Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Spenser Book Despite The Death Of An Old Friend
Review: As a reader who was introduced to Robert Parker and his Spenser detective novels by watching Robert Urich in the television series, I was saddened by Urich's death last year since in a way a part of the Spenser mystique for me had died with him. Thus, I was delighted that Spenser reappeared in BACK STORY, which as the thirtieth book in the series seems to have refined the characters to their essence. And we also have Jesse Stone, the chief of the Paradise police department and the main character of three Parker novels, become periperally in this Spenser case as Parker devotees probably guessed was inevitable. (Will Sunny Randall be next?) Paul Giacomin, a character in previous Spenser novels (and a surrogate son for Spenser) and now a successful playwright, visits Spenser with Daryl Silver, an actress and friend. While visiting Daryl's aunt in Boston twenty-eighty years ago (when Daryl was six years old), Daryl's mother Emily Gordon was murdered during a bank robbery by the Dread Scott brigade, an unknown revolutionary black power group reminiscent of the Black Panthers. The murder was never solved and the group members were never identified, and Daryl hopes Spenser will investigate the case so she can finally have closure. The police had hit a dead end, but of course Quirk still remembers it and would love to close an old case but isn't particularly hopeful regarding Spenser's chances of so doing. Things look even bleaker when it becomes apparent that all copies of the FBI file regarding the case have mysteriously disappeared. As Spenser follows up on old leads, he is soon threatened (first verbally and then shot at my a group of hit men). Of course, the danger that first he and then Susan Silverman face mean that Hawk is an almost continual presence in this story, much to the delight of all true Spenser fans. The story includes almost all the usual cast of characters that have made this series so successful (in addition to Quirk, Hawk, and Susan - Vinnie Morris, Tay Bop and Frank Belson all have bit parts). We are introduced to Nathan Epstein, who is delightful in his essential role as Spenser's FBI liasion. The bad guys include both the mob and other assorted characters from Daryl's childhood years. None of them are likely to appear in future stories, especially since more than the usual quota meet their demise at the hands of Spenser and Hawk. As Spenser gradually uncovers the truth and learns that it is not exactly as Daryl described, she becomes so emtionally distraught that she asks him to quit the case. However, since he had agreed to take the case as a favor to Paul and his only fee had been a box of Krispy Kreme donuts, he declines to end the investigation. Partially because he believes since he now has reopened the case that he and Susan will continue to be in danger unless it is solved, but also because as Susan observes using her fine psychoanalytical skills and thorough knowledge of Spenser's character (and reinforced by some wonderfully rich imagery from Hawk), he "can't quit early... [he] has to know how it will turn out". This book does not present an especially difficult mystery for the reader to solve, as several of the elements of the solution are in fact telegraphed relatively early in the story. However, there are enough details which involve the usual misdirection to keep the interest of the reader. And some of the characters, such as the aging hippie who is Daryl's father and the associated imagery are wonderful. It also has some of best dialog and psychological interplay between Spenser, Susan, and Hawk in any of the stories in the series. Over the years, their characters have grown comfortable with each other, in fact they have become among the most enjoyable characters in this genre. Both the male/female and black/white interplay is done in a meaningful and enjoyable manner. So, if you are a new Robert Parker reader, don't hesitate to start with this book although you will probably not enjoy it as much as those readers with an extensive background in the series. And if you are already a fan, this is another excellent addition to the series, despite the death of another old friend besides Robert Urich.
Rating: 
Summary: A Blast from the Past
Review: This was my first Spenser book. (And yes, it is nonetheless quite pleasant here on my planet ;-) Sure, I'd seen glimpses of the late Robert Urich TV show while surfing around the dial - but never really read one of these. (Quot libros, quam breve tempus: Too many books, too little time!) What caught my eye was a blurb about this one talking about similarities to the Symbionese Liberation Army and the Patty Hearst thing. I was intrigued. Prior reviews have lugubriously belabored Back Story's plot. Suffice it to say that Spenser, Hawk, their old and new friends, associates, and acquaintences are out to solve an old cold case of a 70's bank heist by the one-hit-wonder "Dread Scott Brigade." The story moves swiftly back and forth chronologically and geographically (if one is going to investigate hippie sects, one must get out of Boston and go to San Francisco/Berkley) accompanied by snappy dialogue. My favorite: Hawk's translation of Kemo Sabe. All in all, a cool trip! Reviewed by TundraVision
Rating:
Summary: Parker improves with age
Review: At this point it's kind of academic, telling people that Spenser novels are fun to read. They're so easy to follow, quick to digest, and fun to enjoy, that it's almost a shame when the book proves to only be 280 pages or so long. The dialog's snappy, the characters interesting, and of course the plot winds up being almost irrelevant, just a vehicle for Spenser, Hawk, Vinnie, Capt. Quirk, and the gang to sit and talk for a while, and then shoot some bad guys. This time around, Paul Giacomin (Spenser's adoptive son, first seen in one of the best Spenser novels, Early Autumn) brings Spenser a client, a young actress he knows whose mother was murdered in a bank robbery almost thirty years ago. She wants Spenser to find who shot her mother, and, Spenser being Spenser, when it turns out that she brought half a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for him, he impulsively takes the case. I guess Spenser hasn't been caught up in the low-carb diet craze. Instead, he soon finds himself mired in a decades-old murder case where all of the principles seem to have been Simbionese-Liberation-Army-type lunatics who waved guns around and shot people randomly, and just caught this young woman in the crossfire. Things are not what they seem, however, and everyone from the FBI to the CIA to the local mafia gets involved, trying to tell Spenser to leave the case alone and find something else to do. This, of course, only provokes Spenser, and makes him more curious about what's happening. I enjoy Parker's writing immensely, and as I said, the plot's secondary to the characters, the dialog, and the writing. Parker by now has become the closest we're going to have (I think) to Raymond Chandler, and he's a great deal more prolific, thankfully. This was a reasonable addition to what's just about the longest-running series in American detective fiction, and what's certainly the most popular.
Rating: 
Summary: A formula, though a good one
Review: I have read three or four of Robert Parker's Spenser novels, mostly the audio book versions. There is something about the writing style that lends itself especially well to the audio format; I suppose it's the terse dialogue and fast pace. In any event, Back Story is the first Spenser novel I've read in print, and I must say I enjoyed it less than the others. If I counted right, Back Story is the thirtieth Spenser novel. With such a prolific series, a certain amount of repetition and predictability is inevitable, but this book seemed a little bit too by-the numbers, so much like previous entries with only the specifics updated for the new story. Still, Spenser is an entertaining character. He is able to make witty observations in even the most hazardous of circumstances. The usual supporting characters are in this novel as well -the sinister Hawk, Spenser's girlfriend Susan and expert marksman Vinnie. Back Story has all the elements readers have come to expect from a Parker novel, so maybe that should be enough. The basic mood is always light, no matter how much violence is going on. In this novel, Spenser is persuaded by his stepson Paul and Paul's friend Daryl to investigate the thirty year old murder of Daryl's mother. She was apparently killed by a revolutionary group calling itself the Dread Scott Brigade. Spenser soon finds that both local gangsters and law enforcement officials are trying to prevent him from looking into this killing. Some of Parker's cultural biases come out in this novel. He seems to categorize anyone affiliated with the 1960s counterculture as a violent revolutionary or a pot-smoking vegetable. The latter is a bit amusing when you consider that Spenser's diet seems to consist mainly of doughnuts, coffee and hard liquor. The bad guys of Back Story are of the basic suspense novel/B-movie variety -mafioso and their dumb but menacing bodyguards; wisecracking drug dealers and the mandatory psychopath whose mission is to kill Spenser. Robert Parker is a talented enough novelist that he can, at this point, get away with coasting on a winning formula and that is what he's done in Back Story. It's a fast-paced, often humorous, sometimes suspenseful but unmemorable entry in this time-honored series.
Rating:
Summary: Parker's Back
Review: Parker has really made an effort here, and it shows. Recent books were getting thinner and more off-hand, and the last in the Spenser series, "Widow's Walk" read like Parker wrote it while he was watching a ball game. But in "Back Story," Parker has done it for us again. It's not the "Godwulf Manuscript" and it's certainly not "Looking for Rachel Wallace," but it has depth and heft, and a fresh plot that involves us in some very satisfying intricacy as it works itself out. Spenser shows more of himself, and our understanding of him deepens. Here it isn't an appealing client needing real help that is the reason he keeps going; it is his own choice to finish what he started, even at considerable cost. He is "peerless," as Susan Silverman says, a man of integrity, humanity and power, whose choices, like this one, come always from a place of honor. And he still is as funny as he always was, with the same discerning eye, seeing everyone, from aging hippies to aging mobsters, right through any pretension or fascade, seeing the good in the bad guys and the bad in the good guys, seeing things as they are. There are signs here that Parker is making some acknowledgement to the fact that if Spenser fought in Korea, he can't really be 42 years old anymore. Now he does weightlifting for repetition, rather than for weight, he does measured runs, with walk breaks, on Harvard's track, rather than pounding for miles along the Charles River. He decides to have one English muffin because the second one he wants isn't good for him. The women he says look pretty good are in their fifties, and both he and Hawk say sadly "Too young" when teenagers walk by in bikinis. But may I suggest here that a "willing suspension of disbelief" is more than appropriate. We may all be aging, but Spenser doesn't really have to, unless we insist on it. Rex Stout's Archie Goodwin would have been in a wheelchair in real time during many of his most useful flirtations. Nero Wolfe himself would have been about 112 years old when he solved his last cases. Sherlock Holmes could not actually have dealt both with Victorian hounds and the Norden Bombsite in the same adult lifetime. I think that, along with Parker, we should make no more than a gentle reference to Spenser's age, and then leave it alone. If we lean on it too much, Spenser may retire, and I, for one, am not ready. In "Back Story" Parker brings down barriers between story lines, and even across series. It is very appealing to have two heavy-weight thugs who tried to kill Spenser in "Pastime" sitting on the steps of Susan's classy house to guard her. And Parker has Spenser work with Jesse Stone in this one, so we get to see Jesse through Spenser's eyes. I'd very much like to know how Spenser looks to Jesse. And, hey, Sunny works in Boston. There are all sorts of possibilities.
Rating:
Summary: Got Two Hours to Kill?
Review: I don't know what compels me to keep reading Robert B. Parker's "Spenser" series. The plotting has become almost nonexistent, the dialog is recycled from book to book, the books are getting shorter and shorter and Parker mainly seems to amuse himself by seeing how many characters from previous books he can pack into the current one, so it obviously isn't for the fresh, original take on the private eye genre. But it's still fun, dammit. Somehow, Parker always manages to engage my attention. The interaction between Hawk and Spenser still amuses, Spenser's twisted honor code still thrills and Susan's soppy shrinkiness still annoys. In this outing, we are on the hunt for the perpetrator of a killing 30 years in the past. The actual plot is incidental, as Parker seems to be making things up as he goes. The characters are, as usualy, thinly written and heavily dependent on stereotypes. But Spenser gamely travels from Boston to New Hampshire to California and back, giving us all our two hour's worth of lively description and jaunty heroism. If you are already a fan of the series, you've already bought this one and don't need my review. But if you are not already a fan, don't start here. Go back to the fabulous days of Ceremony, A Catskill Eagle, The Judas Goat and you will become a fan, ready to read and grouse over each new entry in the Parker oeuvre.
Rating:
Summary: Summertime Read
Review: Remember, summertime is coming and this is a good pool or beach book in the classic Robert Parker style. Easy to pick up and put down - it is a relaxing, non-stressful read.
Rating: 
Summary: annoying repartee
Review: This was the first Parker book I ever read. I picked it up in an airport out of desperation when I had nothing left to read. While I liked it enough to read it through, and the story moved along, I found myself increasingly annoyed by the dialog. Every other line of banter spoken by the characters is a clever little quip. It's like they're all trying to be funny--all the time. It gets old quickly and has the effect of making each character sound exactly the same. They're all witty and full of one-liners.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother
Review: If I could have given this story zero stars I would have. The story wasn't interesting and the characters were flat. Hell after thirty books you would think that they would get better. The average chapter length is only two and a half pages, making it difficult to really get into the story. I have read reviews from past novels that said that Parker is the heir to that icon of the hard-boiled dectective story, Raymond Chandler, but even Chandler had more than two pages per chapter. Marlowe and the supporting cast in all of Chandler's books are more interesting than any in this book. For some reason I felt compelled to finish the book but it was a struggle. I just couldn't get into the story. I will have to try some of Parker's other, non Spenser stories. Hopefully they will redeem him in my mind. Don't bother purchasing this book it isn't worth the money, or the time really.
Rating:
Summary: What's not to like!!!
Review: Robert Parker continues to keep Spenser fresh, energetic and fun to read. Thirtysome novels into the series, "Back Story" finds Spenser and Hawk looking into a twenty-eight year old murder for a friend of a friend---the victim's daughter. As they attempt to connect whatever dots they can assemble, the first missing link is the FBI report on the case. Next thing you know, "government men" try to persuade Spenser to take a powder. Hmmm??? Shortly thereafter some not-so-friendly mobster types pass a similar message Spenser's way. These "suggestions" merely strengthen Spenser's resolve and makes him dig deeper. Current members of the Boston PD and the FBI's Boston office are more than interested and do not inhibit the intrepid Spenser. The usual crisp repartee between Spenser and Hawk, lively dialogue, a colorful supporting cast and a cameo appearance by Jesse Stone highlight the story. Another highly entertaining, most enjoyable weekend diversion.
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