Typical Parker. Terse writing. Very enjoyable.

This strong new Spenser novel flips that scenario, with Hawk shot and Spenser helping him first to get better, then to take revenge. Their targets are Boots Podolak and his army of Ukrainian thugs who run the black/Hispanic Boston satellite city of Marshport. Their goal is more complicated than just vengeance, though. When Boots's henchmen shot Hawk, they also killed the man he was protecting--a rival of Boots--as well as the man's wife and two of his three children, and now Hawk wants not only to destroy Boots and his operation but to channel millions of Boots's money toward the surviving child. To get at Boots, Spenser and Hawk tap on several series regulars, most notably black gangster Tony Marcus, who is doing business with Boots, and the Gray Man, the assassin who nearly killed Spenser in Small Vices; meanwhile, Susan, Spenser's psychiatrist girlfriend, dispenses sage advice, but stays mostly in the background. The novel features a complicated plot, numerous tough guys and plenty of tension that builds to an (interestingly) off-page mano-à-mano shootout between Hawk and Boots.

One of the best in the Spenser series.

This time it's Hawk who finds himself at the wrong end of a bullet and spends considerable time recovering and reclaiming his honor from those who nearly took it for good. Spenser is pretty much just along for the ride on this one. You can't really say Parker keeps getting better, but what he is is rock solid consistent.

I love RBP's writing, but the Spenser series is getting stale and the characters are more stereotypical with each one. Try Double Play (fiction about Jackie Robinson's bodyguard) or Poodle Springs to experience Parker at his best.

Suspence

this time it's Hawk's turn to get shot and Spencer's turn to help him recover and ultimately get revenge

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