I really can't believe how poorly written this was. Now, I know I've been less than satisfied, overall, with the Kinsey Millhone series as I've delved back into it this year (after first reading a few of them more than a decade ago, then tapering off, then deciding this year to just read the whole alphabet since she is nearing the end and all...) but usually they're not bad-bad. They're just a little implausible or unsatisfying, but still a quick mystery read, mostly harmless to check out from the library or buy used for a quarter or whatever. But this one is awful. The dialogue is somewhere between an angsty adolescent's idea of drama and a Skinemax flick. The description in between the dialogue is even worse many, many times throughout the book. It's as if Grafton had no idea what to do for "G" and just started typing in her sleep. You know when you're in a creative writing class, or a writing group or workshop, and there are a couple people who really, really think they are writers but really, really aren't? It was like that! What happened here?!?! And on top of everything terrible about the description and dialogue, the plot makes you suspend a WHOLE lot of disbelief. First of all, why is Dietz so careful about some things and yet totally blase about others when Kinsey wanders off to endanger herself? What the HELL is with the episode with Vera in the bathroom crying over what's-his-face? How convenient that Rosie was looking for a nursing home, etc. .. And don't even get me started on Rochelle, or the gremlin runaways in the Slabs. (Yes, I'm frightened that that sentence makes any sense to me.) And did I mention that the entire overall plot of the book is two completely different plots/mysteries just kind of happening at the same time? Pick a lane, driver! You know how sitcoms often have a plot for one episode, and then there's this subplot that kind of works off the main plot by being tangentially connected somehow? That totally doesn't happen here. I just can't believe how bad this book was. It's a freakin' detective story for god's sake. How bad could it be? You'd be amazed. NOW should I give up on this alphabet series? Or is 'H' for (there's still) Hope?
Another Kinsey Millhone mystery. This one is only a little bit of mystery and a lot of Kinsey almost getting killed. Kinsey learns that someone she helped put away took out a hit on her. She carries on as though nothing out of the ordinary has happened, looking for a client's mother. Eventually the hit man catches up to her and she begins to worry about getting some help. She gets Robert Dietz, a fellow PI, to help her. She tries to continue with her case, but ends up just putting a lot of innocent people in danger. I thought this was pretty selfish of Kinsey, she is bored because someone is trying to kill her and she is locked up in her house. Instead of staying there and being safe, she decided to go out and try to continue working on her case. This results in the hit man firing shots at Kinsey and shooting up innocent people's houses. There is lots of action in this particular book, which is a good thing since the last couple Millhone books have been just a little bit boring. I really like Dietz, I think he is just like Kinsey but a man. (view spoiler)[I was worried that there wouldn't be any romance between them, but luckily I didn't need to worry. Kinsey and Dietz do hook up and I hope that we get to see more of him. They worked really well together and it would be nice to see Kinsey with a steady boyfriend. They could be partners, that would be great too. (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about G Is For Gumshoe (1997)?
This might contain some (sort of) spoilers.Better than I would have expected after reading the first book. Sometimes Kinsey is being stupid and I don´t believe for a second that you can run off to do some heroic deed, while a few hours ago you almost got murdered and after this you felt like a zombie. Really, that feeling doesn´t wear off so quick. Not that I have ever been almost murdered.Also, what is it with people to go suck someone´s face off in a public place, a library for God´s sake. After something completely unrelated. It´s not like he asked her to marry him. Why always in books?! Behave yourself(in public!) Yes, this does annoy me...Well, other than that, a nice enough book.
—Tineke
SUMMARY: "One of the sassiest, most appealing of the recent spate of female gunshoes . . . 'G' is for glorious, galloping read, and I can't wait for 'H' ."--Louise Bernikow, CosmopolitanGood and bad things seem to be coming in threes for Kinsey Millhone: on her thirty-third birthday she moves back into her renovated apartment, gets hired to find an elderly lady supposedly living in the Mojave Desert by herself, and makes the top of ex-con Tyrone Patty's hit list. It's the last that convinces Kinsey even she can't handle whoever's been hired to whack her, and she gets herself a bodyguard: Robert Dietz, a Porsche-driving P.I. who takes guarding Kinsey's body very seriously. With Dietz watching her for the merest sign of her usual recklessness, Kinsey plunges into her case. And before it's over, she'll unearth the gruesome truth about a long-buried betrayal and, in the process, come fact-to-face with her own mortality. . . . "Wit is the most versatile weapon in Sue Grafton's well-stocked arsenal, and she uses it with disarming precision. . . . Grafton excels in this milieu."--Newsweek"The story is complex; the body-count high; the sexual encounters feverish; and the villains chilling--in another can't-put-it-down outing for this talented author."--Kirkus ReviewsFrom the Paperback edition.
—Duncan Mandel
G was my intro to Grafton/Kinsey back in 93ish, I enjoyed it then enough to start at A (which was a big deal for me back 20+ yrs ago) and through first several books. Then many yrs later started reading a couple again then 4/5 months ago (during some downtime), I bought A then frequent trips to the Library whizzing thru to "W" (glad library carries the books and many carry CD b/c I couldn't wait to read or listen whenever I had a chance). After read Grafton's, "Kinsey & Me" which was good background and short stories by her. Now I'm in withdrawal waiting for X (which I'm on the waiting list at my Library). Only sad thing is that there are only 3 books left in the series.Loved G for several reasons...besides liking Kinsey, Henry and her new apt, enjoyed the travel, plot (& her running from "hit man") but really like her developing a relationship with Dietz that she continues and off and on thing in future books.
—Sherri F.
