Rating: 
Summary: OK, but not her best
Review: Laurie King is one of my favorite authors (along with Bland, Dobson, and Rozan), but this is not her best. I like the rappor between Kate and Al, and the "Man in Black" is a neat character it'd be fun to see developed further. This novel is as much, maybe more, about relationships and people as it is about crimes and detective work. While most if not all of the people are vividly real, some of the relationships are less so. A mix of heterosexual and homosexual couples would be more realistic. I also think she overdid the religious imagery. It's critical to the novel, but I skipped over a lot. I recommend the book, but if this is your first Kate Martinelli and you don't like it, don't give up on King because of it!
Rating: 
Summary: It's good to have Kate Martinelli back.
Review: Like a lot of her fans, I have been waiting for Laurie King to even up the balance between her two detectives. Now that she's got the score back to 5-4 (Mary Russell leads by one), we can give her a free choice of which one she writes for next.I have read all the books in both series, and this one does not fall short in any way. "Night Work" is exciting, emotionally involving, and intellectually stimulating. What more can you ask from a novel? With "Night Work", Laurie King retains her place on my top shelf of thriller writers alongside Elmore Leonard and Robert Parker. Reservations? Just a couple of minor ones. I did feel that outside of the inner circle of both Kate's partners and their households, the characters were not as vivid as in the earlier novels in this series. People like the Mehta family and Roz Hall were not given much space for development. And the ending was a bit pat for me as well. As with "A Darker Place", (published immediately prior to "Night Work"), I felt that the middle was more exciting than the end. But Laurie King is such an overachiever. Not many writers would be able to produce two such different series, and she shows no sign yet of falling below her own high standards.
Rating:
Summary: Worth reading, but the weakest of the series
Review: Like all Laurie King's books so far, this one is worth reading, but I thought it was the weakest of the lot. One reason is the depiction of Roz, a central character. She is something close to a cult leader: arrogant, manipulative, and irresponsible. She is also supposed to be charming and charismatic, but that does not come through adequately in the book, leaving this reader, at least, puzzled as to why other people, including Kate Martinelli, the protagonist, like and admire her. A further problem is that the solution to the killings of the Indian bride and her husband leaves too many loose threads; the reader cannot tell what parts of the chain of events that lead to the killing were part of the plot. The motive, while suggested, is never entirely clear. And at least some of the evidence that distracts the reader from the correct solution depends on a coincidence. One final point links to the previous book, where Jules, the precocious stepdaughter of Kate's partner, is kidnapped by her biological father while travelling with Kate. Jules' mother (Jani) apparently suspects Kate, at least initially, of having arranged the kidnapping herself (Kate is a lesbian, although her friendship with Jules is entirely non-sexual), and clearly blames her for it. In the resolution it becomes clear not only that Kate is not at fault but that Jani is; the father would have been the obvious suspect if Jani hadn't pretended that he was dead and maintained the pretence even after the kidnapping, thus seriously hampering the efforts, largely by Kate, to locate the kidnapped girl. In this book we are told that both Kate and Jani continue to blame Kate for the kidnapping, which seems to make very little sense.
Rating:
Summary: Do you read reviews?
Review: Ms King, you are writing too much. After an idiosyncratic start with real characters and unique situations you are degrading your gift into workmanlike books. Stop for a while, you write too much, you could be a peer of P. D. James, but not if you continue like this.
Rating:
Summary: Laurie King Does it Again
Review: Night Work is every bit as complex, compelling and relevant as Laurie King's other Kate Martinelli novels. She has woven some intelligent notions about religious mythology, Jungian Psychology, feminist politics, moral dilemmas justifiable rage, and intercultural conflict into a story that holds you from beginning to end. There is enough humor and perspective to keep it from reading like a political statement. The exploration of Indian marriage, caste and gender oppressive traditions, seen through a family which Lives in San Francisco and arranges a marriage for an undesirable brother to a "mail order" peasant girl from India, is timely and well done. The characterization of the complicated personalities and combinations of the "regulars" relies a little too heavily on the past Martinelli novels. I would have liked more dynamic interaction within and between the complex individuals, relationship formations and clusters. They were a little flatter than before. All in all, a great read.
Rating: 
Summary: A Return to the Police Procedural Style of the Early Books
Review: Stop! If you haven't read the first three Kate Martinelli Mysteries. They MUST be read in order. For those of you still with me, this mystery returns to the police procedural style of the first two Kate books: A Grave Talent and To Play the Fool. Yes, Lee and all of Kate's friends are still around, and some of them even get a lot of page time. However, this book doesn't have pages and pages of personal angst like With Child. The mystery itself is wonderful and all the clues are given along the way. As the publisher provided summary suggests, this book focuses on political anti-violence against women activities and cyber hit lists. Very contemporary. Very detailed. Kate's private life also gets some attention so all the lose ends from With Child are tied together. Overall, this was a wonderfully fulfilling book. Don't plan on reading it in small chunks. You'll want to read straight through to the end.
Rating: 
Summary: not really a mystery; not really a character study
Review: The fourth book in the Kate Martinelli series, "Night Work" is a suspenseful, dark, briliantly written mystery. The story centers around a series of murders with only one apparent connection-the victims are all perpetrators of violence against women. However, like "A Grave Talent," the story is far more dense and complex than it seems. This was the last book I read for a Women's Studies class entitled Murder Mysteries, and the second by Laurie King. The class focused on gender and violence, and I think this book was a fitting end to the class because it focuses on crimes that are specifically gendered, namely rape and wife battering. The book poses a number of hard questions for those of us readers who consider ourselves opposed to violence. First, when, if ever, is violence acceptable? What kind of violence? Perpetrated by whom, and for what reasons? Violence against women is clearly unacceptable, but is violence against those who are violent acceptable? I am 100% opposed to capital punishment and other forms of violence, but I found myself unwittingly tolerating, and almost agreeing with, the vigilante type murders of violent men who escaped the criminal justice system. When I realized this, I was shocked at myself. I found the use of Kali and indeed the idea of Kali herself fascinating. First, King's use of Kali creates a somewhat mystical, mysteriouis atmosphere to the book, which I found very effective. From reading the Introduction, in which Kali is described, we know that she must have something to do with the novel, but we are not sure what, until the very end of the book. King keeps us guessing, with a quote from "The Invocation to Kali" at the beginning of every chapter. We know that there must be some connection between Kali and the murders, but we are never sure exactly what it is. I was captivated by this book because I wanted to know the truth about the murders, and what Kali had to do with it all. I had a hard time putting the book down, fascinated by this aspect of it. This book had a profound effect on me. At one point, Kate reluctantly realizes that there is an energy force present in all of us-a force of both destruction and creation. Perhaps that explains why I did not disagree with the violence in this book. Though, once revealed, the symbolism of Kali seems somewhat heavy-handed, it made me question myself, and the nature of violence overall.
Rating:
Summary: An invocation to Laurie R. King
Review: The fourth book in the Kate Martinelli series, "Night Work" is a suspenseful, dark, briliantly written mystery. The story centers around a series of murders with only one apparent connection-the victims are all perpetrators of violence against women. However, like "A Grave Talent," the story is far more dense and complex than it seems. This was the last book I read for a Women's Studies class entitled Murder Mysteries, and the second by Laurie King. The class focused on gender and violence, and I think this book was a fitting end to the class because it focuses on crimes that are specifically gendered, namely rape and wife battering. The book poses a number of hard questions for those of us readers who consider ourselves opposed to violence. First, when, if ever, is violence acceptable? What kind of violence? Perpetrated by whom, and for what reasons? Violence against women is clearly unacceptable, but is violence against those who are violent acceptable? I am 100% opposed to capital punishment and other forms of violence, but I found myself unwittingly tolerating, and almost agreeing with, the vigilante type murders of violent men who escaped the criminal justice system. When I realized this, I was shocked at myself. I found the use of Kali and indeed the idea of Kali herself fascinating. First, King's use of Kali creates a somewhat mystical, mysteriouis atmosphere to the book, which I found very effective. From reading the Introduction, in which Kali is described, we know that she must have something to do with the novel, but we are not sure what, until the very end of the book. King keeps us guessing, with a quote from "The Invocation to Kali" at the beginning of every chapter. We know that there must be some connection between Kali and the murders, but we are never sure exactly what it is. I was captivated by this book because I wanted to know the truth about the murders, and what Kali had to do with it all. I had a hard time putting the book down, fascinated by this aspect of it. This book had a profound effect on me. At one point, Kate reluctantly realizes that there is an energy force present in all of us-a force of both destruction and creation. Perhaps that explains why I did not disagree with the violence in this book. Though, once revealed, the symbolism of Kali seems somewhat heavy-handed, it made me question myself, and the nature of violence overall.
Rating:
Summary: murders of a different sort
Review: These murderers and these victims are not what one would assume. You might be on the side of the perps. And we can only hope there are many more chapter clubs around the world of the Ladies of Perpetual Disgruntlement :)
Rating: 
Summary: What a Waste of [price]
Review: This was my first and last experience of this author. I disliked the book so much I found myself getting irritated at the characters and the poor writing. King seems obsessed with Kate and her whole lesbian cop thing and instead of referring to her partner, Lee, as just that, she insists on calling her a "lover". Please. The other central characters, especially "Roz" are not particularly good. It seems that we are meant to admire her or something. In actual fact she comes across as someone you would want to leave in a corner to discuss her (...) issues with herself. If you met her in public, you certainly would not wish to spend any time with her. The plot went on and on and on then all in the space of a couple of chapters everything was fantastically solved. What a (...) attempt at a book. I hated this and wished I'd not wasted my money. The back cover sounds exciting but it seriously overrates the contents.
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