t"What was it like for you?" she said.t"Well, the thing about almost dying," I said, "is that a lot of the time, you don't know that you almost died until a long time after you didn't…."t"Intensive care can be a very brutal experience," Cecile said.t"It is," I said. "But most of the time you don't know it. You wake up for a moment and something awful is going on that you'd rather not remember then you're gone again. And even after you start being awake, you're so whacko that it's aimless to evaluate anything you might be thinking…. You feel like shit for a long time. And if you're a big, strong, tough guy like Hawk, you're not used to it, and you hate it. And you hate being hooked up to the hat rack, and you hate that you can't walk to the bathroom alone. But you know that will pass. You know you'll get back. All it takes is patience and work. And yo know you can wait and you know you can work. So you know, in a while, you'll be what you were."t"So you shut up about it," Cecile said. "And do what you can and wait."t"I recall that I whined some to Susan," I said.t"And when you got well enough you put the matter right," Cecile said.t"Hawk and I."t"And then you were whole."t"Something like that."t"And that's what you and he are doing now," Cecile said.t"Yes."t…. "He's never talked to me about this."tI nodded.t"Have you ever talked to Susan about this?"t"Yes."t"Why can't he talk to me about these things? For Christ's sake, I'm even a damned doctor."t"It's not a medical matter," I said. "My identity, if I may be permitted the tired phrase, is me and Susan. Hawk's is still Hawk."t"You're saying that he doesn't love me."t"No. If I thought he didn't love you, I'd have said, 'He doesn't love you.' We talked about this before. Hawk and I grew up different. I grew up in Laramie, Wyoming, in a house where my father and my two uncles loved me and looked out for me. Hawk grew up on the streets in a ghetto, and for a long time he looked out for himself, until Bobby Nevins found him when Hawk was fifteen. He ever tell you about Bobby Nevins?"t"No."t"Ask him to. It's interesting."t"Are you actually explaining the black experience to me?" Cecile said.t"I'm explaining Hawk. Nevins trained him, but no one, as far as I know, ever loved him. Hawk is what he's is because he has found a way to be faithful to what he is, since he was a kid."t"I love him," Cecile said.t"For him, that's a learning experience."t"And he won't change," Cecile said.t"If he changed he might cease to exist," I said. "He's with you now."t"Not all of him."t"Probably not."t"Do you think I'll ever have all of him?"t"Maybe not," I said.t"And if I want to be with him, I have to accept that possibility," Cecile said.ttI smiled at her as encouragingly as I could and nodded my head. (chapter 18 excerpts)
It was very disappointing to learn that Hawk isn’t bullet proof.A bookie who is having problems with the Ukrainian mob trying to take over his business hires Hawk to be his bodyguard. Unfortunately, Hawk gets shot in the back several times by a sniper, and the Ukrainians kill the bookie and his entire family except for one small child who was lucky enough to be at day care during the hit. Spenser helps Hawk through his recovery and then backs him up as Hawk embarks a campaign to avenge the bookie’s family as well as finance a nest egg for the surviving kid.Apparently Robert B. Parker was a very green author because he believed in recycling his plots. This one was first used in Small Vices when Spenser was almost killed and went through a long and painful recovery before going after the person responsible. (This is the second time that RBP generated a book through this recycling program. The first was one he used the same basic plot from Mortal Stakes in Playmates.)This still could have been interesting because of the dynamic that Spenser feels obligated to help out his friend, but he’s a little uneasy that Hawk’s methods are bloodier than his own. There was also some potential in fleshing Hawk out a bit by showing him dealing with his failure to protect the bookie and being hurt so badly. Unfortunately, RBP has these characters so internalized and locked into their codes of behavior that Spenser and Hawk never talk about any of this. Instead, we’re treated to several exchanges between Spenser and Susan about it as well as Spenser trying to explain things to Hawk‘s girlfriend. It would have worked much better for the two men to deal with it directly instead of it all coming out via their other relationships.Plus, there’s something kind of chickenshit about Spenser’s behavior here. Hawk has killed enough people to depopulate a small city while helping Spenser and sometimes had to do some fairly dangerous stuff to accommodate Spenser’s often complicated rules that allow him to do violent work but still live with himself. While Spenser never says anything to Hawk or shirks a task, it also seems like Hawk is careful to never put Spenser in a position where he’d have to cross a line he doesn’t want too. I guess RBP didn’t want to get his hero’s hands too dirty or seem like he was bailing on his friend, but it made their relationship seem one-sided.Next up: Spenser gets his milk money taken in School Days.
What do You think about Cold Service (2005)?
To many readers, “Service” (#32 in the set) was a reenactment of “Small Vices” (#24 in the set), in which Spenser is nearly killed, spends a long time in rehab, then exacts revenge on all the perps. Herein, Hawk is shot in the back after being hired to be a bookie’s bodyguard; and the bookie and his family except one kid at school are subsequently murdered. Hawk goes into rehab and of course is dead set to kill all the killers and provide a flow of money for the surviving child. Spenser must of course honor their relationship by aiding and abetting his revenge, a subject that seems to bother Spenser’s longtime lover Susan.Meanwhile, Hawk has an apparently serious girlfriend, Cecile, who is also troubled by the whole caper and while wanting Hawk badly, she wants her own version of the man minus the streaks of danger. We readers of course know that is not to be – almost as surely as we know Hawk, with a little help, will get his men. As with most all these tales, the getting there is mildly entertaining and satisfying.
—Jerry
This was my first attempt at an audio book so it took some getting used to and I don't feel as though I got the full benefit of the story since it takes some skill in concentration. But, as always, Spenser and Hawk entertain me with their humor and lightness despite the fact that they're talking about killing and other crime. Somehow their code of honor and sensitivity makes the subject matter seem like just another day's work. This book is a little different because Hawk has been shot and we begin when he is in the hospital and not his usual scary and intimidating self. So it's a journey of recovery for him, both physical and mental. Spenser is basically along for the ride this time, letting Hawk run the show. We reconnect with old "friends" from previous books, like Tony Marcus and the Grey Man...plus Vinnie, Susan, and even Hawk's sometimes girlfriend Cecile. They discover a Ukrainian connection to a Marshport crime scene and devise a complicated plot to flush them out as well as provide a trust fund for the son of the man Hawk was originally supposed to protect. Lots of great interconnections, literary references, and relationships. Parker is such a clever writer that I sometimes stopped to rewind a section just so I could savor it again.Of mild annoyance was the fact that some of the street names were pronounced incorrectly.
—Connie N.
I not only write mysteries, I read them, too. I post reviews on amazon and Goodreads.Note: this book included in my must-read mysteries pinterest boardThis review is dedicated to the people of Boston.I’m still surprised when I run across someone who is a mystery novel fan but who has never read a book by Robert B. Parker, creator of the Spenser novels that have come to define the mystery genre. His tough-as-nail-with-heart-of-gold private detective, whose first name we never know, is as much a part of the Boston landscape for me as Copley Square or Harvard Yard. The hardback editions of the books–and there around 40 in the series–include a map on the flyleaf with all of Spenser’s haunts labelled on it. Locke-Ober’s Restaurant, Faneuil Hall, his apartment on Marlborough Street and the oft-mentioned swan boats in Boston’s Public Gardens.But we don’t just read Spenser mysteries for the Boston scenery. We read them for great characters, perfect plots, the crisp sparse language. And Spenser’s firmly rooted code of ethics. He may be a private eye and a self-admitted thug, but he’s got a clear and believable moral compass and expresses it in a way we don’t see very often any more. COLD SERVICE is the Spenser novel that best sets out that code which includes loyalty to friends, standing your ground, but never striking without provocation.In COLD SERVICE (the title is derived from the saying that revenge is a dish best served cold) his friend Hawk is shot and left for dead. Hawk was protecting a Boston bookie from a Ukrainian mob trying to muscle into the area. Needless to say the bookie and family are dead. With Spenser’s help, Hawk recovers, infiltrates the mob, and stops it from gaining a foothold in Boston.Not many of the Spenser books revolve so closely around Hawk, although the enigmatic thug/hitman/bodyguard/boxer plays wingman in almost all the books. Dialogue between them is nearly a work of art:“They tell me I ain’t gonna die.”“That’s what I heard.”There were hard things being discussed, and not all of them aloud.Without giving away the plot twists, let’s just say this is one of the best of the Spenser series, which is one of the best mystery series out there. The Ukrainian mob is opaque and brutish. Help comes but cannot be trusted. Strange alliances must be forged to get at the mob, but they are tenuous at best. The mayor of a small town near Boston holds the key; his administration is synonymous with corruption. Hawk’s quest for vengeance distances him from the surgeon he’s dating and his refusal to adjust his own code eventually pushes her away. Spenser understands Hawk’s code but will not pursue revenge in the same brute force way.The end is a terrific nail-biter.
—Carmen Amato
