Back Story

By: Robert B. Parker

Narrated by: Joe Mantegna

Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Spenser tries to solve a 30-year-old murder as a favor to an old friend in the brilliant new mystery from the Grand Master.

In 1974, a revolutionary group calling itself the Dread Scott Brigade held up the old Shawmut Bank in Boston's Audubon Circle. Money was stolen. And a woman named Emily Gordon, a visitor in town cashing traveler's checks, was shot and killed. No one saw who shot her. Despite security camera photos and a letter from the group claiming responsibility, the perpetrators have remained at large for nearly three decades.

Enter Paul Giacomin, the closest thing to a son Spenser has. Twice before, Spenser has come to the young man's assistance, and now that Paul is in his 30s, his troubled past is behind him. When Paul's friend Daryl Gordon -daughter of the long-gone Emily - decides she needs closure about the matter of her mother's death, it's Spenser she turns to. The lack of clues and the fact that an FBI intelligence report is missing force Spenser to reach out in every direction - to Daryl's estranged hippie father; to Vinnie Morris and the mob; to the mysterious Ives - and test his resourcefulness and courage.

©2003 Robert B. Parker (P)2003 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The character sketches are Ginsu sharp." (Entertainment Weekly)

"Spenser's back, just the way we like him." (New York Daily News)

Maybe (gulp) I've read too much Robert B. Parker.

I guess I knew this day was coming, but it's been a heckuva ride, I must say. As in most serials that have basically run out of gas, these books are beginning to have a sameness for me which drags each of them down. The wit is still there, the arch sophisticated worldview that our three heroes (Spenser, Hawk and Dr. Susan Silverman) convey. And, Joe Mantegna still does a really creditable job, although on the "he said-she said" controversy I come down on the side of the Michael Prichard fans. The milieu, however, has become too familiar. Boston still seems like a really interesting city, and Spenser's delightfully idiosyncratic view of it continues to entertain. The plots, though, have become so similar and repetitive that I truly have to stretch to recall them. I did enjoy the April the prostitute miniseries, which allowed us to get a little bit under Spenser's facade to show us his compulsion to rescue damsels in distress (how psychological! And from me, a psychologist!).
The one thing I deliberately have not done is to read the book in which Susan dies. Clearly it is time for me to do this now. I hope that this kind of real-world development (although just a tiny bit extreme and melodramatic for my tastes) may give us another chance to see Spenser as a flesh-and-blood fictional character (huh?). Up to now his suit of armor hasn't been pierced in any significant way. Maybe in that case it will be. For now, the mix-and-match lost kids-disturbed families-helpful/semi-helpful cops above whom Spenser and Hawk rise to the rescue: I've just about had it. For an author who has found a way to mint money by reeling off one after another just-slightly modified book, it must have taken a whole lot of guts for Mr. Parker to walk across to the other side of the desk and see his guy from a whole 'nother point of view. This is an accomplishment that, I dare say, Lee Child will never ever even approach. My hat is truly off to Mr. Parker.

Intersecting Characters

I found it funny that the Spenser characters have now begun to intersect and interact with the characters from Parker's Paradise novels. Jesse Stone makes an appearance in this new Spenser novel, and we find that Spenser and Stone get along pretty well.

Like most of the Spenser novels, Parker keeps us guessing most of the way, and we can almost forget that when this series started Spenser was a Korean War veteran who by now ought to be lunching on Ensure rather than fancy meals at fancy restaurants. The stories and dialog crackle and the rapport between Hawk and Spenser is worth the price of the book alone.

Violence happens, but it isn't glorified, and it isn't described as something to take glory in. Spenser is a human with real emotions and a deep philosophical side. Reading these novels you get the idea that you'd like to have lunch with Parker some day, and maybe go shooting with him.

Joe is Spenser

One of the better dramatizations of Parker's best detective and his erudite sidekick, Hawk (if only Avery Brooks could have voiced Hawk this would be perfect in every way).

Worthy

This is a quick story, but one that shows a lot of personality in the characters. The dialogue is entertaining, snappy yet realistic. The characters are fun to listen to and the performance is very well done. Definitely worth your time.

Mantegna performance great as usual

Characters are cartoonish compared to the realism of a Michael Connelly novel. Ending is idiotic.

Listen to Sample!!!

Kim & Lawrenc are right. Just listen to the sample. What a great way to ruin an audio book..."I said","I said","I said". I'm goin' for the paperback.

no character

This is an extremely poorly written detective novel with no character development, stereotyped characters and a plot that does not make sense.

I said, he said, she said - YUCK!

I was sorry that I had not read Kim's review prior to obtaining this book. I didn't even make it through the first disc! I thoroughly enjoy Joe Mantegna as an actor but felt that if I heard one more "I said" or "he said" I would scream.