Small Vices (Spenser)

by Robert B. Parker

1998

Status

Available

Publication

G.P. Putnam's Sons (1998), Edition: 1st, 338 pages

Description

Fiction. Mystery. HTML: The bad kid from the 'hood has a long, long record, but did he really murder the white coed from ritzy Pemberton College? His former lawyers believe that he was framed, and they hire Spenser and Hawk to uncover the truth. Plumbing the depths of the seamy side of life, they encounter a no man's land of twisted cops and spoiled rich kids with peculiar private proclivities. When a master assassin's bullet takes Spenser down, he survives the attack but remains dead to the world, plotting to pay back his shooter while recovering his strength in secret. From the back streets of Boston to Manhattan's most elegant thoroughfares, Small Vices delivers both galvanizing action, suspense and a complex meditation on morality and mortality in the blend that legions of Spenser fans recognize and appreciate..… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member raizel

Relatively straight-forward story with a lot of familiar characters making guest appearances. The most interesting thing about it is the question at the end. Kinda like is it better to catch soulless vampires or people who do bad things but still have a soul?

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LibraryThing member shelleyraec

I'm a huge fan of the dry wit and repartee so I enjoyed this as much as the others.

LibraryThing member MarthaHuntley

Typically good Robert Parker

LibraryThing member unclebob53703

One of his best; Cold Service is the flip-side of this story.

LibraryThing member KeishonT

Very good book that moved fast. Enjoyable storyline even though it's very a contentious one that involves racial injustice and the super rich. I can always depend on Parker to deliver a good story.

LibraryThing member bas615

A return to form in many ways. I have missed this Spenser. Really wrapped me up in a way the recent ones haven't as much. Really do enjoy these characters.

LibraryThing member joeldinda

Among other things, a story about adopting children. Spenser and Susan decide not to, for good reasons. But mostly the book's a murder mystery. Spenser gets little cooperation from anyone in this one, and has to force things to a conclusion.

The book's ending is morally ambiguous, at best, and quite

possibly morally wrong. The book knows this, which probably doesn't excuse anything. Spenser's a complicated guy, but this particular complication leads to absurd places.

And a spoiler: When Spenser got shot in earlier books, 'twas toward the end of the book and we didn't get much about his recovery. In this book it's sort of an interlude within the larger story, and interesting for that; not sure it helped the book, though.

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