My Reading Nook

Why is it that all characters in some of these fiction books seem to be thin, well muscled, sexy and if they’re men, handsome or a woman, beautiful? C’mon now, the best fat burners in the world can’t make everyone in your periphery skinny and gorgeous, but that seems to be the case in Spenser‘s Boston. Even the villains in this book are good looking.

Eh — it’s fiction.

Anyway, Spenser is a private eye and, like many PI’s he’s called upon to investigate the occasional domestic situation. Either a wife or a husband finally sees the signs that the other is straying. It’s one of those facts of life that, when used in a book like this could be tired and trite, but one thing you can say about Parker’s writing is that he doesn’t allow that to happen.

Spenser immediately identifies with the man who comes to him one day with the task of finding out if his wife is cheating on him. You see, the same thing had happened to him some years earlier when his main squeeze, Susan, stepped out on him with another guy. She’s come back to Spenser, though, and they’ve enjoyed their relationship for some time now, but the memory lingers and there’s some baggage that Spenser is still carrying.

Spenser doesn’t do things by halves, so even after he discovers enough to prove that the wife IS cheating on her husband, he goes a step further and plants a bug on her and records a very interesting and potentially explosive post-coital conversation between the woman and her lover. It involves her passing along information about the FBI investigating terrorists. Oh, didn’t I mention? Spenser’s client, Dennis Doherty is an FBI agent and his wife is not only cheating on him, but she’s passing along information about the anti-terrorist task force that he’s on.

Now, Spenser’s got to call in the Feds as well as a bunch of buddies to help him protect Susan while Spenser tracks down Perry Alderson’s past. It’s become doubly important as Alderson’s now killed both Dennis Doherty and his wife, Jordan Richmond.

Robert B Parker’s writing style is sharp, witty and fast-moving. He never bogs you down with too much rhetoric. This book went down as smooth and easy as the pink champagne Spenser and Susan drink. While you may laugh in places, you won’t cry over this book and you won’t want to put it down.

Now and Then by Robert B Parker
published by Berkley Books, 2007
ISBN 978-0-425-22414-4