Spenser goes to a gay bar circa 1974. Wacky hijinks ensue.God Save the Child is the second book of the Spenser series, and it’s probably most notable for the introduction of Susan Silverman, the woman who will become Spenser’s long-time girlfriend and eventually the center of his world. Since the Spenser and Susan angle would become the focus of the later books at the expense of the overall quality of the series, it’s easy to Susan-bash, but re-reading her introduction and the start of their romance, I remembered that their chemistry was one of the main draws of the early books and helped keep Spenser from being just another Marlowe knock-off. It was entertaining to go back to their initial meeting, and the first date where Spenser prepares one his trademark gourmet dinners only to realize after the fact that he just served pork to a Jewish woman, and the second date where work causes him to be very late and Susan is understandably miffed. This is Spenser and Susan as actual human beings attracted to each other, not boring soul-mates with no issues in their relationship.This story revolves around a missing 16 year old boy. The kid’s home life was a mess with a selfish drunk for a mother and a weak father, and this book establishes a pattern where Spenser usually won’t like the people who hire him very much. When the case takes a turn into kidnapping and then murder, Spenser zeroes in on a gay weightlifter named Vic Halloway as a key suspect.Vic has a taste for young men, so I was worried that this book written in '74 was going to read like a ‘homosexual-as-pervert/villain-scenario’ in 2010, but Parker avoided that trap by portraying Vic as outcast and disliked by the gay community for his tastes. Another gay character dismisses him as the kind of guy who would go after teen-age female virgins if he was straight. In other words, Vic is a douche bag who just happens to be gay. There’s a few cringe-worthy comments and jokes from other characters, and there is a questionable scene of Spenser in a gay bar and getting hit on, but by and large, Parker acquits himself pretty well in dealing with gay culture during an era when the word ‘fag’ was still in common usage. This one also starts to establish a bit of Spenser’s macho code that’d become a larger part of the series, and since this is early Spenser, Parker still has him capable of making mistakes. And he makes a doozy at the end of this one, which was refreshing to read after years of Spenser being near perfect.Next up: Spenser takes in a ball game in Mortal Stakes
Spenser's long-term girlfriend makes her debut in this fairly straight-ahead story of a kidnapping and murder. I'm sure she can get quite annoying, but Spenser's passion and respect for her is striking and endearing. Their first night together is awkward and adorable, and she adds am interesting layer to the story. It's also notable for featuring several gay characters without particularly creeping into gay-bashing, and is more about dysfunctional families and the strange nature of love than about an actual crime.I've seen reviews of Parker's books that complain that he uses excessive amounts of detail, and he does sometimes go rather overboard on description. However, he captures with an eerie precision the landscape of New England in the 1970s, and as a Maine girl that captivates me. There's a passage early on where he describes the drive up Route 1 out of Boston, and as he rattled off all the weird and banal landmarks ("quarter-pound hamburgers, pizzas, storm doors, Sears, Roebuck and Co., doughnut shops, stockade fencing--preassembled sections, restaurants that look like log cabins, restaurants that look like sailing ships, restaurants that look like Moorish town houses, restaurants that look like car washes, car washes, shopping centers, a fish market, a skimobile shop...") I realized with a start that I knew the stretch of road he was describing, even before he got to the "enormous steak house with life-sized plastic cows grazing out front in the shadow of a six-story neon cactus" (hello, Hillside Steak House!) It was pretty amazing, and roots Spenser very firmly in a specific milieu that I find very appealing.
What do You think about God Save The Child (1987)?
Good Early Spenser novelPublished August 1st 1988 by Books on Tape, Inc.Read by Michael PrichardDuration: 5 hours, 3 minutesRobert B. Parker and Tony Hillerman are the two authors I most consistently check when I go to a library or a bookstore. When it is a great day, one of the two has a new book. When it is a tremendous day, they both have a new one out and I have to decide which to read first!In the meantime, I am making do by going back over their collected works as books on tape. I have a long drive to work every day and Spenser makes a very good ride-along companion. I have long-since read all of the older Spenser books, but the beautiful thing about a faulty memory is that the plot lines get a bit hazy over time and now I can enjoy them all over again!Besides, it is always interesting to see how the reader interprets Spenser and the gang. One of the best to capture Spenser smart-aleck comments was Burt Reynolds, although his interpretation of Hawk was pleasurable, but questionable in terms of accent.The reader for this version was a Michael Prichard. His interpretation of Spenser was neither here nor there, neither good nor bad. However, his reading of the Mrs. Bartlett was right on the money. Here's the scoop on Mrs. Bartlett: She and her husband hire Spenser to find her son. He is missing and a note has been sent to the Bartletts asking for $50,000 for his safe return. This book was written in 1974 when $50,000 was a whole lot of money. Mrs. Bartlett is an insipid, vapid twit of the first order. A woman more concerned with fashion than her child's safety. She hosts a dinner party in her house on the same day that a man is killed in it and during the time her son is missing. She is a woman who believes herself to be an artist because it gives her an excuse for her bad behavior. Prichard nails her so dead on that you wish you could reach through the radio speakers and smack her upside the head on at least half a dozen occasions.So, how's the plot?...Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2012/...
—Dale
Spenser is hired by the Barlett’s to find their son Kevin, who’s been kidnapped. He quickly realises that homelife might not have been the best (the Bartlett’s are well off, the mother is very self centred) and when Kevin’s sister mentions a bodybuilder called Vic Harroway, things start slotting into place. Told in a brisk, breezy style, this has a big cast of characters, an intriguing plot and some very good lines. It also introduces Susan Silverman to the series, as the guidance counsellor at Kevin’s school. With the brutal violence of the early books, including a stand-out page of block text where Spenser squares up to Harroway, this keeps the interest all the way through. Having said that, in the mid section, there are quite a few typoes which distract and in chapter 17, Spenser gets up at 10am, has a long shower, drives out to the Harroway house and walks across country for a way and still arrives at 10.12am. Now that’s quick! With nice appearances from Quirk and Belsen, Henry Cimoli also making his debut and Heany, the State Cop mentioned in “Rachel Wallace”, this is an excellent read and very highly recommended.
—Mark
This was my third Spencer mystery--the second in the series, I think. I liked it better than The Godwulf Manuscript, probably because I liked reading about the beginning of the romance with Susan Silverman. The 1970s in the Boston area is familiar to me which also added to my enjoyment. The plot involves a missing boy, a dysfunctional family, and some corrupt townsmen. The mother figure is beyond belief and a weakness in the book. As with the other three "classic" mysteries I read at the beach this week, I probably won't remember the plot or "who done it," but it was great escape reading for this time and place.
—Mary
