I have just completed another Robert B. Parker book: "Ceremony." While I enjoy Mr. Parker's storytelling, the ending, which I do not wish to give away, disturbed me.

Despite my opinion on the ending, I still give it 4 stars. Mr. Parker, as the author, is an excellent storyteller, and the one who creates the ending for his book: here, Spenser must come up with a quick solution to save a young girl from the jaws of a low-line prostitution ring - a girl who does not want to go back to the safety of her childhood home. I have thought about Spenser's solution in this story for some time now, and I honestly cannot say that I have an alternative, based on the character Mr. Parker created.

I would recommend this book, but I am not sure everyone would agree with the ending. If you are looking for an ending which may spark conversation, this book has done so for me.

J.R. Reardon
author, "Confidential Communications"

When there is nowhere left to go, which is the lesser of two evils? This is the dilemma that Spenser and his ladyfriend Susan are left with when the young woman Spenser is hired to find prefers her life as a prostitute to returning to the conformity and strictures of the suburbs.

Delving ever deeper in his search for the young woman, Spenser uncovers layer after layer of corruption, finally exposing a child exploitation ring run by a man high up in the echelons of the Dept. of Education, much to Susan's dismay.

While this outing returns to the long passages of soul-searching rhetoric that I often found tiresome in some of the earlier works, this one fit together quite nicely, as it covered topics that remain as fresh (and hideously relevant) today as they were at the time this book was written.

I did find one particularly amusing nit-pick in the Dell paperback edition of this book published in June of 1987 on page 94: a vehicle is referred to as a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. Now, what I do not know about cars would fill volumes, but I do know this - the Firebird and the Trans Am are two completely different vehicles (although they look the same). There is no such thing as a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. Heh.

A strong outing for Spenser and a recommend from me, despite Parker's lack of vehicular know-how ;-)

Some of Spenser's hottest wisecracks have been fueled lean and mean by surged anger raring to box ear lobes and boogie the brawn... which he did in one of the scenes in CEREMONY, ruining a dark party scene with a long run of blood. This # 8 in series pinged out of the bag with humor popping. Harry Kyle, "successful" salesman, was pushing to write off his daughter. He was painted brightly (though his lack of brilliance was astounding) with Parker's flashiest flaming pen.

APRIL KYLE arrived here, honing a darker season than EARLY AUTUMN (# 7 in series), exposing a sadly ancient brand of initiation. Hers was a story which rightfully seared heated anger at an injustice to the innocence of youth. The hissing humor at the opening provided a sort of backwards relief valve, in preparation for a descent into this painfully pithy side of life.

In this series my favorite scenes (as exemplified here) dramatize Spenser and Silverman facing off with contrary moods. I'm always caught by Spenser's attention paid (or not) to Susan's scowls for silence, which she exercised elaborately in the opening scene with Harry Kyle.

Also find it interesting that Spenser rarely (if ever) uses the term "dialogue." Repartee is his name for that human exchange, and he admittedly seeks it for steady gains in rhythm and spark. In CEREMONY, repartee picked up between Spenser and Hawk, as polished by a bar towel in a riveting scene of negotiations with Tony Marcus. This scene might be accepted as the first of what could be termed a signature of deus-ex-machina used by Parker in a few future Spenser novels, often to achieve a parenthesis-of-safety for Susan as her presence bleeds into the brutal sides of his life.

The way Parker deals with prostitution in CEREMONY is realistic. Having been married to a deputy sheriff who spent two years as an undercover vice cop in the 70's in the Portland Oregon area, I wasn't surprised by details of this side of life. I was amazed at how clearly RBP captured some of the feelings of women who entered that scene and became compelled to stay. Parker didn't look AT them in an attempt to understand their stories; he tried to look through them, not in a sense of transparency, but from behind their eyelids (I made a reference to Spenser's spicy twist on understanding different viewpoints in my review of A SAVAGE PLACE, # 8 in series).

If I recall correctly, the late 70's or early 80's (when CEREMONY may have been percolating in Parker's mind) held the aftermath of explosive exposures in THE HAPPY HOOKER, the nonfiction account by a woman who might have been like the NYC madam Parker referred to in CEREMONY. HOOKER certainly took the world by tsunami with its plate-glass-window exposing the naked soul of the seamy sensuality of sexual commodities.

As noted above, CEREMONY addressed a heartbreaking part of our cultural "heritage" in a sensitive way, and the plot gave in-your-face, realism. Yet, I believe this type of story doesn't have to end the way CEREMONY did. When my ex-husband was assigned to undercover vice, his team worked with a young woman who was deeply involved in the world portrayed here. She began acting as an informant, and as the team began to befriend her, they wanted to help her out of "The Life" locked into criminal culture.

It wasn't easy and the transformation was very literally a miracle, but after this informant worked as a hidden agent for a couple years, she had become convinced to freely quit both her "jobs" to attend a special ceremony. The vice squad gave a solid presence at her wedding to a man outside the world of crime, a man who was as good as they come. That type of major life change may not occur often for a person who has become steeped into the street life of drugs and prostitution. In this case the change took and it held.

Fresh of college and taking too much pride in an "open minded" nature, I thought I admired THE HAPPY HOOKER's apparent freedom from shame, though I had no desire to live her lifestyle. The author's candor was appealing, and the book made a significant contribution to cultural awareness. I have a different take on that now; any residual appeal has been replaced by sad compassion.

Some may wonder if the author wrote the book for the money (which isn't essentially a wrong motivation to me); to shock people who disdained her sexual freedom; or to expose something which needed to be addressed (undressed)? Knowing what her true motivation was (if she even knows or cares) is none of my business. At this point I don't care about her reasons for writing THE HAPPY HOOKER as much as I care that:

Miracles happen. They're part of reality, too.

And I care that every one of us has true choices in life. Thanks to Spenser, April had an OPTION out of the worst part of her life, but It appeared she didn't have a CHOICE. I'm left with lots of questions and no comforting answers on this one. I imagine Parker felt the same way, which may be why he returned to April in TAMING A SEA-HORSE, and HUNDRED-DOLLAR BABY.

Linda Shelnutt

Parker shows us the ugly underbelly that all big cities have. The place drug addicts and prostitutes merge, and runaway child seem to gravitate to: very ugly! This book explores that world, and the people of the ordinary world who exploit them for their own gratification. What is never explained in any meaningful way is why this 16-year-old girl is so hell-bent on selfdestruction. Her options are slim, and in some ways unbearable; this makes the ending good, because you really don't know what happens to her.

I read this book a little while ago, and it was great! The characters came to life, and I felt that I was there. I was a bit dissapointed in April Kyle's parents, how could they be so uncaring towards thier daughter. I will read Spenser again....