up A through H at a used bookstore and zip! This, of course, happened in the days when I was living at home, before I was forced to find gainful employment.I'll say right now that I enjoyed the first half of Grafton's alphabet immensely.Her private detective -- twice-divorced, wisecracking Kinsey Millhone of Santa Teresa, California -- is truly a legend in the hardboiled mystery genre.Kinsey's narrative is concise and acerbic, though at times annoying considering she presents the reader with every detail of her activities on and off the job.This, however, should be typical of a private detective whose bread and meat is earned through minute accuracy.That said, it is also known among fellow Kinsey fans that her personal life is rarely presented in such a manner -- mentions of her failed marriages were dismissed in brief aside in earlier novels, and Kinsey's long-lost family didn't emerge until somewhere around K.We eventually meet hubby number two (I forget which book), but number one was, until O, a mystery.Technically, in O, he still is, as Kinsey discovers in this installment that he is missing; a phone call from a storage bin scavenger wanting to sell back elementary school mementos sparks a private investigation with no payoff -- at least not a monetary one.Bitter memories of her split with her first ex emerge as Kinsey delves deeper into a case for which there is no true client and the only payoff stands to be the redemption of past sins committed by Number One, as well as Kinsey herself.O is for Outlaw is a definite improvement from predecessor N, which disappointed me with a plodding storyline and unsympathetic characters.Grafton herself appears to be on the track to redemption with her readers by recreating the eclectic atmosphere that made the earlier stories so endearing (the elderly apartment managers, for one, were a hoot).I think Kinsey fans will want to stick around for P.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Book Review-O is For Outlaw
O is For Outlaw.By Sue Grafton.Category. Fiction / Mystery.318 pages; ISBN. 0805059555.I once read the first eight installments of Grafton's alphabet series in three days.That's a fact, too, as I had discovered Grafton with the publication of I is for Innocent and heard so many good things about that book.Naturally I wanted to familiarize myself with the series so, since I don't like to read books out of order, picked up A through H at a used bookstore and zip! This, of course, happened in the days when I was living at home, before I was forced to find gainful employment.I'll say right now that I enjoyed the first half of Grafton's alphabet immensely.Her private detective -- twice-divorced, wisecracking Kinsey Millhone of Santa Teresa, California -- is truly a legend in the hardboiled mystery genre.Kinsey's narrative is concise and acerbic, though at times annoying considering she presents the reader with every detail of her activities on and off the job.This, however, should be typical of a private detective whose bread and meat is earned through minute accuracy.That said, it is also known among fellow Kinsey fans that her personal life is rarely presented in such a manner -- mentions of her failed marriages were dismissed in brief aside in earlier novels, and Kinsey's long-lost family didn't emerge until somewhere around K.We eventually meet hubby number two (I forget which book), but number one was, until O, a mystery.Technically, in O, he still is, as Kinsey discovers in this installment that he is missing; a phone call from a storage bin scavenger wanting to sell back elementary school mementos sparks a private investigation with no payoff -- at least not a monetary one.Bitter memories of her split with her first ex emerge as Kinsey delves deeper into a case for which there is no true client and the only payoff stands to be the redemption of past sins committed by Number One, as well as Kinsey herself.O is for Outlaw is a definite improvement from predecessor N, which disappointed me with a plodding storyline and unsympathetic characters.Grafton herself appears to be on the track to redemption with her readers by recreating the eclectic atmosphere that made the earlier stories so endearing (the elderly apartment managers, for one, were a hoot).I think Kinsey fans will want to stick around for P.
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