Andrew Crain has it all: his groundbreaking work with lithium has made him one of the world’s richest men. He is universally adored and admired; that is, until Crain’s beautiful wife, Laura, comes to Spenser hoping that he can find out what skeletons lurk in her husband’s closet. Though Crain is a generous philanthropist and loving family man, she is concerned—he has recently become secretive, bordering on paranoid, and prone to violent outbursts. Laura wants Spenser to find out what has gotten into her husband, before it’s too late.
As Spenser digs into the billionaire’s past, he realizes that the man may have done terrible things on his rise to the top—but he also may have had good reason to. With no clear answers, what Spenser discovers will cause him to question his own views on morality—and place him in grave danger.
Robert B. Parker's Broken Trust by Mike Lupica will be published on November 28, 2023. G.P. Putnam and Sons, a subsidiary of Penguin Group Viking, provided an early galley for review.
Back in 2008, I discovered the Spenser mystery novels series by Robert B. Parker. Over the course of six months, I devoured the then-available thirty-five books in the series (thanks to my local public library). The author passed a few years later (after completing four more novels), and I kind of forgot about the series. Ace Atkins picked up the ball and provided ten more novels in the series about the Boston detective. Now, with this novel - which is the fiftieth book in the series (and the first by Lupica), I really wanted to jump back in.
Even though I've gotten fifteen years older since we last spent time, Spenser and his usual associations (Hawk and Susan) have not. Sure, this book starts with him moving to a new apartment, however Spenser remains timeless despite his debut back in 1973's The Godwulf Manuscript. Fifty never looked so good. Lupica even has Spenser make some meta comments relating to how his friends and associates are always pretty much the same.
Lupica does a solid job getting the narrative to have the old Parker feel and sound. As Parker used to do, he gingerly peppers in references to prior novels to remind us of the history of the franchise. Like Parker, he uses plenty of "in the moment" references so that the reader knows that Spenser inhabits a world very much like our own (with just a few subtle differences). He also describes food and clothes in the same manner that Parker had Spenser do so. It is like going back home again.
Overall, the story this time was enjoyable and touched on some very topical themes. I look forward to future additions to the series.
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