 |
- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Putnam Pub Group;
(March 10, 2003)
- ISBN: 0399149775
|
|
|
Book
Description
In 1974, a revolutionary group calling
itself The Dread Scott Brigade held up the Old Shawmut Bank in
Boston's Audubon Circle. Money was stolen. And a woman named
Emily Gordon, a visitor in town cashing traveler's checks, was
shot and killed.
No one saw
who shot her. Despite security-camera photos and a letter from
the group claiming responsibility, the perpetrators have
remained at large for nearly three decades.
Enter Paul Giacomin, the closest thing to a son Spenser has.
Twice before, Spenser's come to the young man's assistance;
and now Paul is thirty-seven, his troubled past behind
him.
When Paul's
friend Daryl Gordon-daughter of the long-gone Emily-decides
she needs closure regarding her mother's death, it's Spenser
she turns to.
The lack of
clues and a missing FBI intelligence report force Spenser to
reach out in every direction-to Daryl's estranged, hippie
father, to Vinnie Morris and the mob, to the mysterious
Ives-testing his resourcefulness and his courage.
Taut, tense, and expertly crafted, this is Robert B. Parker at
his storytelling best.
In this 30th
entry in one of mystery fiction's longest-running and best-loved
series, Spenser--the tough
yet sensitive Boston private eye with no first name--takes on an
unsolved murder nearly three decades old.
The client, an actress, is a friend of
Paul Giacomin, Spenser's surrogate son (who first appeared in
1981's Early Autumn). Her mother was slain by leftist
radicals at a bank holdup in 1974, and now she wants to know who
fired the shot. As Spenser digs into the past, he soon learns
that powerful people on both sides of the law want the case left
alone--badly enough to kill.
These death threats provide a fine excuse for Hawk,
Spenser's extremely scary (yet sensitive) bad-guy pal, to tag
along in nearly every scene as bodyguard. The interaction of the
two friends is one of this series' familiar pleasures, as is the
presence of Susan Silverman, Spenser's longtime love interest.
Another pleasure is Parker's stripped-down prose, a marvel of
craftsmanship as smooth as 18-year-old Scotch. (Plus we get the
first meeting between Spenser and Jesse Stone, hero of another
Parker series.)
Alas, the whole enterprise feels a little tired. The plot
never generates much sustained suspense, and the author's
adoration for his central characters renders them at times
almost cartoonesque.
Still, Back Story is excellently prepared comfort
food, even if it isn't five-star cuisine. --Nicholas H.
Allison
|
