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Detective provides refreshing escape Opposition
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Published: November 16, 2008
ROUGH WEATHER. By Robert B. Parker. Putnam. 304 pages. $26.95.
Lock the doors, turn off the cell, send the kids to the movies; anytime a new Spenser novel arrives, it takes import over everything else.
The latest opens like so many, with the relaxed Boston P.I. sitting in his office looking out the window, only to have his playful musings interrupted by a new client. This one is socialite Heidi Bradshaw, with a gleaming smile and impeccable manners, who wants to hire Spenser to accompany her during her daughter's wedding.
"I would like to employ you as a kind of balance to my insecurity," is how she puts it.
"An insecurity guard?" is how wiseass Spenser puts it.
Spenser agrees, taking his paramour Susan Silverman along with him for the ceremony, performed among a rich crowd at a gargantuan island retreat. All goes along swimmingly until the wedding is interrupted by the Gray Man, the quasi-foe who once nearly killed Spenser. Backed by a considerable group of henchmen, the Gray Man kidnaps the bride from her spot of honor at the altar, kills the objecting minister and groom, and disappears into a raging storm.
The Quixotic Spenser takes it upon himself to resolve the matter, placing himself in direct opposition to the deadliest foe he has yet faced.
Other foes arise, too, and the surprising crime turns convoluted as unpleasant facts are discovered via Spenser's persuasive investigative techniques, which his friend, the menacing Hawk, describes as "[poking] around in the hornet's nest until you irritate a hornet." Along the way, Spenser is required to bust a few chops and a head or two. It all makes for great fun.
The appeal of Parker's character lies not so much in seeing what crime he is trying to solve -- those are really just the hangers on which to place the jacket -- as in the pleasure of hearing what he, Susan and Hawk are discussing, seeing what they're reading or what type of pastry they're eating this year (in 2003's Back Story, it was Krispy Kreme doughnuts). And it's always satisfying to see Parker throw the pretentious -- both academics and would-be tough guys -- against Spenser's rock-solid abilities and sensibilities. Early on the Gray Man mentions, "You have never lacked for confidence."
"Never had a reason to," Spenser answers, and indeed he hasn't.
Despite clues of passing time -- here Spenser actually refers to the Gray Man's early attack on him as occurring 10 years in the past -- Spenser seems ageless. He continues to practice his gumshoe lifestyle, working out at Henry Cimoli's Harbor Health Club, sampling various restaurants and alcoholic beverages in the Boston area and keeping his romance with Susan alive.
Parker's Spenser novels (and most others) are like popcorn; chapters are short and easily consumed with plenty of room left for more. It's quite possible to devour and enjoy an entire story in a single long sitting (with maybe a seventh-inning stretch thrown in). He churns a Spenser novel out at the rate of about one a year, and they seem effortless. Each one is like an early Christmas present.
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