Wilderness

Rating:
Summary: Wilderness, A great read
Review: After reading Robert B. Parker's Spencer novels, I was disappointed when I sat down to read Wilderness and found it was not a Spenser novel. This disappointment soon turned into one of the best reading experiences of my life. Writing in third person, Parker was able to do something he never could do with the Spenser character - get us inside the characters minds, letting us know exactly how they felt about everything and move us with their feelings. This is by far the best novel I have ever read and I suggest you get a copy and reserve time to read it all at once. You won't want to put it down

Rating:
Summary: Best of the Non-Spensers
Review: Easily Parker's best non-Spenser work, and possibly his best overall. More suspense than you might think Parker capable of delivering. Written at the peak of his talents. A shame he hasn't come back to this genre.

Rating:
Summary: Best of the Non-Spensers
Review: Easily Parker's best non-Spenser work, and possibly his best overall. More suspense than you might think Parker capable of delivering. Written at the peak of his talents. A shame he hasn't come back to this genre.

Rating:
Summary: Wilderness is Parkers Best
Review: I have just finished Wilderness and thought it is Parkers best. I have read 17 Parkers and my wife gave me 14 more for Christmas. I really enjoy Spensers dialog and detailed descriptions of everything. I frequently read excerpts to my wife. I started Wilderness slowly and was disappointed to find it wasn't a Spenser. By the time I got to the Maine woods, I couldn't put it down and finished in a sitting. I have tromped the Alaska wilderness for 33 years and felt right at home in Parkers Maine. It's almost a shame Spenser has been so successful, if it hadn't been, Parker might have written more great suspence novels.

Rating:
Summary: Wilderness is Parkers Best
Review: I have just finished Wilderness and thought it is Parkers best. I have read 17 Parkers and my wife gave me 14 more for Christmas. I really enjoy Spensers dialog and detailed descriptions of everything. I frequently read excerpts to my wife. I started Wilderness slowly and was disappointed to find it wasn't a Spenser. By the time I got to the Maine woods, I couldn't put it down and finished in a sitting. I have tromped the Alaska wilderness for 33 years and felt right at home in Parkers Maine. It's almost a shame Spenser has been so successful, if it hadn't been, Parker might have written more great suspence novels.

Rating:
Summary: Huge Disappointment
Review: Let me say that I am a Robert Parker fan and have read every one of the Spenser books. In fact, I picked this book up after having run out of new Spenser books to read. I ought to have just gone back to The Godwulf Manuscript and started over again, because Wilderness is an extremely poor offering from an extremely talented writer. Flat, unappealing characters and a plot that goes absolutely nowhere. Believe me, you're better off with anything else that Parker has written (including the new one, Family Honor). Let this one languish in richly deserved obscurity.

Rating:
Summary: loved and remembered
Review: My son and I read the Parker books. I asked him if he remembered a book written years ago--I could not rememeber the name but remembered the plot. He helped me find the title, Wilderness, and we have ordered the book. We look forward to reading it again. Suspense in woods is excellent!

Rating:
Summary: A good read -- but where is the rest of it?
Review: This is absolutely the worst of the 20+ books I've read by Parker. I'm glad that it is one of his older offerings, or I'd be worried about the future of the Spenser series.

The first half of this story is unbearable because the female character, Janet, is so contemptible. She sleeps in her bra and pajamas, sometimes a robe. She is mean to her husband, Aaron, and is cold-hearted.

Aaron witnesses a murder and, eventually, tells the police all he knows about the crime. He then comes home to find his wife bound, gagged, and naked on their bed. All the while that he unties her, she curses and berates him. I had virtually no sympathy for her.

The story's second half turns it into a _Twilight Zone_ episode, as I would swear that another character is substituted for Janet. She becomes too likeable too quickly and then explains her theretofore horrible behavior as merely being a reaction to Aaron!

Despite the absurd nature of Janet's tranformation, the second half of the book was much better than the first, as Aaron, Janet and their neighbor, Chris Hood, track down five bad guys in the Maine woods.

My favorite character was also rather incidental: Steiger, a hitman brought in from Cleveland to kill Aaron. He had a wonderful love with his girlfriend, Angie, for 22 years. I felt his loss more than any other in the story.

Rating:
Summary: Wretched
Review: This is absolutely the worst of the 20+ books I've read by Parker. I'm glad that it is one of his older offerings, or I'd be worried about the future of the Spenser series.

The first half of this story is unbearable because the female character, Janet, is so contemptible. She sleeps in her bra and pajamas, sometimes a robe. She is mean to her husband, Aaron, and is cold-hearted.

Aaron witnesses a murder and, eventually, tells the police all he knows about the crime. He then comes home to find his wife bound, gagged, and naked on their bed. All the while that he unties her, she curses and berates him. I had virtually no sympathy for her.

The story's second half turns it into a _Twilight Zone_ episode, as I would swear that another character is substituted for Janet. She becomes too likeable too quickly and then explains her theretofore horrible behavior as merely being a reaction to Aaron!

Despite the absurd nature of Janet's tranformation, the second half of the book was much better than the first, as Aaron, Janet and their neighbor, Chris Hood, track down five bad guys in the Maine woods.

My favorite character was also rather incidental: Steiger, a hitman brought in from Cleveland to kill Aaron. He had a wonderful love with his girlfriend, Angie, for 22 years. I felt his loss more than any other in the story.

Rating:
Summary: A good read -- but where is the rest of it?
Review: This is by far the best of Parker's non-Spenser novels. I enjoyed reading it tremendously. It is too bad Parker hasn't seen fit to follow it up with sequels. This book doesn't deserve the obscurity it has been forced to endure.