V I Warshawski is a private investigator who in this book is working outside her usual field of expertise for a family friend. On a daily basis she exhausts herself beyond endurance, flirts with death, irritates both friends and enemies (and she has plenty of the latter) as she tries to bring the Big Shots - the corrupt Big Shots - to justice. Like Warshawski, I rapidly became exhausted by it all. I only picked this book up from the 36 Bus exchange shelf (brilliant idea, that) because I had nothing else to read at that moment. One book from the series is quite enough, thank you, even though it is in fact well and intelligently written. ( )

I found 'Blood Shot' to be an engaging mystery of a woman who simply wants to escape her childhood neighborhood, but no matter how hard she tries she keeps getting dragged back into to solve its mysteries. Threats, Fraud, Bribery, and even death circle in this V.I. Warshawski mystery. ( )

2017 reread: While some aspects of this 5th entry of the Warshawski series are slightly dated, overall it remains an exciting PI story. Paretsky creates a great sense of place with her descriptions of various parts of Chicago, especially the economically struggling South Side.

I found that even though I recalled some aspects of the story from my previous reading (20 or so years ago), much of the story took me by surprise, making this a more exciting read than I had expected. ( )

It's getting very repetitive, as V.I. always faces two cases, at least one of them strictly personal, which miraculously combine into one big case and thus almost solve themselves. ( )

First edition fine