The Godwulf Manuscript (Hardcover)

by Robert B. Parker (Author) "The office of the university president looked like the front parlor of a successful Victorian whorehouse..." (more)
Key Phrases: sonova bitch, black cop, Terry Orchard, Cathy Connelly, Godwulf Manuscript (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"Robert B. Parker has taken his place beside Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross MacDonald".--The Boston Globe. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

From the Publisher
6 1-hour cassettes --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co (January 1974)
• ISBN-10: 0395180112
• ISBN-13: 978-0395180112
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,970,332 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't Wait to Read the Rest!, April 5, 2001

By	"atticus99" (Coon Rapids, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Godwulf Manuscript (Mass Market Paperback)

I love reading mysteries. I've torn through John Sanford, Michael Connelly, Jeffrey Deaver, Elmore Leonard, Ross MacDonald, and the like...and so, it's with a little shame that I admit I hadn't read a Spenser novel before now. My mother told me that the authors I was reading now, while good, were basically following the formula that Robert B. Parker had been perfecting for the last 25 years. So rather than picking up "Potshot", his newest book, I went to the used bookstore and found myself the first book in the series. Although a little out of my element with references to people and styles that were popular when I was three years old (the book was first published in 1973), the story crackles like any on the shelves today. I was reminded of the gritty violent world that Dennis Lehane portrays in his Boston mysteries starring Kenzie and Gennaro, and the wise-cracking wit of Robert Crais' Elvis Cole. Of course, now I realize that these PI's owe a great deal of their success to Spenser. The plot of the mystery in "The Godwulf Manuscript" was fair and interesting, but ultimately it is secondary to the captivating character of Spenser and the people surrounding him. I cared less about the unfolding of the mystery of where the Godwulf Manuscript went and who took it, than I did learning about the people who were involved in the deadly circumstances surrounding it. An excellent first book of a series. I'm thrilled to know that 27 more Spenser books are in my future!

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars First Spenser novel an interesting study in character, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Godwulf Manuscript (Mass Market Paperback)

This was Parker's first Spenser novel, and after having read most of those that follow, it was interesting and surprising to find that Spenser wasn't a terribly likeable character in the "early days." I like him much better in later books. He's a sleaze in this first book! But The Godwulf Manuscript has all the Spenser-style wise-cracking, irreverent, sarcastic wit that makes me laugh as I read. Interesting plot. If you've never read a Spenser novel, start with this one but read the later novels too. It gets better!

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well-written but pretty standard private eye stuff, September 17, 2000

By	Kinsey Millhone (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Godwulf Manuscript (Mass Market Paperback)

I'm a nut for reading series in order, so when I decided to tackle Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels, I started here. Now, I am definitely planning to continue making my way through the series, but if it weren't for Parker's sterling reputation, I don't know that I would have been inspired to pick up Book 2 after reading "The Godwulf Manuscript." For anyone who's read a lot of private eye novels, this is a fairly standard tale of a two-fisted gumshoe who's always drinking, fighting, irresistible to women, etc. Plus it's set against an early '70s backdrop of student rebellion which seems almost quaint now. Nevertheless, I like Spenser's sassy first-person voice, and I've already started "God Save the Child." Onward and upward!