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Title: Widow's Walk by Joe Mantegna, Robert Parker ISBN: 0-553-71471-6 Publisher: Random House Audio Pub. Date: 19 March, 2002 Format: Audio CD Volumes: 5 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.34 (74 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Nobody Cares
Comment: In a scene in Robert Parker's "Widow's Walk," Spenser is explaining his newest case to Susan Silverman while she makes egg salad. When I found myself thinking about why Susan would decide to use Miracle Whip instead of mayonaise, and paying no attention to whether Spenser's ditsy blonde client killed her husband, I realized that something had gone seriously wrong here. Even Parker is more interested in the egg salad than he should be. He doesn't seem to care about the people he created, nor about what happens to them.
I can understand it, poor guy. Imagine trying to keep caring when you're writing the twenty-ninth book of a series. But, although it is easy to understand, it is not at all easy to keep ploughing through the result.
"Widow's Walk" is a badly written book, and even Spenser himself -- who's greatest appeal for me is his rock-solid resolve to help wherever he can -- can't help on this one. He says, more than half-way through the book, that he has no idea what is going on with his case. And neither do we.
The novels we never forget share one thing in common. They make us care a very great deal about what happens to their characters. Pick up "The Count of Monte Cristo" and you'll see that Dumas accomplished it in what may be a record, in the first paragraphs of the first page. Dickins does it. Tolstoy does it. Flaubert does it. And Parker does it. Paul Giacomin as he grew into himself, under Spenser's inimitable guidance, is a beautifully wrought and memorable character.
Spenser lends his strength, his wit, his savvy and his great heart to his clients because he cares what happens to them. And so do we. But not in "Widow's Walk."
Forget this one happened, Parker, and please do it for us again.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Boston Red Sox of Private Cops
Comment: Decades ago with his GODWULF MANUSCRIPT, Robert B. Parker largely reinvented the mystery sub-genre of the tough-guy private eye novel. He showed us all how to update this traditional American prototypical character for today's sensibilities, and Parker's Spenser has earned a place among the most popular of our age's PIs.
As does his beloved Red Sox, Parker sends a fresh Spenser mystery onto the field of play every year. Each spring, Spenser seems like a championship creation. Every novel is consistently thrilling, witty, unpredictable, and, in the end, a bit heartbreaking. This series is obviously written by a Red Sox fan. One knows when they begin that in the end all will not be idyllic.
WIDOW'S WALK fits this Spenser mold perfectly. Parker is amazingly consistent. In this novel, Spenser is hired by Rita Fiore (an series semi-regular)to help build her defense for her client Mary Smith. Mary's husband, Nathan, of Mayflower lineage, is murdered. Mary, his much younger and terribly unfaithful, widow is everyone's, including Rita's, favorite suspect.
Spenser springs into action. Pearl the Wonder Dog is on hand. Susan is here, and, of course, so is Hawk. WIDOW'S WALK has all we have grown to expect from Parker's series. The witty dialog snaps rapidly throughout. Parker's social observations are astute. The true origin of the crime rests with a real estate scam. As one reads WIDOW'S WALK, one has to hope that this year the Red Sox will actually find a way to win the World Series in October. The last time Parker's team won it, the Series was played in September.
WIDOW'S WALK is an excellent novel.
Rating: 3
Summary: Unfortunately, not a great introduction to Robert Parker
Comment: I picked up Widow's Walk from the library, to listen to while I commuted to work. This was my introduction to Robert B. Parker and as such, also to Spenser.
Joe Mantegna reads very well for the characters and manages to convey very believable characters. As I listened, my imagination played some film noir soundtrack in the background.
There are a great many characters in the storyline. At one point I almost lost track of who was whom. And golly, everyone but the main characters seemed to die. It was as if they were all cursed with a Red Uniform from the original Star Trek days. And I think Parker seemed to concentrate more on having them dead than fleshing out the reasons or the writing behind the reasons for their deaths. The reasons just didn't seem to want to stick in my head. That felt unsatisfying.
All else considered, Widow's Walk was good for light reading, or listening, as the case was for me, but it wasn't exactly material that made me enthused about returning for another dose of Parker. I don't dislike his writing; it was just.. okay. It wasn't until I read the other Amazon readers' reviews for Widow's Walk that I figured I ought to give the earlier Spensers a go.
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Title: Back Story: A Spenser Novel by Robert B. Parker ISBN: 0399149775 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 10 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Pot Shot by Robert B. Parker ISBN: 0425182886 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 04 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Sudden Mischief by Robert B. Parker ISBN: 042516828X Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Shrink Rap by Robert B. Parker ISBN: 0515136204 Publisher: Jove Pubns Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Hush Money by Robert B. Parker ISBN: 0425174018 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 10 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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