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Early Autumn  By  cover art

Early Autumn

By: Robert B. Parker
Narrated by: Michael Prichard
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Publisher's summary

“[Robert B.] Parker's brilliance is in his simple dialogue, and in Spenser.” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

A bitter divorce is only the beginning. First the father hires thugs to kidnap his son. Then the mother hires Spenser to get the boy back. But as soon as Spenser senses the lay of the land, he decides to do some kidnapping of his own.

With a contract out on his life, he heads for the Maine woods, determined to give a puny 15 year old a crash course in survival and to beat his dangerous opponents at their own brutal game.

©1992 Robert B Parker (P)2009 Random House

What listeners say about Early Autumn

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Probably the best Spenser book

Spenser is hired by Patty Giacomin to find and retrieve her son, Paul, who has been abducted by her ex-husband. Spenser soon realizes that 15-year-old Paul is being used as a weapon in a fierce and unrelenting battle between the Giacomins, neither of whom actually care much about him. Spenser decides to take care of the boy himself, and to attempt to teach him to become autonomous. This creates a certain amount of tension between Spenser and Susan, and a certain amount of danger for Spenser, who discovers that Mel Giacomin has mob connections.

Most of book contains two story lines: Spenser's efforts to find a way to get Paul out of the battle between his parents, and his teaching of Paul to become an independent person at a very young age.

In my opinion, the best part of the story is the work of Spenser to teach young Paul how to deal with the disasters of his family life and prevent them from consuming him.

If you like Spenser, you should find this book very enjoyable; swiftly paced, well-written, and full of telling and enjoyable details.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

One of the Best

Spencer is his typical wisecracking, head cracking self in this one. Unlike his usual cases in this one Spencer takes on a neglected child. The time and interaction between the two of them are what the kid needs most after a lifetime of being ignored by both parents. Thankfully the amount of time devoted to Susan Silverman in this book is limited. The over the top affection everyone feels for her for no apparent reason; particularly Spencer, gets tiring. Hawk appears in his similarly one dimensional role that seems to be perfect for the genre; he's the perfect weapon. the climatic showdown scene in which he does what Spencer can't; do what has to be done is prototypical Hawk. If you like Spencer this is one of the best choices

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

a very good Spencer novel

If you like Spencer, you will like Early Autumn. This book has all the "Spencer" elements I like, Spencer is his usual sexy wise cracking self and Hawk is involved. Susan is not quite as suppotive of Spencer as she is in other novels, but she is there, and in love with Spencer. Eary Autumn gives good insight into Spencers values for making a young man a "man". It was fun to watch the growth of the young man he befriends. This was a very good prchase for me.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

4 ½ stars. One of my favorites in the series,

partly because this has a neat relationship developing and changing.

A teenage boy is neglected and mistreated by his parents. (They don’t deserve to have a kid.) I loved Spenser’s relationship with the boy and the changes that happened. I enjoyed the way Spenser got the parents to do something. And there is a neat ending.

The narrator Michael Prichard was very good.

This is book #7 in the Spenser series.

Genre: PI mystery

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good Story

Not your typical detective novel, but I found it very interesting and entertaining. A lot to f detail information, but satisfying.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Early Autumn

Parker paints a slightly different Spenser tale. A very good different.

Opens up on the Spenser character with insights on the some of the values that drive him.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed it

Going back and listening to books I read as a kid. The story hold up to time quite well.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Narration

Pritchard has gotten a LOT better at narrating the Spenser books! Thank heaven! Much more natural than the early ones.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

One of Our Favorite Spencer Novels

We liked the story a lot. Loved that he kind of adopts Paul. He was a great role model for him.



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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

As Good As It Gets!

Parker's Spenser novels never disappoint, but this one is better than most. Not only entertaining, but full of wisdom and heart.

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