Customer Reviews

Hundred-Dollar Baby (Spenser Mystery)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Spenser is really a series that you have to read from the beginning if you want to understand what is going on. Hundred-Dollar Baby is no exception. April Kyle, the lead character from Ceremony and Taming a Sea Horse, is back again - now running her own whorehouse in Boston. Unfortunately, someone's trying to take a cut of her profits, and she doesn't want any "men" interfering with her female-only business.

This is "comfort zone" for Spenser - many of his cases have involved feminists who insist they want to do things with women only, and end up relying on Spenser for help. There's not even any preamble in this one - April's in his office from moment one of the story, needing Spenser to rescue her from trouble. And while she claims she doesn't really need any man-help, it turns out her entire plan for life was laid out by a man and she had a male bouncer keeping her safe.

Of course, as is traditional, things get messy quickly, Spenser has no idea what's going on, so he randomly follows people to see what happens. He stirs up some hornets nests. Susan and he talk dirty and have a sex life that's rather active for someone who, according to stated birthdates, has just turned 70. But we suspend disbelief and understand that even though he was 37 in 1973, he hasn't quite aged "normally" since then.

The key here is that if you've read the series all along, when just like long-term married couples, you are extremely familiar with the people and situations. You know Teddy Sapp, Patricia Utley, Hawk, and other people who move in and out of the story - you know their ups, downs, quirks, loves. It's like when an older couple has a conversation along the lines of "Remember that time in Paris?" "I loved the whipped cream". They don't need to say any more, they both know the whole story and meaning and why it's relevant to the current situation. The same is true here - you know that Susan's look is palpable, you've heard that 20 times. You know Hawk can easily switch between high English and low po-boy talk.

So you don't read Spenser books for shocking gore or Philip K Dick like twists. You often can outguess what is going to happen. If anything, Hundred-Dollar Baby is more comfy than several previous ones. No front-page topics here, just another whore story where Spenser tries to give them a hand, defeating thugs who try to take him in, and talking with various underworld types. No new Russian mob, no terrorists, no new characters at all, really. No new locations - you stick right around Boston and a little of New York.

Interestingly, depending on your point of view, this can be good or bad. I really liked this book a lot - I thought it had a different ending than most Spenser books tend to, and it didn't do the "bring in 20 characters for a hoe-down" which had been done several times in the past. The few characters brought in were important to the story. I appreciated that he didn't re-hash items (like the Palpable Susan Eyes) that often get mentioned in every single book.

On the other hand, my boyfriend, who's also an avid Spenser fan and has read all the books, seen all the tv-movies etc., felt there was little going on here. It's more of a short story of "What happened to April" with little development, character, or plot. He felt the storyline was so broadcasted that you could sort of read along in your sleep, since you knew pretty much what each character would do and say.

So there you go. If you're looking for a cutting edge, new story with intricate characters and 24-alive plotlines, this probably isn't the book for you. If you're looking to pick up your first Parker book, I wouldn't start here. It'd be like walking into a 40th wedding anniversary without knowing anyone and missing out on all the in-jokes and story backgrounds. But if you've been reading Spenser all along - or are willing to spend a few weeks catching yourself up on the storyline, this really is a nice continuation. It's a closing out of a story we spent a lot of time with, and it adds a little more depth to Spenser's character.

This is typical and vintage Parker - lots of witty repartee with Spenser, Susan and Hawk and a few good beatings of bad guys. No one does dialogue as well as Parker. Unfortunately, there is not much else - literally and figuratively. Literally, there are 291 pages of large type with many chapters, the first page of every one is half empty.

Literally, not much happens and the ending is unsatisfying. Parker sets up a good mystery with April Kyle, the damsel/prostitute in distress from prior novels, Patricia Uxley the motherly madam from the same prior novels and Tony Marcus on the sidelines. However, once the mystery is established, very little happens. After a long and unsatisfying stake-out the ending suddenly erupts. It gave the feeling that Parker did not want to make the effort to add some more plot twists or have Spenser more sleuthing.

There is also a lot of gender psycho babble between Susan and Spenser that would have gotten tedious had the book gone on longer.

That having been said, I don't read Spenser for depth of thought or the zen expansion of my horizons. I read him for esacape and to be amused by a quick read (although this one was a bit too quick). This was amusing, made me smile often, usually at the dialogue, and made me wonder at the mystery portion of the plot as far as it went.

I can recommend this book for an amusing light read. I would recommend a library or paperback version. It is too close to a short story to warrant the full hardcover investment.

I may not be the most objective person to ask about this series, as I always rate the newest "Spenser" title either three stars, if it's good, or four stars, if it's very good. A three-star rating means that all the usual fun banter was there and the story was okay, too. A four-star rating means I liked the banter and that the actual story was quite good. I think "Hundred-Dollar Baby" was an example of the latter, mostly because something actually GOT to Spenser this time, namely his inability to simply jump in and save the day for client and friend April Kyle. Also, the ending was memorable, and is likely to resonate in Spenser's psyche for several books to come, if subtly.

Of course, if you want to see Mr. Parker portray lead characters who regularly undergo self doubt, check out his Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall series. That's where Mr. Parker likes to play when he's in the mood to write about characters who are still finding themselves. So, it made for a nice change of pace to see the author's flagship character- the settled and grounded Spenser- go through the mental wringer for once, too. The darker qualities of "Hundred-Dollar Baby" gave it that extra level of interest and complexity, and make it easy to recommend.

Boston private investigator Spenser makes no moral judgments of how people live so when hooker April Kyle (see CEREMONY and TAMING A SEA HORSE) needs help, he provides it. He goes even further hooking (pun intended) her up with a high class madam. April is in trouble again so she turns to Spenser for help. Someone wants to take over her business and so has hired Ollie DeMars to harass and frighten her into paying for protection.

Spenser learns that the man behind the muscle is Lionel Farnsworth who teamed up with April to scare her mentor out of money used to open up a chain of bordellos. April claims she broke off with Lionel when she caught him having sex with one of her girls and tells Spenser to back off. Soon after confronting his client, Spenser finds out that someone murdered Ollie, who once shared a low security cell with Lionel. Spenser feels strongly that April is hiding something from him; he needs to find out what that is because he believes she is in a lot more trouble than she admits.

Spenser is at his best in HUNDRED DOLLAR BABY as he tries to help a female friend who rejects his assistance as she spirals downward. One of the hero's endearing traits is he makes friends with politically incorrect individuals who in many cases work outside the law. Robert B. Parker refreshes his long running series as Spenser struggles with the object of his protection insisting he butt out.

Harriet Klausner

Robert B. Parker and his publisher are up to the same old trick of taking a 100-page short novel and using such devices as heavy stock, wide margins, lots of space between lines and chapters that average 2-3 pages in length to make it into a 279-page book. But I don't really mind, because when one buys a Spenser novel one knows exactly what to expect. In the 33 years since Godwulf Manuscript, Spenser is still the same dinosaur misogynist with a heart of gold. Parker's dialogue remains silly but fun and at times even witty, though rarely very deep. You'll find the same politically incorrect "dialects" (Parker calls it "blackspeak"), especially when Spenser talks with Tony Marcus and the redoubtable Hawk. All that being said, the book remains what we Spenser fans can't wait to gobble up: about 4-5 hours of really fun reading, satisfying in the same way a donut is. It tastes really good and we feel sort of guilty for liking it so much, we know we didn't get anything very substantial from it, but boy, is it satisfying!

I love Spenser as a character. Always have. I love his quick humor. I love his confidence. I love the way he loves people. I love that he feels he has to save people from themselves more often than he saves them from other people trying to harm them.

I probably won't ever dislike Spenser or want to stop reading about him.

But there's the deal: sometimes now, I want more from him. I want more than the dialogue. I want more than the predictable conversations he has with Susan and Hawk. I want. . .what? Not change, precisely. I just want more added to the usual.

In this book, Parker did his usual good job with continuity. That is to say, he didn't write anything that makes Spenser or any other character deviate from his/her norm. Spenser is charged with once again helping a woman he "saved" before, and there's a little tension there because she isn't someone who's easy to save (or even to like).

But overall--the dialogue is remarkably similar to dialogue in previous Spenser novels. There's the same lack of question marks when characters are presumably asking questions. The same quick banter that makes the pages fly but sometimes also leaves the reader wanting. . .well, more.

So, for me, this book was the equivalent of a nice little catch-up with Spenser and his circle. What it didn't do for me was leave me feeling that I knew him any better or had explored much in the way of new, exciting issues.

A little spice would have been nice, Mr. Parker. That said, a ho-hum "Spenser" beats the average crime novel/mystery pretty much any day.

I've been reading the "Spenser" novels since the early eighties, and I've never been disappointed with a single book in the series. Each year it's like getting together with an old friend or two for a few hours of catch-up. Hundred-Dollar Baby is no exception. I enjoyed Mr. Parker bringing back April Kyle and tying up some loose ends. I was hooked by the plot, wondering to myself if April was actually a victim in all this, or if she was the one instigating everything from behind the scenes with a hidden agenda of her own. I was certainly lost like Spenser, not knowing what was going to happen next. I didn't see the ending coming as it did and was totally surprised by what happened to April on the last page. Maybe this was closer to reality. I always enjoy the recurring characters of Susan Silverman, Hawk, Quirk, and Frank Belson and the bantering between them and our number one private eye. Except for maybe Elmore Leonard and Robert Crais, no other author writes dialogue as good as Robert Parker. It was also fun having Tony DeMarcus, Ty-Bop, Patricia Utley, Detective Corsetti, and Teddy Sapp back from previous novels. This was like a family reunion! While Hundred-Dollar Baby isn't the best of the "Spenser" novels, it's still better written and more fun to read than eighty percent of the stuff that's out there. I could read a "Spenser" novel every month and not be disappointed. One thing I'd like to see Mr. Parker do is to have Spenser work a case with Jesse Stone and maybe Sunny Randall. That would be a book to read!

I've read every one of Parker's Spenser books since the '70s. Some are a bit of a disappointment, others are a pleasant surprise - but he never fails to entertain me. I thought this book was one of his better efforts in recent years (as most Spenser fans know the first four books in the series were the best - he's never quite attained that level again.) But I actually thought the plot in this one was pretty interesting and he kept me guessing what was going to happen. Also, like every great fictional detective from Philip Marlowe to Jim Rockford, Spenser has his own moral code that he lives his life by. I love that!

With three series going, it is safe to say that Parker is now writing these in his sleep. His dialogue still crackles, and Susan manages to be less annoying in this book. Still, if you're going to write such a simple plot, at least give us a few Spenser action sequences to enjoy. The ending is far darker than your normal Spenser, but is jarringly so.

If you like Parker, give it a read. If you've never tried him, start with an earlier novel.

Spenser. Hard-boiled, deep-thinking, gentle as a lamb in a china shop when he isn't intimidating you with his tough guy act. I short, Spenser is a thoroughly modern descendant of the noir detectives of the 1940s.

Long ago, Spenser helped April Kyle, a promiscuous young woman, dominated by a bad man. A few decades later, April is an accomplished, high-class prostitute, running what Spenser indelicately refers to as a "whorehouse" in Boston. April seeks out Spenser for help: once again, bad men are threatening her.

Soon the tale deepens as Spenser realizes that he is dealing with a web of lies that takes him from Boston to New York and back to Boston, all the time seeking the advice of his therapist soulmate Susan.

There is no real depth here: just a lot of snappy descriptive dialog and some surprisingly well-drawn characters. Spenser, Susan, Spenser's friend Hawk, the compassionate New York bordello owner.

In short, a light, enjoyable read. It won't keep you awake at night, but it will help you fall asleep.

Jerry