Looking for Rachel Wallace (Thorndike Large Print) [Hardcover]

Robert B. Parker (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; Lrg edition (1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560543124
• ISBN-13: 978-1560543121
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,342,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert B. Parker (1932-2010) has long been acknowledged as the dean of American crime fiction. His novel featuring the wise-cracking, street-smart Boston private-eye Spenser earned him a devoted following and reams of critical acclaim, typified by R.W.B. Lewis' comment, "We are witnessing one of the great series in the history of the American detective story" (The New York Times Book Review). In June and October of 2005, Parker had national bestsellers with APPALOOSA and SCHOOL DAYS, and continued his winning streak in February of 2006 with his latest Jesse Stone novel, SEA CHANGE.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Parker attended Colby College in Maine, served with the Army in Korea, and then completed a Ph.D. in English at Boston University. He married his wife Joan in 1956; they raised two sons, David and Daniel. Together the Parkers founded Pearl Productions, a Boston-based independent film company named after their short-haired pointer, Pearl, who has also been featured in many of Parker's novels.

Parker began writing his Spenser novels in 1971 while teaching at Boston's Northeastern University. Little did he suspect then that his witty, literate prose and psychological insights would make him keeper-of-the-flame of America's rich tradition of detective fiction. Parker's fictional Spenser inspired the ABC-TV series Spenser: For Hire. In February 2005, CBS-TV broadcast its highly-rated adaptation of the Jesse Stone novel Stone Cold, which featured Tom Selleck in the lead role as Parker's small-town police chief. The second CBS movie, Night Passage, also scored high ratings, and the third, Death in Paradise, aired on April 30, 2006.

Parker was named Grand Master of the 2002 Edgar Awards by the Mystery Writers of America, an honor shared with earlier masters such as Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen.

Parker died on January 19, 2010, at the age of 77.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite!, June 16, 1999

By 

Anna K. Anderson (Chester, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Looking for Rachel Wallace (Paperback)

Spencer is truly himself here. He is hired to protect a lesbian author who is a feminist activist. Parker creates her to be a warm person if a bit prickly. This remarkable story is really more about what Heterosexual Spencer is and how he feels about this lesbian person (and oh, by the way, Susan is there and contributing to both solutions) how she must come to realize that even though he is everything she feels she must fight against, she grudgingly comes to respect and, yes, admire Spencer. It sounds hokey, and the lesbian angle is not a turn on either. But trust me, this book is special. I have come across it late, this being 1999, but it is truly a remarkable book. You cannot read it without feeling good.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars War Between The Sexes, July 21, 2006

By 

Mel Odom (Moore, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Looking for Rachel Wallace (Paperback)

Take one testosterone-laden private eye with and admirable world view but who knows that his code of honor is the backbone of everything he believes in (Spenser). Add one fiesty lesbian feminist out to point out the faults and foibles of a male-dominated society (Rachel Wallace). Shake vigorously to mix the two together so they become combatants. Season with vicious hired gunmen. It all adds up to one of the most delicious dishes ever served by Robert B. Parker.

Hired by a book publisher to protect Rachel Wallace, one of their hottest properties, Spenser finds himself at odds again and again with the woman he's supposed to take care of. Both of them have their own ways of doing things, and both are intractable. Eventually their differences outweigh the reasons they should stay together and Spenser gets fired. However, someone kidnaps Rachel Wallace and Boston's toughest private eye makes things personal when he goes looking for her. Through the bluebloods and the hired street muscle, through a snowstorm that shuts the city down, Spenser goes on the hunt, mowing over everyone that gets in his path.

Robert B. Parker is the author of the Spenser novels, the Jesse Stone novels and the Sunny Randall novels as well as others.

This book, along with EARLY AUTUMN and MORTAL STAKES, is the best to define Spenser's character and Robert B. Parker's thoughts on the world and his place in it. In the course of this short novel, Parker explores the differences between the male and female of the human species, and the struggle that each undertakes to understand the other. This isn't a societal diatribe. It's a great novel that's larger than the sum of its parts. Not only does the suspenseful action and great dialogue keep a reader turning pages, but it serves up a healthy does of thought-provoking commentary as well.

Readers who have never read a Spenser novel before would find this a good starting place. This is one of the foundation novels that spins completely out of the character, up against others and up against the world. Readers looking for a a great private eye novel with heart need to look no farther.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars true blue, March 18, 2004

By 

Simon Crowe (Greenville, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Looking for Rachel Wallace (Paperback)

In LOOKING FOR RACHEL WALLACE, Spenser is hired to bodyguard the title character, an outspoken lesbian author. Ms. Wallace and Spenser don't see eye to eye, and after she fires him, she gets kidnapped. Spenser spends the rest of the book looking for her.
I've read almost all of these books, and this one contains I think the best description of Spenser's personality,when Susan compares him to Sir Gawain. There's some comedy in the early scenes with the juxtaposition of Spenser and Rachel, but Rachel is characterized a little broadly, humorless and cranky. Spenser figures out the mystery pretty early on and spends the rest of the book trying to find Rachel. This is worth a couple of hours of your time on a Saturday afternoon.