City of Fire
I've read all of Parker's books and this one is a standout. It grabbed me on the first page and I read it in one day.

This is a review of the audio book - not the novel. Prior to listening to this version of the novel I had heard 10 other "Spenser" novels on CD. Then I bought two new CDs: one in which Wm. Windom is the reader and this one, in which Burt Reynolds is the reader. The previous 10 had been read by Joe Mantegna.

Now I don't know how others feel, but when I discover a new author who has created great characters I like to spend time with those characters. I read the books over and over. The best ones I never tire of. I love the physical settings, the relationships between the characters and many other attributes of the story. Hearing the story read adds another dimension and, particularly in the Parker novels, which are filled with humor, I sometimes pick up added bits of humor because the pace of the story is slower than when I zip through it myself. This presupposes that there is nothing in the voice of the reader to distract from the story. Joe Mantegna's voice is neutral enough so that it doesn't intrude on the story itself.

The reader in this story, however has such a deep, gravelly voice that it is a constant distraction from the story. The reader also moves his voice up and down an octave range that forces me to continually adjust the volume. Either he drops his voice so that I can barely hear him or his audio is so loud that the volume has to be turned down. I did not really appreciate Mantegna's presentations until I listened to Windom and Reynolds. With both of them the medium is indeed the message.

Burt Reynolds IS Spenser! Reynols gives the ultimate rendition of the Boston hard boiled sleuth and turns out to be a highly intelligent actor with great understand for the text. Perfect. The story itself is pretty much standard Robert B. Parker fare: well written, well paced, great characters & dialoge!

Just when I think that Robert Parker can't get any better with his Spenser series, I read something even more superior than the last. Small Vices ranks up there with one of his best.

Spenser is hired by Rita Fiore, one time assistant DA and now working for a private law firm with deep pockets. A black man, Ellis Alves, has been convicted of murdering a young girl from Pemberton College. The firm believes that he was framed. Alves is a career criminal and not many people are sorry to see him behind bars. But as Spenser starts reinvestigating the case, it is obvious that someone very powerful will stop at nothing to prevent the truth from being discovered. Spenser matches wits with a professional hetman nicknamed Gray Man, who is the most dangerous and talented nemesis that he's ever faced. An encounter with Gray Man almost costs Spenser his life.

As usual, the old gang is back including friend Hawk, psychologist-girlfriend Susan Silverman, and Pearl the Wonder Dog. There is also a subplot where Susan wants to make a major change in their relationship (I can't say that this change entails without spoiling the book). There is always great dialogue and good observations. Spenser evaluates his relationship with Susan: "The way I loved her never varied. But how I liked her could go up and down; and it went down most when she was being professional."

After reading a number of Parker's books, I'm tempted to go back and watch some of the old Spenser For Hire television series. I remember them being thoroughly enjoyable, but I'd now like to compare them to the books.

When Spenser's old friend Rita Fiore hires him to investigate a case where she believes her client was framed, he pokes a hornet's nest. The man in jail is a career criminal and no one wants to see him out; the young woman who was killed was dating a young up-and-coming tennis star who is the adopted son of a very wealthy man and there are two eyewitnesses who swear that they saw the murdered woman being pulled into a car by the suspect.

To make matters worse, an assassin is called in who is good enough to get a drop on Spenser and puts Spenser into a coma. When Spenser wakes up, he finds that his friends have put out the word he is dead and he, Hawk and Susan head to California where he spends almost a year rehabilitating himself before he returns to Boston; first to take out the Gray Man, then to finish the case he had started.

Confronted with his own mortality, Spenser and Susan have to come to terms with the fact that this is his life and that it is not going to change.

I strongly recommend this book - it was one of the best in the series so far.