Description

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Chicago’s V. I. Warshawski “is at her stubborn, reckless, compassionate best in this complicated page-turner about selfish secrets passed down through generations” (Booklist).

In 1939, Dr. Lotty Herschel, V. I. Warshawki’s closest friend in Chicago, escaped the Holocaust in Vienna with her childhood playmate, Kitty Saginor Binder. Though the two drifted and animosities grew between them over the years, when Kitty’s daughter finds her life in danger, she turns to Lotty for help. In turn, Lotty summons V. I. to take the case.

The threats on the daughter’s life at first seem a simple case of bad drug dealings, but V. I. soon discovers that they are just the tip of an iceberg of lies secrets and silence whose origins trace back to the deadly race among America, Germany, Japan, and England to develop the atomic bomb. And while the secrets may be old, the people who continue to guard them will do anything to make sure they stay buried...

About the Author

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Sara Paretsky is the New York Times bestselling author of the renowned V.I. Warshawski novels. Her many awards include the Cartier Diamond Dagger Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Crime Writers' Association and the 2011 Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award. She lives in Chicago.

Praise For…

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Praise for Critical Mass

“Both Warshawski and Paretsky are at the top of their forms.”—Tampa Bay Times

“Paretsky at her best, describing with a reporter's eye and a painter's vision the light and texture of a place.”—Washington Post

“Paretsky still writes with the kind of dazzling, diamond-hard clarity that can break your heart on every other page.”—Chicago Tribune

More Praise for Sara Paretsky and the V. I. Warshawski series

“Sara Paretsky’s Chicago private eye, V. I. Warshawski, is one tough cookie.”—The New York Times Book Review

“One of our genre’s crucial, solid-gold, best-ever series. Paretsky is a genius.”—Lee Child

“V.I. Warshawski is one of my all-time favorite investigators.”—Lisa Gardner

“For me, the most remarkable of the moderns is Sara Paretsky.”—P.D. James

“One of the most-loved characters in crime fiction.”—Booklist (starred review)

“No one, male or female, writes better P.I. books than Paretsky.”—The Denver Post

“Paretsky's books are beautifully paced and plotted, and the dialogue is fresh and smart...V.I. Warshawski is the most engaging woman in detective fiction.”—Newsweek