Customer Reviews

Small Vices (Charnwood Library)

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

- It wasn't until I started reading "Small Vices" that I realized how much I'd missed Robert Parker and his Spenser series. During an 18-month period about two years ago I read all of Parker's books. I haven't read any of his books since. And then recently I picked up this new book and, although I was having a bad day, I was soon smiling and laughing. Spenser was back and I was sure enjoying his company. I've tried before to determine exactly why I love this series so much, since the basic concept is so cliched: Spenser is a tough, strong private eye, but with a heart of gold, who usually gets the bad guy. He's very ethical and serious at times, like Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder character, but he is also quite funny at times, a la Donald Westlake. Mostly, though, he is witty, sharp and smart. I suspect that part of me thinks that I could be Spenser if I buffed up and learned how to throw a punch. The writing is always tight in his books. During one conversation, for example, Spenser tells the reader simply, "I had nothing to add to that," whereas other writers would elaborate on that thought. There is also a racial element to the series, with Spenser's buddy, Hawk, a black tough guy who acts dumber than he is and plays to the racial stereotype but is actually quite intelligent and uses people's expectation of him to his advantage. All of this results in great dialogue. At one point in this book, for example, Spenser is injured. "I don't need that much help," Spenser said. "He ain't heavy," Hawk said. "He's my brother." In this book, Spenser is hired by a law firm concerned that a black man convicted of murdering a white girl in an almost all-white college may actually be innocent of that crime. The suspect is guilty, though, of raping other women so few go out of their way to help Spenser unravel the truth. Spenser also encounters great deal of racism. Soon some tough guys tell Spenser to quit his investigation and throw him some muscle. He pretty much ignores the threats until he starts getting followed by a guy who prefers to let his bullets do the talking. And then things get really interesting. Meanwhile, Spenser's long-time girlfriend, Susan, wants to adopt a child but Spenser is against the idea but doesn't want to make her mad either. This is certainly not Parker's best book, but even a weak Parker book is better than much of the novels currently available. Part of the problem may be that Parker has been writing this series for too long, more than 20 years now, so it will be interesting to see how a new non-Spenser book he has out compares. And when I read that one, I'll tell you my conclusion.

Robert Parker writes like a skater on ice who floats effortlessly. He may put a lot of work into his writing, but he does not groan and grunt for our benefit. He presents the reader with polished pieces. This is elegance.

I have read a dozen of Parker's books, and enjoyed every one. However, I would say Small Vices is the most heroic, in that this book deals with grand themes. Academics may sneer at mystery novels, or come slumming, but these are our myths for the modern world.

If you haven't read the book, please stop reading this review here, because I wouldn't want to spoil anybody's enjoyment. The book has the classic Spenser scenes: the Threat, Displaying the Weapons, Pearl the Wonder Dog, great dialogue, vivid character sketches, and so forth. Spenser is careless, though. He shouldn't have been out running alone with the Grey Man on his trail.

Curious. In the end, everybody gets off. Spenser gets off with wounds, the Grey Man gets off without jail, the parents get off, the murderer gets off, the wronged prisoner gets off, and Hawk gets off with no pay for ten months' TLC. The only person who really loses is the victim, and she died happy.

This is one of my favorite Spenser tales. And we love him because . . . . I guess it's kind of that John Wayne feeling, you like to have a big guy around who can always be relied upon to take care of business. Here, he almost fails, and that's the magnetism of Small Vices.

Spenser is hired by the now successful, leggy Rita Fiore. There is the usual overt flirting ". . . too bad you didn't . . ." and "Boy, if you only had . . ." and "you had your chance . . " that we've come to chuckle at and with the honorable sleuth.

Here he's asked to track down 'the real murderer' which will free a man wrongfully doing life in the hard place.

It's hard to pity the imprisoned man Spenser is asked to free. It seems most feel he doesn't really deserve to be freed . . . even the loyal friend Hawk feels that Alves belongs in jail, "either for this crime or one he got away with."

But Spenser, who again tells someone his first name but not us, gets too close and takes three slugs to the shoulder, leg and chest.

It takes Susan, Hawk, Quirk, Belson, Lee Farrel and Vinnie nearly a year to rehab Spenser, who loses 40 pounds in the process, has a hard time making his limbs do what he wants them to, and basically can't walk. But they do and honor and heroism prevail, villains are suitably thrashed, and Susan and Spenser hook up. Again. And again.

There's a lot of vulnerability in Spenser this time. Like Joe Pike in The Last Detective, his body has betrayed him and he is lost. Sadness, even tears. The pages describing Spenser trying to get up the hill in Santa Barbara after again learning how to walk again are riveting. Good stuff.

If I had a disappointment, it was Spenser's laissez faire attitude towards Hawk who took a year off to mentor/train/help him. But maybe that's part of the mystique, he knew how he felt and so did Hawk.

Great stuff. Rachel Wallace is still #1 for me but Small Vices is a close second.

I have listened to most of the Spenser series in unabrdiged format from my local library, and this certainly ranks as one of the best I've heard.

The production version is unquestionably the best. While I have loved Michael Pritchard's voice as Spenser in the past, Burt Reynolds does a remarkable job of portraying all of the Spenser cast. The hardest is always Hawk, and Reynolds brings it off beautifully. The music cues actually add to the novel, which is something I have never heard before in years of listening to books.

The story is one of the more imaginitive ones I have yet heard from Parker. A good adversary for Spenser is something I have been longing for, and the "Gray Man" fits the bill. The plot is engaging, we see sides of Spenser and his relationship with Susan previously unexplored, and deeper glimpses of Spenser's friendship with Hawk.

And this has got to be the only appearance of a rifle chambered in .458 Magnum in a novel. I gotta know where Parker gets his weapons information.

I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could, but I can't, and it's closer to 4.6, so I give it 5. Not perfect, but wonderful. I hated to hear the ending.

This is a review of the audio book - not the novel. Prior to listening to this version of the novel I had heard 10 other "Spenser" novels on CD. Then I bought two new CDs: one in which Wm. Windom is the reader and this one, in which Burt Reynolds is the reader. The previous 10 had been read by Joe Mantegna.

Now I don't know how others feel, but when I discover a new author who has created great characters I like to spend time with those characters. I read the books over and over. The best ones I never tire of. I love the physical settings, the relationships between the characters and many other attributes of the story. Hearing the story read adds another dimension and, particularly in the Parker novels, which are filled with humor, I sometimes pick up added bits of humor because the pace of the story is slower than when I zip through it myself. This presupposes that there is nothing in the voice of the reader to distract from the story. Joe Mantegna's voice is neutral enough so that it doesn't intrude on the story itself.

The reader in this story, however has such a deep, gravelly voice that it is a constant distraction from the story. The reader also moves his voice up and down an octave range that forces me to continually adjust the volume. Either he drops his voice so that I can barely hear him or his audio is so loud that the volume has to be turned down. I did not really appreciate Mantegna's presentations until I listened to Windom and Reynolds. With both of them the medium is indeed the message.

This is my second reading of 'Small Vices'. I'd read it before, years ago, and all I remembered was that this is the one in which Spenser gets himself shot and very nearly killed. (The beauty, I guess, of having so many Spenser novels is that it is hard to keep them all straight so I can go back and re-read them like they're new every few years).

If you are familiar with Spenser, most of your favorites see some action. If not, this may be a good one to start with, although I would recommend some of the older ones to begin.

The never-aging Spenser lives through an entire year of his life in this one, but don't worry, he still doesn't age. Neither do Hawk or Susan. They're like James Bond in that respect. It used to bug me but I know that I don't want to read about Hawk and Spenser's adventures in a nursing home.

The Spenser novels are really about Don Quixote, dressed up as a modern detective. Spenser is better at what he does than Don Quixote was, but has the same appeal.

Fortunately for Spenser fans, the other characters are drawn as finely and uniquely, and bring much appeal to any story. It's like visiting your somewhat funny, dysfunctional family for a reunion.

I appreciate it when Robert Parker breaks up the stories with new plot complications. Spenser's injury makes this book all the more rewarding by providing new perspectives on one of fiction's most appealing detectives.

If you are a Spenser fan, don't miss it.

If yo are not yet a Spenser fan, this is a worthy book to start with.

I give this the highest rating because I consider it one of the important Spenser books. Basically, Spenser is confident that he's going to be better than his adversary, and so when he is nearly killed by an expert, he needs to deal with his mortality.

The ironic part of this is that he's working to find out if an absolute loser of a gangbanger is guilty of the murder he's accused of. This novel poses questions both of mortality and of morality. There's the question of how important is "The Truth". Deals are made and those who end up in prison may be more worthwhile to society than those who don't.

This is a Spenser novel which, although a quick read, gives you ethical problems to ponder. Very highly recommended.

Just when I think that Robert Parker can't get any better with his Spenser series, I read something even more superior than the last. Small Vices ranks up there with one of his best.

Spenser is hired by Rita Fiore, one time assistant DA and now working for a private law firm with deep pockets. A black man, Ellis Alves, has been convicted of murdering a young girl from Pemberton College. The firm believes that he was framed. Alves is a career criminal and not many people are sorry to see him behind bars. But as Spenser starts reinvestigating the case, it is obvious that someone very powerful will stop at nothing to prevent the truth from being discovered. Spenser matches wits with a professional hetman nicknamed Gray Man, who is the most dangerous and talented nemesis that he's ever faced. An encounter with Gray Man almost costs Spenser his life.

As usual, the old gang is back including friend Hawk, psychologist-girlfriend Susan Silverman, and Pearl the Wonder Dog. There is also a subplot where Susan wants to make a major change in their relationship (I can't say that this change entails without spoiling the book). There is always great dialogue and good observations. Spenser evaluates his relationship with Susan: "The way I loved her never varied. But how I liked her could go up and down; and it went down most when she was being professional."

After reading a number of Parker's books, I'm tempted to go back and watch some of the old Spenser For Hire television series. I remember them being thoroughly enjoyable, but I'd now like to compare them to the books.

When "Small Vices" begins you think that Spenser's biggest problem is going to be that Susan Silverman wants to adopt a baby and our hero does not. Spenser is hired by former assistant DA Rita Fiore to look into the conviction of career criminal Ellis Alves for killing Melissa Henderson, a Pemberton College coed. Alves' former attorney thinks he might have been framed and Fiore's law firm is footing the bill to find out the truth. Of course our hero meets with mondo resistance: Melissa's parents are outraged, the investigating cop is irate, the witnesses are not being forthright, and some thugs show up to warn Spenser to drop the case. If that last one was not enough to tell Spenser that something is up, the case does not make sense at face value. But as he gets closer and closer to the truth, a new person shows up to warn Spenser off. The "Grey Man" is a hired assassin, and people who know them both warn our hero that this might be the one man who can take him. After a first hit fails, Spenser continues to investigate while playing a game of cat and mouse with the Grey Man. That is when things get catastrophic. For the first time, Spenser has to depend on Susan, Hawk and the inner circle for the support and strength necessary to get through some very hard times.

From time to time in Robert B. Parker's novels, Spenser takes a fall: clients have been killed, souls have not been saved, and the less said about Susan leaving him the better. But "Small Vices" provides a new level of personal trauma for our hero. This twist revitalizes the standard elements in Parker's series wherein Spenser searches for the truth and then has to determine what to do with that knowledge to make things right. In Spenser's world there are always hard choices to be made and "Small Vices" contains some of the hardest ones he has ever had to make. After all, you have to remember Susan wants to adopt a baby. "Small Vices" is one of the very best novels in the series, but please remember that you really should read these books in order as the dynamics of the key relationships and the addition of new members to the cast of merry men is an important part of what is going on. As always, these books are perfect for the commuter life style. With the rides to and from work, with lunch thrown in for good measure, you can read these in a day or two.