Small Vices
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Ellis Alves is no angel. But his lawyer says he was framed for the murder of college student Melissa Henderson...and asks Spenser for help.
From Boston's back streets to Manhattan's elite, Spenser and Hawk search for suspects, including Melissa's rich-kid, tennis-star boyfriend. But when a man with a .22 puts Spenser in a coma, the hope for justice may die with him...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Spenser returns in top form (his 24th adventure, following Chance) to clear a man wrongly imprisoned for murdering a woman college student. Ellis Alves, a black man with sexual assaults on his record, was convicted easily when two witnesses said they saw him kidnap the victim. Former prosecutor Rita Fiore suspects a frame-up, however, and hires old pal Spenser to investigate. "You gonna get buried," Alves warns Spenser and his sidekick Hawk. Sure enough, reopening the case pits them against the victim's influential parents, her hostile tennis-star boyfriend and his wealthy family, and the state cop who arrested Alves. Four Boston thugs can't force Spenser off the case, but an imported hit man pours several bullets into him. Barely surviving, Spenser emerges from a coma with his gun hand useless. Parker writes a powerful, affecting description of Spenser's painful rehab. The sharp, densely compacted dialogue, a hallmark of this series, exceeds itself here. Even psychologist Susan Silverman's discourse, as she shrink-raps on Spenser's motivation, has a lower than usual pretense quotient. Susan wants to adopt a child with Spenser, but he is determined to risk another clash with the hit man. Spenser, still thoroughly convincing as the tough and decent PI, seeks bits of justice where he can. Even after 23 years on the job (The Godwulf Manuscript, Spenser's first appearance, was published in 1974), nobody does it better. BOMC selection
Customer Reviews
Small Vices
Good read. Deep thoughts. Real life. Unlikely story.
Parker: fun exactly as usual
You know what you’re getting before you open the book. It helps to be from Boston. You know the characters all the way down to Pearl the Wonder Dog. Reading Parker is like taking a trip home to be with the family, almost like a family reunion. This is so satisfying. (I wish, however, that Parker would stop describing everyone’s clothing. Yes, if you’re from Boston, you can often tell from the descriptions where the clothing was purchased. A little about clothing would be OK with me, but Parker goes overboard.)
Anyway, the plots are usually pretty good and are in this book. I love reading Parker. Mysteries, yes, but so soothing.
In this book, one departure from the norm. The big guy gets
seriously hurt. I have t seen that before in a Parker mystery.
Never mind, all comes out well...but of course! The book is fun, and so is the mystery. How satisfying, almost like a bedtime story.