Robert B. Parker Overload!

So . . . I also caught up with the books I hadn't read in the Sunny Randall series.  I like Sunny, sort of reluctantly, so I was happy to find there were four I hadn't read. On Robert B. Parker's website, it says he wrote the series so Helen Hunt would have a Parker movie role.  Really Sunny's just a female Spenser.  They talk and think alike, so the books really aren't noticeably different from the Spenser books.  Except for no Hawk, which is a definite negative.  She has Spike, though, and Spike's wonderful.  And Rosie instead of Pearl for us dog lovers.

I can't quite get my head around Shrink Rap.  The actual book didn't seem familiar, but the plot was so deja vu that I couldn't help wondering if I'd read the book before.  It almost seems like Parker might have used this same plot (woman has to go undercover to trap a psychiatrist who is victimizing women) in a Spenser novel.  Usually I remember actual scenes or phrases from books I've already read, and this didn't ring any of those bells.  Still . . . this plot . . . I've been there before.

Melancholoy Baby was my least favorite of the remaining three because you know who the "who" in "who dunit" is long before the end.  The "mystery" you're left with is "How will they prove it?"  Which isn't that interesting.

The best part about Blue Screen was that it combined Sunny and another Parker character, Jesse Stone.  Sunny and Jesse seem made for each other because they're both having problems moving on to a new relationship because they're so stuck on their exes.  There's some great chemistry there.  

However, I'm guessing some fans (or maybe Parker himself) had major objections, because by the time Spare Change opens, their relationship hasn't worked out.  It could just be because I read four in a row, but the whole angst-driven thing about the Sunny/Richie "relationship" is starting to get on my nerves.  (I'm not much on extracurricular angst, being a middle school teacher.)  Another thing that bothered me was that in Blue Screen Richie had remarried and was having a son.  But in Spare Change Richie is thinking about divorce and no child is mentioned.  What the heck happened to the kid?  Angst aside, the main plot of the book was engaging enough, and it would probably be a tie between Spare Change and Blue Screen for which of the four I liked best.

(R: sex, violence, language)

Catching up with Robert B. Parker

It had been awhile since I'd read a Parker book, and I realized with greedy joy that I had quite the selection to choose from.  Thankfully, even with two junior book lovers at home, my library card was not quite maxed out, so I checked out a bunch.  

I read Widow's Walk first, and it wasn't that great.  It served to remind me of all the things I like about Parker and his main character, tough-guy private detective Spenser.  But the client Spenser is working for is incredibly shallow and stupid (and she's supposed to be).  It's more fun to hang out with Spenser when he's hanging out with people who are worth your while.

I loved Cold Service because it had lots of Hawk in it, and who doesn't love Hawk? Sadly, because all Spenser books are first person point of view, from Spenser's pov, we don't really get to see what happens at the end.  You could claim that just makes it even more mysterious and Hawk-like.  But it's still disappointing.  

School Days I had actually read before and remembered almost immediately upon opening it. So I just breezed through it.  Which is quite the speed read for a Parker book.  Since he does a great job with dialogue and plays to his strengths, some pages have almost no words on them.  I personally think there's a bit of cheating involved when he starts a new line and the same person is still speaking, but it's (again) a picky English-major point.

Hundred Dollar Baby brought back the character of April.  I only dimly remember who April is, and the book was all right, but I wasn't too sympathetic toward her.  Let me just repeat that I like Spenser better when I care about the people he's working for.  

Now and Then had Hawk, and Vinnie, and Teddy.  Tough guy bliss.  I enjoyed it.  But somewhere around here, I started to realize why it might not be a good idea to read so much Robert B. Parker at one time.  It didn't stop me though . . .

 
(R: language, violence, sex)