Back Story
by Robert B. Parker
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert B. ParkerReader: Joe Mantegna
Edition: Audio Cassette
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Published: 2003-03-18
ISBN: 0739302612
Publisher: Random House Audio
Book Reviews of Back Story
Book Review: Average at Best
Summary: 3 Stars
I've read most of the Spenser novels, and I thought BACK STORY was a relatively weak entry in the series.
The plot of BACK STORY involves Spenser investigating a murder committed during a 30-year old bank robbery. Parker has constructed an intricate plot here, but I felt the storyline was a bit too convoluted, with Spenser rushing from place to place to place (San Diego, LA, Maine, etc.) almost non-stop. Most of the scenes are too short and not well developed enough. Most of the supporting characters are also quite thin. As a result, I didn't find this book particularly suspenseful or engaging in the end.
Still, BACK STORY is mildly enjoyable because Parker's writing style is enjoyable. The dialogue is sharp and funny, and the plot interested me enough to complete the book. Parker doesn't write a great book every time, but his novels are almost always entertaining.
So BACK STORY isn't bad, but don't make it your first Spenser novel. My advice is to start with the earlier ones first, starting with the GODWULF MANUSCRIPT and GOD SAVE THE CHILD.
Summary of Back Story
Renaissance man Spenser - he of the acerbic social commentary, the gourmet cookery, and the steely abs - turns his considerable talents to the unraveling of a thirty-year-old murder mystery. During a 1974 holdup in a Boston bank by a revolutionary group calling itself the Dread Scott Brigade, Emily Gordon, a visitor cashing traveler's checks, is shot and killed. Despite security-camera photos and a letter from the group claiming responsibility, nobody saw who shot her, and the perpetrators have remained at large for three decades. Enter Paul Giacomin, the closest thing to Spenser's son. When Paul's friend Daryl Gordon, Emily's daughter, decides she needs closure regarding her mother's death, she turns to Spenser, who must reach past the lack of clues and missing FBI report to seek the truth.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's 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
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