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ericbuscemi 's review for:
The Godwulf Manuscript
by Robert B. Parker
Robert Parker is yet another author who I went about reading backwards, starting with his Everett Hitch & Virgil Cole westerns (which are awesome, by the way) instead of with Spenser, the detective that made him famous.
What actually drew me to read this book at this point in time was a review from [a:Orson Scott Card|589|Orson Scott Card|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1294099952p2/589.jpg] recommending the latest Elvis Cole novel by [a:Robert Crais|8944|Robert Crais|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1202587973p2/8944.jpg] -- a series and author I'd never read -- that also mentioned Parker and his detective Spenser. So I decided to read the both this and [b:The Monkey's Raincoat|14404|The Monkey's Raincoat (Elvis Cole, #1)|Robert Crais|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348618089s/14404.jpg|2541445]. I was not disappointed with either.
As for this book, it seemed almost as dated as [a:Dashiell Hammett|16927|Dashiell Hammett|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1287255332p2/16927.jpg] or [a:Raymond Chandler|1377|Raymond Chandler|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1206535318p2/1377.jpg], but that didn't bother me at all. It was written in a style that paid its respects to those writers, with the Spenser character being very much in the mold of Spade and Marlowe. Spenser, however, pushes boundaries further than his predecessors -- sleeping with both his collegiate client and her married mother, for example.
The decision to name the book after a MacGuffin that disappeared from the story slightly after the first act was a bit puzzling, as was the attitude of basically everyone at the University -- but then again, I have no idea what the climate of higher learning was like in the early 70s.
All in all, this book definitely left me excited to read further Spenser adventures.
What actually drew me to read this book at this point in time was a review from [a:Orson Scott Card|589|Orson Scott Card|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1294099952p2/589.jpg] recommending the latest Elvis Cole novel by [a:Robert Crais|8944|Robert Crais|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1202587973p2/8944.jpg] -- a series and author I'd never read -- that also mentioned Parker and his detective Spenser. So I decided to read the both this and [b:The Monkey's Raincoat|14404|The Monkey's Raincoat (Elvis Cole, #1)|Robert Crais|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348618089s/14404.jpg|2541445]. I was not disappointed with either.
As for this book, it seemed almost as dated as [a:Dashiell Hammett|16927|Dashiell Hammett|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1287255332p2/16927.jpg] or [a:Raymond Chandler|1377|Raymond Chandler|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1206535318p2/1377.jpg], but that didn't bother me at all. It was written in a style that paid its respects to those writers, with the Spenser character being very much in the mold of Spade and Marlowe. Spenser, however, pushes boundaries further than his predecessors -- sleeping with both his collegiate client and her married mother, for example.
The decision to name the book after a MacGuffin that disappeared from the story slightly after the first act was a bit puzzling, as was the attitude of basically everyone at the University -- but then again, I have no idea what the climate of higher learning was like in the early 70s.
All in all, this book definitely left me excited to read further Spenser adventures.