In this story, Spenser is once again on a noble mission and people are killed, but unlike other Spenser stories, the plot didn’t grab me. Furthermore, the dialog lacked the wittiness found in the other Spenser stories. He was much more subdued, almost fatalistic. Even the scenes with Hawk lacked the dynamic and witty dialog that makes their relationship so unique. April Kyle, the teenage prostitute Spenser saved in “Ceremony”, has left the high-class brothel run by Patricia Utley and is now on the street for a man named Robert, who is a student at Juilliard. Spenser easily tracks her down and she tells him that her and Robert are in love and she is hooking in order to put him through school. Spenser investigates and learns that Robert is in love with many different girls and is in fact the pimp for a collection of hookers. Spenser spends some professional (his) time with Ginger Bucky, another girl in Robert’s stable. He finally breaks into her hardened heart to learn that her father repeatedly raped her before he sold her to a brothel. When April disappears and Ginger is murdered, Spenser investigates the seedy world of prostitution, where girls are sold and there are various levels of the trade. Along the way, Spenser makes a trip to Lindell, Maine to have a chat with Ginger’s father and to prove to him that he is not the toughest man in Lindell. Other people are killed as Spenser follows the trail of Ginger in the hope that it will lead him to April. Eventually it does, as Spenser makes a deal with the head of a major prostitution ring to get her back. Throughout the story, Spenser has his ego reinforced by Susan Silverman, as he questions what he is doing and his attempts to right some of the wrongs of the world. There is no great climactic ending, his meeting with the prostitution lord is little more than a swap of one person for another and a decision by Spenser to largely ignore Ginger’s death. The book ends with April back in Spenser’s arms and they start making simple plans as to what they will do next. Unlike other Spenser books, this one is dark and unsatisfying. The dialog and story line are weak, as they drag you from one slightly interesting situation to another.This review also appears on Amazon
The books where Spenser has to deal with prostitution are always depressing because Parker accurately portrayed it as a nasty and degrading business. But then Spenser usually beats up some pimps so it’s not all bad.Four years earlier, Spenser went looking for April Kyle in Ceremony and rescued her from a life of prostitution. Sort of. When April falls in love with a music student who just needs her to turn a few tricks to pay his way through school, she leaves a safe situation for her new man. Spenser still feels responsible for her so he makes a trip to New York to prove to April that her new fella is just another pimp. Since love makes you blind (and apparently very, very stupid), April doesn’t listen. Spenser is going to drop the whole thing until someone gets killed and April disappears. Why would anyone go to so much trouble just because Spenser is trying to get a hooker away from a small-time pimp?I consider this the first book in the third phase of the Spenser series. First was Early Spenser, then came Classic Spenser. Now we’re beginning the Pretty Good But Past His Prime Spenser. (The dreaded Sad Decline of Spenser is still several books away.) Now that Spenser and Susan are reunited in Boston, Parker seems to be trying really hard to get back to the way things were. But it’s a little odd after all the craziness of A Catskill Eagle that it’s just business as usual and Susan and Spenser are lovebirds again. There’s a few lines referencing the bad shit that just happened, but it‘s weird that there wasn‘t a larger impact to the characters‘ lives.Although this is still a good Spenser book with lots of smart ass dialogue and action, it was a bad omen that Parker brought back April Kyle because it was a warning that the books would begin repeating themselves. Next up: Spenser tries to find a decent meal in Pale Kings & Princes.
What do You think about Taming A Sea-Horse (1987)?
Typical Spenser novel, better than some. He's looking for April Kyle--again--now that she's left Patricia Utley for "true love" with a musician named Rambeaux. She quickly disappears, and it seems as though she's being manipulated, which indicates that there's something big gong on. In his search for her, Spenser meets another hooker named Ginger who ends up getting killed. He follows her past to see if he can find who killed her. With a little more danger than usual in this one, Hawk is asked to help, so there's a small part of the always-enjoyable Hawk-Spenser dialogue. Susan also makes a brief appearance. In trying to decide why I like these often-violent characters so much, I discovered this explanation from Susan: "You're a violent man. You wouldn't do your work if you weren't. What makes you so attractive, among other things, is that your capacity for violence is never random, it is rarely self-indulgent, and you don't take it lightly. You make mistakes. But they are mistakes of judgment. They are not mistakes of the heart." I think I like best that Spenser and Susan both care for the people they come in contact with (and each other, of course).
—Connie N.
2009 # 94 Robert B. Parker - Taming a Sea-horse - Finished - 7/3/2009PB An early Spenser where is tracking a young girl who is in the "trade" and ends up following the track of another girl also in the trade. who turns up shot after he talked with her. The back trail leads to Maine where here abusive father "sold" her to a pimp and follows as she is passed along from "house" to another. The trail eventually leads to a confrontation with the Mob. Through it all Spenser's irreverence is ever present putting a veneer of humor to a straight forward mystery.ISBN - 0-440-18841-5, Mystery, Pages - 308, Print Size - R, Rating - 4.25
—Bob
Another Spenser book (from 1986) where there is a hard subject(prostitution) but lots of Spenser wisdom. A Newsweek review of aSpenser book says: "Like Philip Marlowe, Spenser is a man of honor in adishonorable world. When he says he will do something, it is done. The dialogue zings and there is plenty of action...but it is the moral element that sets them above most detective fiction." Now for somequotes from the book: "The money matters. I know it doesn't matter very much to you (Spenser). But you have enough, and you're so self-sufficient that most things don't matter very much. But money matters agreat deal to a lot of people, including me. It is power. It is freedom. It is a support and a security and a sense that you have tangible worth." "...you look like you were in a hatchet fight anddidn't have a hatchet." "The beach was half full of people in brief bathing suits. The cellulite count was high." I laughed a lot whilereading this book.
—Joy
