At this late date, what's left to say about a new Spenser novel? Well, this one seems a little better plotted than most of the recent entries in the series, at least to me, other than the fact that at one point in the story Parker introduces a new element that seems like it might be important, then proceeds to completely forget about it. It features the return of a few characters from earlier books, which doesn't mean a whole lot to me because even though I've read all the Spenser novels, they sort of run together in my head. After all these years, I still like Spenser. I still like Hawk. I even sort of like Pearl the Wonder Dog. The cutesy-poo exchanges between Spenser and Susan continue getting harder and harder to take with each book. But I still found HUNDRED-DOLLAR BABY fairly entertaining from start to finish, and even though the Spenser novels now fall into the category of guilty pleasures for me, I'll probably continue to read them.
And the title of this one puts me in mind of a William Campbell Gault novel I read ages ago, called THE HUNDRED DOLLAR GIRL, I believe. One of Gault's Joe Puma novels, I think. I don't remember anything else about it except that I liked it, which is no surprise since I've liked all the Gault novels I've read and don't know if he ever wrote a bad one.
Also, if Blogger's count is accurate, this is my 700th post.
3 comments:
I thought "Hundred Dollar Baby" was ok. For an interesting Spenser novel, in case you haven't read it yet, check out "School Days," which essentially has Spenser solving a crime without Hawk, Susan's out of town and he doesn't actually call in any of his old chums. In some ways it's one of his better recent efforts, particularly if you hold it up to the cold hard of reason to such misguided efforts as "Blue Screen."
I've read SCHOOL DAYS and liked it for those very reasons, Mark.
I think this book is one of the best books out today. It keeps me on the edge of my seat and I just want to read more.
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