Rating: 
Summary: parker is still good
Review: - It wasn't until I started reading "Small Vices" that I realized how much I'd missed Robert Parker and his Spenser series. During an 18-month period about two years ago I read all of Parker's books. I haven't read any of his books since. And then recently I picked up this new book and, although I was having a bad day, I was soon smiling and laughing. Spenser was back and I was sure enjoying his company. I've tried before to determine exactly why I love this series so much, since the basic concept is so cliched: Spenser is a tough, strong private eye, but with a heart of gold, who usually gets the bad guy. He's very ethical and serious at times, like Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder character, but he is also quite funny at times, a la Donald Westlake. Mostly, though, he is witty, sharp and smart. I suspect that part of me thinks that I could be Spenser if I buffed up and learned how to throw a punch. The writing is always tight in his books. During one conversation, for example, Spenser tells the reader simply, "I had nothing to add to that," whereas other writers would elaborate on that thought. There is also a racial element to the series, with Spenser's buddy, Hawk, a black tough guy who acts dumber than he is and plays to the racial stereotype but is actually quite intelligent and uses people's expectation of him to his advantage. All of this results in great dialogue. At one point in this book, for example, Spenser is injured. "I don't need that much help," Spenser said. "He ain't heavy," Hawk said. "He's my brother." In this book, Spenser is hired by a law firm concerned that a black man convicted of murdering a white girl in an almost all-white college may actually be innocent of that crime. The suspect is guilty, though, of raping other women so few go out of their way to help Spenser unravel the truth. Spenser also encounters great deal of racism. Soon some tough guys tell Spenser to quit his investigation and throw him some muscle. He pretty much ignores the threats until he starts getting followed by a guy who prefers to let his bullets do the talking. And then things get really interesting. Meanwhile, Spenser's long-time girlfriend, Susan, wants to adopt a child but Spenser is against the idea but doesn't want to make her mad either. This is certainly not Parker's best book, but even a weak Parker book is better than much of the novels currently available. Part of the problem may be that Parker has been writing this series for too long, more than 20 years now, so it will be interesting to see how a new non-Spenser book he has out compares. And when I read that one, I'll tell you my conclusion.
Rating:
Summary: Parker Piques
Review: After more than 20 crime novels, Robert Parker can still pique my interest. And twenty of almost anything usually equates to a snore. Not so here. In "Small Vices", we revisit one of the best known ensembles of the genre; sexy invincible Spenser, seductively naive Susan, and without a doubt, the intimidating irrepressible Hawk. We also meet "The Gray Man", who wishes to put Spenser into an earlier grave than anyone, including the self-effacing Spenser, desires. Add a friend asking for Spensers help in his framing of a murder of a young female college student, the search of suspects through Boston to the elite Manhattan crowd, and voila, another gritty up front Parker crime action in full motion. The dialouge snaps, the plot crackles, and the .22 pops. Thank you for your interest & comments--CDS
Rating:
Summary: Parker Piques
Review: After more than 20 crime novels, Robert Parker can still pique my interest. And twenty of almost anything usually equates to a snore. Not so here. In "Small Vices", we revisit one of the best known ensembles of the genre; sexy invincible Spenser, seductively naive Susan, and without a doubt, the intimidating irrepressible Hawk. We also meet "The Gray Man", who wishes to put Spenser into an earlier grave than anyone, including the self-effacing Spenser, desires. Add a friend asking for Spensers help in his framing of a murder of a young female college student, the search of suspects through Boston to the elite Manhattan crowd, and voila, another gritty up front Parker crime action in full motion. The dialouge snaps, the plot crackles, and the .22 pops. Thank you for your interest & comments--CDS
Rating: 
Summary: Spenser meets his match
Review: I give this the highest rating because I consider it one of the important Spenser books. Basically, Spenser is confident that he's going to be better than his adversary, and so when he is nearly killed by an expert, he needs to deal with his mortality. The ironic part of this is that he's working to find out if an absolute loser of a gangbanger is guilty of the murder he's accused of. This novel poses questions both of mortality and of morality. There's the question of how important is "The Truth". Deals are made and those who end up in prison may be more worthwhile to society than those who don't. This is a Spenser novel which, although a quick read, gives you ethical problems to ponder. Very highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Sir Thomas More with muscles and a gun
Review: I have been a Spenser fan since my dad gave me the Godwulf manuscript to read. I have found myself rereading some of the old Spencer novels as the series started to sag, Spenser started his internal dialogue about donuts and Susan showed up in white cowboy boots. As I read the sagging Spensers I realized that some Spenser was better than none, but I remembered such classics as The Widening Gyre, Valediction, Early Autumn and A Catskill Eagle. In this novel, Spenser is back, and facing one of the more convincing villains in the series-The Gray Man. Spenser has a remarkable, tragic vision of himself walking across a deserted campus and this foreshadows troubling times. Although Spenser had become cliched, and worst of all, Hawk and his jive talk dated, Small Vices brings the Spenserian world of wit and moral wrangling into sharp focus. I highly recommend this installment of the Spenser series to newcomers and fans alike. As usual, the descriptions of new England are ri! pe and clear. It's uncanny, but the first time I travelled to Boston, I was surprised that the 15 or so Spenser books I had read had given me a unconscious mental map of Beacon Hill and Back bay!
Rating:
Summary: 1 of the best Spenser books with great audio production
Review: I have listened to most of the Spenser series in unabrdiged format from my local library, and this certainly ranks as one of the best I've heard. The production version is unquestionably the best. While I have loved Michael Pritchard's voice as Spenser in the past, Burt Reynolds does a remarkable job of portraying all of the Spenser cast. The hardest is always Hawk, and Reynolds brings it off beautifully. The music cues actually add to the novel, which is something I have never heard before in years of listening to books. The story is one of the more imaginitive ones I have yet heard from Parker. A good adversary for Spenser is something I have been longing for, and the "Gray Man" fits the bill. The plot is engaging, we see sides of Spenser and his relationship with Susan previously unexplored, and deeper glimpses of Spenser's friendship with Hawk. And this has got to be the only appearance of a rifle chambered in .458 Magnum in a novel. I gotta know where Parker gets his weapons information. I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could, but I can't, and it's closer to 4.6, so I give it 5. Not perfect, but wonderful. I hated to hear the ending.
Rating:
Summary: 1 of the best Spenser books with great audio production
Review: I have listened to most of the Spenser series in unabrdiged format from my local library, and this certainly ranks as one of the best I've heard. The production version is unquestionably the best. While I have loved Michael Pritchard's voice as Spenser in the past, Burt Reynolds does a remarkable job of portraying all of the Spenser cast. The hardest is always Hawk, and Reynolds brings it off beautifully. The music cues actually add to the novel, which is something I have never heard before in years of listening to books. The story is one of the more imaginitive ones I have yet heard from Parker. A good adversary for Spenser is something I have been longing for, and the "Gray Man" fits the bill. The plot is engaging, we see sides of Spenser and his relationship with Susan previously unexplored, and deeper glimpses of Spenser's friendship with Hawk. And this has got to be the only appearance of a rifle chambered in .458 Magnum in a novel. I gotta know where Parker gets his weapons information. I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could, but I can't, and it's closer to 4.6, so I give it 5. Not perfect, but wonderful. I hated to hear the ending.
Rating:
Summary: BEST IN YEARS
Review: I've read every Parker novel, most multiable times. This is the most powerful of all the Spenser novels. Less funny, more serious without giving in to being dark.
Everyone is here, Spenser, Susan, Hawk, Pearl.But someting feels, larger in this one. Most Spenser novels feel like a TV program. This installment feels more like a movie.
Rating:
Summary: One of Parker's Best!
Review: Parker once again shines on this Spenser gem. Parker breaks his own formula when our hero is gunned down and must fight the biggest fight of his life. Spenser battles racial profiling, paralysis, and the Gray man in this excellent addition to the Spenser series.
Rating:
Summary: Spenser falls . . .and gets up!
Review: This is one of my favorite Spenser tales. And we love him because . . . . I guess it's kind of that John Wayne feeling, you like to have a big guy around who can always be relied upon to take care of business. Here, he almost fails, and that's the magnetism of Small Vices. Spenser is hired by the now successful, leggy Rita Fiore. There is the usual overt flirting ". . . too bad you didn't . . ." and "Boy, if you only had . . ." and "you had your chance . . " that we've come to chuckle at and with the honorable sleuth. Here he's asked to track down 'the real murderer' which will free a man wrongfully doing life in the hard place. It's hard to pity the imprisoned man Spenser is asked to free. It seems most feel he doesn't really deserve to be freed . . . even the loyal friend Hawk feels that Alves belongs in jail, "either for this crime or one he got away with." But Spenser, who again tells someone his first name but not us, gets too close and takes three slugs to the shoulder, leg and chest. It takes Susan, Hawk, Quirk, Belson, Lee Farrel and Vinnie nearly a year to rehab Spenser, who loses 40 pounds in the process, has a hard time making his limbs do what he wants them to, and basically can't walk. But they do and honor and heroism prevail, villains are suitably thrashed, and Susan and Spenser hook up. Again. And again. There's a lot of vulnerability in Spenser this time. Like Joe Pike in The Last Detective, his body has betrayed him and he is lost. Sadness, even tears. The pages describing Spenser trying to get up the hill in Santa Barbara after again learning how to walk again are riveting. Good stuff. If I had a disappointment, it was Spenser's laissez faire attitude towards Hawk who took a year off to mentor/train/help him. But maybe that's part of the mystique, he knew how he felt and so did Hawk. Great stuff. Rachel Wallace is still #1 for me but Small Vices is a close second.
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