Perish Twice (Paperback)

The story has four major plot lines. The primary one revolves around a bodyguard job that Sunny does for a high profile feminist, Ms. Mary Lou Goddard. Someone is threatening Ms. Goddard. Sunny soon spots a stalker and tracks him down. The path from there takes many twists. The second one involves Sunny's sister Elizabeth who wants to know if her husband is cheating on her. Sunny quickly finds out that he is, and Sunny plays chaperone and analyst for her emotionally floundering and confused sister. The third relates to her friend, Julie, who suddenly walks away from her marriage. The fourth continues Sunny's relationship with her ex-husband, Richie. Each plot line crosses the others from time to time, providing for a rewarding set of developments.

The mystery in the book has two very interesting features. First, it develops surprising depth after what appears to be a very simple beginning and initial plot. Second, Mr. Parker leaves the ending at a place where many stories don't end. As a result, you will have many thoughts about what the story means that you would not otherwise have. That's a fine bit of writing. So you have at least two nice surprises to look forward to enjoying.

After you finish this book, you should think about why connecting to other people is so difficult and painful. Another useful question might be why we don't draw more love and support from our connections to one another. What's missing?

Put honoring your values ahead of pursuing your needs, if you want to enjoy self-respect.

She definitely a woman. There's one scene where she's investigating the murdered man's apartment and notes that he hadn't done a good job of cleaning the bathroom fixtures. I doubt that Spenser would've particularly noticed that.

There's a difference also in her confidence level. She rightly doesn't have Spenser's confidence when it comes to physical confrontation although that might change in time with enough visits to the gym with Spike.

And while there are partial counterparts to characters in the Spenser series, they are only partial. Spike isn't Hawk. Nor is Richie. Richie isn't a male Susan either. Julie isn't Susan Silverman.

Parker is good in his use of characters we know from the Spenser series in this series. We see a different side of Tony Marcus than Spenser sees. Lee Farrell appears in this, and Spenser fans should get a laugh out of one scene in this book...an encounter between Farrell and Sunny's client while Sunny's watching. We get a laugh because we know more about Farrell than either Sunny or the militant feminist client.

Don't expect a truly satisfying ending. Some will find it weak, but I think Parker knew what he was doing. This type of ending does make a person think.

I did have mixed reactions to this book, but it is enjoyable and if you like Parker, you should enjoy this.