NO NEED FOR WARNING, THIS REVIEW IS NOT A SPOILER!
What started as a quick post has expanded to the point that I’ve moved into “Word” to have spell-check capability. You see, I am only on page 378 of the 387 pages of Sue Grafton's “T” IS FOR TRESPASS.
Reading this book, for me, could be compared to going from zero to 80 in the five-speed electric blue Mustang Kinsey Millhone has traded up from her VW bug. I started off in first gear, sort of slow, saying to myself, "I just don't know if I'm going to like reading this book.*"
The story began to branch in several directions, thus my comparison at this juncture to having the choice of going straight for gear three/four, or pausing for some time at "two." (I have been known to read from front to back --to front to less back --to less front and so forth. Grisham does that to me. Grafton didn’t.)
By the time the story pace really heated up, I was reading so fast I was only reading the first sentences of several pages of paragraphs of action sequence, such was the intensity of my involvement in the plot. This speed reading went on for about three pages and then I smoothed out the “ride.”
Right this minute, I’m reading and pausing so I’m not just certain if I have come down from over-drive or am on cruise control. I stopped to write the review because I came upon a sentence that I'd like Martha to dissect:
Kinsey writes, "I had more at stake than she did, but she had nothing to lose." (Page 378) I'm curious about Grafton's use of the word "but."
I can't wait for Martha to read and review this book because I was somewhat surprised at what might be the final, final outcome. I think I was given some false direction early on, but to discuss that would be to destroy this good read for those who enjoy Grafton's alphabet series and want to read, this her 20th (?) book.
I’ll pause here to add a little history of the author and the series which I have gleaned this from seeing Sue Grafton interviewed over the years and I have such an amazing memory for seemingly insignificant details. Grafton wrote initially for TV. At some point one of her characters was made into a movie or placed on the tube. She swore, according to an interview I saw her do with Joe Garriagola years ago on the Today Show, that she would never cooperate in such visualization again.
While I can see Kinsey’s neighbor Henry Pitts in my mind as sharply as if he were sitting here in my study, I can’t imagine Kinsey’s hair that she used to cut herself with manicure scissors.
The books almost immediately were a big hit. I remember the enthusiasm of Joe Garrigola as he interviewed Grafton I was amazed that this “jock” of a guy would so love a book about a female PI heroine. Indeed Grafton may have been the first to introduce this somewhat new genre. (Nancy Drew being an early fore-runner.) Book shelves now are awash with female sleuths.
The first of the alphabet books, “A is for Alibi, B is for ....” were spit out furiously at a seemingly very fast pace. It seems Grafton as soon as she discovered that she had a 26-book contract, decided to age Millhone as the series progressed. Perhaps her decision to do that was made before she slowed down her writing and release of franchise pieces.
Grafton had pledged to age her main character but the writing wasn’t keeping up. The result is that the last few books, although published in the 21st century, have Kinsey still living in the 80s. "T IS FOR TRESPASS finds Kinsey Millhone experiences events in late 1987 and early 1988.
Grafton is true to writing as if it were the late 80s by having neither Kinsey nor those who inhabit St. Theresa utilize ubiquitous cell phones. To her credit, the only time I spotted a "Back to the Future" moment was while in a conversation with a nerd, Kinsey voices skepticism of the nerd’s insistence that in the future, ten year olds will be using computers and confounding adults with their technical savvy. (Kinsey still types her reports on her portable Smith-Corona typewriter.)
Again, I am waiting for Martha's review almost as much as I anticipated “T” because if Grafton and her editors messed up and got something out of time sequence, our friend and reviewer extraordinaire will spot it and inform us.
Martha, unless your wish list has reached Santa’s ear and said wish has already gone into his delivery bag, I can bring my copy by tomorrow, and I won’t get snow on your hardwoods. I know you. You have the discipline I lack and the book will, therefore, remain unread until it has reached its time.
Me? I put down A THOUSAND SILVER SUNS the moment “T” caught my eye on the book review page and I made a directly swoop and swipe at nearby Barnes and Noble.
*Grafton was born in 1940 which means she is somewhat my contemporary. I think the author’s age may have played a huge contributing factor in her selection and tackling of an issue that I find, because of MY age uncomfortable. It is the issue of the dependence of the elderly on the quality of care we will be given.
