“You working on anything?” Hawk asked.“I was thinking about breakfast,” I said.“I might need some support,” Hawk said.“You might?”“Yeah. Pay’s lousy.”“How much?” I said.“I’m getting nothing.” “I’ll take half,” I said.“You ain’t worth half,” Hawk said. “Besides, I got the job and already put in a lot of time on it. Give you a third.”“Cheap bastard,” I said.“Take it or leave it,” Hawk said.“Okay,” I said, “you got me over a barrel. I’m in for a third.”A teen-age mother and her baby daughter get gunned down at a housing project known as the Double Deuce. Some local residents and community activists get Hawk to agree to run off the gang bangers and try to find the killers. Hawk asks Spenser to help, and they quickly clash with the gang leader, a young thug named Major. Spenser has other issues, too. He moves in with Susan and cohabitation is causing the two lovebirds problems that make cleaning up Boston’s gang problem look easy by comparison.Robert B. Parker was often asked if he’d ever do a novel just about Hawk, and his standard reply was that he didn’t think he’d be able to do justice to Hawk because he’d never truly know what it was like to be a black man in America. He felt like he could only portray Hawk as Spenser saw him.* In this book, with Hawk running the show and Spenser providing back-up, we do get a better sense of Hawk. There’s no secret origin story revealed, but Spenser realizes that Hawk sees a lot of himself in Major and that whatever his background is, Hawk had to do some serious amputation to his emotions to survive. *Oddly, RBP would go on to write several first person novels from the point of view of a female detective.This is a pretty solid entry in the series with an interesting twist of Hawk taking the lead in the case. The bickering between Spenser and Susan as they try to live together is also a nice change of pace from the usually sickly-sweet googly-eyed love affair. I liked Hawk and Spenser’s pragmatic approach to getting the gang out of the Double Deuce. They know the gang will just set up shop elsewhere, and they flatly refuse to worry about it. They’re just trying to clean up one small area, and they know better than to think they’ll be able to make real and lasting change. They’re just doing what they can.Unfortunately, this is the last book of the phase I call Pretty-Good-But-Past-His-Prime-Spenser. The dreaded Sad-Decline-of-Spenser quickly follows.Next up: Spenser gets some kiddy scissors and makes a Paper Doll.
Fueled by an explosive opening which sees a teenage mother gunned down in a ghetto along with her newborn child, 'Double Deuce' throws Spencer and Hawk into a highly dangerous and volatile situation. Given the task to do what the authorities cant, the duo situate themselves right in the middle of Hobart (the ghetto) amongst drug dealers, murderers, and childhood thugs. Initially as a show of strength and stubbornness to deter the waring gangs from further activity, their role encompasses added prominence when a local reporter joins their stake-outs to chronicle on gang violence and the affects on the community. Robert B Park holds no punches with this one - despite being somewhat formulaic, there is one noticeable difference from other Spencer PI novels I've read, that being sidekick Hawk. In 'Double Deuce' it's Hawk who takes the primary role. We get a glimpse into the checkered past and hard knock life of the bad-guy-turned-good but also gain an appreciation for the man he wants to be. It was interesting to watch Hawk's love interest play out, first from a spectator to almost feeling the same emotions as Hawk by novels end. The scenes between Major (the gang leader) and Hawk are brimming with tension and suspense with gun play bubbling ever so close to the surface. I particularly enjoyed the sense of comradely between Major and Hawk while sitting on opposite sides of the law. The surface plot goes much deeper and the gang itself are just one of many problems the PI's are forced to face. 'Double Deuce' is a highly enjoyable read. More than the plot suggests, Hawk and Spencer are given adequate time to grow themselves while also maintaining the harden PI facade that's made them such entertaining and identifiable characters. The fast pace ending is film worthy, a showdown not dissimilar to a classic western - I guarantee you'll hold your breath until that fatal bullet reaches its destination. 4 stars.
What do You think about Double Deuce (1993)?
I've been working my way slowly through the Spenser series. I pick one up when I need a quick snack book. This one fit the bill. Hawk is back, front and center, in Double Deuce. Spenser is assisting him in discovering who gunned down a young teenage mother and her child in an inner-city housing project and in driving out the local gangs responsible for the violence. Also, Spenser's relationship with Susan takes another step as they try to live together.The strength of this book is the great, fun, snark-filled dialogue between Spenser and Hawk. Parker's Spenser books are all about character, and I keep going back to them so that I can hang awhile with Spenser.
—Dana
After reading a fairly brain-stretching book on cosmology, I decided I needed something undemanding, and this fitted the bill precisely: a couple of hours of straightforward storytelling with nothing much to challenge me. I abandoned Parker's Spenser series a few years ago because I was fed up of being unchallenged the whole flipping time; what a joy to discover there was one still on my shelves, just when I needed it.Plot? Oh, yes, it has one.A young mother and her baby are gunned down in one of the Boston projects, a place called Double Deuce that's in the thrall of teen gangstas. Spenser's old pal Hawk persuades him to help rid the project of the gangstas, solve the killing, and bring the perpetrator to justice.
—John
Wow, I'm floored that so many people liked this book. It was exactly "okay" for me. I could have watched an episode of NYPD Blue and had exactly the same affect, but with better regional dialogue. The idea that Robert Parker knew gang/street lingo is ridiculous and/or that he knew how to speak like a black person from the ghetto because he improperly conjugated his verbs was preposterous. Not quite as preposterous as the idea that two middle-aged cops would bring down an entire street gang, but preposterous, nonetheless.Once I got past all of that, the story was fine. Entertaining. Okay. It was worth a beach read, a Sunday afternoon fix, a bench in the park, a doctor's office read...which is exactly what it was for me, so it was exactly - okay.I found myself turning back to the cover and saying, "Really, this was a New York Times Best Seller?" Still, I had a few chuckles, and I did relate on a few occasions.I feel bad giving it a less-than-great review, since Robert Parker died in January, but it is what it is.
—Mystique
