Privilege, politics, and perfidy jointly propel the circuitous plot of Blacklist, Sara Paretsky's 11th novel featuring tenacious Chicago private-eye V.I. Warshawski. By the time this story runs its course, V.I. will have harbored an alleged Arab terrorist, resurrected the ghosts of America's 1950s anti-Communist hysteria, and questioned the integrity of a man she once admired "to the point of hero worship." In other words, it's a typical case for this hard-headed, sarcastic, and perpetually sleep-deprived sleuth.
Lymstock was a town with more than its share of shameful secrets - a town where even a sudden outbreak of anonymous hate-mail caused only a minor stir.
But all of that changed when one of the recipients, Mrs Symmington, committed suicide. Her final note said 'I can't go on'. Only Miss Marple questioned the coroner's verdict of suicide. Was this the work of a poison-pen? Or of a poisoner?
The story begins in New York, with Reacher confronting and beating up two thugs sent to collect money from the diner he was eating in as part of a protection racket, implying that he is a member of a rival gang. Reacher is then pulled up by the FBI and questioned over who he is working for, but explains he is a loner and has been since he mustered out of the army. He is then questioned about two women whose cases of sexual harassment he dealt with when he was an MP and it is revealed they have both been killed in the last few months and a criminal profiling team have come to the conclusion that the person who did was someone exactly like Reacher.
