Customer Reviews

PAPER DOLL.

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have read all the Parker books more than once, and this one is my favorite. You shouldn't start with it - it would be better to be familiar with the character first - but if you're going to pick and choose, choose this one. The mystery is top-shelf, the supporting characters are carefully drawn, there isn't too much of the adorably annoying Susan, and Spenser is at his wise-cracking best. He really hit his stride with this book.

I bought this book to give to someone else and read it myself only because I had run out of books of my own. I was hooked. By the time the summer was over, I had read 4 more Spenser novels and now have my name on our local library's waiting list for the new novels. I have read all the Spenser novels now and love them. I never did get a chance to watch the TV series but have seen a couple of TV movies. I like the books better.

I have read many, many of the Spencer books. Some I liked better than others. I rank this one close to the top. Spencer is hired to find out who killed Olivia Nelson. She was killed with many blows to the head with a hammer. The police have done all they can to find the killer but had no success. Spencer is hired by Olivia's husband. A trip is made back to a town in South Carolina, where Olivia Nelson came from. But is her real name Olivia Nelson? Yes, there is a person by that name but where is she? Why would a Senator want to keep Spencer from finding out anything? Spencer in jail?????? Many, many twists and turns. The ending is very good, really two endings, finding the killer and finding out about the senator. A good Spencer read! The only thing that would make it better, for me, would be less Susan and more Hawk.

Robert B. Parker does a marvelous job in this book of interweaving southern culture into the story. He certainly did his homework, and I respect that. If it is formulaic, it is an excellent formula that works for me.

As with all his Spenser books, Parker's writing in this is so smooth, so witty, with so much descriptive power, that I enjoy reading it even without the nicely-progressing plot. Maybe it's because I feel that I know Spenser and Quirk pretty well, but, whatever the reason, I find the part where Spenser is being brutalized in a Southern jail and Quirk walks in and walks him out, followed by their bracing of the two instigators (not Southerners, by the way) to be the scene I enjoy reading again and again.

this is an old book by Parker but it retains its freshness since it is well written and follows "The Widening Gyre" in its relationship to politicians. For once little time is spent belaboring the love angle between Spenser and Susan Silverman, she is used to explore the driving force in the people Spenser is investigating. His buddy, Hawk, is barely mentioned and the story is main-line, not gendre driven as mystery, police, crime, or even favorite character. In this book Spenser is called Mr. Spenser, helping to solve the questios about his name as a given name, family name, nickname, or whatever; it is Mr. Spenser. The story starts out as seemingly an investigation into a murder but it switches into a study of family ties, political maneuvering and ethics. There are no money problems involving Spenser but the ohers, well, that seems to be the story although it is well concealed until near the end. The ending is well plotted and, so far as I am concerned, it ends as I would have wanted it to.

This is another Spenser story with the flavor of a who-dun-it and a very tragic undertone as you learn the stories of the murdered woman, her husband and children, her mother, her father and his servant, and a new continuing character introduced in this story, a gay police detective named Farrell.

Part of Parker's skill is shown in the way previous characters reappear. There's a brief reference to Vinnie, Joe Broz' long time hit man who left the mobster in a previous story. Susan plays a lesser role this time, as does Hawk. In Hawk's case, this is only fair since he carried the last book in the series.

All in all, this is a very good Spenser, but be prepared for the underlying tragedy of several lives here.

I have read several of the Spenser books. This one started very promisingly, with witty dialogue and an interesting background. But about halfway through the book, the plot gave out. Spenser gets a lucky (too lucky) break when he spots a certain photograph, but the thread it offers to unravel the mystery is only minimally drawn out. The murdered woman remains a cipher to the end, her secrets barely unveiled. Too many secondary characters are mere page-filling red herrings (the sexy secretary, the sexy Southern detective, the overaggressive teenager). The murderer eventually just confesses his/her guilt to a passive Spenser. And, worst of all, at the last moment, to create the illusion of closure, the author invents a new, unrelated crime, both nameless and motivationless, so that Spenser can have one of the suspects arrested in a sham climax. A good premise gone nowhere.

I've read most of the Spenser novels, and I find them great entertainment. The problem, however, is that most of the later ones pretty much follow the same formula, and ultimately end up being quite predictable. Still, Robert Parker is a good enough writer that I enjoy nearly all of his books, even though I find them pretty much by-the-numbers at this point.

PAPER DOLL is a murder mystery that has a couple of decent twists, and I was genuinely surprised by the identity of the culprit. Some of the characters, such as the corrupt U.S. Senator, are on the cartoonish side, but that's a minor complaint. The dialogue and descriptions are top notch, and you can finish this novel in one or two sittings.

In short, PAPER DOLL is a fun diversion, although not a spectacular effort. If you want a great Spenser book, you may want to try one of Parker's earlier novels, such as GOD SAVE THE CHILD, EARLY AUTUMN, or THE JUDAS GOAT.

The answers to Boston murders aren't always in Boston. When Spenser identifies an Emerson quotation, Loudon Tripp decides that he would be an appropriate investigator. Tripp's wife, Olivia Nelson, had been murdered at Louisburg Square, not an ordinary address for a crime scene. Grief causes a kind of denial to set in. Tripp claims that everything in the family's life was perfect. Having no leads, Spenser decides to go to the victim's hometown. He learns that her father is still alive. The private investigator's relationship to the police officer assigned to the murder case is complex and interesting.

Spenser's travels, his way of putting together clues are of substantial interest to the reader. Parker's description of the actors is apt. The change of scene is fun. This is more intricately plotted than many Parker books and the care taken is all to the good.