05-30-2011, 07:15 AM
Robert Parker died earlier this year and I just read his lost Spenser novel "Sixkill". It's hard to believe there won't be any more Spenser adventures in my future. I've been reading him for at least forty years. there was a period I grew tired of reading him, around the time I was still buying hardbacks and couldn't imagine spending twenty bucks on a book I could read in under two hours. I started rereading him when I realized I could sit in a bookstore and read it there or better yet, get it from something called a "Library".
They were an enjoyable diversion. Some books were better than others. I could have used fewer chapters with Susan in them. But that was the template for his books. Lots of dialogue. A few descriptive sequences and then some hard boiled talk.
He really peaked for me back in the early eighties. Parker was going through a rough patch with his wife. Naturally, Spencer was going through a rough patch with his girlfriend. Over the course of three or four books, Spenser had to be a bit more human and less robotic as he struggled with the breakup. It was always good when Spencer left his comfort zone.
I hoped, because Parker was such a quick writer, he would have stockpiled a bunch of books to dole out to us in the coming years, but according to the dust jacket, Sixkill was it for Spencer. It was an okay book, more of what I was used to. He introduced a new character that I felt we would see more of in the future but now that is not to be. Sigh
They were an enjoyable diversion. Some books were better than others. I could have used fewer chapters with Susan in them. But that was the template for his books. Lots of dialogue. A few descriptive sequences and then some hard boiled talk.
He really peaked for me back in the early eighties. Parker was going through a rough patch with his wife. Naturally, Spencer was going through a rough patch with his girlfriend. Over the course of three or four books, Spenser had to be a bit more human and less robotic as he struggled with the breakup. It was always good when Spencer left his comfort zone.
I hoped, because Parker was such a quick writer, he would have stockpiled a bunch of books to dole out to us in the coming years, but according to the dust jacket, Sixkill was it for Spencer. It was an okay book, more of what I was used to. He introduced a new character that I felt we would see more of in the future but now that is not to be. Sigh
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit