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depreydeprey's review against another edition
3.0
A forgettable Spenser which is a bit of a shame as this is one of the few that really looks at the world of politics and feels like a missed opportunity for Parker. Also we get to see Spenser and Susan's relationship take another hit which is not all that much fun to read.
sansica's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
4.0
This was the first Spencer I read and so wasn't exactly sure what I was in for. It has a very particular quality and I appreciate Spencer's snark a great deal. He's also a product of his generation, no doubt. He has some hidden depths that I can appreciate
margardenlady's review against another edition
4.0
I love these Spenser novels. He is a tough guy with ethics and class, and erudite to boot. In this story, Spenser reveals that the dark underbelly of politics hasn't really changed since the 80s. Graft. Crime. Blackmail. Yuck.
Excellent audiobook.
Excellent audiobook.
avrbookstuff's review against another edition
5.0
Reading these while travelling, perfect for being entertained while queue-standing.
northstar's review
2.0
It pains me to give Spenser only two stars. Parker's style and wit are on display but the mystery is lame and the book appears to serve only as a bridge in Spenser and Susan's relationship.
brettt's review
4.0
Robert B. Parker's private investigator Spenser met his longtime love Susan Silverman in the series' second novel and they were paired off as a couple in the third. But in 1981's A Savage Place, Spenser slept with a woman he was guarding, newscaster Candy Sloan, and that infidelity has continued to echo in their relationship. When 1983's The Widening Gyre opens, Susan is in Washington, D.C., working as a part of the doctoral degree she is earning from Harvard, and the strain of earlier events and the separation is telling on Spenser.
He accepts a case working security for Massachusetts Representative Meade Alexander, who would like to be Massachusetts Senator Meade Alexander. The Alexander campaign has received threats and harassment, and Spenser begins his time with them by reasoning with some of the harassers in his accustomed style. But Meade Alexander tells Spenser he's being blackmailed to drop out of the race -- his wife Ronni has been indiscreet and a videotape will be released unless he supports his opponent. As Spenser digs into the blackmail, he finds organized crime connections that will make his job that much more dangerous. He'll also find himself confronting some of his personal issues as he tries to adjust to some of Susan's decisions.
No small amount of Spenser fandom hates Susan Silverman, and there's no denying that in later years Parker used Spenser's interactions with her as a kind of crutch to pad his narrative. Gyre also takes a much deeper dive into the psychotherapy arena than Parker had done previously, and not everyone who wants to read tough-guy private eye fiction is as fascinated by that path of self-discovery as was Parker. He will give Susan and Spenser similar relationship issues at least twice more during the series in books that kind of echo the three-book arc begun here in Gyre.
And in Gyre, for whatever reason, the issues and the conflict carry much more weight. Possibly because the issues are not all on Susan's side and because Spenser himself wonders about whether or not he has said and done the right thing -- and whether the right thing is enough to do. Yes, the main case of the story is almost secondary, but Spenser's work on it parallels his discussion with Susan and his feelings about the attenuating of their relationship reflect in his work on the case.
Parker always writes of the head and the heart as much as the fist, but in Gyre he interweaves them better and more closely than he does in almost any other novel, and creates a conflict with no certain resolution. Even the title, taken from W.B. Yeats' "The Second Coming," offers a mix of hope and uncertainty -- Yeats' speaker sees a Second Coming approaching, but the condition of things makes him wonder whether what comes will bless or curse the world it enters. Spenser learns that Susan seeks a way to renew herself, but he does not know whether the new Susan will have a place for him, or that he will want to fill whatever place she does have.
This kind of introspection wouldn't be Spenser without the requisite smart-aleck retorts and tough-guy attitude, along with a brief scuffle or two, which Parker provides. Gyre's heavy emphasis on Susan, the Susan-Spenser relationship, psychological issues and Spenser's own self-examination may turn off fans who want their private eyes punching, drinking and scoring the dames. But those features actually make it one of the best and most interesting of the many Spenser novels, even when considered as a part of the earlier third of the series that represents its high point.
Original available here.
He accepts a case working security for Massachusetts Representative Meade Alexander, who would like to be Massachusetts Senator Meade Alexander. The Alexander campaign has received threats and harassment, and Spenser begins his time with them by reasoning with some of the harassers in his accustomed style. But Meade Alexander tells Spenser he's being blackmailed to drop out of the race -- his wife Ronni has been indiscreet and a videotape will be released unless he supports his opponent. As Spenser digs into the blackmail, he finds organized crime connections that will make his job that much more dangerous. He'll also find himself confronting some of his personal issues as he tries to adjust to some of Susan's decisions.
No small amount of Spenser fandom hates Susan Silverman, and there's no denying that in later years Parker used Spenser's interactions with her as a kind of crutch to pad his narrative. Gyre also takes a much deeper dive into the psychotherapy arena than Parker had done previously, and not everyone who wants to read tough-guy private eye fiction is as fascinated by that path of self-discovery as was Parker. He will give Susan and Spenser similar relationship issues at least twice more during the series in books that kind of echo the three-book arc begun here in Gyre.
And in Gyre, for whatever reason, the issues and the conflict carry much more weight. Possibly because the issues are not all on Susan's side and because Spenser himself wonders about whether or not he has said and done the right thing -- and whether the right thing is enough to do. Yes, the main case of the story is almost secondary, but Spenser's work on it parallels his discussion with Susan and his feelings about the attenuating of their relationship reflect in his work on the case.
Parker always writes of the head and the heart as much as the fist, but in Gyre he interweaves them better and more closely than he does in almost any other novel, and creates a conflict with no certain resolution. Even the title, taken from W.B. Yeats' "The Second Coming," offers a mix of hope and uncertainty -- Yeats' speaker sees a Second Coming approaching, but the condition of things makes him wonder whether what comes will bless or curse the world it enters. Spenser learns that Susan seeks a way to renew herself, but he does not know whether the new Susan will have a place for him, or that he will want to fill whatever place she does have.
This kind of introspection wouldn't be Spenser without the requisite smart-aleck retorts and tough-guy attitude, along with a brief scuffle or two, which Parker provides. Gyre's heavy emphasis on Susan, the Susan-Spenser relationship, psychological issues and Spenser's own self-examination may turn off fans who want their private eyes punching, drinking and scoring the dames. But those features actually make it one of the best and most interesting of the many Spenser novels, even when considered as a part of the earlier third of the series that represents its high point.
Original available here.
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