U is for Undertow (Kinsey Millhone Alphabet series, 21) [Paperback] Grafton, Sue

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Have enjoyed Kilsey Milhone series

It's a brilliant plot. Not exactly a who-don-it, more a like a how-and-why-did-they-do-it, but interesting nonetheless. It shuffles back and forth through the timeline and has interesting characters. This is the first Sue Grafton book I read and Kinsey Milhone is an brilliant heroine for this story. I have no problems with the story, except that at times it get's a bit too descriptive. Three to four pages were dedicated to the history of a particular city which bears no relevance to later events. But any ardent reader would overlook it. A must-read for any crime-buff.

Truly a complex story, well woven story!! Plot was interesting, spurts of flashback stories were like stumbling blocks in the story and an amazing write up to climax of the story!!

When Kinsey is approached to look into a cold case based on a child's memory, she has her doubts about being able to learn anything. In her thorough way of investigating she follows every piece of information and finds herself uncovering a tangled web of deceit and murder. It was a real page turner with lots of red herrings along the way.

Ingenious plot and best written characters, beginning with the growing up of the single actors! This one is one of my favorites in the serie.

Si eres seguidor de la saga del abecedario, imprescindible. En la linea de los otros volúmenes de la colección. Las aventuras de Kinsey continuan.

If you haven't already, you may find yourself wanting to read every one of the twenty-one novels by Sue Grafton. They spread through the years from 1982, and through the alphabet from "A is for Alibi" and "B is for Burglar" to "T is for Trespass" and "U is for Undertow," the latest one. Four more will get her to "Z is for Zero," which she has already named. Reportedly, her plans are to finish by 2015. Will we and she be around for five more years? We old readers all hope.Sue Grafton is a joy to read, a master of her craft. All the stories are different. All have one thing in common: the main character, Kinsey Millhone, a young private detective in Santa Teresa, California. Millhone rhymes with phone, so don't try to make it sound Italian.Kinsey is less irascible than dogged and determined. She is persistent, and quick with a thought, a put-down, or fast action. She can point and shoot a firearm with accuracy. Try getting too close to her, and she'll set you right. Early, she served two years in the police department in Santa Teresa, California. But her independence won out and she left, though she still gets along and cooperates with them. Kinsey is intrepid, intelligent, resourceful, in-your-face, profane, and no-nonsense.Kinsey's two marriages are history. She prefers shorter term intimacies. Her good friend and confidant Henry is her octogenarian landlord who lives in the house in front of her converted garage apartment. After an explosion razed the apartment, Henry rebuilt it, giving the feel of a sleekly appointed boat, complete with polished trim, porthole, galley, circular stairway to the bedroom loft, and skylight."Undertow" is a study in contrasts of upper class respectability versus some of that class's own adult children's opting out for hippie-style wandering, poor grooming, rudeness, arrogance, and disrespect for ordinary civilities, all the while knowing they can still stop back to hang around briefly for food and to finagle for finances. Sue Grafton unwaveringly grasps the conflicts and language. Her presentation of dialogue is uncanny. Be cautious, the text is unexpurgated.The basic story is that a four-year-old girl named Mary Claire who is kidnapped for ransom in 1967 and never found. An upper-class small boy, age 6, witnessed two "pirates" in the woods, digging for "buried treasure," they told him. Now twenty-one years later, the boy is a young man who believes that the two guys were actually burying Mary Claire. He had gone to the local police, who had doubts and sent him to Kinsey Millhone. The young man would like to remember exactly where he had been at the time, and is willing to pay the price for her help.The story becomes quite complex, hopping back and forth between 1988 and 1967. The reader might be tempted to use Kinsey's own usual method of using 3-by-5 cards to make notes to keep individuals and events straight. As an aside, and along the way, Kinsey learns much more about her orphaned childhood and the extended family she believed deserted her. Aficionados will love this latest tome (402 pages), and new readers will find that it has enough background information to bring them up to speed. They might be encouraged to trek back to Kinsey's apartment, follow her on her daily three-mile morning run, sit with her a half block away at Rosie's for a Hungarian dinner, and meet Henry's siblings, all over ninety years old. Sue Grafton is a highly pleasurable read. But a warning, don't be shocked.

Read it in a week! Sue Grafton (and Kinsey of course) never disappoint. Thanks for another great one!