Rating: 
Summary: Good Friends Return
Review: After a couple of downers, Parker's back - Spenser, Susan and Hawk are all there. The dialog is crisp, the story is a good one. You will not be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: "My God, you people passed each other around like Fritos!"
Review: Solid entry in the long-running series delivers a pretty good mystery story, a few tense moments of danger, and some really funny banter between Spenser and Hawk. Readers also get to see Parker's other hero, police chief Jesse Stone, entertainingly interact with Spenser and Hawk for about twenty pages. As an added bonus, the novel is refreshingly free of Mr. Parker's usual endorsements for psychiatrists, therapists, etc., the bane of many of his thrillers. I'm glad he's been lightening up on that stuff lately, as it was getting a bit tiresome. Not EVERYONE needs to rush out to a psychiatrist to solve their problems, after all. Finally, also interesting is that "Back Story" delivers quite an indictment on many aspects of the hippie generation (see the quote at the top of this review), an indictment that comes off as credible even if you admire a lot of what that generation was trying to do. All in all, an entertaining and thoughtful read.
Rating:
Summary: Spenser is alive and well....still standing strong
Review: Spenser, Susan, and Hawk continue to provide the reader with suspense, laughter, love, and loyalty; all this without an excessive amount of profanity......Spenser is still sleuthing with the assistance of his long time friend and assistant, Hawk. Susan proves that beauty and appeal do not diminish as a lady gets a bit mature, at least if her man is Spenser....and "Pearl" is an added bonus....Robert Parker continues to entertain with his forever young and energetic "Spenser"...
Rating: 
Summary: Parker shows no signs whatsoever of slowing down!
Review: I was about a third of the way through BACK STORY, the new Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, when I happened to get a call from an older friend who had coincidentally first thrust a Spenser novel, PROMISED LAND, into my hands many years ago. I told my friend that I was reading the new Spenser novel and he mentioned that his grandson, who is now in college, had just started reading them. The reason that this is worth relating is that Parker is now writing for three generations of Spenser fans, with no sign of slowing down and, if BACK STORY is any indication, no sign of rust.BACK STORY marks the return of Paul Giacomin, Spenser's almost-son; though he has little involvement in the story, he is its indirect catalyst. For he brings with him Daryl Gordon --- part friend, part acquaintance, part associate and all troubled. Gordon, who is in her thirties, has decided that she needs to put the death of her mother, Emily Gordon, to rest. Emily was murdered some thirty years ago when a leftist revolutionary group calling itself The Dread Scott Brigade robbed a bank in Boston. Emily, who was visiting the city at the time, was shot and killed in the bank while cashing traveler's checks. No one saw who shot her and security cameras were no help. And The Dread Scott Brigade simply...disappeared. Giacomin now brings Daryl to Spenser in order to help solve this coldest of cases, a 30 year-old murder with no clues. As Spenser begins to investigate, he is troubled by the lack of clues and an apparently missing FBI file. Hawk is there to help, as is the mysterious Ives who, in the short course of a page or three, almost steals the book away. As Spenser follows the trail of the missing FBI file and questions Emily's friends and family, he begins to receive warnings from several quarters to back away from the matter. This, of course, makes him all the more determined to discover the truth behind the woman's murder. As the trail leads from San Diego to Boston and back again, Spenser slowly but methodically uncovers a web of passion, deceit and betrayal that has lain fallow for decades. He is also confronted with a dilemma: the truth is something that Daryl may not be prepared to handle. Should he tell her, or should he let things stay as they are? Parker, with BACK STORY, remains as amazingly consistent --- or should that be consistently amazing? --- as ever. He also makes a brief, but poignant, change in a major character, one that was inevitable and not necessarily unexpected, but nonetheless surprising. As always, highly recommended. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Rating:
Summary: Nothing new here
Review: Spenser's asked to solve an old murder. He's paid six donuts. Spenser and Hawk insult, beat up and shoot some people. Susan worries. Subplot about a dog. Spenser solves murder. Lots of witty dialogue. Any questions?
Rating:
Summary: Spenser Back
Review: This is an excellent novel. Plot was very suspenseful. Also the ending only is worth waiting for. I'm a Spenser fan for life.
Rating:
Summary: strong Spenser story
Review: Boston private investigator Spenser isn't an easy touch, but Paul Giacomin is like a son to him so he is willing to go the extra mile to do the man a favor. Paul, a playwright, wants Spenser to help his friend actress Daryl Silver who is starring in his play, to find out who killed her mother Emily in a Boston bank robbery in 1974. Daryl wants closure and Paul pays Spenser's fee, a box of Krispy Crème donuts. The Dread Scott Brigade took credit for the killing and the robbery but nobody was ever caught even thought the bank cameras caught their picture. Spenser gets the police file from the Boston Police Department and notices right away that the FBI intelligence report is missing. A little deeper into the investigation Spenser is warned of the case by government agents and is on the hit list of a crime kingpin. Even though it has become very dangerous, Spenser is determined to find out who killed Daryl's mother, if only to satisfy his curiosity. It has been thirty years since the first Spenser book THE GODWULF MANUSCRIPT was published and the series is still fresh, innovative and very entertaining. The hero might be a little older but he still has the same quirky sense of humor and the ability not to flinch when bullets are coming in his direction. BACK STORY is a fascinating who-done-it that is both believable and somewhat nostalgic. Robert B. Parker shows why his hero has become an American icon. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Importance of consistency
Review: Too many of my favorite authors are jeopardizing their work by dragging in material that they seem to think is of social importance or is "true to life." I buy mysteries and thrillers to be entertained, and to revisit characters I've grown to like. Robert Parker is one of the few whose books I still buy in hardbound, as soon as they're out, because he consistently tells a good story. "Back Story" was Parker (and Spenser and Hawk) at their reliable best. I've written eleven academic books, but I'd swap them to have done just one novel that engaged its readers as Parker's novels have engaged me.
Rating:
Summary: Like a letter from an old friend
Review: There is one trait about mystery series, which might not hold water for all readers, that I find interesting. As a series moves over the years, the interest moves from the case work to the personality of the detectives. When I first read Spenser I read the books for the puzzles and the action sequences. Now, I read them because of the characters--who feel like old friends--and what is happening. Each book of the series, in brief, becomes like a letter from an old friend.
"Back Story" is such a book. The actions of Spenser, Hawk, and Susan are so well known to followers of the series that we are not surprised by Spenser's price for solving the mystery, the bond between Hawk and Spenser which allows them to move from Standard English to a form of Black English and the reactions of Spenser to attempts at pulling him off the case. It is a salute to Parker's ability as a writer that he keeps these characters and their actions fresh.
There is also a reality about the death of Pearl the Wonder Dog and the pain which comes from such a loss. Pearl was a highpoint of the series because a reader (at least this one!)could see himself watching his dog all the time, noting her reactions, and having the feel of a proud owner/friend.
Pearl was always in the background and she would be missed and griefed over. We also lost a dog and the feelings are real. The buying of a new dog to take the mantle of the older dog was something I have done--a nice touch of realism.
Rating:
Summary: Back on track
Review: BACK STORY puts us back in the familiar groove that I believe Parker slipped out of with the inferior WIDOW'S WALK and POTSHOT. The story is original, the wisecracks are genuinely funny and not tiresomely "cute," the characters are true-to-form without being predictable. In short, I loved it! The characters have taken on lives of their own, and their interplay adds texture to the story. I loved Spenser's discomfort with Darryl's cautious reaction to Pearl. And I especially enjoyed Hawk's observation about Susan/Spenser conversation: he points out that first one of them says something cryptic, then the other one simply agrees. So true! Spenser gets very introspective about his chosen line of work. I wonder if that, combined with the introduction of Jesse Stone, means that Spenser might be preparing us for his retirement. And maybe it's time. While I admit I loved this book, I can't shake the knowledge that these characters are getting long in the tooth chronologically. Spenser served in Korea and quit smoking 40 years ago. That would put him in his 60s. Since he boxed professionally alongside Hawk, Hawk must be in that same range, yet women of all ages keep throwing themselves at him. And Susan, so beautiful and firm of flesh, can't be much behind them. Is the Charles River really the fountain of youth? Sorry, but credibility is strained. (A small criticism of an otherwise great read.)
|
