Robert B Parker's Now & Then

                     

I'm a huge fan of Robert B Parker. That in itself is odd, considering his text is sparse and far closer to the Hemingway school of writing than the elaborate and sprawling texts I usually prefer.

[there is a great quote out there by Herman Wouk. I wish I could remember it verbatim, but it goes on about Hemingway and dismisses his style, saying he prefers a novel that isn't afraid to use and appreciate the English language]

Ten years ago though, I began to write off Parker's work. The plots and characterizations were becoming cookie-cutter affairs, and with each novel the size of the text seemed to increase, padding out what would otherwise have been a skimpy  novella.

In recent years however, the Spenser series has returned to some of its early glory. In his twilight Parker has begun to use each of the novels as a testing ground. He's reintroduced minor figures from previous novels, expanded on what we think we know about the big players in his universe, and spent a lot of time thinking about the past.

In a number of ways, Parker seems to be prepping his characters for the author's own inevitable end.

In Now & Then Spenser is hired to verify a wife's affair on behalf of an FBI agent, and soon enough both the Mrs. and the client turn up dead. It turns out the wife's lover was a member of a terrorist organization, one that could afford to leave no witnesses. As expected Spenser is on the case to the bitter end, paying client or not, but that isn't what this book is about.

Time and again Spenser and his long-time love Susan (easily one of the most hated 'good guys' in the mystery world)  reference an affair she had in a previous novel - 'long ago' in Spenser's world, thirty years ago in our own. The affair has rarely been brought up in the intervening years, but here it's made clear that the scars of that incident have never gone away.

As much as Spenser works to clear the case, he's working just as hard to excise the demons of that ancient betrayal.

And in the end, what is legitimately a shock - the couple begins to talk about getting married, an event no Spenser fan could ever see coming.

Not the best book to introduce a new fan to the series, but a fine, solid work. 3 out of 4, or 79 out of 100.