LOOKING FOR RACHEL WALLACE is the sixth Spenser novel, and it's one of the best ones. Spenser is hired as a bodyguard for Rachel Wallace, a lesbian writer and activist, and eventually has to rescue her from kidnappers.

I love Parker's prose, and in this novel he has a good, exciting story to boot, filled with lots of action, humor and pathos. Rachel Wallace is an interesting character -- not entirely likable, but an honorable person who sticks by her belief system no matter what. The gay rights theme of this novel is a bit heavy-handed, but it was probably very cutting edge for the year 1980, when this novel was first written.

This is one of my favorite Spenser novels, and I've read almost all of them. Highly recommended.

Undoubtedly, this was more than a little controversial when it first came out - in fact, feminists and lesbians face the same sorts of problems in this day and age. I was a bit disappointed that Parker went the route of making Rachel Wallace attractive and made the one woman she was seen spending an evening with attractive - although there are plenty of attractive women who are lesbians, the concept of "hot girl on girl action" is mostly just a prurient notion designed more for titillation than anything else. That said, the issues were handled quite well overall - I was amused by Rachel's ongoing declarations at the beginning that she had no sense of humor and the fact that Spenser eventually wore her down to where she almost lost it enough to make her mouth twitch once . . . It was nice to see more of Susan in this outing - a personage sadly missing for most of the last book. The writing was such that the reader was drawn in and felt Spenser's frustration over his inability to protect Rachel and his need to find her and make sure she was OK.

All-in-all, the progression of these books is proceeding apace and watching the writing style progress has been a fascinating experience. I think it will be interesting - once I read the final one - to go back and read the first one and compare the differences in style, just for the fun of it. A must-read for sleuth buffs, PI addicts and anyone who likes suspense.

I read "Looking for Rachel Wallace" years ago, but I don't have a great memory for all of the plot details so I am re-enjoying the Spenser books as audiobooks. In this case, Spenser and Rachel Wallace kept me company while I wrapped presents and fed my one-year old. And they were quite good company.

My audiobook was read by Michael Prichard who does a decent Spenser but a great near-humorless Rachel Wallace.

What can I say about the Spenser books that has not already been said. They're a bit formulaic (wisecracks, meet Susan for some snuggling, fistfights, cooking, etc.) but I love the formula so I enjoyed this one thoroughly. I consider it to be one of the stronger books, despite the fact that the protestations against feminism and lesbianism seem outdated in the year 2006. It almost makes it seem like a period piece. Interesting how the world changes, isn't it?

My grade: A-

Hired as a bodyguard, Spenser opened a significant chapter in The Cultural Conversation, in an Ongoing Dialogue with a gay feminist author who had dedicated her life, and possibly her death, to her cause. The first half of this book had a tight focus and that was it. In Parker's hands, that simplicity of plot read out as mesmerizing, and sped along at a good clip.

The contrast was striking between THE JUDAS GOAT (fifth book in the Spenser series), and LOOKING FOR RACHEL WALLACE (sixth book). The literary style, mood, and content in these novels was dramatically different. Parker seems to possess an endless versatility of adapting his writing style to demands of theme and content.

Since this plot revolved around the antithetical anomaly of a feminist needing a bodyguard, especially with that bodyguard being Spenser; this woman, Rachel Wallace, had to come across as a full-blooded, intriguing character to carry her huge amount of plot space. Not to worry. Intriguing she was. Parker drew her in a touchingly human manner, dramatizing a sensitive underbelly barely protected by her not-as-hard-as-might-be-expected shell.

Given the serious sensitivity of the theme, I shouldn't have been surprised at the amount of funny wit Parker easily interjected into it. An especially hilarious scene was Spenser waiting/guarding outside the hotel room of his "charge" while she was inside the room, engaged with a gay partner. The humor was employed in Spenser's thoughts as he squirmed to avoid imagining precisely what events might have been unfolding behind the closed door. His obvious attraction to Rachel's partner added to the grin worthy mix.

However, the humor halted abruptly in the second half of the plot, when a seething Spenser was forced to began looking for Rachel Wallace. At first it was hard to discern whether Spenser's boiling anger was steamed from getting himself fired; from feeling he'd failed; from protective needs surged out of respect for a few of Rachel's character traits (honest dedication to pacifism coupled with not scaring easily) which had gotten under his skin; or because he believed so strongly in free speech, because he held sacred all the freedoms the US had fought for and held dearly. I was compelled to pause between the lines, looking for those answers.

The contrasting parts here, almost in a reverse order from JUDAS GOAT, had the Spenser/Rachel dialog flowing through the first half of the book, whereas Spenser set out on rampage, alone, in the second half. In that highly skilled spree of bashing bodies, Spenser came close to losing the cheering surges from my end of the grandstand. My first take on his red streak of anger was that he was going too brutally far with his fistful means of getting people to talk.

Pausing to contemplate that picture and plot, I settled with a couple achievements of awareness:

-- Realistically (as a few interjected comments made by Belson kept to the fore), Spenser would not have been able to get Rachel back by being a nice guy, nor by means other than those applied. And he managed his physical pushes with restraint, taking them only as far as each situation demanded, to get results quickly enough to find Rachel before she was destroyed.

-- The characters which had been heatedly convinced to talk had earned Spenser's tactics, many times and in multiple ways. I had to remind myself what these people had designed themselves to be, what they had done to others, with true brutality repeatedly applied. They had habitually gone beyond what Spenser's ever present code (and sense of humanity) would have allowed him to do. This was not a matter of politics, a matter of Right Vs. Left. It was a matter of pure-and-simple, ongoing cruelty, halted only by the amount and type of force Spenser used, forced by an established history and present danger of unjustified prejudice and harmful acts done to innocent people.

I was curious to discover Spenser's reason for not seeking Hawk this time. I'll be interested to see when, why, and how he brings him back in. Spenser gave his reason in response to a question from Susan, though his explanation made me want to dig into that "why."

At least two drool-worthy cooking scenes sauced up the plot, and relieved tension. Just as I noticed I had been missing Spenser's nurturing sprees, as he connected counter-tops, cupboards, stove, and refrigerator; he brought out the pasta pot, and parleyed serviceable left-overs into a simple, luscious concoction, one step better than Pesto (I reread the short list of ingredients a few times to memorize). The way he came to have and use a Cuisinart was endearing, and I recalled that those slice-n-dice devices must have been peaking in popularity in the late 70's when this plot was probably written.

The ending scenes with Rachel were quite sensitive, the most touching ones I remember, so far in the series.

Overall this was a fast reading exposition of several dilemmas and a true dichotomy. Did Spenser construct a bridge between the honorable side of Machismo and the hardcore edge of Feminism? You decide.

This story felt like Spenser was sweating up all his strength, wise-cracking the to extent of his wit, to pull two ropes together (to begin construction on the bridge mentioned above). Yet, the ropes were simply not long enough to connect. If anyone could accomplish that impossible task, Spenser should be able to do it. Right?

I particularly liked the alternate angles from which Spenser and Rachel defined Machismo.

Okay. I'm almost ready to order EARLY AUTUMN and A SAVAGE PLACE, after catching up with a few unread novels on my shelves, collecting dust when they deserve to shine.

I'm glad to have put up a 2 part Listmania on this series. Using that and the lists included in most of the Parker books I own, I'm easily sailing through Spenser seas, mostly in sequence now, though I'm pleased to have read a few of the middle and later books, in order to maintain a sense of style evolution, and to feel the changes more acutely, possibly to see some of the causes for shifts in stream.

Macho rocks, and dirty socks dream ... of cleaner days. We each have our ways ... and means ... of dining on dreams.

Linda Shelnutt

Take one testosterone-laden private eye with and admirable world view but who knows that his code of honor is the backbone of everything he believes in (Spenser). Add one fiesty lesbian feminist out to point out the faults and foibles of a male-dominated society (Rachel Wallace). Shake vigorously to mix the two together so they become combatants. Season with vicious hired gunmen. It all adds up to one of the most delicious dishes ever served by Robert B. Parker.

Hired by a book publisher to protect Rachel Wallace, one of their hottest properties, Spenser finds himself at odds again and again with the woman he's supposed to take care of. Both of them have their own ways of doing things, and both are intractable. Eventually their differences outweigh the reasons they should stay together and Spenser gets fired. However, someone kidnaps Rachel Wallace and Boston's toughest private eye makes things personal when he goes looking for her. Through the bluebloods and the hired street muscle, through a snowstorm that shuts the city down, Spenser goes on the hunt, mowing over everyone that gets in his path.

Robert B. Parker is the author of the Spenser novels, the Jesse Stone novels and the Sunny Randall novels as well as others.

This book, along with EARLY AUTUMN and MORTAL STAKES, is the best to define Spenser's character and Robert B. Parker's thoughts on the world and his place in it. In the course of this short novel, Parker explores the differences between the male and female of the human species, and the struggle that each undertakes to understand the other. This isn't a societal diatribe. It's a great novel that's larger than the sum of its parts. Not only does the suspenseful action and great dialogue keep a reader turning pages, but it serves up a healthy does of thought-provoking commentary as well.

Readers who have never read a Spenser novel before would find this a good starting place. This is one of the foundation novels that spins completely out of the character, up against others and up against the world. Readers looking for a a great private eye novel with heart need to look no farther.