Widow's Walk

Rating:
Summary: Another good Spenser book
Review: Another good Spenser book if you are a true fan -- a mediocre book to read if you are not a fan. This was not as good as some of Parker's earlier books, but if you are like me - a Spenser fan, it was great reading of Spenser, Hawk, Susan, Rita, Quirk and Vinnie again. The storyline is that the young pretty wife of an old rich man is blamed for his murder and Rita Fiore (widow's lawyer) hires Spenser to uncover the truth. Spenser in his usual fashion annoys people until the bad guy thinks he is getting too close and tries something, then Spenser is on the chase. I kind of wish that Parker had not diverted his time and effort on other endeavors like Wyatt Earp, Jesse Stone, and Sunny Randall books and kept the Spenser writing high. What I would really like is for Parker to write a pre-series book on how Spenser got in so tight with Hawk and Vinnie -- who are such serious dudes that it is hard to image them helping Spenser out as much as they do for free. I have read all the Spenser books, watched the Spenser TV shows and made for TV movies and about the only times Spenser has helped out Hawk is when Hawk has gotten into trouble helping Spenser.

Rating:
Summary: Coasting...
Review: As many of the previous reviews have noted, Parker is coasting. He found a formula and he's sticking to it. It's a pretty good formula, but by now, the reader knows how it's supposed to go. Not a lot of suspense but the mystery is a reasonable one, hinging on the stupidity of the defendent in the case, Mary Smith, and it's a little less predictable than Parker's last few. Hawk is there, so is Martin Quirk, displaying some blatant police brutality, which I don't think we've seen before. Susan, of course. Pearl, the wonder dog...my biggest problem with this one is the dialogue. Parker used to write snappy, dead on prose. Here, the conversations are stilted, the observations trite. Real people don't talk like this...but I've stuck with Parker for a lot of years, and it's going to take more than this one to make me stop reading him. I think from now on, however, I'm going to wait for the paperback.

Rating:
Summary: Typical Parker, Fortunately for us
Review: No one should anticipate a sophisticated plot in a Parker book. So, no one will be disappointed by this story. Parker writes dialogue better than the vast majority of writers and clearly has figured that out. He plays to his strength in this book better than most of his recent offerings. The thin plot in this one is almost incidental to the ongoing saga of Spenser&Susan and Spenser&Hawk. For fans of those interactions, I am one, the book is a great success.

Rating:
Summary: Back to basics
Review: For those of us who have followed Spenser from his pursuit of the Godwulf Manuscript through A Catskill Eagle can welcome the return of plot to Spenser rather than a reliance on the quirks (no pun intended) of the characters to carry the day. This is how Spenser reacts to the world rather than the other way around. The plot was a joy to unravel. Okay, I couldn't unravel it but that made the end so much sweeter. I still would prefer that Robert Urich read Spenser but that's just me. Whether in print or on audio Spenser's Widow's Walk is one more notch in Robert B. Parker's gun.

Rating:
Summary: Spenser Returns
Review: I liked this book a lot. Spenser is like an old friend after all these years. I like all of Parker's books, but Spenser remains my favorite. I liked the last Spenser book that rounded up all his old buddies; but this was a nice return to normalcy.

Spenser's client is a widow who is the suspect in her husband's murder. Spenser is called in because the police have an iron tight case that just seems too convenient. She was in the house with her husband's body, supposedly downstairs watching tv, and later found her husband's body.

The widow is young and very very stupid, or is she just too cunning for the police and Spenser to nail? Who would commit and murder and not have an alibi? Was this so stupid it was brilliant? As Spenser goes digging around, people start getting annoyed with him and his ever-present pal, Hawk. The more they poke around in the husband's bank business and wealthy family background, the more it becomes apparent all is not as it should be. People start following Spenser. People begin taking pot shots at him.

Parker is at his best with his to-the-point snappy dialogue. His relationship with Susan and wonder-dog Pearl is still at his center. Susan loses a client, which upsets her terribly. When a woman Spenser questions turns up dead, he feels as responsible for her death as Susan does about her patient. This leads to deep conversations. Pearl is getting older and more feeble. They must face up to the fact Pearl will not always be with them very soon. I admit, the passages about Pearl made me cry. The wonder dog Pearl is no longer with Mr. Parker on the back cover. Did he face this same thing in his own life a short time ago? He summed up the dog/human relationship so brilliantly.

Rating:
Summary: Spenser at Home
Review: I enjoyed Widow's Walk. I was glad Mr. Parker brought Spenser back home to Boston for his latest adventure. He has this setting nailed. The novel involves a woman who is accused of murdering her wealthy husband. Spenser is hired by Rita, her defense attorney. The plot roars along at a breathtaking pace. Parker's humor always hits the mark. Susan's concerns with her client makes up a fitting subplot. Hawk, Quirk, and the rest of the supporting cast perform about as the experieinced Spenser reader would expect. Widow's Walk is a satisfying read.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly dull
Review: This was not a 294 page book in spite of the page numbering indicating that it was. There was not enough story to fill 294 pages. The first thing I noticed when I opened up the book was that the type size seemed quite large. I checked with several other books I have that were the same dimension as this one. This Spenser book had a lot fewer lines per page than others that I looked at. Also, with the large margins, and the fact that each new chapter started halfway down the page, there was not a lot of substance to this book in many ways.

The story line and the actual print on the pages seemed to be very stretched out to make this book and story seem more substantial than it really was. The "mystery" itself was pretty iffy. Yes, there was a murder. Then, there were more murders. But, since Spenser himself had no real idea of exactly what was going on with the case for most of the book, his confusion and lack of understanding of the meaning of various situations was passed along to the readers.

I felt Robert B. Parker and Spenser were both just going through the motions in this book. The only thing that kept me awake for most of the book was the fact that since the amount of actual words on each page was so small, I had to keep turning pages at a rapid rate.

Most of the story was lackluster. The end was just confusing with an explanation that involved bankers, brokers, realtors and land developers. My reaction upon finishing was "Whatever...."

Rating:
Summary: A great escape
Review: Anytime Joe Mantegna narrates the audio version of a Robert B. Parker or Elmore Leonard novel, I'll buy it. His cliped delivery of Spenser's "I said, she said" lines and compact descriptions of the world around him brings the story to life and, perhaps, touches up many of the flaws some critics have noted. (Warning: Joe does not pronounce Louisberg, Newberry or Houghton the way a Bostonian would.)

Signs of an aging relationship are gracefully woven into "Widow's Walk" with Pearl the Wonderdog nearly deaf and Susan and Spenser sparring about who will make the final visit to the vet when the time comes. Three times Spenser points out that he and Susan have been together for twenty-five years (with one timeout along the way). In the end, however, it's the same old Spenser still punching people out and spurning an array of long legged, short skirted young women who can't resist the allure of a man who by now must be twice their age.

Brahmin Nathan Smith is dead, and his sexy, dumb 30-year-old wife Mary is charged with the murder. Her lawyer Rita Fiore, a sexy redhead by the way, hires Spenser to help build her defense, and he begins to pick away at the Oz-like curtain that surrounds life with the Smiths. The plot unfolds like one big game of virtual musical chairs. Every two chapters or so a fringe character is either killed off or explained away in one of Spenser's terse recaps of what has happened so far. In the end Spenser is literally chasing his villain around a parked Buick in the middle of the night in a lightning storm.

Great literature it's not, but four stars to both Parker and Mantegna for making six hours in the car seem a lot shorter.

Rating:
Summary: A great escape
Review: Anytime Joe Mantegna narrates the audio version of a Robert B. Parker or Elmore Leonard novel, I'll buy it. His clipped delivery of Spenser's "I said, she said" lines and compact descriptions of the world around him brings the story to life and, perhaps, touches up many of the flaws some critics have noted. (Warning: Joe does not pronounce Louisberg, Newberry or Houghton the way a Bostonian would.)

Signs of an aging relationship are gracefully woven into "Widow's Walk" with Pearl the Wonderdog nearly deaf and Susan and Spenser sparring about who will make the final visit to the vet when the time comes. Three times Spenser points out that he and Susan have been together for twenty-five years (with one timeout along the way). In the end, however, it's the same old Spenser still punching people out and spurning an array of long legged, short skirted young women who can't resist the allure of a man who by now must be twice their age.

Brahmin Nathan Smith is dead, and his sexy, dumb 30-year-old wife Mary is charged with the murder. Her lawyer Rita Fiore, a sexy redhead by the way, hires Spenser to help build her defense, and he begins to pick away at the Oz-like curtain that surrounds life with the Smiths. The plot unfolds like one big game of virtual musical chairs. Every two chapters or so a fringe character is either killed off or explained away in one of Spenser's terse recaps of what has happened so far. In the end Spenser is literally chasing his villain around a parked Buick in the middle of the night in a lightning storm.

Great literature it's not, but four stars to both Parker and Mantegna for making six hours in the car seem a lot shorter.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining as always
Review: I have to say that I enjoyed this book as much as all of the other Spenser books, but maybe thats because I allow myself to simply enjoy the story instead of seeing how many typo's I can find. I thought the banter between the characters was above average for Spenser, and I was caught trying to guess who was guilty until the very end. I'm glad that I allowed myself time to read this in one sitting.