Customer Reviews

Bad Business

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Robert Parker has a certain love for ironic plots. Bad Business, with its cluster of detectives following various spouses to determine who is cheating whom, is full of irony and misdirection. Spenser is hired by the wife of one executive to follow her husbands who seems to have hired another detective to... Well, you get the idea - open marriages gone psychotic.

Or so it would seem. But when murder begins to become a part of the shenanigans Spenser realizes that something more important is at stake in a story that picks up on the Enron scandals and then stands loyalty and faithfulness on its head. Kinergy has its own variations on corporate corruption, and layered on top of this is a talk show host who wants to maximize bed sharing.

Of course, Susan Silverman, Pearl the Wonder Dog II, and Hawk put in regular appearances so that us Spenser junkies will get our filp of flip and sarcastic dialog. After all, it is Parker's wizardry with dialog that keeps us coming back. Even if the story is a bit frail, the players make up for it time and again.

Spenser is the last true knight of Boston. He still compulsively comes to the rescue and can't stand to see a woman cry. The times change in these novels, but the main characters remain stable and attractive as if they lived in a time line all there own. And frankly, I can never resist them.

My one complaint with any Spenser novel is that it is too short. Parker's writing ability draws the reader through the book at lightning speed, and it's all too easy to finish them in one or two sittings. On the other hand, they never cloy, and are often just the right length to refresh one after reading too many serious stories.

When an author is as prolific as Robert B. Parker, some books are going to be better than others. Bad Business, the 31st book in his Spenser series, is better than many of his later efforts.

Marlene Rowley hires Spenser to tail her husband, who she suspects of having an affair. Husband, Trent, is a big executive at an energy company called Kinergy (think Enron). It quickly becomes apparent that Spenser isn't the only PI following people around, and when Trent ends up murdered (in his Kinergy office no less), Marlene then engages Spenser to find the killer. Marlene is totally obnoxious and self-centered, and is not an easy person to work for. Spenser encountered lots of twists and turns, and not only is there the business angle, but there are also sex seminars, wife-swapping, an escort service, missing PI's, another murder and a host of other possible motives.

But what makes Parker so much fun to read is his witty, snappy, first-rate dialogue. Spenser interviewing possible suspects is a hoot. The conversation between Spenser and Hawk is even better. So even though this book could have been a bit longer, it was definitely worth reading. Too bad they stopped filming the Spenser television series, as Bad Business would have made one dandy episode.

The Spenser novels of Robert Parker are characterized by witty, sarcastic dialog between the characters. Even when the plot line is weak, the way they speak to each other always delivers a high level of entertainment. In this story, Marlene Crowley hires Spenser to follow her husband to determine if he is cheating on her. His name is Trent Crowley and he is Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Kinergy, one of the most dynamic companies around. It is an energy trading company and rose from very small beginnings to an apparent powerhouse. Robert Cooper, the CEO of Kinergy and an expert glad-hander, has designs on a run for the U. S. Senate, so he wants to keep his image as clean as possible.
When Trent Crowley is murdered on the Kinergy premises, things change. Furthermore, Spenser finds a veritable daisy chain of wife swapping and private detectives following husbands and wives. As usual, Spenser makes enemies, one of which is the Gavin, the chief of security at Kinergy. When Gavin is killed, there seems to be no reason for the murders. However, Spenser eventually determines the identity of the murderers, amid the additional discovery that Kinergy is a house of cards. The higher executives have been gradually selling off their stock in anticipation that it will quickly become nearly worthless. The ending is not a great dramatic one, as there is no shootout, just Spenser punching a man.
This story is taken directly from the events surrounding the collapse of Enron, with the exception of the internal mate-swapping and the murders, you could replace Kinergy with Enron and most of the story would be factual. I don't consider it one of Parker's best Spenser novels, but once again the quality of the dialog makes it very entertaining. Hawk and Vinnie Morris appear, but are not heavily involved, which is a disappointment. In my opinion, the conversations between Spenser and Hawk are the best dialog in the Spenser series.

I always look forward to the latest Spenser novel coming out in paperback. "Bad Business" does not disappoint. The bad guys are bad, some of the good guys used to be bad, and we continue to see the same smart-ass one liners that Spenser and Hawk come up with. I'm always in a better mood when I read a Spenser novel; the fast pacing and wisecracking just keep me going. The friend who turned me on to this series has the same trait. He named one of his sons Spenser, he likes the series so much. I read this one over a period of 4 days. It paints a smarmy image of corporate politics points to an "Enron"-like company as the source of a group of high management people who are involved in a sex swap group activity as a way to "free" themselves. I think this part of the plot was contrived, but I still enjoyed the fast pace and Spenser and CO. dealing with it. This one goes on the bookshelf on the opposite of The Godwulf Manuscript, and 20 something more Spenser paper backs occupy the space between. If you like Spenser novels, you'll enjoy this one.

It is hard to conceive of a bad Parker novel. By now his skills are so honed, his characters so familiar, his dialogue so effortless, his sense of place so assured and his plots so polished that he is the safest buy in crime fiction.

This is good, average Parker, with very deft depiction of the accounting scams motivating the crime. As others have noted, the Enron parallels are explicit, there is too much Susan and too little action. Still, we buy the books and enjoy them.

We all continue to wonder, however, what Parker could do if he really put his mind to it, sent Susan and Pearl, incommunicado, to the farthest reaches of the globe, and focused on Hawk and Vinnie in a good old fashioned bloodfest. That might be his gift to his faithful readers for enduring the kissy face, dainty eating, cutesy-poo talk and dog slobber all these years.

Robert B. Parker has been writing Spenser novels for what must be close to 40 years now (certainly 35). They have a formula which varies relatively little, and this one is definitely part of the series. Spenser, the detective without a first name, is hired by one of the most self-important characters I've ever seen in a book to look into who her husband is cheating with. When he follows the guy to a hotel room and discovers that he *is* cheating, he also discovers that the woman he's cheating with is also being followed by a PI. Spenser discovers that his client is *also* being followed by yet a third PI. This, of course, is rather weird.

When the guy Spenser's following winds up dead, the police begin to investigate too, and Spenser is intrigued, further. When even more curious incidents occur, the book takes a few unexpected turns, and things get interesting. While there's little of Spenser's trademark violence, Hawk (and Vinnie Morris) do make cameo appearances. The book has the momentum Spenser novels always have: it's just not quite as suspenseful as some of Parker's books.

Gone are the days when I'd hunt down every Gregory McDonald novel featuring laid-back, smart-alec keen observers Fletch and Flynn...after reading every one of his titles, I'm psyched to death to've found Parker's Spenser and Hawk instead. Parker's writing is very easy to follow, extremely witty, with minimal setting and description, maximum dialogue. Was the show based on this series this good? I don't recall...if so, why didn't I find these titles sooner? The good guys are immediately likeable, and the rest of the cast of characters shady enough that it's difficult to figure out who's really bad and who's just getting swept along in the corruption at a big, high-tech company where all the upper echelon are getting perks in the bedroom as well as the boardroom. This is one of the few books I've laughed out loud at while reading to myself, and more than once--but it's not really meant to be comedy. If you enjoy snappy wisecracks, German shorthaired pointers, Boston, mysteries, or any good fiction, then there's no reason for you not to fall in love with Parker's books. Well worth reading--more than once! Highly recommended.

If you are new to Spenser, start with an earlier book, such as "Looking for Rachel Wallace," or what I consider his very best, "Paper Doll." You could also start at the beginning and work your way through all 31, and have a very nice time. But by no means should you begin your Spenser adventure with this book.

The plot is energetic but quite confusing - an Enron-like company pulling fiscal scams, all mixed up with some headache-inspiring spouse-swapping frenzy, huh? - but the real disappointment is, there is no one to care about here. Parker delivers his usual wit and wisdom, and that is what his fans love - the crisp dialogue, the social commentary, the gleeful puncturing of society's various bubbles. It helps to have visits from nearly every character we love (Hawk, Vinnie, Rita, and Susan who sort of grows on you) but this book lacks a crucial something that his earlier works had in abundance: sympathetic people, whether clients or others, whom you could cheer for, and bad people whom you could truly hate. I found myself having difficulty telling one supporting character from another, and by the end - when the only really bad dude is reduced to hissing like a lizard when he's caught - I didn't care how it ended, as long as it ended soon. It was kind of embarrasing, hiss hiss.

Spenser is always, always worth a read, even in a confusing mess like this. But for most people, it's probably a good idea to just take this one out of the library. I've already given my copy away, leaving me one book short of a complete set. I just don't care.

Many books ago, in "Walking Shadow," (which, in my opinion, was the first book where Parker's cracks began to show) Hawk had a wonderful line that went something like, "This is the silliest thing you ever got me involved in." I kept waiting for Hawk to say something like that in this one (pointless sexual tangles, fakes and double-fakes with the stock market, an open-marriage advocate/talk show host in love with a... Well I don't want to spoil it, whatever it is), but he didn't. The plot of "Walking Shadow" was clear and grounded compared to this. Maybe Hawk should walk off and start his own series, and replace the Spenser clones Jesse Stone (young male clone) and Sunny Randall (female clone). Most of us who are die-hard Spenser fans would follow Hawk anywhere.

The annual new Spenser novels appear to be a professional obligation and cash cow for author Robert B. Parker and his publishers. That said, the book is a diverting quick read that should please many of his fans. The widespread dislike of Susan Silverman puzzles me; she holds her own with the rest of the tough guys in these PI thrillers (this is a whodunnit as well). Parker is a master of sketching a convincing character with just a brief description, a trait he shares with Conan Doyle. What bothers me here is that the plot hinges on the discovery of a serial killer's album of clippings about his own murders. It's a deus ex machina trick. The most interesting character in the book is Darrin O'Mara, whose pop psych free sex seminars cover up a multitude of sins. Corparate shenanigans finally take a back seat to the kinkier plot; it's hard for spreadsheets to compete with that. Must Parker include an evaluation of the sexual allure of virtually very woman who appears in the novel (including passing strangers walking their dogs or jogging)? He might as well rate them with numbers. I also wonder why detailed descriptions of every meal are deemed necessary. Finally, Spenser and his entourage drink enough to need a detox clinic. Other than these things, I liked the book.

The Spenser Series is a like a pair of old slippers. They may have seen better days but they are comfortable as heck. This novel seemed to have more twists and turns than other, more violent books in the series. I found it refreshing. But if you have never read a Spenser novel before, don't start here.