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    Back Story: A Spenser Novel, Book 30
    Unavailable
    Back Story: A Spenser Novel, Book 30
    Unavailable
    Back Story: A Spenser Novel, Book 30
    Audiobook5 hours

    Back Story: A Spenser Novel, Book 30

    Written by Robert B. Parker

    Narrated by Joe Mantegna

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Renaissance man Spenser - he of the acerbic social commentary, the gourmet cookery, and the steely abs - turns his considerable talents to the unraveling of a thirty-year-old murder mystery. During a 1974 holdup in a Boston bank by a revolutionary group calling itself the Dread Scott Brigade, Emily Gordon, a visitor cashing traveler's checks, is shot and killed. Despite security-camera photos and a letter from the group claiming responsibility, nobody saw who shot her, and the perpetrators have remained at large for three decades. Enter Paul Giacomin, the closest thing to Spenser's son. When Paul's friend Daryl Gordon, Emily's daughter, decides she needs closure regarding her mother's death, she turns to Spenser, who must reach past the lack of clues and missing FBI report to seek the truth.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMar 18, 2003
    ISBN9780739302606
    Unavailable
    Back Story: A Spenser Novel, Book 30
    Author

    Robert B. Parker

    Robert B Parker was the best-selling author of over 60 books, including Small Vices, Sudden Mischief, Hush Money, Hugger Mugger, Potshot, Widows Walk, Night Passage, Trouble in Paradise, Death in Paradise, Family Honor, Perish Twice, Shrink Rap, Stone Cold, Melancholy Baby, Back Story, Double Play, Bad Business, Cold Service, Sea Change, School Days and Blue Screen. He died in 2010 at the age of 77.

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    Reviews for Back Story

    3.5/5

    184 ratings8 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      BACK STORY by Robert B. Parker was published in 2003. Spenser is asked by Paul Giacomin to help his friend Daryl discover who killed her mother 28 years before. There was a bank heist and moms ended up dead but the case was never solved. The price to investigate, a six pack of donuts.Classic Spenser and Hawk dialogue spiced with some violent action and many unpleasant truths revealed. Pearl the Wonder Dog has passed away before the opening of this story and we begin with a trip north in search of another that might replace the hole in both Susan and Spenser’s hearts.The writing is simple and sparse, the dialog crackerjack, the action snappy and the story done so well that it seems as if anybody could write like this.Try it several times and you will gain a greater appreciation for the skills of the late, great Mr. Parker.
    • 4/5
      For six Krispy Kreme donuts, Spenser agrees to find out who killed the mother of Paul's friend, Daryl, during a bank robbery 28 years ago. He gets help from friends in the Boston Police Department and the FBI, who are interested in an official coverup that they can't investigate, but Spenser can. Even after Daryl decides that she doesn't want to learn any more, because Spenser's and eventually Susan's lives are threatened if he continues to ask questions, he realizes that they will remain in danger until he gets answers and. And so he continues to pry in Boston and California and Paradise, home of Jesse Stone. The bank robbery, committed by a group calling themselves the Dread Scott Brigade, reminded me of a crime committed with help from two Brandeis students in the Waltham Group, a community service organization, in 1970. Hawk mentions that he is dating someone from Brandeis.
    • 4/5
      Received via Member Giveaway.While I had been familiar with the Spenser 'world' via the TV series a few years ago, I had not read any of the novels prior to Back Story.The book may not be to everyone's tastes, but I found I liked it and it reminded me what I liked about the series.It had a couple twists and turns, but, overall, it hearkens back (for me at least) to the nitty-gritty type detective novels and that is a major selling point for me.
    • 3/5
      This is my first Spenser mystery that I've listened to and I'll probably be back for more. We listened to this on a road trip and it was almost perfect. Just the right amount of suspense combined with some great sarcasm and wit. And Joe Mantegna as the narrator is perfect - great voices and he has does that East coast Boston accent perfectly. One little gripe is the "he said/she said" that Robert Parker uses so much in his books. My big gripe for this book was the ending. No spoilers here, but what a disappointment. I'll have to try another Spenser mystery on my next road trip.
    • 4/5
      This was the first book by Robert B. Parker that I have read. (He has written some seventy of them.) Parker came highly recommended: University of Chicago professors Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein highly praised Parker’s books in their trail blazing book Nudge. The protagonist of Back Story, Spenser, is a Boston based private eye who loves dogs. He also has a very nice psychologist girlfriend and an extremely tough Afro-American friend (Hawk), who sometimes serves as a body guard for Spenser. Hawk served in the French Foreign Legion and was in combat overseas. Now he is a "Gun for Hire" who met Spenser in a boxing match. Spenser is pretty tough - he’s an ex-boxer and ex-cop, but he’s probably not as tough as Hawk or Lee Child’s Jack Reacher. He is, however, more literate and witty than Reacher. And unlike most fictional private eyes, Spenser gets along well with the local constabulary, who are happy to have him consult with them.The story itself involves Spenser’s efforts to solve a thirty year old murder as a favor for an old friend. Well, maybe not just a favor since Spencer is paid six Krispy Kreme donuts (which were not readily available in Boston at the time) for his Herculean efforts. The friend who asks the favor is asking it on behalf of his colleague, Daryl Silver, an actress whose mother was killed in a Boston bank robbery in 1974. Daryl wants closure but - semi-spoiler alert! - not all the bad guys get their comeuppance.Evaluation: This series is, so far, a delight. The repartee between Spenser and Hawk had me laughing out loud. The writing is spare and taut; my favorite kind, especially for this genre.I read this book in a day and half, and I enjoyed it so much that I immediately read another book by Parker in 2 days. Since it is only escape reading, I can’t give it more than 3.5 stars, but it is a good 3.5 stars. (JAB)
    • 4/5
      Robert B. Parker amazes me each time I read another one of his books. He was able to grow his characters and keep them interesting through a long line of novels. he was truly a Master of Detective Fiction.
    • 4/5
      This was one of the better Spencer novels. I like Hawk and he played a big part. Spencer takes on a case, being paid a dozen Krispy Kream donuts. A woman is killed in a botched bank robbery back in the 60's. It was not solved. Spencer goes about solving the murder.
    • 4/5
      Robert Parker books are always fun, fast reads. People like Parker; they like the repartee and the fast action and the satisfying endings. I like the fact that his format and characters are about the same, but he has quite a lot of different plots (unlike another of my favorite mystery writers, Janet Evanovich). This particular book has a plot I found especially interesting. Cold cases are in style right now, and I can remember the bank robbing hippies era pretty well.