Spenser sits on a park bench relating his early history to his one true love, Susan Silverman.

No, it's not Robert Parker's take on Forest Gump. It's his attempt to explain Spenser the man by looking at Spenser the boy. Susan asks questions, Spenser answers them and we cut to the past to see Spenser being raised by his father and two uncles. We are shown an important incident from Spenser's boyhood and then we jump back to the park bench. Susan analyzes/interprets what we've just witnessed. There is some banter and then we're back in the past.

This is the structure of the novel and at times I wanted more. I really enjoyed those leaps back in time and I would have appreciated more detail and less park bench banter. Some of these flashbacks are vignettes. The missing details are filled in during the park bench scenes. I would have liked these vignettes to be expanded so that there would be no need to add missing details during the Spenser and Susan bits.

The glimpses we get of Spenser as a 14 year old boy - dealing with an alcoholic man who has kidnapped his daughter and with a race-based attack on a fellow student - are classic Spenser. He does what he does because he has no other choice. His code (taught to him by his three fathers) demands that he do what's right, even if he isn't exactly sure just what is right.

If the book has a flaw, it's that too much time is spent on that park bench. I really wanted more detail during the flashbacks. The park bench analysis seemed to interrupt the natural flow of the story. But I have to add that it didn't slow the story down by much. I read this book on my Kindle in under an hour and it met my all-time test for an engrossing work of fiction. When I reached the end of a chapter, I looked up and saw that I had missed my bus stop. Any book that makes me forget where I am gets an above average rating. With less park bench banter, I'd have given it five stars.

The ending of this book is also quite touching. I think it illustrates why I don't tire of Spenser and Susan (even when they annoy me - I mean, how many times are we going to be told how small a bite Susan takes during a meal?) and why I'm looking forward to more adventures of the early Spenser.

If you like Spenser, you'll probably like this book. If you've never read his tales before, you may want to pick up a few early novels and then come back to this after you've been hooked.

KINDLE SPECIFIC
There are a couple of spots where hyphens have been left in words so they are spelled oddly when the text reflows. It's a very minor annoyance.

I think it is fair to say that I am a huge Robert B. Parker fan. That disclaimer having been allowed, let me say that Chasing the Bear, A Young Spenser novel, sets just the right tone for the adventures of the sleuth later in life. Told in flashbacks, it sports the themes familiar to all of Dr. Parker's fans. That of honor, keeping one's word and standing up for what's right. The fact that the Spenser in this quest is 14 years old is unremarkable for the attributes that make him the Spenser his public loves today are well grounded in substance. I had always wondered how this telling of background would have been accomplished. Yet accomplish it Parker does, with great aplomb.

The characters are fresh, but if you are expecting to see a young Hawk, or Quirk or Belson or Susan Silverman, you will be disappointed. Yet for a fourteen year old to read Chasing the Bear and leap to The Godwulf Manuscript is a pretty big leap. Hopefully, there will be a few more "Young Spenser" books dealing with his move to Boston, his time in the Army and his adventures with the staties before he became a private license.

I highly recommend this book and have purchased a copy of this book for my godson. Then its over to Edenville Owls and The Boxer and the Spy. One last thing, perhaps the vocabulary isn't as intense as a regular Spenser novel, but Robert B.Parker honors his audience by not talking down to them. No surprise there.

When I heard about a new book dealing with Spenser's first adventure I knew I would want to read it, even though I'm 41. It does not disappoint. A simple story well told, it reads more like a long chapter recounting Spenser's youth in one of Parker's regular stories. As usual it's too short, but fans should be used to that by now...

Borrow a kid to bring with you to the bookstore if you need to, but don't be afraid to buy it!