Book Reviews of Early Autumn (Spenser, Bk 7)

Fast Read

After Spenser is asked to recover a teenager who is the subject of a custody dispute, he realizes the boy is being emotionally abused by both parents and sets out to prepare him for life as an independent adult.

This is a very early Spenser book, and Parker's writing and the development of the character we have grown to love in later books, is still in the "adolescent" stage. His writing improves with every book. Susan and Hawk are in the book, and we are introduced to Paul. I read the book in an afternoon. It would be good for a plane, train or the beach or poolside.

The 7th Spenser book. As fun & enjoyable as they all are!

Spencer & Hawk are Laurell & Hardy... on steroids!

My favorite Spenser story so far.

Easy read but very engrossing and touching

One of the best of the Spenser series. I have not read them in order so this filled in some blanks. In this book Spenser meets and rescues Paul Giacomin who shows up from time to time in later books. It SEEMS to be the first appearance of Hawk, but I can't be sure of that.

This is one of my favorite Spenser books, because he takes this confused, insecure kid under his wing and becomes sort of a big brother and saves him from his seriously screwed-up parents. They build a cabin together and talk about life, and form a bond of trust and true friendship. And of course there's plenty of Spenser-style action.

This is the introduction of Paul Giacomin. Long-time Spenser fans will remember him as the young man who occasionally visits and from time to time stays with Spenser. This is the story of how they came to know each other. It's one of Parker's best. Not only expositional, but inspirational.

Spenser takes a young boy under his wing. In the end these two are like father and son. This is the best Spenser Book I have read.

(from aMost 'serious' reviewers of Robert Parker's Spenser books will argue that "A Catskill Eagle" is the best of the series. I won't disagree that it's very, very good, but I think Spenser (and by extension, Parker) is at his best in "Early Autumn".
Primarily, through the books, Spenser has deep relationships only with Susan, and to a lesser extent, Hawk. We really don't know much about him beyond the front he puts up for his clients and his opponents. "Autumn" is the exception to that; we see him treat Paul in much the same way he must have been treated as a child and the same way he would have treated a child of his own, if he'd had one -- with respect and decency. He drags the 'real' Paul out of the shell Paul had constructed to protect himself from his parents and the world and provides him with a sense of worth, teaching him, as Spenser says himself, "what [he] knows" -- boxing, running, carpentering and standing up for something.

The end of the book always gets me. I've always been glad, too, that Paul makes further appearances in other books: Widening Gyre and Playmates, among others. It's interesting to see the relationship between Spenser and Paul grow and develop. It deepens Spenser as a character and gives us one more reason to like him.

mazon)

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