This is one of those books that gives me a dilemma when it comes to reviewing it because the major event in this one doesn’t occur until well into the story so it seems like some kind of spoiler warning is in order. However, that event is described in the book jacket and even in the plot summary on Goodreads so I’m not exactly giving away the ending of The Sixth Sense. Hell, I guess since no one else worried about it, I won’t either. You have been warned.Spenser gets hired by attorney and old friend Rita Fiore to look into Ellis Alves. Rita was the prosecutor when Alves, a black man, was charged with killing a white college girl, and Rita got him sent to prison without breaking a sweat. Now working for a high priced law firm, Rita has become worried that Alves might have been innocent, and that his race and an inexperienced defense attorney may have allowed her to wrongly convict him. Spenser begins investigating and quickly decides that Alves was framed, and the trail leads to the college tennis star who has a wealthy family. A formidable hitman who dresses all in gray suddenly appears and warns Spenser off. The Gray Man (as Spenser dubs him) seems like such a threat that he calls in almost every tough guy he knows to guard Susan, but Spenser continues working the case. So the Gray Man kills him.Yep, poor old Spenser gets shot full of holes, falls off a bridge into an icy river, and his heart stops. After being saved by modern medical science, zombie Spenser faces a long and painful rehab with the help of Hawk and Susan while almost everyone else thinks he's dead. Can Spenser recover, find the Gray Man and get Alves freed from prison? Come on, it’s Spenser! Anybody really have any doubt how this is gonna play out?This could have been a major book in the series and possibly injected some fresh life into it’s later years. There’s a lot of potential for intriguing drama with the idea of a macho tough guy like Spenser being badly injured, and the rehab stuff does make for a nice break from the routine with the usually ultra-confident and physically fit Spenser struggling to walk up a hill and having to spend countless hours learning how to punch and shoot all over again.But once he’d brought his hero low, Parker couldn’t wait to build him back up again. I’m not saying that he should have put Spenser in a wheelchair for the remainder of the series, but the entire shooting, rehab, resolving the case and dealing with the Gray Man occurs in the second half of the book. Maybe stretching the storyline through a couple of books would have given it more weight and allowed some deeper exploration of what being that badly hurt would do to someone like Spenser. Instead, Parker mostly bypasses that idea in his rush to get Spenser back to his old self as soon as possible.Oh, and as usual Susan is being annoying. This time she’s nagging Spenser to adopt and raise a child with her. Yawn.This is still a good Spenser story, but it’s always seemed like a lot of potential was wasted here. This could have been a watershed event that shaped and defined Spenser for the remainder of the series, but instead it becomes just another obstacle for him to overcome with no real lasting effects. Next up: Spenser meets Susan’s ex-husband in Sudden Mischief. Yeah, it’s a book heavy on the Susan. *sigh*
Well, OK, I've seen a couple episodes of "Spenser: For Hire" back there in the 70's, I guess, but never really got into it. My mother-in-law laid this book on me, describing it as "a piece of fluff you'll finish in tow days." Considering my snail's pace of reading, that wasn't off the mark, relatively. I found the action to go quickly (the murder of a coed and the - well, possible - framing of an African-American man with a pretty sleazy past. Spenser's a pretty fair sleuth (his word for himself), and he ends up uncovering a pretty nasty bunch of rich people and ugly police corruption. It was a fun, and fast, read.I must state that I would indeed have given this book at least four stars if I had a better grasp of the main characters and their prior relationships with each other. SO, we got Rita Fiore, DA; Susan Silverman, therapist/girlfriend; Hawk, Black companion to Spenser with a mysterious, checkered past; Martin Quirk, Homicide Detective; Ives, another mysterious figure "employed by a federal agency with three letters" whom Spenser did a favor ten years ago in the interest of saving Susan; Patricia Unley, high-end madam; Gino Fish, supposedly a Mafia-type; Paul Giamacon, who I guess was sort of a foster kid that Spenser and Susan raised; and other people just mentioned in passing, such as Chollo Henry Cimmali and Vinnie Morris, who appear to have some longstanding connection to Spenser. Some knowledge of these folks would have made for a deeper enjoyment of the book I read. All of which is to say, "Start with the first Spenser book, I think it's "Chance," where no doubt all of the above will be revealed."That said, I probably won't go through the effort to read them, 'cause I've gotten into the Stephanie Plum, Jack Reacher and Kay Scarpetta books, in the same manner. Maybe after I catch up on all them....
What do You think about Small Vices (1998)?
הוצאת זמורה ביתן , 2001, 279 עמ´סיפור מזאנר המתח – בלשי. סטודנטית לבנה ממכללה יוקרתית , לבנות המעמד העשיר, נרצחת וגופתה נמצאת מוטלת בשטח המכללה. גבר כושי , בעל עבר מפוקפק, נתפס ומואשם ברצח ובאונס שלה. אבל, הסנגורית של הנתבע מפקפקת באיכות ההגנה שניתנה לאדם שהורשע לכן בנקודה זו נקרא לדגל החוקר הפרטי, ספנסר, שתפקידו להוכיח אשמה או חפות של הנאשם.לחוקר מתלווים בת זוגו (סוזאן- פסיכולוגית במשרה מלאה) וחבר / עוזר בשם הוק (לא ברור).למרות שזה לא יחשב לספר איכות, הוא כתוב בשפה יפה וקולחת , העלילה מתקדמת בקצב נחמד ומשאירה מתח בקורא. בנקודות מסויימות ניתן להבחין בציניות של הכותב , דבר שמעלה חיוך. למי שמכיר את הספרים של פ´ קורנוול הסגנון כמעט זהה אבל הדמויות והרקע שונה.כנראה שהסופר משתמש בדמויות שציינתי לעיל בכמה ספרים (לפי המתואר בכריכה האחורית הוא בכלל סופר של ספרי מתח- בלשיים) , כך שישנה סוג של אינטימיות שנוצרת עם הדמויות. לזכותו יאמר שגם אם לא קראתם את הספרים האחרים שלו , הדמויות מתפתחות בסיפור ולמדים עליהן ועל החיים שלהן (כולל אלו הריגשיים) במהלך הסיפור.אני נהנתי מהקריאה. שווה גם אם רק לנקות את המח.
—Siv30
My lower rating is based on format more than the book itself. I listened to this book on CD in the car.Issue 1 -- Narrator. I've listened to 2 Spenser books narrated by Joe Mantegna and I absolutely love Joe as Spenser. Small Vices was read by Burt Reynolds. Burt has a beautiful, deep, rich, smooth voice...but he's not Joe and therefore not Spencer. And it seems that his deep melted chocolate range is where I have hearing loss. There were parts that sounded like a bass melody with no words. When his voice changed to a female range, no problem. I admire audio book readers who have distinct voices for different characters and always use the right voice when that character speaks. Burt was alwys spot on. But so was Joe. Request: In a series, stick with the same reader, especially when the book is written in first person. (Bonus: Harry Potter on audio is a great experience. Jim Dale is the most amazing audio book reader and did ALL the Harry Potter books.)Issue 2 -- Bad Language. I'm not a fan of the F word or the array of other less than pristine language. It grates on my nerves when it is used profusely. Perhaps it wouldn't be so offensive in written form when your eyes can skim over those words. But on audio, they hit your ears with equal force every time. Another drawback, I couldn't listen to this story with my grandson in the car.Issue 3 -- What's with the music between chapters? Every single chapter ends and the next one begins with wind chimes, a drum solo, flute music, jazz piano... something to mark the changing chapters. But why? It just makes me think it's time to change CDs. And it breaks the flow of the story. Unnecessary and distracting.The story itself was really good. The characters Spenser, Susan and Hawke are among the best. I like their never failing loyalty and their super-human qualities.
—Syd Perry
90 out of 100 for 2010This may be my favorite of the entire Spenser series. By the mid-Ninties, he had grown a bit predictale, not stale but not fresh. In the early novels, Spenser was vulnerable--tough, lost fights, and, except for the fact that it was series fiction, his fate was in doubt--you knew Spenser could lose, and his vulnerability made him more interesting. By the Nineties, he'd grown invulnerable, and, p'raps, a bit less inteesting.Then came 'Small Vices.' Spenser loses, and nearly dies; he does NOT win in a final shoot out (doesn't actually kill anyone, either), an the murder that started the case proves not to be a murder.All the great stuff you expect in a Spenser, along with a genuinely interesting plot.
—Chuck
