Product Description
The New York Times bestselling Western from Robert B. Parker

Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole are lawmen and friends who share the brutal hardships of an emerging West. But the courage that has defined them is challenged by a man without conscience or remorse. Now, Hitch and Cole have followed him to the small town of Appaloosa.

What follows is a dance of wills where villains are cast in shades of grey, where heroes hide in the blackest shadows, where women can betray with frightening ease, and where Hitch and Cole will discover the price of responsibility, honor, and loyalty in the Old West.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (100)

Spenser, in the Wild West
Robert B. Parker died and I was sorry to lose my source for Spenser books. I have almost all of his Spenser books, but I have not read them all I save some to savor them, too closely spaced and they all merge into each other, all the same story. So I switched to other books by Parker and stumbled into Appaloosa. Well Virgil Cole is Hawk, Everett Hitch is Spenser, Allie is Celeste, and Katie Goode is Susan Silversmith. The fit is far from perfect but I now have a new source for Spenser, from the same author. I like Parker's plots, his dialogues, and now I like Spenser in his new form, a gun hand in the mid 1870's or thereabouts. And I have four more books I can enjoy. Appaloosa is a town, not a horse but there is a stallion running wild outside the town limits and Hitch can use it for both a symbol of freedom and a synbol of the human male, how they compare. But that is only a small part of the story, Allie and Cole are the story. Cole falls hard, but, like Hawk, Hitch can not discuss it openly. Other men attract Allie's attention and the story unfolds as Cole becomes aware of Allie's nature. But he is in love, hard.He will take her despite her nature. That leaves no place for Hitch and he rides off into the sunset. It will take more books to straighten all this out.

Robert B. Parker's Appaloosa
This was a great western.It introduces you to Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch two men who travel around the west hiring out as lawmen.It is the first of four booksabout these men and I found the conversations between the them as interestingas I did the story line.The historial aspect of the book was fascinating and I found I had trouble putting it down and read the book in record time.I find these two to be two of Mr. Parker's most interesting charaters along with Jesse Stone and Spencer.I highly recommend the book and I have since gotten the other three and have also read them.Any one who likes westerns will enjoy these but be aware there is some rough language.

Parker goes west
This is NOT one of Parker's successful Spenser mysteries, but a western featuring a taciturn lawman and his West Point educated deputy.But if you imagine Spenser and Hawk transported to the wild west, the dialog wouldn't be much different.

horses, appaloosas people and events
Set in a western town with historical facts and mysterious events, this book draws the reader in and leicits the need to finish the book and solve the mystery.... a good read...The Horse Keeper: The Healing Gifts of Painting and Writing About HorsesPennsylvania Voices Book Three Appaloosa DreamsPennsylvania Voices Book One: The Horse ProphetPhoto and Art collection Patricia Pasda

It made me remember what I love about the genre
I read a couple of westerns before.I have seen more than a couple of western films.I have enjoyed both of these experiences.I am not sure why it took me so long to pick up another western to read, but I am glad I did.I am also glad it was this one.About four chapters into it, I knew I had to buy the rest of the series.This is some good writing.

I know very little about Robert B. Parker, other than he writes mysteries about a character named Spencer.I had never read one of his books all the way through.I was looking for a good old fashion adventure novel, and I found this.It isn't an adventure novel in the way you would expect.This is a novel about the west.There are good guys, there are bad guys, and there are the in between.

Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch are two great characters.The dialogue is snappy and fast paced, and they live by a code of the west.That code is not always easy to live by.Parker does a great job with characterization where you get to know these guys.There isn't a lot of back story in this novel about them, but you get to know how they live their lives in the pages.

This novel depicts a west where the language was rough, the law was the law, and women were not always what you thought they were.This definitely a man's book.If you like westerns, or if you are looking for something to try, I suggest this novel.It was fabulous! ... Read more

Product Description
Spencer is assigned to protect a TV star in a mission that takes him to murder and beyond. 2 cassettes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Stardust
Good read, typical Parker and Spencer. I Love Spencer books and this one does not disapoint.

The dialog makes this one of the best Spenser novels
This is one of the best novels in the Spenser series, a level achieved by the quality of the dialog rather than the action. Jill Joyce is a beautiful television star and her series is being filmed in the Boston area. Her character is a psychologist and Susan Silverman is serving as a technical consultant for the show and there have been several disturbing incidents of Jill being harassed. As a consequence, Susan recommends Spenser be hired as a bodyguard so the story opens with Spenser meeting Jill.
Jill is a child in the body of a beautiful woman, completely self-absorbed yet completely vulnerable to all of the dangers in the world. Emotionally unstable, her reaction to any difficulty with a man is to offer her body, but not in a manner that would suggest sexual pleasure on her part. Jill is evasive, uncooperative and pushes Spenser and then Hawk to the limit. When her body double is found murdered, Quirk and Belsen are also involved, increasing the breadth and depth of the wisecracks to the point where I found myself openly laughing.
The case takes Spenser back into Jill's life and he quickly finds that her rise to the level of a star was filled with deep and dirty potholes. There is an ex-husband, an alcoholic non-entity of a mother and a previous relationship with a west coast crime kingpin. This is a crime story where the journey makes the pleasure rather than a dynamic and climactic confrontation at the end.
Parker is unusual as a writer of crime fighting novels in that it is the dialog that makes them entertaining rather than the action. In my opinion, his worst books are where he includes more action to the detriment of the dialog. That does not happen here.

Passable Spenser, not Worth Going out of Your Way For
I like Robert Parker's Spenser novels, and have read almost all of them.The early ones are quite good, but the ones after 1990 or so are pretty much a mixed bag.

STARDUST is pretty much a by-the-numbers effort, about Spenser's attempts to bodyguard an incredibly famous TV actress, who just happens to be the most neurotic, promiscuous woman on the planet.This book is mildly funny and entertaining, but not particularly original or exciting.It doesn't help that the TV actress character isn't the least bit sympathetic.The dialogues between Spenser-Susan and Spenser-Hawk are pretty much the same old stuff Parker has written many times before.

There's little in this novel you won't find in other, better Spenser books.My advice is to try those books and forget about STARDUST.

StarBust
I usually enjoy the Spenser books, but "Stardust" was really disappointing.I didn't like the Jill character at all, so it was impossible for me to care about her and/or what happened to her.Too bad Spenser didn't walk away from this case at the get-go.

Also, is anybody else sick of Susan's perfection?And the way she eats - or doesn't eat, I guess would be more correct - makes me cringe.

I'll go on to the next Spenser and hope it's better than this one, and also hope that Spenser and Susan don't go to any restaurants.

Neurotic TV star adds bit of spice to Spenser's life
Spenser is hired by Zenith Meridian Television to protect their star television personality, Jill Joyce - who says she has been receiving harassing telephone calls and letters.When Spenser tries to find out more about these calls, Jill refuses to elaborate - insisting, however, that he protect her from "Him," as she calls her stalker, while all the while refusing to answer any questions relating to details about the problem, her past or pretty much anything at all and at the same time alternating between trying to get Spenser into bed and drinking herself into a torpor.Finally Spenser leaves her in Hawk's care and sets out to find out what he can on his own.

Jill is probably one of the least appealing people Spenser has ever set out to "save."He, however, sets out with great patience nonetheless, to do just that.He follows every lead, steps on toes from the East to the West coast in the process, has his life threatened several times and finally gets to the bottom of the situation.It ain't pretty.

Of course, you'll have to read the book to find out what happens.

I enjoyed this story, mostly because the character dynamics were so interesting.Jill Joyce was so terribly unpleasant, yet at the same time she engendered great sympathy and loyalty among so many people that it was really unbelievable.As one character remarked, she had a "quality" about her, something deep inside her that got buried under the booze and drugs.Parker did a good job with his writing skills of showing that vulnerability as well as the prickly and unpleasant exterior.Very good job.Strong recommend from me. ... Read more

Product Description
When Sunny Randall helps a young woman locate her birth parents, she uncovers the dark truth about her own past.Amazon.com Review
Some of Robert B. Parker's most distinctive novels over the years (God Save the Child, Early Autumn, Ceremony, etc.) have centered on young people in trouble, so his return to that theme in Melancholy Baby is hardly a surprise. What's more remarkable is how deftly he uses the case of an angry, confused college student searching for the facts about her family background as a means to pry open the hardly less troubled psyche of Boston private eye Sonya "Sunny" Randall, a character at serious risk of one day outshining Parker's better-known but less reflective gumshoe, Spenser.

Twenty-one-year-old trust-fund kid Sarah Markham suspects that her parents aren't really related to her at all. "They can't find my birth certificate," she tells Sunny in amazement. "They don’t remember which hospital I was born in." This isn't the sort of inquiry Sunny likes to take on, especially not now, when her ex-husband of five years, Richie Burke--whom she still hasn't given up loving--is marrying another woman. However, Sunny needs a distraction from self-pity, and she can see that "everything about Sarah and her parents seemed fraudulent ... like something that had been built on the cheap, with shoddy materials and no craft, to conceal something unhealthy and mean." As she tears at this façade, though, traveling to Illinois and New York City in order to expose secrets not only in Sarah's father's past but in the history of a holier-than-thou radio celeb, Sunny discovers that her client isn't the only person being kept in the dark. But is it worth destroying Sarah's sense of herself--not to mention attracting the malicious notice of well-armed thugs--to set the record straight? And can Sunny even accomplish this, while struggling (with help from Spenser's psychiatrist girlfriend, Susan Silverman) to understand why she's 37 years old and "just can’t be married"?

Any halfway-conscious reader will spot the solution to this story's mystery from miles off, and Parker's use of central-casting figures--the hypocritical moralizer, the oleaginous but natty shyster--should earn him free admission to a "How to Create Credible Characters" seminar. Still, it's hard not to be charmed by a novel that's as willing as Melancholy Baby is to knock the pins out from under its protagonist, and see where the angst falls. At Dr. Silverman's rates, Sunny had better figure her life out soon. --J. Kingston Pierce ... Read more

Customer Reviews (44)

An Excellent Example of the Series
Melancholy Baby is a Sunny Randall novel by Robert B. Parker that really hits its groove.Like all of Parker's main characters, Sunny Randall has her issues but they do not get in the way of her being an good private detective.
In this mystery Sunny is hired by a young college student who do not believe that her parents are her parents, and wants her to help discover who her parents are.As any good mystery - when Sunny begins investigating this she gets a refusal of info from the parents an is thretened to lay off the case....which of course, she does not do.
On her personal side, Sunny's ex husband whom she is still in love with and vice versa announces he is getting married which sends her to a shrink to help understand the emotions that she is dealing with as well as her own view of her parents, her ex and men in general.
The added enjoymet of this book is that we get all the good "co-stars" that Parker introduces, from Spike a gay restaraunt owner, to cops like Corsetti, and even Dr. Susan Silverman - main squeeze of his fictional detective Spenser.
This wonderfully represents Parker's body of work and this series.

Gotta love it
You've gotta love Robert Parker, creator of Spenser, Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall.All of his characters are tough, gritty and flawed--and sometimes wind up on TV.

Sunny Randall hasn't made it to the small screen yet, but give her time. Her bull terrier, Rosie, is enough of a character to have her own show.

In *Melancholy Baby*, college coed Sarah hires P.I. Sunny Randall to discover who her real parents are. Chock full of enough attitude to make even a mild-mannered reader want to slap her, Sarah has no evidence the folks who say they're her parents aren't really her parents. Just a feeling. Just some off-handed remarks made over her lifetime. The kid's got a good supply money of her own to pay, so Sunny takes the case. And with patience not even money could buy, Sunny gleans enough information from the brat (I couldn't see her any other way) to start her investigation--which leads to famous figures, deeply-hidden secrets, and murder.

The more Parker reveals that Sarah has a reason to suspect her parentage, the more Sarah becomes a sympathetic character. That's a wonderful twist of the pen.I went from wanting to teach her some manners to longing to shelter her from the bad guys.

Parker's books are fast, and I'm not just talking about the action. He chooses easy words. His chapters are short. He uses lots of dialogue with short sentences, leaving penty of white space on the page. All that adds up to a quick read because it's so easy to say, "I'll read the next chapter, then quit" at the end of every chapter. After all, the next is only three pages.

Lost in shipping & receiving
It's been a month and I've written to Hippo Books a half dozen time, they finally found my books yesterday two days short of a month!! I don't know if they've sent them yet I do know that I don't have them yet!!

Far from a Melancholy Book....
Robert B. Parker's "Melancholy Baby" is a great read, although I did guess the ending about halfway through. Still, the chapters are short, the paragraphs are well-written and my attention was easily kept.

This was my first Robert B. Parker book, and I'm already happily onto the next.

J.R. Reardon
author, "Confidential Communications"

Robert Parker Sunny Randall series
Love the Sunny Randall series.Easy and fun to read.This is the fourth book in the series. ... Read more

Product Description
Certain that his mother's shady boyfriend is behind her disappearance, Paul Giacomin calls upon the skills of Spencer to help him find his missing mother. Reprint. AB. PW. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Spenser Lives
The book was one that escaped me before.I thought I had read them all.But this has the classic Spenser people--Hawk and Vinnie whom I would like to be in every book.I liked knowing more about Spenser's past, how Vinnie got where he is.As usual, Susan never does anything for me.But I admire she understands and accepts Spenser.A fine Spenser.

Cd's are actually cassettes
I am looking for audio CDs and although the product heading states that these are CD's, every vendor in this category states that these are not CDs, they are cassettes.Come on Amazon - do a better job.

Story was good...I think...
I am a R.B.Parker fan and listen to almost all of my books on CD.This particular 'book' was defective from the manufacturer.The second CD seems to be the abridged version and damages the continuity of the story.Amazon replaced it with another that had the same problem.No fault to Amazon who cheerfully took care of my problems.I haven't finished the book yet and will probably need to purchase the paperback to do so.

Resonant
I pick up Robert B. Parker whenever I want a solid plot that comes out of well-developed characters. Pastime is the follow up of "Early Autumn." Ten years after Spenser had rescued Paul from his inept parents, Paul's mother has gone missing, and he wants Spenser's help finding her. Their detecting leads them to believe she might be caught in the crossfire between mob figures who don't care if she gets hurt.

Spenser is a hound for truth, even if he could get killed looking for the answers. My only complaint with Parker's writing (and I'm nit-picking) is "he/she/I said," tags at almost every line. Although you never have to wonder who's speaking, you have to push the tags into the background to enjoy the otherwise seamless storytelling. Parker writes out of the depth of human character, and his stories always come out resonant.

Skinny
The actual plot of this novel felt more than a little thin, puffed up with a great deal of extraneous information about Paul's and Spenser's childhoods, along with annoying descriptions of what everyone was wearing and what color their garments were.It isn't necessary for a writer to tell every detail about a character or his furniture or his drinks or his food.The story does pick up somewhat in the end, but not enough to save the book completely.

The characters are OK--no better than that.Paul is boring.Hawk is a minor figure in this book.The gangsters are OK, with the exception of Gerry who is quite good.Ditto for the atmosphere.Some of the dialogue is excellent, if not quite attached to the plot.Doing tricks and funny asides with the dialogue doesn't mask the thin nature of the story.

P.S. I did like the dog.She appears in subsequent Spenser novels. ... Read more

Product Description
The adoring wife of a senatorial candidate has a smile as sweet as candy and dots her "i's" with little hearts. A blond beauty, she is the perfect mate for an ambitious politician, but she has a little problem with sex and drugs--a problem someone has managed to put on videotape.

The big boys figure a little blackmail will put her husband out of the race. Until Spenser hops on the candidate's bandwagon.

But getting back the tape of the lady's X-rated indiscretion is a nonstop express ride to trouble--trouble that is deep, wide and deadly.

"A thriller all the way." (Seattle Times) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Very good read
I took this paperback with me when we took my grandson to Incredible Pizza.While he and my husband played golf, road go carts and such, I sat with a soft drink and nachos and read the whole thing!I have to say, I haven't ever read anything Mr. Parker has written that I didn't like a lot.It saddens me so that there is only one more book that will be published from this man.He was a prolific and stupendous writer who I would surmise put more of himself into Spenser than any of his other books.Thanks for all the great novels, Robert!

Why Parker?
I've never met a Robert B. Parker book that I didn't like a lot. What makes his novels so consistently great reading? Whether they're Jesse Stone, Sunny Randall or Spenser, they're always very good. The plots are always very good. The characters are always very well created. What sets him apart is that the Stone, Randall and Spenser characters are so far above average. You like them as people. Parker's comments about the little things--what they wear, what they order at a restaurant and what they're reading--makes them very real. The fashions let you know what decade they're in, but they are still timeless. Beside the crimes they solve, they deal with very real ethical situations and very real emotions. And you always know the book was written by an educated person. After I finish, I always have to check out the book being read. This novel was no different, great in every way. What a shame that Robert B. Parker left us so soon.

Spenser's Winning Me Over! Lynn A. in S. FL
This my second read about Spenser & his unique persona kept me more interested. Good story, kept moving/changing & the humor original!

macho detective snuffs out shakedown
I was driving down a narrow Maine highway.A blue sky, nearly cloudless, hung over the low forest.I wasn't nursing a bottle of Irish whisky.My stomach rumbled thanks to the low quality fried clams I'd eaten the night before.I spotted two overweight ladies in baseball t-shirts on a roadside porch.A sign read "Yard Sale".I had to stop.Amidst the junk and used kids' toys, I found two novels by Robert B. Parker. I bought them.Set me back fifty cents.What did "Gyre" mean, I wondered.

I didn't really find out, though "vortex" could be a choice.A tough Boston detective named Spenser gets hired by a born-again Christian politician to provide security.In Massachusetts ?Running for the Senate ?You know something is weird right from the start.I grabbed my mug of tea (Lipton's) and headed upstairs to read more.Yeah, this guy is tough, totes a piece, and can beat up any two hoodlums without breaking a sweat.But he has two lovers, a woman and a man.He believes in love.He reads Thomas Hobbes.Wonders about life and death.And other oldfashioned questions.He might be the last othe old school, but at the same time, he's pretty liberated too.A paradox.The politician's wife gets caught on videotape having sex with a young dude. He ain't her husband.Duhh.So, the tape falls into the hands of the opposition.Or so it seems.Spenser sorts it all out on a trip down to Washington.His clothes, his drinks, and his meals are all very much part of the scene. Back in Boston, he confronts the bad guys in their own den.It all comes together in the last chapters.Anais Nin once said, "We see things not as they are but as we are."Spenser is a lot like that and it will all depend on you too as to how you like this book. I liked the style, but this sort of novel reminds me of "Naked Gun".You enjoy and forget.Go to it.Don't omit some Irish whisky.Or tea.

Spenser Reviewed
I was looking over some of the old Parker novels and saw three that I haven't read or don't remember reading.These are all great Spenser novels but they don't have the sparkle of the later ones. Missed more of Susan and Hawk. ... Read more

Product Description
The new Sunny Randall novel first time in mass market

Boston P.I. Sunny Randall joins forces with the most important man in her life—her father—to crack a thirty-year-old case. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (55)

Slow Read
Sunny teams up with her father to catch a serial killer from 20 years ago that appears to have resurfaced.A task force of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies is formed to catch the killer.Early in the book a suspect is identified but the task force does not have enough manpower for adequate surveillance so the killing continues. Sunny devises a plan to get the suspect to confess.

SPOILER ALERT:I read the Jesse Stone series and then Sunny Randall.Why was Robert Parker obsesesd with divorced people being in love with the ex for eternity?The previous Sunny Randall book stated Richie's wife was 4 months pregnant.No mention of the pregnancy in Spare Change plus
Richie leaves his wife because he is still in love with Sunny.Is Richie that much of a cad to leave a pregnant wife (or wife and baby)?

Spare Change read like someone besides Robert Parker wrote it.I didn't think I was ever going to plow through it.

a good read
This book by Parker is another Jesse Stone and is an excellent read.It kept my attention throughout.He manages to write so reading is easy and enjoyable.


J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

Too many mistakes!!!
I love Robert B. Parker, have read every single of his books. I have always sort of looked the other way with mistakes the editors didn't catch with Spenser books. These would be things such as Susan Silverman traveling from Vegas back to Boston in Chance having had all of her luggage shipped to Boston, then upon arriving home she spends lots of time unpacking...and in another book a woman is described as barefoot, then on the next page grinds out a cigarette on the floor with her shoe, etc etc. It happens I suppose.

But this book? TOO MUCH. a few Sunny Randall books prior her mother is named "Emma" and in this one? It is "Emily" For pete's sake! Also as another reviewer commented, her ex husband in the previous book was expecting a baby boy, and suddenly in this one it's just his wife he leaves for Sunny, no baby! Again, sloppy and too much to just overlook.

Excellent writing but predictable story
Sunny Randall, former police officer, early in the book knows who the killer is but does not know why or how to prove it. She and her father, a retired police officer in charge of a similar series of killings from 20 years earlier, set out to determine the killer and find out the causes of the current murders. Using typical investigative techniques including masked interviews of the suspect, Sunny eventually uncovers the past that leads to the present. Everything is concluded positively by the end and the killer is killed.

Although a typical story in many ways, odd psycho takes up where his father left off and kills more people due to the weird upbringing and mental issues, Parker's outstanding prose and dialog compensate for the unoriginal plot. Especially entertaining are the sideline stories of the characters and the psychology sessions with a counselor. One gripping scene shows Sunny at her aggressive self putting a stop to a rape.

Parker's writing is smooth and intelligent but doesn't really offer anything new. Fun read, quick, and entertaining but mostly unoriginal.

Sunny & Richie, maybe
Sunny Randall is my favorite Robert B. Parker character and fun to follow. SPARE CHANGE pits Sunny against a serial killer her father failed to apprehend twenty years ago. This time they are working together to bring him to justice.
Richie leaves his new wife and Sunny is ambivalent about a remarriage though a relationship with him is what she desires. There is hope this couple will reunite and bring back "Uncle Felix" who manages in his way to take care of business.
A fast read with few surprises in the sparse Parker style, just the book to grab for a session of relaxing after a tough day.
Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS and QUALIFYING LAPS. ... Read more

Product Description
See how it all began for one of literature’s most famous P.I.s—Spenser!

For almost forty years, Robert B. ParkerÂ’s inimitable private investigator Spenser has been solving cases and selling millions of books worldwide. Now, for the first time, see how it all began as the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master sheds light on SpenserÂ’s formative years spent with is father and two uncles out West. This is an event book for every fan of Spenser, and a revelation for teens about to discover an American icon. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (46)

A well-told tale of young Spenser
Spenser is dead now because his creator Robert B. Parker died on January 18, 2010, unless some imitator tries to continue the series. "Tries" is the operative word, because there is no one as good as Parker. And so it is a good time to reflect on Spenser's youth, as this volume does.

We read how Spenser was raised by his father and his mother's two brothers, three tall, strong, self assured men, all four living in the same house, after his mother died during his birth. He was an only child. His three parents raised him as a fourth man in the house, taught him how to care for himself, how to box, how to cook. We read about several of his experiences as a teen ager, all of them adventures. How he stood up to a snarling drunk black bear, how he saved a girl from her drunken father, how he killed a man, how he protected a Mexican boy, and how he stood up to twelve bullies who intended to hurt him, and more. The descriptions of how his father and two uncles treated him are a delight to read, as is the entire book.

Disappointing
I bought this book (for Kindle, not that that matters to my review) because I'm a huge Spenser fan. I realised that it's targeted at younger audiences and that's fine - I often read young adult fiction and enjoy it. But in this case I felt I'd been - to put it bluntly - cheated. Not because the book is lacking in adult-type content - that's a point in Parker's favour, since I agree that when writing for seventh grade and up you shouldn't have explicit sexual or violent content - but because it's lacking in substance.

The book is not badly written. It's a story told flashback-style, where Spenser is telling Susan Silverman about himself as a teenager. It's interesting and it's very "Spenser." But it's not a novel. At most, it's a long short story or a short novella. It shouldn't be sold as a novel and it certainly shouldn't be priced as one.

I agree with a previous reviewer who said these flashbacks could easilly have been folded into a full-length Spenser novel. And if Parker wanted to write for younger readers, that's great - but he should have written them a full-length book.

I'm disappointed.

Not Really a YA Novel
I've been a Parker Spencer fan since 1987, always happy to see a new Spencer adventure, most which were excellent and some not very good, as Parker fulfilled his contracts for a Spencer book once a year.As the years turned to the 21st Century, and Spencer got just too old, the books seemed less plausible and too quickly written.

This one is marketed as a YA book but I can't see how a teen could pick this up and know what is really happening, the creation of boy to man, without having read many previous Spencer books, or even seen the TV series or A&E movies.This is more a book for hardcore Spencer fans to get a kick out of a young Spencer tale, the way Hollywood gives us Young Indiana Jones or young Sherlock Holmes.

In Parker usual spare, Hemingway-esque prose, he uses a badly-chosen frame: it opens with Spencer and Susan sitting on a park bench talking about his childhood experiences that made Spencer a manly, moral private eye. The chapters jump back and forth from present to pas, which is jarring and just bad storytelling. Any editor would have told the writer to take out the present stuff; but the publisher knows that Parker books will sell no matter what.

This would have been a better story if Parker had just kept to the young Spencer details, and maybe introduced Susan at the end, that it was all him telling her this.

Still, this is a good read, and a fast one -- the book is barely 25,000 words long. It contains all the heroic, moral elements of any Spencer PI yarn: coming to the gallant aid of women in distress, fighting social injustice, fighting racial inequality.

First, a very young Spencer gets bullied by some drunks so his father and brothers go kick their asses and then teach Spencer how to box (Spencer later becomes a pro boxer in the early books) and defend himself.Spencer has no mother, she died before he could remember her; he's being raised by his tough guy no nonsense dad and his mother's two brothers, his uncles, also tough guys.

At fourteen, Spencer befriends a girl, Jeannie, who has alcoholic parents -- her mother is a floozy and her dad is hunter/drinker/crazy guy who steals Jeannine over custody issues. Kidnaps her.Beats her. There's a hint of some molestation too, but like Hemingway, it's between the lines.

Spencer decides to rescue her and winds up killing the drunk father in a woods battle.Like many Spencer books, the moral justice outweighs the crime and Spencer never gets charged for murder (in other books, Spencer sometimes does kill people so the better of society).

Next, Spencer comes to the aid of a young Hispanic kid who is getting beaten up by racist kids. Jeanine tells the kid Spencer will help -- thus, Spencer is "hired" as a bodyguard problem solver as he later is as an adult.

I had fun reading this, despite the structure flaws, only because I'm a Spencer fan.

I'm saddened that Parker died not too long after this book hit the streets.

Chasing the Bear: A Young Spenser Novel
You cannot be an adult Spenser fan without reading this wonderful beginning to his life.Thank you to the late Robert B. Parker for hours of fun and mystery.

Spencer 14 years old
Spencer tells the woman he loves about his family.
His life as a child growing up.
The things he learned as a child that led to the adult Spencer.
Read this book before the Spencer Series. ... Read more

Product Description
Appie Knoll is the kind of suburb where kids grow up right. But something is wrong. Fourteen-year-old Kevin Bartlett disappears. Everyone thinks he's run away -- until the comic strip ransom note arrives.

It doesn't take Spenser long to get the picture -- an affluent family seething with rage, a desperate boy making strange friends...friends like Vic Harroway, body builder. Mr. Muscle is Spenser's only lead and he isn't talking...except with his fists. But when push comes to shove, when a boy's life is on the line, Spenser can speak that language too.

"Spenser is everyman's fantasy: social critic, gourmet cook, physically fit, sculptor, and of course, unabashed participant ina non-destructive sexual relationship. Parker has taken his place beside Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald." (The Boston Globe) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Still a good Spenser read.
I am used to the later Spenser novels, but it is interesting to read this earlier version.It was also interesting to find Spenser's age.Supposedly his first name was in this novel, but I was unsure of it, although I did find the possibility of his first name mentioned.All in all, it is a good read by a younger novelist.

Not a Good One
I love the Spenser books.In fact, I think that usually they are so good that they should come with some sort of warning about readers may become addicted as did Ito Parker's ace detective.That said, this book is the worst one I've read.The plot is weak at best and the resolution is not particularly good either.I am also one of those reders who thinks as great as Parker was as an author, he stumbled in his decision to put so much Susan into the books.She is introduced in this book.So, that in and of itself should put this one way down the list.Try another Spenser book first.

God Save the Child
I believe this is one of the earlier Spenser books.Have not read it yet but will enjoy.Have always read Parker's books and will miss him.The book was delivered in a timely manner in good condition.

Early Spenser....Quick and Fun Read
I gave the first book in the series three stars, though it is more accurately 3.5. This one is a little bit better. For a first time reader of the Spenser series, one can see his character developing and showing he is three dimensional. Quirk is again in this book, as is Healy and along comes Susan Silverman as a recurring character.

The plot overall is fine, but it won't knock your socks off. The writing is great and Spenser is, quite simply, a sarcastic and funny tough guy, who has plenty of interests beyond being a private investigator.

I've read some of the later books in the series and wanted to start from the beginning. This one is very good, but as Spenser grows in subsequent stories, and we see similar growth with the recurring characters, the series just gets better.

Quick, descriptive investigative read--lots of quirky people
Receiving a visit from a mother and father whose 15 year old son is missing, Spenser begins his investigation. The obviously dysfunctional family situation begins to unravel as a ransom is demanded for the kidnapping. Strange events, including the murder of a lawyer, seem to point to the guilt of a homosexual body-builder. Excessive drinking and philandering of the mother of the son add to an entertaining story with dark overtones. As Spenser gets closer to the truth, he uncovers a sordid tale of prostitution, drugs, and blackmail. It all makes for a great detective mystery by a master writer.

Unlike later Parker novels, this early book in the Spenser series contains much more description, longer sentences, and a style involving characterizations. It is later that Parker's writing style changes into fewer descriptions, more action, and a terse, concise language. Particular enjoyable about this book is the introduction of Susan who becomes Spenser's chosen one for later stories. In spite of the early effort, we again get that odd and comforting brand of Spenser moralisms mixed with humor and cynicism. It makes for an emotional ping-pong game bouncing between humor and evil, light and dark.

The plot itself reads like a television show and at times the silliness and amorality of the Mother is a bit extreme (are there really people like this in the world?). We are saddened by the behavior of the doctor and never do trust the Chief of Police of the town. The abrupt conclusion does not answer some of the questions, particularly how the family will grow or not from the experience.

Recommended for fans of Parker and anyone enjoying the detective genre. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (103)

Always a Pleasure
It's always a pleasure to read a new Spenser Novel.
The series regular characters have become welcome friends.
I was saddened to learn of Robert Parker's death . . . he will be missed.

My First Spenser Book-I liked It
This was my first experience into Spensers' world and I didn't think it bad at all.By the reviews I see both good and bad, I didn't know what to expect.Okay had this been my 30th something and a lot of the same dialogue-perhaps I would look at it differently. I enjoyed perhaps the laid back slower paced of Spenser-more dialogue than action in this one but I was amused at the banter between he and Susan and Spenser and Hawk as well as others.I had finished a very dark book about a serial killer and the horrid things done to young women so I was looking for a lighter storyline and this sure fit the bill.I can see if I had read 36 books before this one on how smart and beautiful Susan is and perhaps some of the same dialogue then can understand some of the other reviewers. Since it was my first one (and may now go back and read some of the older ones)I actually will have to say I enjoyed it.

As I read it I pictured Robert Urich who played Spenser and I liked the series on TV and I liked Mr. Urich-maybe that was some of the appeal of this book to me remembering Mr. Urich who lost his fight with cancer. I met him once when he made a movie in our area-in fact MGM leased one of our cars and it was in the movie.Our car-the star! HA!

Back to the book here!I enjoyed the short chapters and it was a book I was interested in enough to read every word-I am a notoriuos skimmer if a book bogs down or there is too much information. I had read some of the Jesse Stone novels but hadn't ventured into Spenser.Mr. Parker is a different kind of author and I like variety so know I can go back and read one of his when I need a break from some of the heavier darker ones.

I do enjoy a book with a good mystery yet can give you a chuckle or two and felt this one did both.Whether you liked this book or not I feel we lost a talented writer in Mr. Parker.May he rest in peace-he has left a legacy of many books for us to enjoy-or not.

Very Interesting Book
"The Professional" is a very well written book. It is a fast read and hard to put down. The dialog is minimalist, but it works. All in all, a very good book. This was my first "Spenser" novel and it showed you don't have to have read the rest of the series to get it.

Quick but worth it
I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read, filled more with dialogue than discriptions but the dialog was written so well that you didn't need it.

His Calling

Don't waste your time or hard earned money
I have never read one of Mr Parker's books before so maybe this one was not a good one to start with.I have to admit that I was seduced by the fact that is was a New York Times bestseller.The story starts off interesting with the 4 married women that have been blackmailed by a "serial lover" but then then it goes downhill from there.The plot gets lame, predictable and boring and lacks a climax. He spends time introducing characters that you never hear about again.This was 8 hours of my life that I'll never get back. ... Read more

Product Description
An American buys a black-market passport to get into post-war Budapest, only to find himself mistaken for the murdered man the passport belonged to and on the run with the dead man’s beautiful assistant. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

BEWARE
Consumer alert:This book is NOT by the author of the Spenser series.Amazon included it with books featuring Spenser; it should be removed from that association on Amazon pages.I feel ripped off and disappointed in Amazon.Don't get caught.

A ripoff
This book was wss pitched along with other books by the real Robert B. Parker, the final books after his death.When I got it I found out it was a potboiler about the CIA, and written by some other Robert B. Parker. I've been a Spenser fan since the beginning, and one would think that this book would have come up in all the searches I've done over the years.I have to conclude that it was dragged out of bad-book limbo to take advantage of the real Parker's passing.

Stuipd
If this is not the Robert B. Parker, author of the Spenser novels, then why don't the stupid people at Amazon fix their web site and remove the reference and pictures of Spenser's Mr. Parker from this book's page? Do your job people.

Wrong Robert B. Parker
I ordered this book thinking that it was written by the Robert B. Parker whose books that I loved.Unfortunately it was a different author with the same name and did not meet my expectations.

not 'the' parker--but that's ok
the book is a good one for its times.and for those who are upset about it not being the other parker.....it clearly states that on the cover.don't blame the pub. for your mistake. ... Read more

Product Description
Spenser, America's favorite iron-pumping, gourmet-cooking private eye, smells corruption in college town. Taft University's hottest basketball star is shaving points for quick cash, and if Spenser doesn't watch his own footwork, the guilty parties will shave a few years off his life. HC: Putnam. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Weak plot but great insights
Playmates is a bit short on plot but contains rich, perceptive material related to helping people with some disturbing information about higher education. Spenser is hired by a University president to determine whether point shaving is actually occurring by the winning basketball team. Using fine investigative techniques, he discovers the truth but then attempts to protect the culprits as he brings the instigators to justice. He and Hawk work diligently to protect Dwayne, allowing him to pursue his career, while bringing down a large gambling operation.

In the process Spenser discovers that Dwayne is in college making passing grades although he cannot read. Embarrassed by this revelation, the university officials make little attempt to rectify the mistake. Perhaps the best part of the book is the dialog that takes place with various professors who seem not to care about the education of the students. It ends up being a sad diatribe against higher education. Ironic considering Robert Parker had a Ph.D. in Literature!

In addition to the educational insights are the different psychological tensions resulting within Dwayne, pointed out by Susan, Spenser's lover. We find ourselves cheering for Dwayne in spite of his rude behavior. Perhaps the real hero of the story is Dwayne's girlfriend Chanel who continually urges him to trust Spenser.

Excessive shootings as usual seem a bit unnecessary and the plot did not have enough tension to make the reader care about the people. Yet it is a well-written story containing the usual wit and banter of most Spenser books. An enjoyable read particularly for fans of mysteries in college settings.

One of the Lesser Entries in the Series
I enjoy Robert B. Parker's work, but many of his later novels have a by-the-numbers quality that make them pleasant diversions and nothing more.PLAYMATES is pretty much a perfect example; there is nothing in this book that I haven't seen in other, superior novels by Parker.

Unlike most of the other Spenser books, however, there are no real sympathetic characters in this book.The basketball player is arrogant and annoying, and is not worth the effort that Spenser invests in trying to save him.In many ways, he reminds me of April Kyle in TAMING A SEA HORSE and MILLION DOLLAR BABY -- a character with almost no redeeming features who Spenser forms some inexplicable attachment to.

The plot of PLAYMATES is thin and there's very little true mystery or suspense.My advice is to skip this book and try other Spenser novels, such as EARLY AUTUMN, MORTAL STAKES, or LOOKING FOR RACHEL WALLACE.

Spenser demonstrates again that he is a thug with a moral compass
The setting for this Spenser novel is the Taft college basketball team that is challenging for the NCAA title. A story has been published in the campus paper alleging that some of the players are engaged in point shaving. Dwayne Woodcock is on the team and the best college basketball player in the country. He is a tough, underprivileged man from Brooklyn and a man of street principles. Spenser is asked to investigate and while it takes a bit of time, after studying game tapes and looking over the records of the games, he concludes that Dwayne is shaving points.
Being Spenser, he encounters the gambler behind the plot and the gambler hires people to kill Spenser, which of course fails miserably. As he continues his investigation, Spenser learns that Dwayne does not know how to read and there has been a go-along plot among the faculty at Taft to keep Dwayne eligible. Nobody specifically changed grades, just gave Dwayne extra opportunities to succeed where reading was not required. After working the problem for some time, Spenser manages to find a solution where no one learns of the point shaving or the complicity of others in the scam.
My favorite character in the book is the Taft basketball coach, Dixie Dunham. A fiery guy who demands a lot from his players, he makes the mistake of fighting with Spenser. However, after he gets beat up, he agrees to cooperate with Spenser and even benches Dwayne during the NCAA tournament when he will not give the name of the gambler. Despite all of his bluster and obnoxiousness, Dunham proves to be an honest man who does the right thing, even if it will cost him the national title.
This is a good book with Spenser once again proving to be a thug with a moral compass and an overgrown sense of decency. As an academic, I could also relate to the attitude of the faculty and staff at Taft. While there is no overt bending of the rules for an athlete, s/he is quietly helped along a path that avoids their weaknesses.

"Spenser meets a 'Goodfella'"
I've read all of the Reviews and I am AMAZED that no one has noted that the book is obviously based on an actual point shaving scandal at Boston College ("Taft"?). The fixer was Goodfella/Wiseguy Henry Hill. "Danny Davis" was probably Rich Kuhn( from Monroeville, PA who Henry probably met through his Pittsburgh Drug Connection). The main fixer was Ernie Cobb who was never indicted. I have no idea whether Cobb was illiterate or not. Cobb later played for the Harlem Magicians not the NBA. And Kuhn later did time. No, he wasn't killed. And Henry obviously wasn't a College Professor. Don't know if he made it to High School. If you pay attention to the movie there is a Bar scene where a comment is made that "They are fixing gammes up in Boston". That comment was out of time and place. The scandal wasn't uncovered until after Henry was arrested. Anyhow I thought I should pass my thoughts on. I agree with a lot of the reviews. This is a good, not great, Spenser Novel.

How far will Spenser go to help somebody?
When Spenser is hired to investigate allegations of point shaving by members of the Taft university basketball team, he quickly realizes there is much more to this than meets the eye.With the help of several friends and contacts, he finds that point shaving is, in fact, occurring and tracks down the source to the best player on the team - Dwayne Woodcock.However, Dwayne refuses to acknowledge this, or the fact (as Spenser soon learns) that he cannot read.Spenser, being a sucker for hard-luck cases, despite the fact, as he says, that Dwayne is "arrogant, but he's surly," decides that he wants to help Dwayne and at the same time track down whoever is holding Dwayne's strings and clip them off.

As usual, this means Spenser ticks off a lot of people and has a couple attempts on his life, thwarted, as usual, with the assistance of Hawk.

I enjoyed this book - not only was it an interesting look into the lives of basketball players and the pressures that university professors may face to make sure they can remain on the team, but also the 80s in general.The description of the clothing and hair was so typical of what I remember that I laughed out loud at several points in the book just from remembering how ridiculous we all used to look.

Definitely don't miss this, especially if you're a fan of Robert Parker and/or Spenser. ... Read more

Product Description
Spenser knows something’s amiss the moment Dennis Doherty walks into his office. The guy’s aggressive yet wary, in the way men frightened for their marriages always are. So when Doherty asks Spenser to investigate his wife Jordan’s abnormal behavior, Spenser agrees. A job’s a job, after all.

Not surprisingly, Spenser catches Jordan with another man, tells Dennis what he’s found out, and considers the case closed. But a couple of days later, all hell breaks loose, and three people are dead. This isn’t just a marital affair gone bad. Spenser is in the middle of hornet’s nest of trouble, and he has to get out of it without getting stung.

With Hawk watching his back and gun-for-hire Vinnie Morris providing extra cover, Spenser delves into a complicated and far-reaching operation: Jordan’s former lover Perry Alderson is the leader of a group that helps sponsor terrorists. The Boston P.I. will use all his connections–both above and below the law–to uncover the truth behind Alderson’s antigovernment organization. Alderson doesn’t like Spenser poking around his business, so he decides to get to him through Susan. But what Alderson doesn’t realize is that Spenser will do anything to keep Susan out of harm’s way; nothing will keep him from the woman he loves. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Going to miss Mr.Parker
I was saddened by the passing of Mr. Parker.Have read all the Spenser series and the Jesse Stone series.Greatly enjoyed Now and Then.

Now and Then
I'm a big fan of the Spenser series so this is a great addition.Parker created a "real" character!Joe Mantegna is Spenser's voice.

Spenser is as Spenser does
Spenser does love, loyalty and crime solving, with the aid of Hawk, Susan and pink champagne.

"I said" it's maddening!
I agree with Publisher's Weekly with one difference - the unrelenting "I said", "she said" was far more irritating than it was laughable. Think nails on a blackboard grating! I tend to choose fairly simple mysteries to listen to during my 2 hour daily commute, but this flaw ruined what could have been an enjoyable story....I had to give it up mid-way through the first CD just to avoid walking into my office ready to pounce on someone!

Read one-you read them all
Same stuff.Nothing new here.Hey Bob, how about making things more interesting, knock off Spencer's main squeeze Susan!!!BORING CHARACTER!! ... Read more

Product Description
When Lisa St. Claire, the beautiful young bride of a Boston police detective, vanishes mysteriously, Spense joins the search for the missing woman, following a perilous trail that leads him to a sociopathic ex-lover and into a deadly confrontation with Lisa's past. Reprint. NYT. PW. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Great Read
Took on the plane to Hawaii.It is a very typical Spencer novel, and that means it is worth the time and effort.We should all be as cool as Hawk.

Spenser proves that he is a man of many loyalties
Spenser is a man of deep loyalties and principles and in this case he extends that to his sometimes adversary, police detective Frank Belson. When Belson's young bride Lisa disappears, he talks with Spenser with nothing resolved. The stakes are dramatically increased when Belson is shot three times in the back and is in critical condition in the hospital. When he regains consciousness, Belson asks for Spenser and requests that he find her.
Spenser's search takes him to California where he reconnects with Chollo, a Spanish- speaking gunner that he needs as backup as Hawk is in Burma. Wisecracking as always with references to literature and aspects of pop culture, Spenser follows the trail as it leads him through Lisa's sordid past of drug use, prostitution and destructive love affairs. My favorite reference is on page 72 where Spenser asks a female professor what she is doing in her position. Her response is "I came for the waters" and Spenser replies with "There are no waters here" and her final reply is "I was misinformed." Right out of the great movie "Casablanca" starring Humphrey Bogart.
Although the climactic rescue is very tense and gripping, the lack of fundamental honor among criminals leaves a bad taste in Spenser's mouth as the kidnapper turns out to be nothing more than a man with too much lonely little boy in him.

Thin Air
When I ask for new I expect new not already read the spine was already broken as if read once

Robert B. Parker knows how to write books!
I believe I've read all of his books and I've been obsessed with the Spenser series. They started a year before I was born and he's still writing!! A lot of the books follow the same outline, but considering it's the character I guess I can't expect his M.O. to change. But it can become a little tiresome. I guess I blame myself for reading his books back to back to back.

Not Mr. Parker's best...
I love Spenser but this story seemed contrived and a little over the top.The villain character was the major flaw.I always like Spenser's grit and somewhat believable storylines but this falls short of reality. ... Read more

Product Description
April Kyle, a prostitute from Spenser's past, comes back into his life-with deadly complications. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (81)

Great product and service
Once again I am pleased with the condition and timely service of my book order from Amazon.Robert Parker's Spenser Series is fun reading.Not so indeapth that you have to test your brain power but carries a great story line.Easy to follow and read from book and book without over doing a repeat of characters.Brings to life the people and places in the books without going to deep.

a good read
Robert B. Parker is able to give you a quick, easy, interesting read and what more can you ask of an author than that?This is another Spenser novel and an enjoyable one at that.

J. Robert Ewbank author, "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

Hundred Dollar Baby
Another good Spencer Book. Be sure to read this series in order. You miss a lot of background if you don't. The whole series is great.

Back to basics with very good results
Parker has had my attention for many books, but lately they were getting wackier and less interesting.But in Hundred Dollar Baby, he has gone back into the past and plucked out a character that we all have read about two other times - April Kyle.This time she has more going on and the storyline is very intriguing.The plot is a little more complex and that makes this more like the older style books.

Spenser is hired to help April again, but finds himself at the end of many lies by just about all of the characters in question.Hawk is back in the supporting role and Susan is just there, but not at the center of attention.

April is attempting to start up a chain of very high end prostitution houses in larger cities across the U.S.She is in bed (not literally) with Patricia Utley and several not so trustworthy individuals.

The dialogue is crisp and the writing very concise.This is Parker at his best.

Borrring!
Okay, I'm new to Robert B Parker's Spencer (other than old TV series with Robert Urich). But this thing was a disaster! Predictable. Too much cutesy dialog. And what's with Susan and her Harvard Ph.D.? So what? Give it a rest! Characters one dimensional and shallow. Seems Mr. Parker was wanting badly to wrap this turkey up but just couldn't find a way to do it. So he plods along with a plot that was clear after the first 25 pages (or sooner). Yeah, yeah he's made $$$s writing for years and has been a top crime writer for years. Taking nothing away, but maybe it's time to do something else. Have a Jessie Stone waiting in the wings to read, but after this one am a bit gun shy (no pun intended) of whether or not I want to waste time. Wasn't knocked out with this one. ... Read more

Product Description
An extraordinary new Spenser novel from the beloved New York Times-bestselling author.

On location in Boston, bad-boy actor Jumbo Nelson is accused of the rape and murder of a young woman. From the start the case seems fishy, so the Boston PD calls on Spenser to investigate. The situation doesn't look good for Jumbo, whose appetites for food, booze, and sex are as outsized as his name. He was the studio's biggest star, but he's become their biggest liability.

In the course of the investigation, Spenser encounters Jumbo's bodyguard: a young, former football-playing Native American named Zebulon Sixkill. Sixkill acts tough, but Spenser sees something more within the young man. Despite the odd circumstances, the two forge an unlikely alliance, with Spenser serving as mentor for Sixkill. As the case grows darker and secrets about both Jumbo and the dead girl come to light, it's Spenser-with Sixkill at his side-who must put things right. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Oldie but Goodie
My boyfriend made me read a recent Spencer novel a while back and I found Parker's dialogue to be too pared down, glib and stylized. It was okay but not up my alley. I recently bought some old Parker books and my boyfriend asked me to please read Wilderness, which was among them, so I did and loved it. The writing wasn't austere in Wilderness, which isn't a Spencer novel and is from the 70s. I absolutely loved the book. Finding old great books is so much fun. I like being taken out of the gestalt of the time in which we live. It's refreshing. The story is suspenseful and satisfying and the dialogue is great. I just wish writers didn't have people refer to each other by their names so much. People don't do that in real conversation. Aside from the plethora of name saying, the dialogue flows very naturally - very well done.

Not a Spencer novel
When I first picked up this book I was disappointed that this was not a Spencer novel, as I read it my disappointment soon ended, a great read and probably one of his finest written books spencer or no spencer.It will not dissapoint.

Best of the Non-Spensers
Easily Parker's best non-Spenser work, and possibly his best overall.More suspense than you might think Parker capable of delivering.Written at the peak of his talents.A shame he hasn't come back to this genre.

A good read -- but where is the rest of it?
This is by far the best of Parker's non-Spenser novels. I enjoyed reading it tremendously. It is too bad Parker hasn't seen fit to follow it up with sequels. This book doesn't deserve the obscurity it has been forced to endure.

loved and remembered
My son and I read the Parker books.I asked him if he remembered a book written years ago--I could not rememeber the name but remembered the plot.He helped me find the title, Wilderness, and we have ordered the book.Welook forward to reading it again.Suspense in woods is excellent! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good photography, anemic writing
Robert B. Parker, Joan H. Parker, and William Strode, A Year at the Races (Morrow, 1990)

Spenser author Robert Parker and his wife Joan met horse trainer Cot Campbell through some friends, and Campbell invited them to see the sights. They took along Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer William Strode and someone from the publicity office. This book documents what they experienced.

From a racing standpoint, Parker couldn't have had this opportunity at a better time; the year Parker spent with them spanned the yearling and two-year-old season of the best horse Campbell ever trained, Summer Squall. Yet the statement with which Parker opens the book, "I know nothing about racing," rings loud and deep here, and reverberates throughout. At the end of the year, Parker still knows nothing about racing, and it shows. The most interesting thing about the text is how much Parker describing Joan sounds like Spenser describing Susan. But I should have expected that.

The value of this book lies in the fact that the Parkers brought William Strode along for the ride. Strode's photography here is dazzling, often amusing or thought-provoking, never boring. Strode does know something about racing, and about racing culture, and his many wonderful pictures here are testament to that.

So in other words, buy it for the pictures. *** ... Read more

Product Description
Robert B. Parker is back in Paradise, where Detective Jesse Stone is looking for two things: the killer of a teenage girl-and someone, anyone, who is willing to claim the body...Amazon.com Review
With assured confidence and a master's economy of means, Robert B. Parker, who is best known for his Spenser series, delivers one of his finest, most absorbing works yet. This third entry in the Jesse Stone series finds Stone--a former LAPD cop fired for drinking on the job--serving as chief of police in the town of Paradise, Massachusetts, and investigating the murder of a teenaged girl whose decomposed body turns up in the local lake. As he follows slender threads of evidence into an ugly world of exploited teens, several subplots crisscross, keeping things lively.

But Jesse's struggle with alcohol and his loving, troubled relationship with his ex-wife are at least as compelling as the external plot events. Parker doesn't usually give his characters much of an inner life, but here--in deftly compressed prose, much of it dialog--he paints an understated, believable portrait of a tough guy grappling with tough issues. This smooth-reading book goes down easy but packs a surprising wallop. --Nicholas H. Allison ... Read more

Customer Reviews (70)

the author needs to take a writing class
There are authors who, after reading their works, make me wonder how they were able to publish anything in the first place. After reading Death in Paradise, I wonder the same about Mr. Parker.The characters are shallow and undeveloped. The story is boring and not engaging. But worst of all, Mr. Parker is utterly unable to write a story without repeating himself over and over and over again. Throughout the entire book, whenever two characters interact with each other, it is always as the following: A said..., B said..., A said..., B said..., A said..., B said..., .... I lost track of how many times Mr. Parker used the word "said" in this book. There are so many other words Mr. Parker could use to indicate that a character said something, such as: A asked, B replied, A hinted, B implied, A ordered, B instructed, A explained, B exclaimed, A cried, B yelled, A screamed, B begged, .... In my opinion, an author, like Mr. Parker, who does not take the effort to choose the right words, is simply being lazy. Perhaps Mr. Parker should take a creative writing class to learn some basic writing techniques and enrich his vocabulary.

Death in Paradise by Robert Parker
I enjoyed this book immensely....such fun reading and hearing the voices of the characters as portrayed in the TV movies of Parkers' books.Wish there were more of the "Jesse Stone" series to read, but alas, we lost Parker this year.

My favorite books
Parker's Jesse Stone stories are among my favorites. This one is no exception. Great read. Parker's concise style makes for very easy reading. It's a shame that he recently passed away. He will be creatly missed.

ANOTHER EXCELLENT READ
Death in Paradise (Jesse Stone)

Can't what for the next installment -- I LOVE THIS CHARACTER.

"Airport" novel.
I loved Robert B. Parker and long ago read most of the Spencer books. Now I know why I stopped. The Spencer novels became flat and predictable, especially when it came to his private life.

The frist Jesse Stone book was really quite good, unless Stone was obsessing about his ex-wife or his drinking. I skipped the second book hoping that by the third he would have kicked ex-wife to the curb. Instead we find him over-obsessing about her. The scenes between them are tiresome to the max and they come nearly every third chapter! The mystery is simple and predictable but engaging enough to read while waiting for your flight to be called. ... Read more

Product Description
They were the Sheridan men, ruled by passion, betrayed by love, heirs to a legacy of violence and forbidden desire.Gus, Boston's top homicide cop: he knew equally well the backroom politics of City Hall and the private passions of the very rich, a man haunted by the wanton courage and perilous obsessions he inherited from his father... Conn, the patriarch, a lawless cop who spawned a circle of vengeance and betrayal that would span half a century... and Chris, Gus's beloved son, a Harvard lawyer and criminologist, fated to risk everything to break the chain of obsession and rage...Three generations linked by crime and punishment--cops and heroes, fathers, sons, and lovers united at last by revelations that could bring a family to its knees... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

ok
I never received the item. Once I contacted the seller he credited my account immediately. I was happy.

Most Underrated Writer in The 2oth Century
I'm not going to go into a blow by blow description of thisBrilliant Novel. Simply put, who am I to comment on writing of this quality. I have long felt that Robert Parker is if not the most underrated writer of the 20th Century then certainly one of the ones at the head of the list. And the quality of writing and thinking encountered inthis novel clearly represents some of the best of his impressive body of work! What other writer alive today could sum up an entire year (or more) of a character's life with a chapter consisting of only one or two pages? And get away with it!

Sadly, I fear that many who read this guy fail utterly to grasp the depth of his writing, the breadth of his wisdom, the grasp of his mind. Like a great actor who makes the mistake of playing the same sort of character one too many times, Parker let himself be sucked into the detective genre to the extent that many of those reading him got into the bad habit of speed reading their way through his books with only a chuckle here and there at the many witty moments that were the hallmark of the dialog between his well drawn characters.

Big mistake!

Robert Parker was a man of incredible depth, with an understanding of the human condition that many of today's novelists so sadly lack. The kind of guy Steinbeck would have loved, and Hemmingway would have feared. Reading him I am often put in mind of Raymond Carver one of the greatest short story writers of all time. Like Carver, Parker misses nothing as life unfolds before him and his command of seemingly unimportant detail brings his sentences, paragraphs, chapters and books alive in a way seldom encountered today.

When I heard Robert Parker had died I felt a huge empty hole instantly develop within my life. In some very real sense I felt I'd lost a friend though I never met him. Lost many friends, actually, as Spenser, Susan, Hawk, and all his other memorable characters died with him.He was that good! And better!

I will forever wish I'd shared my admiration for his work with him before he died...

Yesterday's
What a sneaky great book.

For me it started a bit slow (2 chapters) but, thereafter it started to jump off the pages.

Parker is now one of my favorites.

I Had To Give Up On This Book And Made It Part Of All My Yesterdays!
I usually like Parker's books,and particularly when he deviates from his Spenser books. So, I really was expecting to enjoy All Our Yesterdays, probably Parker's most significant departure from his 'norm" However, much to my disappointment, I found this book to be have erratic pacing, slow to develop, and not very believable or interesting characters. As such, I wound up skimming through large passages and then, ultimately, giving up on it.There are just too many books and not enough time to waste time reading All Our Yesterdays.

Different than his others, but still a page-turner
This novel by Robert B. Parker is very different than his Spenser, Jesse Stone, and Sunny Randall novels.Those tend to be shorter, wittier, high-action mysteries, while this one focuses more on characters and relationships.For me, the plot and the characters were interesting enough to keep me reading, and by the second half, I was completely hooked and found myself unable to put the book down.I did find the dialog pretty forced and unnatural at times, and the characters' personalities and histories felt a bit cookie-cutter, but I enjoyed it in spite of these criticisms. ... Read more

Product Description
When Boston aristocrat Loudon Tripp hires Spenser to investigate his wife's murder, Spenser uncovers high-class scandals and a corpse who might not be dead after all. Reprint. NYT. K. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

One of the Best
I am a big Spenser fan, read many of the books.This book is one of the better ones.A really good read, keeps your attention and then there is that really fun dialogue.As with all Spenser novels, though, more Hawk and less Susan would have helped.You will enjoy it.

Paper Doll with Spenser
this is an old book by Parker but it retains its freshness since it is well written and follows "The Widening Gyre" in its relationship to politicians. For once little time is spent belaboring the love angle between Spenser and Susan Silverman, she is used to explore the driving force in the people Spenser is investigating. His buddy, Hawk, is barely mentioned and the story is main-line, not gendre driven as mystery, police, crime, or even favorite character. In this book Spenser is called Mr. Spenser, helping to solve the questios about his name as a given name, family name, nickname, or whatever; it is Mr. Spenser. The story starts out as seemingly an investigation into a murder but it switches into a study of family ties, political maneuvering and ethics. There are no money problems involving Spenser but the ohers, well, that seems to be the story although it is well concealed until near the end. The ending is well plotted and, so far as I am concerned, it ends as I would have wanted it to.

Good dialogue, undeveloped plot
I have read several of the Spenser books. This one started very promisingly, with witty dialogue and an interesting background.But about halfway through the book, the plot gave out. Spenser gets a lucky (too lucky) break when he spots a photograph, but the thread it offers to unravel the mystery is only minimally drawn out. The murdered woman remains a cipher to the end, her secrets barely unveiled. Too many secondary characters are mere page-filling red herrings (the sexy secretary, the sexy Southern detective, the overaggressive teenager).The murderer eventually just confesses his/her guilt to a passive Spenser.And, worst of all, at the last moment, to create the illusion of closure, the author invents a new, unrelated crime, both nameless and motivationless, so that Spenser can have one of the suspects arrested in a sham climax.A good premise gone nowhere.

One of the Better Spensers
I've read most of the Spenser novels, and I find them great entertainment.The problem, however, is that most of the later ones pretty much follow the same formula, and ultimately end up being quite predictable.Still, Robert Parker is a good enough writer that I enjoy nearly all of his books, even though I find them pretty much by-the-numbers at this point.

PAPER DOLL is a murder mystery that has a couple of decent twists, and I was genuinely surprised by the identity of the culprit.Some of the characters, such as the corrupt U.S. Senator, are on the cartoonish side, but that's a minor complaint.The dialogue and descriptions are top notch, and you can finish this novel in one or two sittings.

In short, PAPER DOLL is a fun diversion, although not a spectacular effort.If you want a great Spenser book, you may want to try one of Parker's earlier novels, such as GOD SAVE THE CHILD, EARLY AUTUMN, or THE JUDAS GOAT.

Overblown a bit
For the most part I liked this detective novel from the Spenser series very much.It has a good plot, which both Amazon and other reviewers have hashed and rehashed.The characters are good, as is the atmosphere.Perhaps the best element is the dialogue.Parker writes good dialogue, in the line of Westlake or Block.

What I didn't like was the fact that Parker feels compelled to stop all action dead to lay in what every character was wearing, even though most of the details have nothing to do with the action.Some of this is necessary, I suppose, but it should be part of the flow.Ditto for house furnishings and paintings on the wall.Ditto for drinks and food.I should add that too many writers have this same flaw.Prune, Ernest, prune, as Gertrude Stein advised Hemingway upon reading one of his early stories.

Mystery writers would do well to study the prose of Agatha Christie, Rex Stout and a few other masters of the genre.The reason we read mysteries is the plot, the puzzle, the atmosphere, not to know what color necktie a man is wearing, or what brand of scotch he drinks, or what furniture company made the couch in a room where nothing of significance happens. ... Read more