Media Reviews
"Grafton once again proves herself a superb storyteller." - Publishers Weekly
"Any time spent with Grafton's inimitable shamus is one of the highlights of the year, but her 25th case drags on forever before ending with a whimper. Fans won't mind as they cheer the series on to Z Is for Zany, or whatever the endlessly resourceful author has in mind." - Kirkus
This information about Y is for Yesterday was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
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Reader Reviews
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Becky H
5 stars for longevity and deft plotting
Grafton reaches back into Kinsey’s past for this thriller so you know she will survive. Two concurrent plots make up the story line. Ned, a serial killer who wants Kinsey dead, is one, the other is the 10 year old death of a popular teen whose murder was solved – or was it? The book bounces from one plot to the other, so for me the momentum was lost. But I like Grafton’s heroine, so that was okay.
Grafton shows that although the end of the series and the end of alphabet approach, there are still stories and plots to tell. She has lost none of her story telling skill and the plots are still intriguing. So for Kinsey fans this one is win, win.
What will be the “Z” title????? And how will the series conclude? Are the only questions remaining.
5 of 5 stars for longevity and continuing deft plotting Betsy
Almost a 5
Always read and enjoyed the alphabet books. The X book seemed to start a somewhat downward trend for this talented, innovative author. That book was a muddle of different stories. The new book pretty much sticks to the two major themes. My opinion, however,is that the Y book is about a hundred pages too long. In addition Kinsey does some really dumb things: not shooting to kill when she had the chance, not taking backup to the airport when picking up Cecelia, not cArrying her gun more often, etc.
Grafton's story is interesting but a little bit off the mark this time. lani
Sex, drugs and videotape
What is going to happen after Grafton finishes the letter Z? Well, I can't answer that but I can tell you that there are no new surprises in her Y novel; this is pure Kinsey Millhone ferreting out the truth in her job as a private detective.The novel takes place over 2 time periods that switch back and forth easily. When a young man is released from prison after 10 years for the murder of a classmate, Kinsey is summoned by his parents as he is being blackmailed regarding a violent sex tape that was made when he was in high school. Meanwhile, Kinsey is also trying to evade a former stalker who has turned up again and complicating her life. I did feel that the action went on longer than was necessary but for lovers of this series, you will continue to be happy with her famous hero. Claudia
Slow start
I don't know if it's really fair to rate this book yet, as I'm only on page 80, but it almost seems to have been written by a not very talented and not very experienced ghost writer. Long and clumsy passages are used to summarize the action without interspersion of any dialogue that might make the story believable or even memorable.In one instance when there was dialogue to further the historical part of the story, a it ended so abruptly that I thought someone forgot to write the end of the chapter. It's only when Kinsey comes back into the picture that the story becomes a little more lively, and you begin to suspect that Sue Grafton might have written this book after all. I've read thousands of books and very, very rarely have I fallen asleep while reading, but this one does the trick. Maybe it will improve, but it hasn't gotten off the ground in the first 80 pages and I don't hold much hope. So far, very disappointing.
