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remlezar 's review for:
The Godwulf Manuscript
by Robert B. Parker
I've always been curious about the Spenser novels. They're a huge standard for the genre, so as someone who enjoys a good crime/mystery/detective novel I felt at least somewhat obligated to check it out. After a few years of always-having-something-else-to-read syndrome, I finally ran out of excuses and picked up The Godwulf Manuscript. It was alright.
The story itself is fun and generally well crafted. The McGuffin is a good one, it was nice to have a motive that wasn't 100% about money or drugs. I was never absolutely sure of where the plot was going, which was also nice. Plus, there were some interesting characters sprinkled throughout.
Unfortunately, though, the Spenser character himself was devoid of any unique or defining qualities. He's a private eye who doesn't play by the rules! He's a ladies man with snappy, flirty dialogue. He's unconventionally skilled. He's good looking. He's... every boring P.I. ever in the history of books, film, and TV. After the point in the novel where Spenser slept with an uncomfortably young woman, and then went to that young woman's family home and slept with her mother, my eyeballs practically popped out of my head from rolling so hard. The coup de grace was when he told himself "you still got it, kid."
Spenser is less of a character, and more of a Danny Trejo-in-Machete type parody of a character. Now, all of this would have been forgivable (after all, Richard Stark's Parker character is similarly ridiculous and I still love those books) if the Spenser character just wasn't so damn boring. Maybe he gets better as the series goes on.
Anyway, I still had a decent time with the book because of the fun mystery, but I wasn't sad when I finished it. If Good Reads let me give half stars, this would be a solid 2.5.
The story itself is fun and generally well crafted. The McGuffin is a good one, it was nice to have a motive that wasn't 100% about money or drugs. I was never absolutely sure of where the plot was going, which was also nice. Plus, there were some interesting characters sprinkled throughout.
Unfortunately, though, the Spenser character himself was devoid of any unique or defining qualities. He's a private eye who doesn't play by the rules! He's a ladies man with snappy, flirty dialogue. He's unconventionally skilled. He's good looking. He's... every boring P.I. ever in the history of books, film, and TV. After the point in the novel where Spenser slept with an uncomfortably young woman, and then went to that young woman's family home and slept with her mother, my eyeballs practically popped out of my head from rolling so hard. The coup de grace was when he told himself "you still got it, kid."
Spenser is less of a character, and more of a Danny Trejo-in-Machete type parody of a character. Now, all of this would have been forgivable (after all, Richard Stark's Parker character is similarly ridiculous and I still love those books) if the Spenser character just wasn't so damn boring. Maybe he gets better as the series goes on.
Anyway, I still had a decent time with the book because of the fun mystery, but I wasn't sad when I finished it. If Good Reads let me give half stars, this would be a solid 2.5.