Robert Parker was one helluva writer. His Spenser novels alone guarantee that he’ll be remembered within the noir genre for years to come. (I reserve the moment to not comment on the Sunny Randall or Jesse Stone novels in this review…not to mention his westerns.) But what is really amazing about Parker is that he put parts of himself in Spenser. VALEDICTION is a perfect example of what I am talking about. You see, VALEDICTION is a very troubling book for me. It starts off with Spenser’s gal, Susan, graduating from Harvard with her Ph.D. in psychotherapy. Right off the bat Spenser is a fish out of water in these surroundings. Like Spenser, Parker too was a fish out of water. Parker was an academic before he could write fulltime. But unlike other academics who sell themselves out to the establishment, Parker maintained who he was: he wrote a dissertation on the fictional private-eye heroes created by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross MacDonald. This connection may not seem like much, but once you see the parallels between Parker and Spenser in VALEDICTION it seems as if Parker was more than channeling himself in this one, he was becoming Spenser…or perhaps he was making Spenser become more like himself. So Susan graduates. This event is the pivotal catalyst needed to not only move along the series, it also moves Parker’s life forward as well. You see Spenser and Susan call it quits. She moves to San Francisco. Spenser stays in Boston. This may not seem like much, but during this time Parker was struggling to save his own marriage. Had I not known this bit of information before reading this novel (thank you Kemper) I might have thought Parker was off his game in this one because of the way Hawk seems cartoonish. But Parker wasn’t worried about Hawk. He was worried about his own life. Thus, he made Spenser worried about his life. The main plot is pretty thin: a woman needs to be saved from a religious cult who may or may not be involved in the heroin trade. Pretty basic. (Well, perhaps it is not as basic as I say it is…there are some pretty gnarly double and triple-crosses.) But, as I said, this Spenser novel is different. The lighthearted, pithy dialogue is not as prevalent. Darkness consumes the pages. You can almost feel Parker’s heart breaking as Spenser works through being without Susan. The atmosphere is bleak and aggressive, not a very welcoming environment when reading the books out of order as I have done. To be honest, I almost stopped reading it. Not because of the angst of Spenser, but because I knew that Parker was actually going through this as he wrote this book. And when you add in that the scenes that included violence were much more elaborate, enlarged—almost as if Parker used Spenser to exorcise Parker’s own feelings of pain and anguish against said adversary—the feeling of sadness I had for Parker increased with the story. That is the mark of a great writer…forget caring about a character, I cared about the author. Put simply: VALEDICTION is one of the most human books I have ever read. With that said, I was still left wondering if Susan was worth all the pain in the end. And, to be honest, I really don’t know if she was.HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION
Robert B. Parker, Valediction (Delacorte, 1982)One of the best things that can be said about Valediction is that it sets up the events in one of the best Spenser novels to date, A Catskill Eagle. That alone is enough to make it worth reading. Its also a little heaver on The Continuing Saga of Spenser and Susan than many Spenser novels; judge as you will and buy accordingly. Somewhere beneath all that, theres a mystery waiting to happen. In this case, Spenser is hired by one of his foster childs dance instructors to find said instructors girlfriend, whom he believes has been kidnapped by a sect of religious extremists. The story sounds wonky from the beginning, but what seems a little off at first ends up being stranger than anyone involved ever imagined.The cast list reads rather like a Spensers Greatest Hits novel. Almost everyone in here has popped up before in a Spenser novel, from kids to hoods. The framework of the characters is already set up, and the plot pretty much writes itself. Its empty calories, the kind of stuff youd never catch the main character eating. However, this book is less about the mystery therein than it is about Spenser himself and how his changing relationship with Susan affects his own outlook on life. It sets the book apart somewhat, and that, combined with the events in the next book it sets up, makes this one a worthwhile addition to the canon. ***
What do You think about Valediction (1992)?
Prior to reading this, the 11th book in the series, I was going happily along just enjoying a great mystery book. Picking it up here and there, looking for nothing more than a few hard clues, a charming detective, and some really good 70's fashion tips. In this novel, though, Parker threw me a curve ball. Without giving too much away, I can say that it was the detective's personal life that had me biting my fingers with anxiety while I tried to quickly read through the "crime part" of the book. If it were possible for me to like Spenser more, I am now obsessed with this poor detective. I cannot wait to pick up the next book, and the next and next probably, to see how he gets himself out of the fine mess he's gotten himself into. If you've never read this series, before,...well, start! They're so good. Make sure to read them in order, though. And, if you're a Spenser fan, you know just what I'm talking about. Is there a fandom for this series? Cuz I want to join!
—C.C. Thomas
Weak 3 stars. Not as interesting as others in the series. Plot and characters were ok, but nothing special.At the end we learn about a surprise bad guy. Not enough was said about that person’s motives and actions.I’m reading the series because I like the author’s witty lines, but they have been less frequent in later books. There was one good line in this book. Spenser tells someone Hawk will guard him. The guy says “Can he guard me alone?” Spenser says “Hawk could guard Yugoslavia alone.”You don’t need to read the prior books, but it was handy to have read book 8 before this (A Savage Place). In this book Spenser has a dream about finding a woman dead which happened in book 8.Spenser and Susan have been in love and in a committed relationship in prior books. In this book Susan left him, moved away, and wants alone time. Although Spenser is suffering, he dates and has sex with Linda.The narrator Michael Prichard was very good.DATA:This is book #11 in the Spenser series.Narrative mode: 1st person Spenser. Unabridged audiobook length: 4 hrs and 24 mins (288 - 290 pages). Swearing language: strong but rarely used. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: two referred to no details. Setting: current day Boston, Mass. Book copyright: about 1984. Genre: PI mystery.
—Jane Stewart
As the book opens, Susan graduates from Harvard and leaves immediately for San Francisco. Bereft, Spenser helps the dance teacher of Paul Giacomin, whose girlfriend has been abducted by the Reorganised Church Of The Redemption, overseen by Reverend Winston Bullard. Once he starts digging though, Spenser discovers all is not as it seems, either in the Church (or its links to the drugs trade) or his life. This presents a different Spenser from the one the reader expects (and a long way removed from the tougher character who appeared in “The Godwulf Manuscript”) - he mopes after Susan, frustrated at a situation he can’t control but willing to let her shape his outcome, he’s depressed and almost suicidal at times and he’s drinking heavily. What it means for the reader, however, is that the roll call of supporting characters is varied and has plenty to do - from Hawk and Paul, to Quirk and Belsen - making for a much richer story. Spenser also gets to not only finally talk to the ‘brunette art director across the street’ (Linda Thomas, who’s had cameo roles in the last few books) but he dates her too, to the extent that they fall in love. She gets a raw deal out of it though because as soon as Susan snaps her fingers, Spenser goes running. Filled with some great set pieces - the best of which has Spenser taking on hired goons in some wasteland off the freeway - and a surprise shooting, this is a cracking story, told with pace and wit that works well. My one drawback is that this appears to mark the onset of the white space issue - there are 48 chapters spread over 203 pages, leaving a lot of pages at least half empty - which is what pushed me away from the series in the first place. All that aside, this is well worth a read and highly recommended.
—Mark
