Parker, Robert B. Books

Resolution

Robert B. Parker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 41 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The New York Times–bestselling author’s richly imagined work of historical fiction: a powerful tale of the Old West from the acknowledged master of crime fiction.

I had an eight-gauge shotgun that I’d taken with me when I left Wells Fargo. It didn’t take too long for things to develop. I sat in the tall lookout chair in the back of the saloon with the shotgun in my lap for two peaceful nights. On my third night it was different. I could almost smell trouble beginning to cook . . . .”

After the bloody confrontation in Appaloosa, Everett Hitch heads into the afternoon sun and ends up in Resolution, an Old West town so new the dust has yet to settle. It’s the kind of town that doesn’t have much in the way of commerce, except for a handful of saloons and some houses of ill repute. Hitch takes a job as lookout at Amos Wolfson’s Blackfoot Saloon and quickly establishes his position as protector of the ladies who work the backrooms—as well as a man unafraid to stand up to the enforcer sent down from the O’Malley copper mine.

Though Hitch makes short work of hired gun Koy Wickman, tensions continue to mount, so that even the self-assured Hitch is relieved by the arrival in town of his friend Virgil Cole. When greedy mine owner Eamon O’Malley threatens the loose coalition of local ranchers and starts buying up Resolution’s few businesses, Hitch and Cole find themselves in the middle of a makeshift war between O’Malley’s men and the ranchers. In a place where law and order don’t exist, Hitch and Cole must make their own, guided by their sense of duty, honor, and friendship.

The Boxer and the Spy

Robert B. Parker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Teens Reveal the Truth behind a Puzzling Death 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

What would Spenser and Susan Silverman have been like as a teenage couple? It's possible they might have sounded and acted a great deal like Terry Novak and his friend, Abby. That link in characterization gives this book extra fascination for adult fans of Robert B. Parker. I particularly enjoyed the innuendo in the dialog where Terry and Abby refer to their physical desire for one another in flirting, boy-girl terms.

The mystery isn't all that mysterious; the main mystery is how two high school students will be able to bring out the truth: A high school student is found dead and most adults presume it was suicide related to using steroids. Terry doesn't believe it and starts asking around.

His detection is interspaced with boxing lessons from his fifty-five year-old friend, George. There's a bullying jock at the high school who tries to stop Terry, but Terry jabs on. In the background are some greedy adults looking out for themselves at the expense of everyone else.

I would have loved to read this book when I was a young teen. I also loved it as a 61-year-old man. I suspect the appeal wouldn't be as great for those in the 25-45 age range.

I look forward to reading other books for younger readers by Mr. Parker.

Editorial Review:

Another teen thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of the Spenser mysteries.

When a shy high school student’s body is found washed up on the shore of a quiet New England beach town—an apparent suicide—fifteen-year-old Terry Novak doesn’t know what to think. Something just doesn’t add up, so he decides to do some investigating of his own with the help of his best friend, Abby. It doesn’t take long before they learn that asking questions puts them in grave danger, and surviving is going to be a fight. Fortunately, Terry has been learning a thing or two about fighting, thanks to a retired boxer named George, who teaches the boy to use his head and always keep his feet set beneath him—lessons Terry takes to heart in more ways than one. He will need to.

Robert B. Parker, New York Times bestselling author of the Spenser novels, delivers a taut, empowering mystery for young readers.

High Profile (Jesse Stone)

Robert B. Parker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 75 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Yuck 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

What happened to RBP? He used to write good books - this one is just a mess. (Speaking of which, isn't Jenn a little OLD to be modeling? Gotta be in her 40's, right?) It's not so much a mystery as an excuse to whine over Jesse's ex-wife. Do any of these man have a backbone at all? Talk about women leading them around by there...noses. They reminded me of women who are beaten by men again and again, but they never leave. Why? "Because I LOVE him." Gag, puke. I have zero respect for Jesse.

The mystery was way too easy to figure out. All of the characters speak in the same voice! Try to delinate a bit, Parker, it would make for much more interesting characters. Of course that would take a little thought and work. Also, what's with all the illiteratve character names? How amature is that? I've known, I think, three people in my entire life that have illiterative names - the are NOT that common.

Never again will I waste time on a Parker book. Perhaps if we all stop buying these poor excuses for a novel, he'll get back on track and write a good book for a change.

Editorial Review:

Stone investigates a shocking double murder-that of a controversial radio talk-show host and his pregnant mistress.

Stranger in Paradise (Jesse Stone Novels)

Robert B. Parker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 57 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Police Chief Jesse Stone faces his most fearsome adversary in the latest addition to the celebrated series.

The last time Jesse Stone, chief of police of Paradise, Massachusetts, saw Wilson "Crow" Cromartie, the Apache Indian hit man was racing away in a speedboat after executing one of the most lucrative and deadly heists in the town's history. Crow was part of a team of ex-cons who plotted to capture Stiles Island, the wealthy enclave off the Paradise coast, by blowing up the connecting bridge. Residents were kidnapped, some were killed, and Crow managed to escape with a boatload of cash, never to be seen again. Until now.

So when Crow shows up in Jesse's office some ten years after the crime, it's not to turn himself in. Crow is on another job, and this time he's asking for Jesse's help-by asking him to stay out of his way.

Crow's mission is simple: find young Amber Francisco and bring her back to her father, Louis, in Florida. It should be an easy payday for a pro like Crow, but there are complications. Amber, now living in squalor with her mother, Fiona, is mixed up with members of a Latino gang. And when Louis orders Crow to kill Fiona before heading back with Amber, he can't follow through. Crow may be a bad guy, but he doesn't kill women. It's up to Jesse to provide protection.

Meanwhile, Jesse's on-again, off-again relationship with ex-wife Jenn picks up steam as Jenn investigates the gang problem for her TV station. As they dig deeper, the danger escalates. The life of a young girl hangs in the balance, and saving Amber could be the miracle Jesse and Jenn need for themselves, too.

Hundred-Dollar Baby (Spenser)

Robert B. Parker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 76 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

One of the Weaker Spensers 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I've read nearly all the Spenser novels, and this is definitely one of the weaker ones.

HUNDRED-DOLLAR BABY re-introduces April Kyle, the high-class prostitute last seen in TAMING A SEA HORSE. Kyle has never been a particularly likable character, although Spenser does see her as something of a daughter figure due to her very difficult past. Anyway, Kyle is in trouble again, and Spenser investigates on her behalf, only to find out that her motives may be less than pure.

The plot of HUNDRED DOLLAR BABY is sluggish, and I didn't find it very suspenseful or involving. This is one of those stories where it's hard to find someone to root for. It's not hard to figure out how the story will end, although I do give Parker credit for an unsentimental finish. This is definitely not the best Spenser book to start with, since it features a multitude of characters that were first introduced in earlier books.

This book was okay, but I doubt most casual readers would like it. My advice is to skip this novel unless you're a hard core Spenser fan.

Editorial Review:

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

Walking Shadow (Spenser)

Robert B. Parker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

All the world is a stage . . . 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Susan has become a board member for a theatre in Port City, a shabby district on the water front that contains a Chinese ghetto filled with many illegal immigrants, including the Death Dragons, a gang that is run by the dai low for the Kwan Chang tong. The dai low in this case is Ronnie Lu, whose wife Rikki is on the board with Susan. Susan brings Spenser to a board meeting one day because the Artistic Director of the board - Demetrius Christopoulous - believes he is being stalked and wishes Spenser's protection.

When one of the actors is murdered during a production later that night, Spenser's priorities shift to finding the murderer; however, no one knows much about the murder victim - Craig Sampson - and certainly no one can come up with a reason for his demise. However, as soon as Spenser begins nosing around in the area, Ronnie Lu shows up with a couple of young Death Dragons to ask Spenser to butt out or face the consequences. This, of course, just makes Spenser decide to call in Hawk and Vinnie Morris for back up.

The addition of Ming Lei to the team for her linguistic skills is something I hope will be permanent. She adds good chemistry. A side plot with a new house Spenser and Susan buy that they are fixing up makes a nice change of pace once and a while during the book. A third thread with another actor - Jocelyn Colby - claiming first to be stalked and then disappearing altogether with a videotape soon showing up at Spenser's office showing her bound to a chair, adds a note of intrigue.

All in all a nice, well-written book. Strong recommend from me.

Editorial Review:

When the star of a poorly rated stage production is shot mid-scene, Spenser and his sidekick, Hawk, comb the shabby waterfront town and find a cast of likely suspects among the underworld. Reprint. K. PW.

Chance (Spenser)

Robert B. Parker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Casting Diamonds to Devils: Shattering A Child's Crystalline Dreams. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The prologue of CHANCE was a haunting literary coup. Opening with the ethereal elegance of crystal goblets and white linen dreams, it descended quickly into the darkened schemes of beating bands and backed up screams:

>> It was all to come. The cocktails, the crystal, the starched white napkins, and the soft Sunday mornings with orange juice and floral print coverlets. Apple trees in spring blossom.... dense racket of the band and the crowd... booze and the sweet pungent marijuana smoke. <<

The scene appeared to be set-in-retro a few decades from the ongoing plot time, to a feel of the 70's:

Blackjack chewing gum, be-ribboned pony tails, dark loafers worn with no sox.

The effect reminded me of Sue Grafton's first chapter of "S is for Silence" with Violet portrayed in the 50's era, decades earlier than the 80's plot setting. (See my review on S, which I cut to 1/4 its original length to halt a blitzkrieg of No. Please ignore the bullet holes. Swiss Cheese is good.)

Later in the plot, Spenser made a few touching gestures, after the reader identified the red-haired woman in the 70's-retro, Cinderella prologue (with the antique-lace headed to the blinking-neon-light) and realized what befell the girlish schemes of a hopeful rescue from a brutal father.

During a lunch scene with the prologue gal (who easily received my sympathy), Spenser narrated:

I was quiet. She sat thinking back, looking past me at the lush artifice of the Las Vegas restaurant and probably not seeing it....
"You can't stop him. He'll find me and do what he's going to do and no one will stop him. Nobody can."
"I might stop him," I said.

A dialogue between Spenser and Hawk:

"She hasn't hired us. But I sort of told her I wouldn't let ... get her."
"Sure you did," Hawk said. "She's probably good looking and sad and you do four or five back flips and say we gonna eat Marty's lunch for him, he comes near her."
"I didn't do that many back flips."

Later, a few clips here and there from a scene in an MGM Grand motel room:

While I waited I patted her knee. My father used to do that, give me a pat once in a while, without comment....
"You all right in this?"
"No," she said. "All I can do is sit here and wait for the men to do whatever they'll do. How all right is that?"....
"I patted (her) knee again and headed for the door."

In a sense, this novel seemed to be dealing with vulnerability, sensitivity, and the idealized life brutalized, as much as with gambling and the death of romantic compulsions.

>> I walked with Susan through the brief wedge of dry heat into the air-conditioned terminal.... Watching her I felt the little knot in my stomach that I always felt when I left her.... I still stood for a moment, looking at the last place I had seen her, being careful not to be routine, while I became the other guy again, the one I was without her. It took a couple of minutes. And then I was him. He wasn't a bad guy; in fact sometimes I thought he had strengths that the other guy didn't have. Certainly he wasn't worse. But he was no one I wanted to be all the time. I turned back and headed for Lester and the Lincoln. <<

Parker painted the ambiance artifice of Vegas, the varied moods of its sunlight's unrelenting lack of relief:

>> ... live pirate show where one ship sinks another in the Treasure Island Lagoon, while the mist machines on the perimeter cooled us down. The rest of the hotels on our part of the strip looked like big, ugly hotels, a fifth-grader's dream of luxury, and nighttime excess, shopworn in the unblinking Nevada sunlight. <<

Describing a dead woman:

>> ... her white body dimpled and pudgy in the comfortless sunlight ... It was late morning and the dry heat lay and flat over everything. <<

The above type of Vegas detail is contrasted cleanly to Boston's climate, "Hawk and I went out, adequately armed, at least by our standards, and walked along the waterfront through a raw wind blowing off the harbor."

I'm beginning to notice some of what the addictive appeal is for me with the Spenser series, in addition to the above type of poetic prose in which the First Person Narrator sketches setting into life. The appeal is that I've been nicely set up to look for Spenser's unique brand of quips, quotes, and answers which slip to the reader those "keys" (or clues) on "How to Win the Boxing Matches of Life" (without feeling you've slimed your soul).

I don't know if Spenser's style is a melancholy-blues song, or poetry gone crisp with edges of truth. Maybe Parker's voice is the synergy of both, surged to the level of An Icon within The Cultural Conversation. When I read any Spenser novel now, I expect diamonds to glisten among the garbage of the "way we were" the way we are, the ...

"What I am to be I am now becoming."

I don't recall who said that. I just remember that it was quoted by a Girl Scout leader from my long gone youth.

While I enjoy Hawk's references of Spenser being an Eagle Scout, I was never fond of what I learned in Girl Scout camp (other than the above quote), what with the rats keeping me awake chewing on my shoes beside my cot, the wake up calls in the frigid frost of dawn, the choice of either shivering or sweating my terror of mountain lions and bears. The horrifying, bone-marrow-tapping Cold of the Nights in the mountains and woods were the worst, with the campfire always glowing too hard, too late, too small, too far away from my nightmares.

Working the summer as an assistant cook at a Girl's Scout camp designed (horribly poorly; what a horrendous choice that was!) my transition from home to college, at the end of my high school reign, during which I was class president and Co-Valedictorian.

All for what?

What a maze we go through to get from youth to adult, a maze which never seems to truly end with the Brass Ring called Actualization, a maize in which spirit bruises reign and rain.

Who doesn't at times feel like a losing gambler in life.

Returning to the Life of Spenser and the dry-heat, Nevada ambiance in this plot...

I noticed a pause in the middle of the book, in which questions like the above moved mood to melancholy, as Spenser wallowed within an absolute lack of success of his mission; an inability to take satisfaction in his pay (which he gave away) at the end of The Day. When I realized the book was only half finished at that seemingly moot point, I wondered how Parker would heat the rhythm enough to make the second half feel more than an extended tack-on. I was surprised that while Spenser, Hawk, and Susan were moaning the emptiness of dead ends in the case at hand, I didn't feel those dreaded spaces of reader boredom which sometimes overwhelm (underwhelm?) me if characters endure depressing lulls of dissatisfaction.

What kept me away from ennui at that half-way plot point of "Is this all there is?"

Possibly what kept me involved in the story was that I knew Parker would leave clues I could use for "me"; I wanted those more than I wanted completion to Parker's clients' questions and needs. They were there. Both. All. But, they weren't etched in glowing script on Silver Plates. Diamonds buried in mud, they were. I had to dig. I did.

See my tiara? Not a princess in a fairytale, I'm The Queen of my Dreams. Wherever they are, my dreams are mine. Who can steal something I keep in my mind while dining on time?

Maybe the secret is to know what might be attainable with sweat and finesse, and what is likely pie in the sky to save for sleep.

Onward. To more culinary cozies carefully contrasted by Parker, Rand, Woods, McGarrity, Grafton, Myers, Workinger, O'Loughlin ... The list goes on.

Diamonds before devils, and angels have wings. These are a few of my favorite things.

Speaking somewhat of choirs of dashing devils and soprano angels, I enjoy seeing voices of reviewers develop on Amazon, the only venue I've discovered which allows, in a way encourages this development, with its relatively open gift of space for individual songs to strike a rhythm and tone. If you want to identify more clearly what they mean by a writer's voice this is a good place to study that. Click on any "See all my reviews" and read a few from the beginning of the list, a few from current posts. Maybe you'll hear a song growing, which is more than a style.

Amazon has its very own music of the spheres. (For clear-voice reviews on opera and mystery, see the list of my Amazon Friend, L.E. Cantrell.)

Parker's dedication to his wife, Joan: "Every town is Paris; every month is May."

Linda G. Shelnutt

Editorial Review:

Spenser and Hawk investigate the disappearance of Anthony Meeker, the husband of mafia daughter Shirley Meeker, and begin to suspect that his wife, father-in-law, and associates miss him for darker purposes. Reprint.

Small Vices (Spenser)

Robert B. Parker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

While the rest of us grow older, Spenser seems suspended in perpetual early middle age. Oh, he talks about getting older, but his body is still firm, his muscles toned, and his reflexes are still hair-trigger fine. Even so, it is Spenser's body that betrays him when he is almost killed by an assassin's bullet two-thirds of the way through Robert B. Parker's latest Spenser adventure, Small Vices. Hired to discover the truth behind a four-year-old murder, Spenser soon runs afoul of "the Gray Man," who eventually shoots and partially paralyzes him. Spenser, his stalwart girlfriend Susan, and his almost mythical friend Hawk then hole up in Santa Barbara until the detective can get back on his feet again.

There's never any doubt that Spenser will get back on his feet, or that he will eventually track down the man who shot him and solve the mystery that started the whole ball rolling in the first place. What makes the Spenser mysteries interesting is Spenser himself, the thinking person's private eye, a man of honor and of conscience who understands that every action has consequences.

Trouble in Paradise (Jesse Stone)

Robert B. Parker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 61 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Robert Parker's Trouble in Paradise imagines an old-fashioned tough guys' world where most of the women are summed up by their figures and the men are measured by their ability to intimidate. Chief Jesse Stone of Paradise, Massachusetts, is Parker's hero again in this sequel to Night Passage. When he's not thinking about what his girlfriends look like under their clothes, Stone's touring his beat, hanging out at the Gray Gull Hotel bar to get intelligence on local thugs, or interrogating teens about their destructive pranks. But he has a vulnerable side, too, and Parker adds new layers of depth and complexity to his latest series character. Jesse's still reeling from his divorce. He and his ex-wife, Jenn, are not entirely ready to let go. In fact, Jenn has followed Jesse east from L.A. and is suffering in the Boston climate as one of the anchors on the local news. Romance with Jenn is further complicated by Jesse's ongoing attraction to attorney Abby Taylor and his emerging relationship with realtor Marcy Campbell.

Jesse's domestic troubles are gradually overshadowed, however, when ex-con Jimmy Macklin arrives in town. Macklin plans to pull "the mother of all stickups" on the ritzy Stiles Island in Paradise Harbor. He has figured out that the Stiles Island bridge, with its underpinning of utility cables and pipes, is a veritable lifeline to the mainland, and he's gathered a rogues' gallery of professional crooks and killers to help him take the bridge and make the island into a thieves' paradise. The one problem: Macklin never figured that Paradise, Massachusetts, would have a police chief as tough and resourceful as Jesse Stone.

As usual, Parker's stark and facile prose perfectly complements the masculine sufferings of his hero, and the action of the novel unfolds with an effortlessness that intimates a craftsman at work. With Parker's Spenser safely canonized as a detective fiction legend, Jesse Stone's unfolding world offers a welcome new addition to Parker's ouevre. --Patrick O'Kelley

Now and Then (Spenser)

Robert B. Parker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 70 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

When a simple case turns into a treacherous and politically charged investigation, Spenser faces his most difficult challenge yet-keeping his cool while his beloved Susan Silverman is in danger.

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's got 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. But Perry doesn't like Spenser poking around his business, so he decides to get to Spenser through Susan. The Boston P.I. will use all his connections both above and below the law to uncover the truth behind Perry's antigovernment organization. But what Alderson doesn't realize is that Spenser will stop at absolutely nothing to keep Susan out of harm's way; nothing will keep him from the woman he loves.