When Robin Nevins is denied acceptance into an exclusive university, Spenser is eager to investigate. It seems the denial is tied to the suicide of a young gay activist, and as Spenser digs deeper, he is immersed in a multicultural swamp of politics: black, gay, academic, and feminist. Meanwhile, Spenser's girlfriend Susan asks him to come to the aid of an old college friend who is being stalked.
1 of 1 copy available
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
March 21, 2022 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781597773119
- File size: 217316 KB
- Duration: 07:32:44
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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It is key that a well-known hero sound as readers have imagined him. Reynolds's portrayal of detective Spenser is on target--intelligent, tough and sensual. Hawk, Spenser's African-American sidekick, is equally good, but Susan, the girlfriend, sounds too breathy and sweet for a razor-sharp shrink. These friends lay two problems in Spenser's lap--the tenure denial of a possibly gay professor and a stalking situation. En route to solutions he runs up against academics and political activists of all stripes. Reynolds makes each one individual. He also savors the food scenes characteristic of Parker's novels. Spenser fans won't be disappointed here, and new converts may be won. J.B.G. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine -
March 1, 1999
Despite his quarter century on Boston's mean streets (he debuted in The Godwulf Manuscript in 1974), Parker's retrograde yet hip PI Spenser can still punch, sleuth and wisecrack with the best of them. This time out, Spenser looks into the case of Robinson Nevins, a conservative African-American professor denied tenure, perhaps for his alleged affair with a male student, Prentice Lamont, who has committed suicide. Spenser's hard-eyed stroll through the cloistered world of academia brings him into contact with Amir Abdullah, a black professor who is theatrically militant about African-American issues despite a long list of sexual conquests that includes the leader of a white supremacist organization. Sexual conquest is also on the mind of K.C. Roth, a pretty woman beset by insecurity and prey to a stalker. When Spenser and his sidekick, Hawk, persuade her sinister admirer to desist, K.C.'s fragile emotions lead her to fall hard for Spenser, and the stalked becomes the stalker. Naturally, Spenser's longtime lover, Susan, is less than amused. Readers who find the Spenser chronicles cute or contrived probably won't change their minds with this entry. Beyond dispute, however, is Parker's reliably gossamer narrative touch and, in this particular instance, his skilled brewing of suspense within the academic setting. Fans will also enjoy unexpected revelations about Hawk's background, Spenser's serving of justice with a vengeance and, as usual, prose that's as clean as a sea breeze.
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