Hard Time

A V.I. Warshawski Novel

By: Sara Paretsky

Narrated by: Jean Smart

Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

What secrets hide behind the razzle-dazzle of the entertainment industry? V.I. Warshawski is about to find out. Her friend, reporter Murray Ryerson, has just landed a plum job as host of a Global Entertainment network television show. On her way home from the party celebrating the event, V.I. stops to help a woman lying in the street. Her Good Samaritan act exposes dark truths, and suddenly V.I. finds herself playing a game she can only win by staying alive. This is the ninth novel in Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series.

©1999 by Sara Paretsky (P)1999 by NewStar Media, Inc.

“Hard Time” Listening To Not So “Smart” Narrator

I have listened to many of Sara Paretsky’s novels about private investigator V. I. Warshawski and I was looking forward to listening to this one as well. I’ve barely started listening to Jean Smart’s narration and I’m having a very “hard time” recognizing different characters. Ms. Smart doesn’t change the tone of her voice to help listeners differentiate between them. Sometimes she runs into one sentence after another. It’s obvious when one section bores her, as she speeds through it without changing pace or inflection. Sometimes she even takes breaths in the middle of sentences, which disrupts the flow and is ever so annoying. I am finally giving up on listening to it and now buying the Kindle version to read it.

NOTE: Sara Paretsky, please get Susan Erickson to narrate this novel too. Her narration makes Vic’s rough and tough character come alive. I am positive that anyone who follows this series feels the same as I.

Never figured out who the protagonist was.

Just couldn't get interested enough to be able to track who was who and why it mattered.

Sorry Jean Smart, you do not do a good job

Book is great,just like the rest BUT please quit changing narrators. Susan Erikson was perfect, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Jean Smart is yuck

Excellent V.I. Story With the Best Narrator

This is one of those V.I. Warshawski stories that kept me right on the edge of my seat. I listened to this while commuting to and from work over a period of a few weeks. I found myself white knuckling the steering wheel during the really tense parts... and occasionally taking the long way home just to listen to more. V.I. goes through hell in this one, and takes her closest confidants with her. There is little Lotty in this one, but when she does show, the scenes are packed with emotion that seizes your heart. We are treated to quite a bit of Mr. Contreras and Peppy and Mitch, though. Jean Smart does the best narration of the V.I. novels, in my opinion, with Susan Ericksen falling a close second.

For those who are passingly familiar with the V.I. timeline, this is book 9, and the book in which she meets Morrell.

(*Reposting this as some of my reviews seem to have been disassociated with my Audible account).

Excellence Marred By Poor Technology

This is a rip-roaring "V.I." novel read with versatility and passion by Jean Smart, but the microphone bumps and shifts in sound quality knocked this down to four stars. If you are listening with headphones, turn down the volume about 2 hours and 25 minutes before the end. The volume jumps to DEAFENING and the sound is comparable to bad AM radio. Still, it's worth the listening experience.

The Right String, but the Wrong Yo-Yo!

It is a well woven story, but the wrong narrator weakened its telling. Sometimes she was spot on. Others a long sentence or two would come spewing out in a rush of words without inflection. At other times she spoke softly like maybe she was telling a secret. This type of telling was repeated all throughout the book. Eventually I began to just roll with it and stayed with the story, but these oddities always stood out.

Some of the blame should probably be shared with the title's engineer and producer. The product didn't have to go out the door this way.

I still recommend the story regardless.

story great performance not so much

The story was excellent. The narration was difficult for me. At times she spoke way to fast and other times seemed to mumble. I had a difficult time distinguishing the characters. Would've preferred the original narrator.

Hard Time

I had no problem with the sound on this book. Found this to be one of the most suspenseful of the V. I. books. While she was in the prison I could not stop listening until she was out. Enjoyed her dogs in the story. The pace moved right along and the "trip about Chicago" was fun. Jean Smart did a okay job narrating the story. The story has a bit of action, suspense and comic scenes.

Great story; distracting narration and production

I have been listening to these excellent books in order and Susan Ericksen had been an outstanding narrator for the previous books and suddenly she is gone and person with different rhythms and clearly less practiced audio production capabilities is reading instead. I was very bummed out by this.

bad recording, good story

recording was sketchy at times but the story is good. I enjoy this series. VI certainly has adventures!