BODY WORK by Sara Paretsky ***

Seems like work due to the plethora of names. Somewhat mystery. VI Warshawski on the case of what exactly I am not sure. Weird people body painting each other, naked in a bar? Somebody is gay, other people were in Iraq, some guys loud and demanding in a bar over WTF I have no idea. Secret body painting codes? I'm at the end and still don't know. An Iraq soldier was drugged into a coma? And had evidence planted beside him so they think he killed someone who was in an audience and body painted someone else. Whatever the fuck that's all about I do NOT KNOW. It's all so out there. Close to aliens.

All these aliens are in a bar doing uncommon things to each other and some other people from companies  hire thugs to get something. An autopsy report? Which anyone can simply ask for. The piece of paper being chased around and people murdered over is corny. I think a public record of someone's death is sort of PUBLIC???

So much confusing stuff. On one page 241 "she left her keys in the dressing room..." next page "blahblah she PARKED HER CAR IN THE ALLEY..blahblah leaving the door unlocked cuz she didn't have her keys." So how many people carry individual keys around? Not on a keychain? Like she has the CAR KEY but not the HOUSE KEY? How can this happen? Stumped.

On page 361 some teenager is telling a story. Doesn't say she stutters yet she can't get to a point...I, er...but...see.....umm.....WTF So she's babbling about the extremely rare autopsy report and her mom went to give it to the 'killers' who will burn her house down but instead of the author saying "IT WASN'T THERE CUZ STUTTERING IDIOT TEENAGER TOOK IT." Goes something like this: "...they punched me again and my nose started to bleed, she (meaning mom?) went to get it. See, she'd hidden it inside a statue. She-I should have told her, but I thought-I don't know what I thought. I was praying and praying..."  I never was told as the reader WHAT THE FUCK happened to it. Even later when they start talking about the autopsy report I didn't immediately connect that was the paper hidden in the statue and stuttering idiot teenager didn't relate THAT important piece of information-she-I should-have put it together but ...

There are a few similar areas of confusion. I'm not going to pick out all of them. Taking awhile to plod thru, reread to figure out discrepancies, and continue. So so for me. I'm on page 363 and STILL have no idea what the story is really about. Military? Gays? Naked body artists? Coma soldier innocent? Guns? Private companies in Iraq? So many red herrings; inner thoughts on who could do that, and why did who do that...and man you really have to WANT the ending to keep reading. A cumbersome body of work.