Book Review

By Derryll White

Paretsky, Sara (2022).  Overboard.

Sara Paretsky takes the reader into the pandemic as experienced in Chicago’s south side.  She is always good that way, aware of the social situations of our time, be they economic, health, political or homelessness.  She takes the reader in, saying “this is how I see it through V.I. Warshawski’s eyes.”

Paretsky shines a light on the exploitation of paperless immigrants, pointing out how prevalent the employment of and demand for this labour is.  Occupants of the privileged classes are not shining stars.  Paretsky focuses on those who think “me first” and abuse the poor and homeless from countries undergoing upheaval.

‘Overboard’ is not a pleasant or happy novel.  It does, however, lead the reader to critically examine the current world and his or her place in it.  It is a novel worth reading.

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Excerpts from the novel:

CHICAGO HEALTH CARE: Wherever our Jane Doe had gone, she’d disappeared completely.  I called Cynthia to report our failure.  She commiserated, but was also relieved I hadn’t put a lot of billable hours into the search.  She had told Max about bringing me in, and he had not been pleased.

“I hate to say it, but from a nickel-and-dime standpoint, we’re better off that she’s left.  He said we can’t afford to find her.”  She was apologetic, but that was the reality o0f health care in modern America.

POLITICAL REALITY: In Chicago aldermen have the final say over what gets built in their wards.  It’s how they keep their coffers filled.  Developers give to aldermen’s campaign funds, all open and aboveboard, and if they gi9ve enough, their projects get approved.  Pay to play, Illinois’s favorite game.

CONSPIRACY: “I can’t believe you’re asking that, Vic.  When millions of Americans think Covid-19 is a hoax, how do you expect them to believe you and your Jane Doe aren’t involved in some elaborate plot together?”

“Get it, Beth.  I live on the wrong planet, the one that’s spherical instead of flat.”

ECHOES: “… you absolutely must not violate patient privacy in your efforts to find her.  Thinking your justified because an old woman called you put of the blue means you think your judgment is better than the law.  And we’ve just gone through four years of seeing how dangerous that attitude is.”

– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them.  When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.

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