Ceremony

Rating:
Summary: A moral dilemma for Spenser
Review: There is no murder in this entry in the long running Spenser series. The missing person is found before the book is half over. What gives the book it's central focus is Spenser's moral problem-what do you do with a teenage hooker who doesn't want to leave her current 'job'? He passes up the chance to bust a big-time pimp preferring to concentrate on a prostitution ring with its roots in the Boston school system. He rescues the girl from a kinky brothel where insubordinate hookers are sent as punishment only to have her break away and rejoin the the man who recruited her. Along with Hawk, Spenser engages in one of the most astounding fistfights of his career at the headquarters of the ring and manages to rescue the girl again. At the end, Spenser and Susan are forced to face the problem of what to do with the girl. Their options shake Susan to her core and make for an interesting argument on what is good for the girl vs what is legal. This stands head and shoulders above the usual Spenser parade of wisecracks. Along with "Mortal Stakes", this is one of Parker's best.