Book Note: Robert B. Parker, Hugger Mugger

I read this book about 23-Jul-2001. This is the first time I've read this book. The book is copyright 2000. This note was last modified Tuesday, 06-May-2014 15:29:26 PDT.

I seem to have broken away from the Griffin, at least for now. Parker at his best, mostly some years ago, is really very good indeed. He hasn't done anything hard in ages now, and the Hawk / Spenser relationship is now completely nonsensical. He doesn't seem to have the courage to take that on.

Okay, now that I've read this book, it's actually pretty good. Hawk is off-stage (in France with a professor, probably not working). Spenser is involved in a family melt-down with horse-killing, adultery, much bourbon, and murder, in Lamarr, Georgia. Pretty extreme family pathologies -- but that's common in the private-eye genre, and far too common in real life.

Spenser and Susan are a bit too self-satisfied and smug with each other; I guess that's not news. Their relationship seems to have stabilized, some books back.

And there's this bizarre interlude in the middle where he takes on an unrelated case and helps two people, to the detriment of his client. I don't see what purpose that serves.