U is for Undertow: A Kinsey Millhone Novel

Sue Grafton

Dec 2009 · A Kinsey Millhone Novel Book 21 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

Sue Grafton takes the mystery genre to new heights with this twisting, complex #1 New York Times bestseller that draws private investigator Kinsey Millhone into a case shrouded in the sins of the past.

Looking solemn, Michael Sutton arrives in Kinsey Millhone's office with a story to tell. When he was six, he says, he wandered into the woods and saw two men digging a hole. They claimed they were pirates, looking for buried treasure. Now, all these years later, the long-forgotten events have come back to him—and he has pieced them together with news reports from the time, becoming convinced that he witnesses the burial of a kidnapped child.

Kinsey has nearly nothing to go on. Sutton doesn't even know where he was that day—and, she soon discovers, he has a history of what might generously be called an active imagination. Despite her doubts, Kinsey sets out to track down the so-called burial site. And what's found there pulls her into a hidden current of deceit stretching back more than twenty years...

Ratings and reviews

BOTTOM-LINE: Nice ending, but the story feels like retread . PLOT OR PREMISE: Kinsey's client thinks he remembers seeing two men digging a hole back when he was six years old, just days after a child's kidnapping that subsequently ended tragically. Maybe it was the kidnappers? . WHAT I LIKED: The flashback story harkens back to a hippie-style couple living in a van in the driveway of his parents' house, which was mildly interesting at first. The introduction of a reporter named Alvarez is good for future stories too. But the only really good part is filling in some of Aunt Ginny's history, with old letters and a PI that was hired to look into Ginny's parenting ability. . WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The flashback storyline removes almost any mystery or tension from the story. You know who the bad guys are way before Kinsey, and the storyline with the reporter holds some initial promise but ultimately goes nowhere. Just a lot of wasted time and space. . DISCLOSURE: I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow her on social media.

I am quickly working my way through the alphabet, along with Kinsey, and am enjoying every word.

very surprised at the ending, good summer read!

About the author

#1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton first introduced Kinsey Millhone in the Alphabet Series in 1982. Soon after, both writer and heroine became icons and international bestsellers. Ms. Grafton was a writer who consistently broke the bonds of genre while never writing the same book twice. Named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, her awards and honors included the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, the Ross Macdonald Literary Award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award from Britain's Crime Writers' Association, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Malice Domestic, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Bouchercon, three Shamus Awards, and three Anthony Awards—including the first two ever awarded. She passed away in December 2017.