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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
When the New England Patriot's Kinjo Heywood's son goes missing, Spenser is on the case. But who took him? Is it someone looking to squeeze a star football player out of some of his millions or is it someone with ties to Kinjo's past? Can Spenser, Hawk, and Z get Kinjo's son back in one piece?
I got this book via Goodread's Firstreads program. I've never been one of those guys that thinks Spenser is the best thing since fresh-sliced Phillip Marlowe so it wasn't a big deal for me when the Parker estate tapped Ace Atkins to take over. Lucky for me and the Parker estate, Atkins has the skills that pay the bills.
Cheap Shot reads like a long lost early Spenser. There's little talk of Spenser's man code and Spenser and Susan Silverman aren't nauseating everyone with all their relationship garbage. This is Spenser, Hawk, and their protege Zebulon Sixkill stirring up shit until the pot boils over.
Spenser's cases work best for me when his employer isn't squeaky clean and Kinjo Heywood fits the bill. He's a football player with some possible anger management issues and some skeletons in his closet. Complicating matters is his first wife, a strong woman who wants nothing but to get their son back.
Atkin's writing isn't a carbon copy of Parkers but it doesn't seem out of place either. He hits all the Parker hallmarks: slick dialog, descriptions of what people are wearing and eating, and Spenser and Hawk eventually getting into a confrontation with the bad guys. Spenser and Hawk rang true to form for me and felt pretty fresh.
The case had a lot of wrinkles. I was in the dark for quite a lot of the book. I figured out a couple pieces of how the ending was going to go but some of it still caught me napping. There was a plot twist at the 75% mark that surprised the crap out of me. The addition of Zebulon Sixkill to the supporting cast makes me want to backtrack and read more of the Spensers I've yet to read.
Cheap Shot was a really good read and I, for one, have no problem with Ace Atkins continuing the series as long as he wants. Four out of five stars.
I got this book via Goodread's Firstreads program. I've never been one of those guys that thinks Spenser is the best thing since fresh-sliced Phillip Marlowe so it wasn't a big deal for me when the Parker estate tapped Ace Atkins to take over. Lucky for me and the Parker estate, Atkins has the skills that pay the bills.
Cheap Shot reads like a long lost early Spenser. There's little talk of Spenser's man code and Spenser and Susan Silverman aren't nauseating everyone with all their relationship garbage. This is Spenser, Hawk, and their protege Zebulon Sixkill stirring up shit until the pot boils over.
Spenser's cases work best for me when his employer isn't squeaky clean and Kinjo Heywood fits the bill. He's a football player with some possible anger management issues and some skeletons in his closet. Complicating matters is his first wife, a strong woman who wants nothing but to get their son back.
Atkin's writing isn't a carbon copy of Parkers but it doesn't seem out of place either. He hits all the Parker hallmarks: slick dialog, descriptions of what people are wearing and eating, and Spenser and Hawk eventually getting into a confrontation with the bad guys. Spenser and Hawk rang true to form for me and felt pretty fresh.
The case had a lot of wrinkles. I was in the dark for quite a lot of the book. I figured out a couple pieces of how the ending was going to go but some of it still caught me napping. There was a plot twist at the 75% mark that surprised the crap out of me. The addition of Zebulon Sixkill to the supporting cast makes me want to backtrack and read more of the Spensers I've yet to read.
Cheap Shot was a really good read and I, for one, have no problem with Ace Atkins continuing the series as long as he wants. Four out of five stars.
Another solid entry in Atkins' continuation of the Spenser series. Susan, Hawk and Z are all here, and faithfully represented. Spenser's voice seems a little bit off in this one, and the plot is a little convoluted, but it is Spenser, and it is fun. I am glad Parker's legacy continues.
4 stars for another entertaining mystery in the Spenser series started by Robert B. Parker and now written by Ace Atkins. This is book 42 in the series, but it can be read as a stand alone.
Atkins has done well with writing in Parker's style--short chapters, short sentences, snappy dialogue and Spenser's wisecracking character.
This book opens with Spenser being hired by a star New England Patriots football player to find out who has been following him. Kinjo Heywood is a 260 pound linebacker for the Pats and tried to shoot the person following him. The police suggest that he hire Spenser rather than confront the stalker. Spenser agrees. But then the case gets much more complicated when Kinjo's son is kidnapped.
Spenser does solve the case, with the help of two associates, Hawk and Zebulon Sixkill. There are some false leads and many players in the book to follow, including:
Connor, FBI SAC(Special Agent in Charge)
Nicole Heywood, KInjo's ex and mother of Akira, Kinjo's son
Cristal, Kinjo's wife
Susan Silverman, Spenser's Significant other
Tony Marcus, a pimp
One Quote, describing Tony Marcus: "He was wearing a canary-yellow suit with a white shirt and a black tie with a black handkerchief in the pocket."
I read this library book in 2 days.
Atkins has done well with writing in Parker's style--short chapters, short sentences, snappy dialogue and Spenser's wisecracking character.
This book opens with Spenser being hired by a star New England Patriots football player to find out who has been following him. Kinjo Heywood is a 260 pound linebacker for the Pats and tried to shoot the person following him. The police suggest that he hire Spenser rather than confront the stalker. Spenser agrees. But then the case gets much more complicated when Kinjo's son is kidnapped.
Spenser does solve the case, with the help of two associates, Hawk and Zebulon Sixkill. There are some false leads and many players in the book to follow, including:
Connor, FBI SAC(Special Agent in Charge)
Nicole Heywood, KInjo's ex and mother of Akira, Kinjo's son
Cristal, Kinjo's wife
Susan Silverman, Spenser's Significant other
Tony Marcus, a pimp
One Quote, describing Tony Marcus: "He was wearing a canary-yellow suit with a white shirt and a black tie with a black handkerchief in the pocket."
I read this library book in 2 days.
Ace Atkins, you did not have to make these book as good as they are. You seriously could have turned in paint-by-numbers pablum and gotten a big check for it. In fact, it infuriates me that you probably made more off of these than your excellent Quinn Colson series. But you decided to write good books and God bless you for it.
I don't wanna come down too hard on Parker fans but Atkins is elevating the source material here. Great stuff.
I don't wanna come down too hard on Parker fans but Atkins is elevating the source material here. Great stuff.
I miss Robert B Parker. The hero is the same, but it all seems artificial now.
I finally read/listened to on of Parker's books. But, it was Ace Atkins, not Parker's writing it so I don't have a true sense of Parker's style. I listened to this one on CD and I enjoyed it mainly because I'm a fan of Joe Mantanga (sp). A popular linebacker, Kinjo Haywood, from the NE Patriots was followed by some shady characters and hires Spenser to investigate and find out who has been following him and why. Though Kinjo liked Spenser and wanted him around, the tema and agent disagreed and wanted to fire him because they felt he wasn't needed. In the middle of that being relieved from duty, Kinjo's son was abducted and the true investigation begins. Who kidnapped him and why? Will he be found alive? Lots of twists and turns but enjoyable.
My only minor problem is that listening to it made it difficult to keep up with the characters because I don't have prior history of Hawk, Z and the other cops and agents that obviously we're in previous books. It wasn't really hard to keep up & I didn't need to know the full history to enjoy it though. And even though he made reference to things that happened to some of these characters, I didn't feel like I was missing anything because it wasn't central to this book. I just because curious about these characters and it made me want to go back and read previous books.
Overall, it was a good story and I got a little emotional at the end. Definitely will read more of this series because I like Spenser's style and I love his sidekicks.
My only minor problem is that listening to it made it difficult to keep up with the characters because I don't have prior history of Hawk, Z and the other cops and agents that obviously we're in previous books. It wasn't really hard to keep up & I didn't need to know the full history to enjoy it though. And even though he made reference to things that happened to some of these characters, I didn't feel like I was missing anything because it wasn't central to this book. I just because curious about these characters and it made me want to go back and read previous books.
Overall, it was a good story and I got a little emotional at the end. Definitely will read more of this series because I like Spenser's style and I love his sidekicks.
Review: Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot by Ace Atkins Publication Date: 26th March 2015
Publisher: No Exit Press
ISBN: 978-1-84344-449-7
Source: Real Readers by nudge
Rating: 4*
Synopsis:
Kinjo Heywood is one of the New England Patriots' marquee players - a hard-nosed linebacker who has earned his reputation as one of the toughest guys in the league. When off-field violence repeatedly lands Heywood in the news, his slick agent hires Spenser to find the men who have been harassing his client.
Heywood's troubles appear to be tied to a nightclub shooting from two years earlier, so when his nine-year-old son Akira, is kidnapped, it seems his past has come back to haunt him. When he makes a controversial call to get Akira back, all hell breaks loose in Boston's underworld. With the feds distracted by other cases, Spenser, Hawk and their protégé, Zebulon Sixkill, will have to call upon their outlaw contacts to track the child down, before it's too late.
Review:
I must admit, I wasn't really looking forward to reading and reviewing Cheap Shot, as I was less than enamored with Wonderland, the only Spenser novel I've read previously, also by Ace Atkins. I'm happy to report that I enjoyed this novel a great deal more than that.
I find Spenser to be an entertaining and humerous character; his slightly sarcastic overtones a great personality trait and his rather unconventional approach to Private Investigation rather refreshing. There is nothing not to like about the character. Major Supporting characters Hawk, Z, Kunjo and the current and ex-Mrs Heywoods bring appropriate amounts of detail to the story and each adds something slightly different to the overall picture.
Atkins' writing style is easy to read with lots of descriptive text which really sets the scene and adds to the layers of this complex crime. My only criticism is of a couple of conflicting passages - on page 114, Spenser mentions that he and Susan had already eaten, "We had already had supper; four mini-apple pies baked in the oven", yet on page 116, "...grabbed my watch, and checked how long the pies had been in the oven".Surely it should be mini apple-pies, or no hyphen too. This may seem overly critical, but I find such errors irritating!
The pace builds nicely, it's a real page-turner with plenty of suspense, twists and turns. Everything is tied up nicely at the conclusion, following a few turns of events that I'd not forseen, a real bonus! I'm glad I got the opportunity to read another Spenser novel and that my opinion has been changed.
Publisher: No Exit Press
ISBN: 978-1-84344-449-7
Source: Real Readers by nudge
Rating: 4*
Synopsis:
Kinjo Heywood is one of the New England Patriots' marquee players - a hard-nosed linebacker who has earned his reputation as one of the toughest guys in the league. When off-field violence repeatedly lands Heywood in the news, his slick agent hires Spenser to find the men who have been harassing his client.
Heywood's troubles appear to be tied to a nightclub shooting from two years earlier, so when his nine-year-old son Akira, is kidnapped, it seems his past has come back to haunt him. When he makes a controversial call to get Akira back, all hell breaks loose in Boston's underworld. With the feds distracted by other cases, Spenser, Hawk and their protégé, Zebulon Sixkill, will have to call upon their outlaw contacts to track the child down, before it's too late.
Review:
I must admit, I wasn't really looking forward to reading and reviewing Cheap Shot, as I was less than enamored with Wonderland, the only Spenser novel I've read previously, also by Ace Atkins. I'm happy to report that I enjoyed this novel a great deal more than that.
I find Spenser to be an entertaining and humerous character; his slightly sarcastic overtones a great personality trait and his rather unconventional approach to Private Investigation rather refreshing. There is nothing not to like about the character. Major Supporting characters Hawk, Z, Kunjo and the current and ex-Mrs Heywoods bring appropriate amounts of detail to the story and each adds something slightly different to the overall picture.
Atkins' writing style is easy to read with lots of descriptive text which really sets the scene and adds to the layers of this complex crime. My only criticism is of a couple of conflicting passages - on page 114, Spenser mentions that he and Susan had already eaten, "We had already had supper; four mini-apple pies baked in the oven", yet on page 116, "...grabbed my watch, and checked how long the pies had been in the oven".Surely it should be mini apple-pies, or no hyphen too. This may seem overly critical, but I find such errors irritating!
The pace builds nicely, it's a real page-turner with plenty of suspense, twists and turns. Everything is tied up nicely at the conclusion, following a few turns of events that I'd not forseen, a real bonus! I'm glad I got the opportunity to read another Spenser novel and that my opinion has been changed.
emotional
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I received an advanced reader copy of "Cheap Shot" through a Goodreads Give Away. Having read all of Robert B. Parker's Spenser editions and Ace Atkins's versions so far, I was excited to read this next installment. Cheap Shot was good, the premise of a kidnapped child of a pro football player is an interesting hook. It gave ample opportunity for our well loved cast of players - Spenser and his sidekicks of Hawk and Z - to exercise their code of ethics while hunting down the bad guys. As in other Atkins's editions of the series, Spenser's love Susan Silverman plays a lesser role, which I prefer.
I enjoyed that Spenser has started to show his age, with young Z introducing some technology to the tailing of persons of interest. You also see that Spenser no longer knows all the players in the Boston gangs. This adds an interesting edge to the detection he must do, as he relies more on his partners for entry into the underworld.
My only dislike, and the reason that this review is 3 instead of 4 stars, was related to the ending. I felt the ending was convulted and didn't move Spenser's storyline arc forward. Parker's conclusions could show you the dirty underside that we all make do with but you had a sense that Spenser had conquered the case and everyone was at least as good, if not slightly better than they had started. I didn't get that satisfaction from this, or Atkins's other installments. Maybe we're all becoming more cynical as we get older, but I miss that bit of justice that ran through the series.
I enjoyed that Spenser has started to show his age, with young Z introducing some technology to the tailing of persons of interest. You also see that Spenser no longer knows all the players in the Boston gangs. This adds an interesting edge to the detection he must do, as he relies more on his partners for entry into the underworld.
My only dislike, and the reason that this review is 3 instead of 4 stars, was related to the ending. I felt the ending was convulted and didn't move Spenser's storyline arc forward. Parker's conclusions could show you the dirty underside that we all make do with but you had a sense that Spenser had conquered the case and everyone was at least as good, if not slightly better than they had started. I didn't get that satisfaction from this, or Atkins's other installments. Maybe we're all becoming more cynical as we get older, but I miss that bit of justice that ran through the series.
I am usually not a fan of continuing an author's character long after the author has died. You would think I would be as a big fan of comic books where this the norm. I just don't find that many books that can maintain the magic. Capture the voice. I don't know hoe Atkins has done it but reading these books is like reading Robert B. Parker. It is that seemless. With one exception. I think that Parker was slipping towards the end. Atkins has invigorated the series again. Reading these books is like meeting a friend you haven't seen in years. Atkins has a much better hold of the plot.
You are never going to read Spenser to figure out what the world is about. You read Spenser for the characters. They are all here. Hell, I even like Susan again. Great story. Fast read. Leaves you wanting more. A perfect recipe.
You are never going to read Spenser to figure out what the world is about. You read Spenser for the characters. They are all here. Hell, I even like Susan again. Great story. Fast read. Leaves you wanting more. A perfect recipe.