As I read lately, I discovered a trend. Since I have denied recognizing a crisis associated with reaching my 50s, this discovery on my part may not be news to lots of you. It may have been obvious to any number of people and predicted years ago by Faith Popcorn or Alvin Toffler, but my discovery is what's significant to me.

Almost everyone is getting older.

And there's this huge bulge in the US's population pyramid called the Baby Boom, and that group
is beginning to reach middle age (and beyond?). (I know. I know. I'm only a few months older than the
oldest boomers and I did benefit from being in such close proximity. For instance, I went to new schools
through all but one year of elementary school. Marketers catered to my whims until recently, as I and
the oldest boomers began leaving that magic 18-54-year-old demographic. Well, hell, no one talked much
about any group besides the boomers until the Gen Xers began flexing their materialistic and demographic muscles.

Now, if I really thought about this and paid attention to commentators from Andy Rooney to MTV's veejays, this would not be news to me. (Among other things I don't listen to are those two.)

I had to run into a series of books that pointed this out.

• Jon Katz wrote about his middle age adventure.
• One of Michael Crichton's characters in Timeline decided that middle age in the Middle Ages wouldn't be such a bad idea and stayed behind when the rest of his 20th century crew returns to our now.
• Laurie R. King's detective, Kate Martinelli ponders whether it's too late to start a family.
• Stephen Greenleaf writes about his reflections on writing and has his detective ruminate about getting older.
• Then I read Hardtime by Sara Paretsky and find her detective seriously thinking about doing things differently because she's approaching 50. I'd guess the authors are noticing their own aging process.

We all ought to brace ourselves for mid life adventures for our favorite literary characters as the creators have their own mid life adventures.

Hardtime was on Maureen Corrigan's list of 1999's best books.

I hadn't read one of Paretsky's books for several years. I was really enthusiastic about her first books about Chicago private eye V. I. Warshawski. Then I began to feel the books were routine products of some kind of recipe. And I didn't like the routine or all the ingredients. I had only vague memories this time around, and I mostly liked the book.

This one is well scripted and pleasingly complex. There may be a few too many coincidences and too many rash decisions on Warshawski's part, but at least this time she's reflecting on the wisdom of working alone without a net.

Paretsky also takes some shots in this book at the state of newspaper journalism in Chicago, the corruption of Chicago's "finest," and the Illinois prison system. The sections about a fictional women's prison are powerful. They come close to making this book political.

Scripted is a very appropriate word to describe this book.

It read like a screenplay: six major settings, mostly indoors; lots of physical action; story told in dialogue and action; suspense; heroes and villains.

I could visualize the movie scenes all through the book. An earlier Paretsky novel was made into a movie I never saw (terrible reviews). Maybe she's trying for a good movie this time.

This book has promise. And there's a web site urging people to write letters asking for a new V.I. Warshawski movie.

I look forward to another perspective on this book and urge you to read it and write to us about it.

A review by Harriet Klausner at BooksnBytes

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