Now & Then by Robert Parker

Now & Then

 

By Robert B. Parker

G.P. Putnam's Sons

$25.95, hard cover, 296 pages, 978-0-399-15441-6 (2007).

 

Robert Parker is bumming me out.  I've been reading Spenser books for my entire adult life.  Some of them are very good, many are quite entertaining, some are okay, and others plain stink.  This is one of those merely okay books.

 

It's too bad because it has the promise of being one of Parker's best.  After all, when Spenser pokes his nose into the business of a man who sponsors terrorists, the love of his life, Susan Silverman, is in danger.   Since Spenser can't be scared off, Susan becomes a target.

 

The book jacket reads in part: Spenser will do anything to keep Susan out of harm's way; nothing will keep him for the woman he loves.

 

For anyone who follows the Spenser novels, that quote should bring up a whole range of possibilities of what Spenser is capable of if Susan is in danger.  And although there are some enjoyable action sequences, the grand finale so-to-speak when Spenser faces the man responsible for what has happened to Susan, is a huge letdown. 

 

Bottom line: most of the book is pretty good but that ending just bites big time.

 

By it on Amazon here.