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Title: Pot Shot by Robert B. Parker ISBN: 0-425-18288-6 Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group Pub. Date: 04 June, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.44 (105 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Action, Dialogue, limited Susan--almost perfect
Comment: Any time a new Spenser book comes out, readers ask 'is the old Spenser back' or is this another obsessed with Susan, Hawk does the dirty work story? Well, the old Spenser is back and that's definitely good.
Basic plot--beautiful widow comes to Spenser and asks him to find who killed her husband. Spenser can't turn down a beautiful woman so he takes the job but finds that Potshot Arizona is a mess. The Preacher's mob is collecting protection money from the town, depressing property values and generally being bad folks. The town fathers pay Spenser to bring in all of his tough guy buddies (from previous books in the series) and clean up the town.
In POTSHOT, author Robert B. Parker delivers action, Spenser's trademark snappy dialogue, Hawk and Susan Silverman in small enough doses that you like them again, and uh, did I mention action. The testosterone will load you up for a week.
I read the book in one sitting and couldn't turn the pages fast enough....
So, set aside your logical side and be prepared to wallow in some pretty good writing, story telling, dialogue, testosterone, and all-around classic Spenser....
Rating: 4
Summary: Witty Dialogue, an All-Star Cast, and a Showdown
Comment: Potshot is an improvement over recent Spenser novels. There's more mystery here, the dialogue is in top form, and many characters you haven't read about in years are brought together. I particularly liked the way that Mr. Parker arranged the plot so that Spenser's strong feelings about the right way to do things would be apparent in a new way. My only complaint (why the book got four stars instead of five) is that the last two pages of the ending made no sense to me . . . except as an extreme form of irony. Surely, Mr. Parker isn't as ironic as this seems. Or is he? You'll have to see what you think. Those pages remind me of the ending of The Maltese Falcon in some ways.
Spenser is comfortably encased in his office in Boston when a new client enters, from Potshot, Arizona. The attractive Ms. Mary Lou Buckman has been recently widowed. Her husband was shot after having been threatened by a mysterious gang leader called The Preacher, who runs a protection racket. "They killed my husband." "He wouldn't pay the Dell any money." The local police are making no headway, and a mutual friend from the L.A.P.D., Lieutenant Samuelson, has recommended Spenser.
Arriving in Potshot (a cross between a refurbished ghost town for yuppies and biker heaven in the weeds), everyone praises the late Mr. Buckman, agrees that The Preacher had him killed, and offers no hard evidence. A woman in town begins vamping Spenser, and he gets a sense that some things are not as portrayed. During an interview with The Preacher, he becomes convinced that someone other than the gang killed Buckman.
Taking Susan for a West Coast swing to check things out, Spenser finds that the case is even hotter than he imagined.
Soon, he is assembling the ultimate A-Team of shooters to take on the 40 bad guys in the Dell (The Preacher's gang). You will find Vinnie Morris, Bobby Horse, Chollo, Bernard J. Fortunato, Tedy Sapp, and Hawk on the team. This section is a little briefer than would have been ideal, but there's good fun here.
The mystery and its resolution fit nicely into a typical small town Western plot.
Overall, the book has quite a range. Some sections are like shoot-outs in old Westerns while other parts have funny French and literary plays on words. As a result, this book has something for almost everyone and should be quite popular.
After you finish, ask yourself the question of how you can spot situations where there are more red herrings than real clues to the motives of those you are dealing with. How can you get past the red herrings? What questions should you ask? Mr. Parker's answer is that character will out. I suspect he's right. Look for character clues. If you can't find any, set up the situation to develop some. That's what Spenser's approach to sticking out his neck is all about.
Bang! Who's dead now?
Rating: 2
Summary: just plain bad
Comment: How can a book that is at least 125 pages too long manage to have an abrupt and unfulfiling conclusion? Maybe if Parker would quit cranking out books like they were on an assembly line, he might produce a work that is at least entertaining.
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Title: Widow's Walk by Robert B. Parker ISBN: 042518904X Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Hugger Mugger by Robert B. Parker ISBN: 0425179559 Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group Pub. Date: 12 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Back Story: A Spenser Novel by Robert Parker ISBN: 0399149775 Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons Pub. Date: 10 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Hush Money by Robert B. Parker ISBN: 0425174018 Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group Pub. Date: 10 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Sudden Mischief by Robert B. Parker ISBN: 042516828X Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group Pub. Date: 01 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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