Widow's Walk [Paperback]

"Widow's Walk" is very much a traditional Spenser story, where our hero gets nowhere but plugs on determinedly knowing that sooner or later he will tick somebody off. There is something of a twist to this approach this time around because although we do have the obligatory scenes where a couple of thugs try to show Spenser the error of his ways, the main thing here is the growing number of bodies he is leaving in his wake through the course of his investigation. We also learn that the end may well be near for one of the more beloved supporting players in the series. This is not a great Spenser novel, but it is a solid effort and it seems like it has been a while since we had one of those. Certainly I laughed more reading this one than I have Parker's other recent efforts.

Final comment: Parker's novels have always been ideal for those of us living the commuter lifestyle, but that might make "Widow's Walk" something of a liability in hardback. I polished this book off in about two hours and that was without trying hard and stopping to explain why I was making annoying laughing sounds from time to time. That would make the per hour rate relatively high, especially compared to something like the latest Tom Clancy opus

"Widow's Walk" is very much a traditional Spenser story, where our hero gets nowhere but plugs on determinedly knowing that sooner or later he will tick somebody off. There is something of a twist to this approach this time around because although we do have the obligatory scenes where a couple of thugs try to show Spenser the error of his ways, the main thing here is the growing number of bodies he is leaving in his wake through the course of his investigation. We also learn that the end may well be near for one of the more beloved supporting players in the series. This is not a great Spenser novel, but it is a solid effort and it seems like it has been a while since we had one of those. Certainly I laughed more reading this one than I have Parker's other recent efforts.

Final comment: Parker's novels have always been ideal for those of us living the commuter lifestyle, but that might make "Widow's Walk" something of a liability in hardback. I polished this book off in about two hours and that was without trying hard and stopping to explain why I was making annoying laughing sounds from time to time. That would make the per hour rate relatively high, especially compared to something like the latest Tom Clancy opus

Still this isn't a bad book and spending two or three hours with it is more enjoyable than most of what you'll find on TV.

Maybe some of Spenser's readers are tiring also. I saw a couple of reviews written by those who seemed to have lost out on who killed Nathan, and others who didn't see the significance of Susan's client who commits suicide compared to the possibility of Nathan's suicide, or her feeling of failure because of her client's suicide compared to Spenser's failure to protect a character who came to him for protection. All of the above shows that Parker hasn't lost it yet, but I fear he's tiring.

This Spenser book does have a surplus of characters, even after a larger than usual number of them get killed.

So what am I saying? I'm saying that this is a must for Spenser addicts, but only because it is Spenser. However, it is rather pedestrian and it may be that your strongest emotion in reading the book is regret that Pearl is indeed getting pretty old.