U Is for Undertow

A Kinsey Millhone Novel

By: Sue Grafton

Narrated by: Judy Kaye

Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Calling T is for Trespass "taut, terrifying, transfixing and terrific", USA Today went on to ask, "What does it take to write 20 novels about the same character and manage to create a fresh, genre-bending novel every time?"

It's a question worth pondering. Through 20 excursions into the dark side of the human soul, Sue Grafton has never written the same book twice. And so it is with this, her 21st. Once again, she breaks genre formulas, giving us a twisting, complex, surprise-filled, and totally satisfying thriller.

It's April 1988, a month before Kinsey Millhone's 38th birthday, and she's alone in her office doing paperwork when a young man arrives unannounced. He has a preppy air about him and looks as if he'd be carded if he tried to buy booze, but Michael Sutton is 27, an unemployed college dropout. Twenty-one years earlier, a four-year-old girl disappeared. A recent reference to her kidnapping has triggered a flood of memories. Sutton now believes he stumbled on her lonely burial when he was six years old. He wants Kinsey's help in locating the child's remains and finding the men who killed her. It's a long shot, but he's willing to pay cash up front, and Kinsey agrees to give him one day.

As her investigation unfolds, she discovers Michael Sutton has an uneasy relationship with the truth. In essence, he's the boy who cried wolf. Is his current story true, or simply one more in a long line of fabrications?

Grafton moves the narrative between the 80s and the 60s, changing points of view, building multiple subplots, and creating memorable characters. Gradually, we see how they all connect. But at the beating center of the novel is Kinsey Millhone, sharp-tongued, observant, a loner - "a heroine", said The New York Times Book Review, "with foibles you can laugh at and faults you can forgive."

Don't miss the other titles in the Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mystery Series.

©2009 Sue Grafton (P)2009 Random House

Critic reviews

"As this master of suspense continues to demonstrate in superb mystery after mystery, there are more ugly twists in the human heart than there are letters in the alphabet." ( Entertainment Weekly)
"It's as if Grafton purposely begins with a standard situation-and then gleefully sets about breaking every cardinal rule of the mystery novel." ( Los Angeles Times Book Review)

U is for Undertow

as usual this is par for the course. Very easy to follow. love the story.

was she paid by the word?

Would you try another book from Sue Grafton and/or Judy Kaye?

oh yes.. this one however, was dreadful.

Has U Is for Undertow turned you off from other books in this genre?

no

Which scene was your favorite?

the closing page.

Do you think U Is for Undertow needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I'll read everything she writes. This was a snooze.

Any additional comments?

I love the series.. This was not her best.

Always Great!

Sue Grafton has done it again. - the reason you love to read Kinsey Millhone. Great story with lots of twists and turns and the ever present human side.

Enjoyed

Have read or listened to just about all of her books and I always enjoy them. Held my attention right to the end, good job with the reading too.

She has done it again!

Every time I buy Sue Grafton's latest book I wonder if she can keep me coming back. She not only keeps me coming back but I tend to want to go back and reread or listen to her other books after I listen to her latest.

Always happy to hear a Sue Grafton book

Any additional comments?

U is for "U and I enjoy our time with Kinsey Milhone and are glad that there will still be 6 more books after this one."

Really good book

I'm ready to listen to the next one these books are very good and I love them all I will be downloading the next 1 as soon as possible

Not a cozy mystery

Despite the fact that it has all the elements of a cozy mystery; a female lead who faces a crime and eventually solves the mystery after twists and turns that make it exciting. There’s a serious novel. It is so well written, as it is all the other books in her series. This novel starts out with a premise that seems weak. It is not long before you see the complicated matter that Kindsley has to deal with. It is written with humor and there is a strong sense of bonding with the main character. Excellent reading; a good mystery without constant shooting and gore. So enjoyable!

my favorite detective

loved it...immediately buying the next one in the series.

I think Judy Kaye the reader is seriously amazing at what she does!!!! I wish I lived in Santa Teresa just to know Kinsey!

U is for Undertow

Enjoyed her personality!
And the twists and turns…
The story was an intriguing “who did it” story!