Seeing this book on the shelves brought an enormous feeling of relief for every true Paretsky fan. V.I.`s vacation at the Reichenbach Falls did not turn out to be a final farewell to her P.I. career, after all. But she has become older, which is natural, and filled with self-pity, which is not too amusing. From the beginning of the plot she acts like on a crusade  and is cornered so totally, that the reader, at least this here, becomes angry more at V.I. than at her counterparts. It´s only in  jail (not prison, mind you, the educational mission of Paretsky overclear here) that V.I. strikes back. Suddenly we witness her physically fighting other female inmates, not necessarily a finer point of telling a good crime story.
After V.I. has fled from jail Paretsky luckily concentrates on telling a good thriller.