Book Review: Robert B. Parker's Showdown

Vic Hale isn’t anyone’s idea of a father figure. He is one of the biggest (and loudest) podcasters in the nation and got there by spewing overheated rhetoric that’s reviled by some but loved by even more. His particular brand of “entertainment” is so successful, he’s about to sign the biggest contract in the history of online broadcasting. Vic’s riding high until he gets a visit from Spenser, who specializes in bringing guys like Hale back down to Earth.

Spenser is there on behalf of Daniel Lopez, a young man who believes Hale may be his father. It’s a potentially explosive revelation for a man in the podcaster’s position and it might even be enough to blow up his massive new deal. That could explain the bodies that start popping up – bodies connected in one way or another with the mystery surrounding Daniel’s birth. There are a lot of questions remaining, and Spenser’s going to have to find the answers before someone shuts Hale or Daniel up for good.

Book Review: Robert B. Parker's Hot Property

Spenser is waiting out the latest Boston snowstorm when he gets word that Rita Fiore has been shot. Rita’s always been a tricky one: flirting with Spenser for years, she’s an ever-present figure that transcends friendship in Spenser’s circle. But at the end of the day, Rita is family. And family will always be protected.

Both a pit bull in the courtroom and provocateur outside it, Rita is no stranger to controversy. But as one of the city’s toughest lawyers, Spenser knows that there’s no short list of suspects who might want to enact revenge. With Rita’s life hanging in the balance, it’s up to him to get to the bottom of things, even if it means unearthing some unsavory secrets that might just lead him into an age-old game of lies and deceit.

Now And Then

Finally, I've finished the 35th Spenser novel - the most recent release from 2007 - by Robert B. Parker called Now And Then. It starts out as a case of a husband hiring the Boston private eye to find out if his wife is cheating on him. Turns out she is - with a man who has some counter-culture ties. The husband is with the FBI, and when the man confronts the woman, both end up dead. Rather than leave the case alone or turning it over to his FBI contact, Spenser decides this is something he needs to solve.

But it more than just two dead bodies here. It reminds Spenser of a difficult time in his past when he and Susan were going through a seperation and another bad man was involved. In solving this case, Spenser believes he can ease any unsettled feelings from his own past. So, the case really takes on a personal feel to it.

I must say that I am glad to be finished with Spenser (for now, until the next book comes out late this year - and then I will only have to visit once a year to stay current). Truth is, I'm sort of burned out on Parker's law-into-his-own-hands character. Don't get me wrong - over all I've enjoyed the books in the series more often than not. I just don't think they were written to be read back to back to back like I did it. I think it exposes a lot of the flaws in the books doing it that way.

I'm ready to cleanse my pallette a bit with some non-fiction first and then on to a different author and genre.

Hundred-Dollar Baby

In the 9th Spenser novel Ceremony, Robert B. Parker introduced the character of April Kyle - a runaway out turning tricks. The Boston private eye rescued her from a bad situation and set her up with a New York madame. In the 13th novel Taming A Sea-Horse, Spenser found his path crossing with April again. He thought then he had gotten her on the right path.

Here in the 34th Spenser novel Hundred-Dollar Baby written in 2006, April is back again. She seems more mature, sophisticated, even running her own business but the fruit hasn't gotten far from the tree. She's still in the business of prostitution, but she wants to run it from a woman's angle. And the problem is men are causing her problems. She goes to see Spenser to help, and he feels obligated to help save her again. What he doesn't realize is how intricate the web of lies and trouble has become. Can he untangle it?

My problem with this book are two-fold. One, I don't find April a very sympathetic character. As a reader, I don't care about her. Two, the ending seemed rather forced as if Parker was realizing he was hitting his usual page length for novels and that he needed a quick conclusion. It could have been fleshed out more. Drop a couple of those two to three page chapters with Spenser missing Susan and there you go - space to finish the book right.

School Days

School Days, published in 2005, is Robert B. Parker's 33rd Spenser novel. The Boston investigator is hired by a grandmother of a young man involved in a school shooting. She wants Spenser to prove his innocence, even though the child confessed to being a part of the killing with another young man. In typical fashion of these novels by Parker, Spenser learns there is more to the case than meets the eye.

The book is pure Spenser. The typical supporting cast of Susan and Hawk are not present. Only minor contacts of Spenser's from past books appear. This, in a lot of ways, is sort of a throwback to the earlier novels. In that, it makes it a nice break from the last few books.

In a number of ways, this one seemed to be ripped from the headlines. He had a very Columbine feel to it, as the infamous school shooting had happened around the time this book was written.

Cold Service

I just finished reading Cold Service, the 32nd book by Robert B. Parker in the Spenser series. In this 2005 novel, we open with Spenser at Hawk's bedside in a hospital. Hawk and a family he knew were gunned down by five Ukranian thugs. Only Hawk survived the shooting which left one little boy orphaned. Even beat down pretty bad, Spenser's good friend wants revenge for the family and for himself. It takes awhile to recover, but eventually he is ready to do just that. But what it ends up costing Hawk is something else.

I really felt Parker missed an opportunity here. The book focuses on Hawk mostly and, I have to say, it was about time. However, this was a chance to really let readers know more details about who Hawk is, how he came to be, etc. We don't get that. Parker keeps him this man of mystery and secrets. I felt he could have given the readers more without compromising the character. Ah well.

Bad Business

Bad Business, written in 2004, is the 31st Spenser novel by author Robert B. Parker. The Boston private eye is approached by the wife of an executive at Kinergy, a company that sells energy, to investigate her husband to confirm he is cheating on her. She wants to have evidence to use against him in a divorce. Only a day on the job, Spenser finds that other people are tailing others involved so he gets them to compare notes. Soon he uncovers a bizarre secret life of the corporation members and that investigation leads to murder.

Parker again goes to the well of the usual motives for murder: sex and money. This story combines them both, in some very interesting twists. The story moves pretty quickly. I polished off this 309 page book in two days over the weekend. I definitely wasn't bored with it.

Back Story

Back Story, published in 2003, is the 30th Spenser novel. Like most cases, it starts out simple enough - a friend of Paul's asks Spenser to find out who murdered her mother. Problem was the murder happened twenty-eight years ago. It doesn't take the Boston private eye too long to find out this cold-case is so hot that a number of someones want to make sure it stays closed. And they'll threaten Spenser to do so.

I have to admit that I wasn't so hot on this book. It really didn't gain a lot of momentum for me until the final third of the book. And chapter 56 actually touches upon something Parker hasn't done since A Savage Place - Spenser has a rare crisis of conscious. My hope is that Parker can build upon this though I fear it will sort of get pushed back under the rug in later novels. That's a shame.

One thing that is cool about this book though is that Parker has a cameo/crossover of sorts with Jesse Stone, another lead character in a Parker written series. I plan to read the Jesse Stone novels after I finish the Spenser set. So it was good to get a little introduction to him. It really helps to build the Parker-verse of sorts.

Widow's Walk

Widow's Walk, published in 2002, is Robert B. Parker's 29th book in the Spenser mystery series. In this one, the Boston private eye is asked by his old friend Rita, a lawyer, to help with a defense case they are working on. Spenser is trying to determine if woman has murdered her husband. However, he soon finds the case very frustrating because the woman is not very bright or forthcoming with information. The more Spenser digs into the case, the more confusing it gets.

Then the ante gets upped as people whom Spenser talks with start dropping like flies.

I found this one very unpredictable and that kept me wanting to read more. I wanted to know how Spenser would solve this one, but I was confident he would. So seldom has he not.

Potshot

I did something in the past 24 hours that I don't normally do: I polished off from cover to cover a nearly 300 page book. The book would be Robert B. Parker's 2001 novel Potshot, the 28th book in the Spenser series. (Okay, we had a big thunderstorm roll through last night for about an hour, so I couldn't watch TV or be on the computer, etc. Reading was a good way to pass the time while the storm passed.)

In this one, Spenser is hired by a woman in California to investigate the murder of her husband. When Spenser goes out to the town of Potshot, CA, he finds that there is a seedy element on the edge of town that appears to be responsible. At least, that's what the woman and most of the townfolk claim.

In trying to solve the murder, a number of the town's business men and the mayor decide to hire Spenser to clear our the seedy element as well. Since it is forty against one, the Boston detective decides to balance the odds a bit. To do that, he assembles his own "magnificent seven" - and the author uses this to bring back six characters from past novels for another adventure. Of course, Hawk is first. Then Vinnie Morris who has helped in the past. From Nevada comes Bernard J. Fortunato, from California comes Chollo and Bobby Horse. And from the previous novel Hugger Mugger, Tedy Sapp makes a return appearance.

This novel was very gripping (as evidenced how I couldn't put it down really). The story has a good mystery, which Spenser solves in the end. And, like a number of the last few novels, things don't always end up in as tidy a little package as one would expect. It shows the author is finding more gray in the world, especially in writing in this new millennium.

Hugger Mugger

Hugger Mugger, written in 2000, is Robert B. Parker's 27th Spenser novel. It is also the name of a race horse owned by the Clive family whom employ the Boston detective to investigate some horse shootings at their Georgia stable. When Spenser makes a trek down south, he finds an odd mystery and an even odder family.

I really enjoyed this novel a lot. There was an interesting cast of characters introduced in the mystery - from daughters Penny, Stonie and SueSue, to the husbands Pud and Cord to the town sheriff and even the characters brought in during the brief vignette when Spenser is off the case and back in Boston (before he gets right back involved in it again).

Parker definitely groomed this novel well and kept the excitement racing down to the final post (see how I threw in those horse racing analogies there - grin). Just when I was starting to feel a little bored with the series after so many books, this one renewed my interest again. Can't wait to dive into the next one.

Small Vices

Jumping back to 1997 and Robert B. Parker's 24th Spenser novel, Small Vices involves a case where a law-firm hires the Boston detective to determine if a jailed man was wrongly convicted of murder. Spenser's digging stirs up trouble and puts him in the deadly line of fire.

There is also a subplot about Susan wanted them to adopt a child together, but reading the books out of order pretty much told me how this part would pan out. Just the luck of the draw when you have to wait on books at the library to get returned before you can check them out.

This book was okay but not one of the best of the series by any stretch of the imagination. It is another one of those cases where Spenser ends up choosing between two evils, and suprisingly he'd rather allow the greater of the evils go free. It just didn't sit that well with me.

Another thing clearly standing out - the supporting cast around Spenser, like Patricia Utley and Paul, seem to age but Spenser, Susan and Hawk for the most part remain unchanged. It's kind of comic-book like in some respects. That does tend to throw me off too. Clearly they talk about Spenser and Susan knowing each other for over 25 years, yet the characters don't act like they're in their late 40's/early 50's. They tend to remain a bit timeless. Again, I should be used to this - having read comics as long as I have. I guess when a book franchise runs this many decades that you have to do that if you want to keep using your same hero.

Hush Money

In 1999, Robert B. Parker's 26th Spenser novel - Hush Money - was published. Once again, Spenser's friends get him involved in cases. But this time, not only is it a friend of Hawk's needing help investigating why he was turned down for tenure, amid some speculation of sexual encounters with a student who appears to have committed suicide, but also Susan asks him to help a friend of hers who is being stalked. Both cases, in typical Parker fashion, turn out to be more than what they appear on the surface.

It was interesting to see Spenser juggle two cases as once. However, it felt as though Parker really was trying to use two ideas to fill out a single novel - with one that might possibly been not enough to support a book of its own. Still the stories move along nicely and drive along to their seperate, unconnected conclusions.

Parker really has a good approach to understanding different natures of people. His characters reflect diverse individuals and very few are cookie-cutter versions of people you've seen before. That helps too to make his books a pleasure to read.

Sudden Mischief

I just finished Robert B. Parker's 25th Spenser novel, 1998's Sudden Mischief. In this one, Susan Silverman, Spenser's girlfriend, comes to him and asks that he help out her ex-husband Brad who is facing some sexual harrassment charges. In typical fashion, the Boston detective quickly finds there is more going on than appears on the surface. His investigation stirs up trouble with some local heavy hitters in the organized crime.

The other aspect of this book is that we learn more about Susan and her past, her relationships with other men in her life and, by extension, her relationship with Spenser. How she and Spenser interact is realistic, complicated and mature. Parker has a good ear for dialogue and a feel for human interaction. That's one thing that makes his books so enjoyable.

While not as fast paced as other Spenser novels, this one is still very good. I'd put it in the middle of the pack when stacked up against others.

Chance

Robert B. Parker's 23rd Spenser novel, published in 1996, is called Chance. In it, the famous Boston private eye is hired by a local mobster and his daughter to help find the daughter's missing husband Anthony. Anthony, it turns out, works for the family business and he has a few vices like women and gambling. With the help of his good friend Hawk, Spenser tracks across the country and back to find the man and, in doing so, ends up uncovering a web of lies and criminal activity that leads to a murder.

What I liked about Chance is that Parker uses some established characters and history from earlier books to build upon this one's main plot points. This tight continuity again helps ground the books into an established growing and changing universe for the Spenser novels. It also rewards long-time readers with some appearances of characters from earlier novels. I like that.

Thin Air

Thin Air is the 22nd book in the Spenser series by Robert B. Parker; it was written in 1995. In this one, Spenser's good friend Lt. Frank Belson comes to him with a situation. Belson's wife Lisa has gone missing and he wants Spenser to help him locate her. Even before they can get too far in the investigation, Belson is shot and hospitalized - forcing Spenser to continue the case alone.

In typical Spenser fashion, things are not always what they seem. In investigating Lisa's past, the detective learns a lot about her and the former life she kept hidden. He also finds himself involved with deadly factions, so much so that he has to work with some people on the other side of the law to find the missing woman.

This book, like Crimson Joy, departed from the entirely first-person narrative from Spenser's view point. There are a number of interludes written from Lisa's viewpoint - to give the reader an idea of what is truly happening with Lisa even though Spenser has yet to figure it out. At first I found it a bit annoying but it did fit in nicely as the book went.

Walking Shadow

From 1994 comes Robert B. Parker's 21st Spenser novel called Walking Shadow. This one opens with Spenser being asked by his girlfriend Susan to come down to Port City and speak with the manager of a theatre of which she is on the board of directors. The manager feels he is being shadowed by someone and knows not who or why. He would like Spenser to find out.

Of course, taking in the play, things go awry quickly. An actor is killed in cold blood in front of an audience, Spenser gets threatened to leave town or else, and one of the actresses also approaches him about being stalked. Spenser finds himself quickly in a deep sea of illegal operations, organized crime and lustful individuals.

I found it to be another enjoyable read from Parker.

Paper Doll

In Paper Doll, the 20th Spenser novel written by Robert B. Parker (from 1993), the Boston detective is hired by a rich aristocrat to find out who murdered his wife Olivia. Spenser first investigates the family, only to find a facade of ideal life. Gaining no ground there, he heads to the deep South to investigate the woman's past. And what he finds is that things are not as they appeared at all and that many are trying to stop him from uncovering the truth.

Again, Parker does a wonderful job building up the supporting cast and the people Spenser meets along the way. He does it in such an effortless way that you get invested in these new characters.

And, again, Parker got me. I had part of the mystery figured out but not all of it. That surprise and suspense kept me reading page after page. A good read in the series - highly recommended.

Double Deuce

In the 19th book of the series, author Robert B. Parker sends his hero Spenser into the inner-city. The title of the book, Double Deuce gets its name from one of the housing developments where a fourteen year old mother and her infant child are gunned down by what appears to be a drive-by shooting. Spenser's friend Hawk enlists the detective's aid on this case.

While one of the shorter Spenser novels, it is still fast-paced. Though written in 1992, the subject matter of gang violence and inner-city struggles is still very relevant sixteen years later.

We also learn a little bit about Hawk's mysterious past as there is some reflection between his life and that of the gang members who fight against the heroes attempts to move them off of the turf. Some new supporting characters are also introduced to the novels' universe, some whom I am sure will show up again in the future.

A good read which I recommend to others.

Pastime

I just finished the 18th book in Robert B. Parker's Spenser series. Written in 1991, Pastime is a bit different paced than the other books so far. Here, Spenser isn't hired for a case per se. Paul Giacomin, the young man whom Spenser saved from his parents back in Early Autumn enlists Spenser's aid to help him locate his mother who seems to have disappeared. Together they find her and learn about the trouble she is in with her new boyfriend.

This book focuses a bit on relationships between parents and children, both that of Patty and Paul Giacomin as well as local mob figures. We also learn a lot more about Spenser's past through his discussions with Susan. The book just has a different sort of pace to it.

For me, it was just an okay book. Not one of the best in the series by any stretch of the imagination. It just seemed to be one of those middle of the series books an author does - to try to tie up some loose plot threads and such. It just seemed like passing time to me.