Pastime

Rating:
Summary: Middling entry in an increasingly self indulgent series
Review: "Pastime" reintroduces a character first glimpsed in the book "Early Autumn" ,the dancer Paul Giacomo .In the early novel he had been taken in hand by Spenser and turned from an unprepossessing and gangly 15 year old slacker into an achiever .Now he re-enters Spensers life and asks for help in finding his mother who has gone missing.
Unfortunately she has absconded with a man named Beaumont who just happens to have fleeced the local mob and is being hunted down by Gerry ,the no good incompetent son of the local mob chief.There is every chance that Paul's mother is in harms way by virtue of her association with Beaumont
During the course of the book Spenser battles mobsters ,is sseriously wounded and eventually comes to an understanding with the mob.
There is a great deal too much back story in the book for my taste -the ever over inquisitive Susan probes Spenser for details of his past and his relationship with his sidekick Hawk while the conversation of Paul is saturated with psycobabble to a teeth clenchingly irritating extent
What has knocked the series off the rails for me has been the increasing space given to Spencers relationship with the shrink Susan -it has transformed what were sharp and almost over readable crime stories into "touchy-feely "exercises redolent of the self absorbtion I see as the ultimate sin of psychoanalysis
The action when it comes is crisp and sharp but there is too little of it and until Parker dumps Susan and the damnable dog they share this series will continue to be seen as the irrelevance it at present is
What a waste.

Rating:
Summary: Middling entry in an increasingly self indulgent series
Review: "Pastime" reintroduces a character first glimpsed in the book "Early Autumn" ,the dancer Paul Giacomo .In the early novel he had been taken in hand by Spenser and turned from an unprepossessing and gangly 15 year old slacker into an achiever .Now he re-enters Spensers life and asks for help in finding his mother who has gone missing.
Unfortunately she has absconded with a man named Beaumont who just happens to have fleeced the local mob and is being hunted down by Gerry ,the no good incompetent son of the local mob chief.There is every chance that Paul's mother is in harms way by virtue of her association with Beaumont
During the course of the book Spenser battles mobsters ,is sseriously wounded and eventually comes to an understanding with the mob.
There is a great deal too much back story in the book for my taste -the ever over inquisitive Susan probes Spenser for details of his past and his relationship with his sidekick Hawk while the conversation of Paul is saturated with psycobabble to a teeth clenchingly irritating extent
What has knocked the series off the rails for me has been the increasing space given to Spencers relationship with the shrink Susan -it has transformed what were sharp and almost over readable crime stories into "touchy-feely "exercises redolent of the self absorbtion I see as the ultimate sin of psychoanalysis
The action when it comes is crisp and sharp but there is too little of it and until Parker dumps Susan and the damnable dog they share this series will continue to be seen as the irrelevance it at present is
What a waste.

Rating:
Summary: A good outing but not the revelation advertised...
Review: Although I should be used to this by now, this Spenser outing doesn't live up to the jacket hype. This book, we are told, will tell "all" about Spenser's "mysterious" past. Which turns out not to be so mysterious after all.

Unfortunately, Parker does NOT clear up references in the early novels (God Save the Child, The Promised Land) about a woman Spenser refers to as his "mother" since we are informed that his mother died whilst giving him birth. This isn't a big problem, after all a girlfriend of his father or a favored aunt good have filled the role and gotten the title. Still Parker should have cleared up the apparent inconsistency...

The almost skeletal, almost negligible, plot involving Paul Giacomin's mother hardly sizzles. Hawk and a long chase through the woods save the book. This is a must read for the Spenser fan. Just don't expect anything shocking, or, terribly interesting about Spenser's past.

Rating:
Summary: "Pastime" may well be the very best of the Spenser novels
Review: Here we are up to the 18th novel in Robert B. Parker's Spenser series and we finally get to find out a whole lot of interesting things about our hero's past. Ten years earlier in "Early Autumn," Spenser saved Paul Giacomin from a destructive family situation and basically adopted the boy. Now Paul shows up to report that his mother is missing and he wants the help of his surrogate Father in finding her. As Paul tries to deal with what his mother means to him, Spenser reveals key details from his own life, raised out west by a father and two uncles, to both Paul and Susan. Like us, they are both fascinated to find out more about the history of the most important man in their lives.

Ultimately the mystery of what happened to Paul's mother means Spenser again crosses paths with mobster Joe Broz, his inept son Gerry and his right-hand man Vinnie Morris in what proves to be a final reckoning for them all. It is by combining this plot line with the search for Paul's mother as the context in which we discover the secrets of Spenser's past that "Pastime" is elevated to the top rank of Parker's novels. In many ways I consider this novel to be the height of the Spenser series rather than "A Catskill Eagle," because while it is not as epic in scale, "Pastime" is more true to the essence of the character of Spenser and has much more depth. Although the book starts off as a son's search for his mother, ultimately "Pastime" is about fathers and sons. But if you read just one Spenser novel this is not the one to read, because you simply cannot appreciate it unless you have along for the ride from the very start.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite Spenser
Review: I have just recently started to read Robert B Parker and have found him to be very exciting and riveting in is stories and his spencer novels. Pastime was a the very first book I have read of his and I just loved it. with my line of work, I don't get a chance to read as much as I would like to and I really love to read. And I finished this book in I think about 2 1/2 days and just couldn't put it down at all. I have since ready Double Deuce and found it also a good book and one of his newest ones Gunmans Rhapsody. Pastime is the best one yet, but I love them all. A definate must read for mystery lovers.

Rating:
Summary: Not Too Good
Review: Parker is at it again . . . this time with old character Paul Giacom. Spenser is helping Paul find his trashy, worthless mother. . . why they bother is inexplicable at first. Then Parker explains . . .Paul is thinking of getting married, and needs to understand his mother's worthlessness before committing himself to his girlfriend. In the end, it is explained that Paul went home and is now acting distant with his girlfriend. Parker sure is making the case for all the men in his Spenser series being in the closet.

Rating:
Summary: Parker on parenthood....
Review: This book provides closure to the door left open by Early Autumn. Paul returns to the forefront as he and Spenser seek his wayward mother. The theme of this novel is parenthood...Paul and Spenser...the Brozs...Spenser and his father (and the uncles)...even Spenser and Susan and their "baby" Pearl. The underlying quest/adventure is good but the real draw for Spenser fans is a look back into the detective's youth. The story of the young Spenser's encounter with the bear alone is worth the price of the book. My second favorite Spenser novel; I'll let the readers of this review guess what the first is.

Rating:
Summary: Come meet Pearl!
Review: This installment does have Paul back, lots of action, and a great woods scene in the end. But more importantly, you get to meet Pearl, the Wonder dog!
Actually this Speenser novel is one of the better ones. I've gone back and re-read it many times. Highly recomended.

Rating:
Summary: A good Spenser novel on many levels
Review: This sequel to Early Autumn (1980) truly shows how Spenser (and Parker) have improved over the years.

This is a sharp turn from the last Spenser novel. Instead of annoying women, there's real warmth and personality. Susan starts by getting "Pearl" from her ex-husband. Spenser names her Pearl after a dog of his youth. Paul comes along, wanting to find his mother. We run into Vinnie, who's looking for the mother's boyfriend, Rich, for Joe Broz. Vinnie actually warns Spenser to be careful - Rich is a friend of Joe's kid, Jerry, who they both feel is a "bad apple".

The story is not only about this search, but also about Paul thinking about his past and Susan probing into Spenser's past. We hear about how Spenser's mom died giving him birth, and he grew up with his dad and two uncles in Laramy, WY. They moved out when he was a teenager to Boston. They hunted in Maine, when he had his first drink. They all boxed and taught him how to box. His "only other love" was a high school sweetheart that he was too shy to move on. It's sort of the book to "fill Spenser out" as a person.

Very interesting on many levels. It's good after so long to hear what made Spenser the way he is. You have to ignore minor inconsistancies with what has previously been said about Spenser's past and take this as the truth. But what about "Brenda Loring"? Did he not love her despite dating her for over five years? Ah well.

If you're a Spenser fan, this is not a book to miss!

Rating:
Summary: Another strong effort.
Review: This was another strong effort from Robert Parker. As entertaining as always, there is an added layer of depth to this one as Parker explores the relationships between father and son. There is an interesting parallel between the Spenser/Paul relationship and the Joe Broz/Gerry Broz relationship.

If you are looking for Spenser the "private investigator" you only get about half of the equation. There is plenty of "private" stuff, but not much of an "investigation" as Spenser and Paul go about the relatively easy task of finding Paul's mom who has been missing for a couple of weeks. But you DO get plenty of what we love the most: Spenser wit, Spenser justice, and Hawk, too.