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Spenser #11
Valediction
The most dangerous man to cross is one who isn't afraid to die. But the most deadly is one who doesn't want to live. And Spenser has just lost the woman who made life his #1 priority.
So when a religious sect kidnaps a pretty young dancer, no death threat can make Spenser cut and run. Now a hit man's bullet is wearing Spenser's name. But Boston's big boys don't know Spenser's ready and willing to meet death more than halfway.
"Tough, wisecracking, unafraid and unexpectedly literate --in many respects the very exemplar of the species." (The New York Times)
From the Cassette edition.
So when a religious sect kidnaps a pretty young dancer, no death threat can make Spenser cut and run. Now a hit man's bullet is wearing Spenser's name. But Boston's big boys don't know Spenser's ready and willing to meet death more than halfway.
"Tough, wisecracking, unafraid and unexpectedly literate --in many respects the very exemplar of the species." (The New York Times)
From the Cassette edition.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
531 people are currently reading
1362 people want to read
About the author
Robert B. Parker
489 books2,293 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database named Robert B. Parker.
Robert Brown Parker was an American writer, primarily of fiction within the mystery/detective genre. His most famous works were the 40 novels written about the fictional private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the mid-1980s; a series of TV movies was also produced based on the character. His works incorporate encyclopedic knowledge of the Boston metropolitan area. The Spenser novels have been cited as reviving and changing the detective genre by critics and bestselling authors including Robert Crais, Harlan Coben, and Dennis Lehane.
Parker also wrote nine novels featuring the fictional character Jesse Stone, a Los Angeles police officer who moves to a small New England town; six novels with the fictional character Sunny Randall, a female private investigator; and four Westerns starring the duo Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. The first was Appaloosa, made into a film starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen.
Robert Brown Parker was an American writer, primarily of fiction within the mystery/detective genre. His most famous works were the 40 novels written about the fictional private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the mid-1980s; a series of TV movies was also produced based on the character. His works incorporate encyclopedic knowledge of the Boston metropolitan area. The Spenser novels have been cited as reviving and changing the detective genre by critics and bestselling authors including Robert Crais, Harlan Coben, and Dennis Lehane.
Parker also wrote nine novels featuring the fictional character Jesse Stone, a Los Angeles police officer who moves to a small New England town; six novels with the fictional character Sunny Randall, a female private investigator; and four Westerns starring the duo Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. The first was Appaloosa, made into a film starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 307 reviews
June 26, 2019
Although not Spenser’s best, this is still very good, and—for all true Spenser fans—an essential episode in the development of Susan Silverman and Spenser’s relationship.
The adventure itself is relatively simple—at least on the surface. When Spenser is hired to investigate the possible kidnapping of a ballet dancer by a religious cult, he soon finds that the girl has re-joined the church of her own free will. But Spenser can’t convince himself to let matters go. The second group of bad guys the church sent to scare him—after he put their musclebound deacons in the hospital—were true bad guys indeed: real hoods, arm-breakers, professional enforcers from the ranks of organized crime. Now what was The Reorganized Church of the Redemption doing, hooked up with bad guys like these?
The more intriguing story here, though, is what is going on under the surface. Susan has moved to San Francisco, and tells Spenser she met another man she cares about. Spenser is deeply wounded—half-numb, bitter and filled with a well of anger just below the surface. How that anger affects his way of dealing with this case is one of the intriguing features of the novel.
This is an enjoyable entertainment, and an essential for all Spenser fans.
April 21, 2011
There’s nothing sadder than a professional thug with a broken heart.
The problems between Spenser and Susan that have been simmering in the background for several books finally boil over. Susan gets her psychiatric degree from Harvard and tells Spenser that she needs some time apart. She’s off to San Francisco for a new job, and Spenser is left devastated.
With nothing else to do, Spenser takes a case looking for a missing woman who may or may not have been abducted by a Christian cult. But Spenser isn’t so sure that he wants to go on without Susan, and that’s a dangerous mindset for a guy in his line of work, especially when connections between the cult and organized crime pop up.
Spenser makes himself go through the motions of work and life, even dating a woman and being shocked to realize that he can enjoy seeing someone else, but he’s too invested in his idealized version of pure love with Susan to be truly happy with anything less than her. He also realizes that the weight of that was probably too much for Susan to bear, and it’s something he’s going to have to get over it to ever get her back.
This is a landmark in the series, and it sets up the next one A Catskill Eagle which is the pivotal book in the Spenser saga. If you know the story of how Robert B. Parker and his wife nearly split up during this time, and you realize that the poor bastard was writing about his own marriage going sour, then you’d have to be made out of stone not to feel for the guy.
Next up: Spenser and Hawk become fugitives and kill a whole lotta people to save Susan in A Catskill Eagle. I’m not sure she's worth it.
The problems between Spenser and Susan that have been simmering in the background for several books finally boil over. Susan gets her psychiatric degree from Harvard and tells Spenser that she needs some time apart. She’s off to San Francisco for a new job, and Spenser is left devastated.
With nothing else to do, Spenser takes a case looking for a missing woman who may or may not have been abducted by a Christian cult. But Spenser isn’t so sure that he wants to go on without Susan, and that’s a dangerous mindset for a guy in his line of work, especially when connections between the cult and organized crime pop up.
Spenser makes himself go through the motions of work and life, even dating a woman and being shocked to realize that he can enjoy seeing someone else, but he’s too invested in his idealized version of pure love with Susan to be truly happy with anything less than her. He also realizes that the weight of that was probably too much for Susan to bear, and it’s something he’s going to have to get over it to ever get her back.
This is a landmark in the series, and it sets up the next one A Catskill Eagle which is the pivotal book in the Spenser saga. If you know the story of how Robert B. Parker and his wife nearly split up during this time, and you realize that the poor bastard was writing about his own marriage going sour, then you’d have to be made out of stone not to feel for the guy.
Next up: Spenser and Hawk become fugitives and kill a whole lotta people to save Susan in A Catskill Eagle. I’m not sure she's worth it.
October 5, 2012
Robert Parker was one helluva writer.
His Spenser novels alone guarantee that he’ll be remembered within the noir genre for years to come. (I reserve the moment to not comment on the Sunny Randall or Jesse Stone novels in this review…not to mention his westerns.) But what is really amazing about Parker is that he put parts of himself in Spenser. VALEDICTION is a perfect example of what I am talking about. You see, VALEDICTION is a very troubling book for me. It starts off with Spenser’s gal, Susan, graduating from Harvard with her Ph.D. in psychotherapy. Right off the bat Spenser is a fish out of water in these surroundings. Like Spenser, Parker too was a fish out of water. Parker was an academic before he could write fulltime. But unlike other academics who sell themselves out to the establishment, Parker maintained who he was: he wrote a dissertation on the fictional private-eye heroes created by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross MacDonald. This connection may not seem like much, but once you see the parallels between Parker and Spenser in VALEDICTION it seems as if Parker was more than channeling himself in this one, he was becoming Spenser…or perhaps he was making Spenser become more like himself.
So Susan graduates. This event is the pivotal catalyst needed to not only move along the series, it also moves Parker’s life forward as well. You see Spenser and Susan call it quits. She moves to San Francisco. Spenser stays in Boston. This may not seem like much, but during this time Parker was struggling to save his own marriage. Had I not known this bit of information before reading this novel (thank you Kemper) I might have thought Parker was off his game in this one because of the way Hawk seems cartoonish. But Parker wasn’t worried about Hawk. He was worried about his own life. Thus, he made Spenser worried about his life.
The main plot is pretty thin: a woman needs to be saved from a religious cult who may or may not be involved in the heroin trade. Pretty basic. (Well, perhaps it is not as basic as I say it is…there are some pretty gnarly double and triple-crosses.)
But, as I said, this Spenser novel is different. The lighthearted, pithy dialogue is not as prevalent. Darkness consumes the pages. You can almost feel Parker’s heart breaking as Spenser works through being without Susan. The atmosphere is bleak and aggressive, not a very welcoming environment when reading the books out of order as I have done. To be honest, I almost stopped reading it. Not because of the angst of Spenser, but because I knew that Parker was actually going through this as he wrote this book. And when you add in that the scenes that included violence were much more elaborate, enlarged—almost as if Parker used Spenser to exorcise Parker’s own feelings of pain and anguish against said adversary—the feeling of sadness I had for Parker increased with the story. That is the mark of a great writer…forget caring about a character, I cared about the author.
Put simply: VALEDICTION is one of the most human books I have ever read. With that said, I was still left wondering if Susan was worth all the pain in the end. And, to be honest, I really don’t know if she was.
HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION
His Spenser novels alone guarantee that he’ll be remembered within the noir genre for years to come. (I reserve the moment to not comment on the Sunny Randall or Jesse Stone novels in this review…not to mention his westerns.) But what is really amazing about Parker is that he put parts of himself in Spenser. VALEDICTION is a perfect example of what I am talking about. You see, VALEDICTION is a very troubling book for me. It starts off with Spenser’s gal, Susan, graduating from Harvard with her Ph.D. in psychotherapy. Right off the bat Spenser is a fish out of water in these surroundings. Like Spenser, Parker too was a fish out of water. Parker was an academic before he could write fulltime. But unlike other academics who sell themselves out to the establishment, Parker maintained who he was: he wrote a dissertation on the fictional private-eye heroes created by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross MacDonald. This connection may not seem like much, but once you see the parallels between Parker and Spenser in VALEDICTION it seems as if Parker was more than channeling himself in this one, he was becoming Spenser…or perhaps he was making Spenser become more like himself.
So Susan graduates. This event is the pivotal catalyst needed to not only move along the series, it also moves Parker’s life forward as well. You see Spenser and Susan call it quits. She moves to San Francisco. Spenser stays in Boston. This may not seem like much, but during this time Parker was struggling to save his own marriage. Had I not known this bit of information before reading this novel (thank you Kemper) I might have thought Parker was off his game in this one because of the way Hawk seems cartoonish. But Parker wasn’t worried about Hawk. He was worried about his own life. Thus, he made Spenser worried about his life.
The main plot is pretty thin: a woman needs to be saved from a religious cult who may or may not be involved in the heroin trade. Pretty basic. (Well, perhaps it is not as basic as I say it is…there are some pretty gnarly double and triple-crosses.)
But, as I said, this Spenser novel is different. The lighthearted, pithy dialogue is not as prevalent. Darkness consumes the pages. You can almost feel Parker’s heart breaking as Spenser works through being without Susan. The atmosphere is bleak and aggressive, not a very welcoming environment when reading the books out of order as I have done. To be honest, I almost stopped reading it. Not because of the angst of Spenser, but because I knew that Parker was actually going through this as he wrote this book. And when you add in that the scenes that included violence were much more elaborate, enlarged—almost as if Parker used Spenser to exorcise Parker’s own feelings of pain and anguish against said adversary—the feeling of sadness I had for Parker increased with the story. That is the mark of a great writer…forget caring about a character, I cared about the author.
Put simply: VALEDICTION is one of the most human books I have ever read. With that said, I was still left wondering if Susan was worth all the pain in the end. And, to be honest, I really don’t know if she was.
HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION
November 27, 2019
This is Parker's best book by far.
This is Spenser and Susan's best book, and Paul's too. And especially when combined with the previous book Ceremony, something important is happening to Parker in real life, and thus to Spenser.
I kept reading the pain inside Spenser from Susan's absence and uncertainties, and I remember those feelings from 30 years ago for me. I was Spenser in that way, Spenser was me. And I thought, Parker knows. Parker has felt this pain, and numbness and confusion. Has had his thoughts begin each day with Susan, what she would be doing in her distant life each day at this time.
So I did a bit of research and found this:
Parker and his wife, Joan, separated at one point but then came to an unusual arrangement. They lived in a three-story Victorian house just outside of Harvard Square; she lived on one floor and he on another, and they shared the middle floor. This living arrangement is mirrored in Spenser's private life: his girlfriend, Susan, had an aversion to marriage and living together full-time. Living separately suited them both, although they were fully committed to each other. Explaining the arrangement in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, Parker said, "I want to make love to my wife for the rest of my life, but I never want to sleep with her again."
And Spenser buries himself in work, while confused and numb and weaker inside, but he pushes on through, just as I did. So fresh this writing for me. And I realised that I went through this terrible loss and pain during the same year and months as Parker, and was pushing through, writing his love and pain into Spencer.
Spenser found a wonderful person to share this pain with, as did I for a while. Without guns, of course. Computers instead of guns...
The loss comes in the first pages, and the mission comes soon after, with the action building smoothly, the mystery, and with Spenser pushing and realising his actions are always on behalf of someone he admired, who was stuck, or scared, or at risk.
The pacing increases, the complexities of Spenser's plans for solution, seeming to work, but without the critical keystones in place.
Be sure to read the quotations section below.
(More quotations coming soon)
**** SPOILER FOLLOWS ****
.
And when the femme-fatalé pulls the gun at the end, and shoots her partner and her lover and only Spenser remains, and walks towards her, as she shoots and shoots, because death and risk are so unclear now, his death unimportant now, taking the bullets, until he takes the gun from the hand of the girl.
Wonderful.
See my review of Crimson Joy for more Spenser Series opinion...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Notes-
7.0% "... quote:
The thing I like about Irish whiskey is that the more you drink the smoother it goes down. Of course that’s probably true of antifreeze as well,"
13.0% "... quote:
She wore a lot of makeup, badly applied. There was lipstick on her teeth. If she’d been a dancer, it must have been in Fantasia."
9.0% "... I was once in this state of mind. I surely sympathise and can still remember clearly.... quote:
It was 10:45. Across the continent Susan would be putting on her makeup now, and spraying some perfume on herself and making sure her hair was perfect. I looked at my reflection in the window. My hair wasn’t perfect. Neither was I."
50.0% ".... the breakup/separation of Spenser and Susan mirrored Parker's real life.
This is Spenser and Susan's best book, and Paul's too. And especially when combined with the previous book Ceremony, something important is happening to Parker in real life, and thus to Spenser.
I kept reading the pain inside Spenser from Susan's absence and uncertainties, and I remember those feelings from 30 years ago for me. I was Spenser in that way, Spenser was me. And I thought, Parker knows. Parker has felt this pain, and numbness and confusion. Has had his thoughts begin each day with Susan, what she would be doing in her distant life each day at this time.
So I did a bit of research and found this:
Parker and his wife, Joan, separated at one point but then came to an unusual arrangement. They lived in a three-story Victorian house just outside of Harvard Square; she lived on one floor and he on another, and they shared the middle floor. This living arrangement is mirrored in Spenser's private life: his girlfriend, Susan, had an aversion to marriage and living together full-time. Living separately suited them both, although they were fully committed to each other. Explaining the arrangement in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, Parker said, "I want to make love to my wife for the rest of my life, but I never want to sleep with her again."
And Spenser buries himself in work, while confused and numb and weaker inside, but he pushes on through, just as I did. So fresh this writing for me. And I realised that I went through this terrible loss and pain during the same year and months as Parker, and was pushing through, writing his love and pain into Spencer.
Spenser found a wonderful person to share this pain with, as did I for a while. Without guns, of course. Computers instead of guns...
The loss comes in the first pages, and the mission comes soon after, with the action building smoothly, the mystery, and with Spenser pushing and realising his actions are always on behalf of someone he admired, who was stuck, or scared, or at risk.
The pacing increases, the complexities of Spenser's plans for solution, seeming to work, but without the critical keystones in place.
Be sure to read the quotations section below.
(More quotations coming soon)
**** SPOILER FOLLOWS ****
.
And when the femme-fatalé pulls the gun at the end, and shoots her partner and her lover and only Spenser remains, and walks towards her, as she shoots and shoots, because death and risk are so unclear now, his death unimportant now, taking the bullets, until he takes the gun from the hand of the girl.
Wonderful.
See my review of Crimson Joy for more Spenser Series opinion...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Notes-
7.0% "... quote:
The thing I like about Irish whiskey is that the more you drink the smoother it goes down. Of course that’s probably true of antifreeze as well,"
13.0% "... quote:
She wore a lot of makeup, badly applied. There was lipstick on her teeth. If she’d been a dancer, it must have been in Fantasia."
9.0% "... I was once in this state of mind. I surely sympathise and can still remember clearly.... quote:
It was 10:45. Across the continent Susan would be putting on her makeup now, and spraying some perfume on herself and making sure her hair was perfect. I looked at my reflection in the window. My hair wasn’t perfect. Neither was I."
50.0% ".... the breakup/separation of Spenser and Susan mirrored Parker's real life.
February 19, 2020
A dancer disappears into a religious cult and her former boyfriend wants her out of there and back with him. That's the window dressing for this installment of Robert B. Parker's Spenser detective series, but the real story is that tough guy Spenser gets all kinds of vulnerable when his newly-minted doctor girlfriend Susan goes splitsville and leaves their relationship up in the air.
Parker does his best to show the heart of his rock of a PI torn asunder. That comes across. The portrayal of a lovesick dude is locked in, however, I'm not sure I buy Spenser's suicidal tendencies here. He LONGS for Susan as the only woman for him, then he sleeps with the most readily available woman he can find. "He's trying to get over her," you'll say. Fine. That's a reason for his behavior. But as a reader, it leaves me with questions. Plus, I think the real dubious nature of the scenario is that Susan never actually says that it's definitely over between them, so he should have some hope remaining. The truly suicidal are hopeless, at least the ones who will act upon it, as is my understanding. So, when Spenser needlessly throws himself into the line of fire, it comes off as more melodramatic rather than heroic.
Other than that, this is another solid installment in the long-running series, and a vital one at that. There's not a huge amount of character development in these slender books (more so than most detective fiction I've read, I'll grant you that) so get it while you can and don't skip this one!
Parker does his best to show the heart of his rock of a PI torn asunder. That comes across. The portrayal of a lovesick dude is locked in, however, I'm not sure I buy Spenser's suicidal tendencies here. He LONGS for Susan as the only woman for him, then he sleeps with the most readily available woman he can find. "He's trying to get over her," you'll say. Fine. That's a reason for his behavior. But as a reader, it leaves me with questions. Plus, I think the real dubious nature of the scenario is that Susan never actually says that it's definitely over between them, so he should have some hope remaining. The truly suicidal are hopeless, at least the ones who will act upon it, as is my understanding. So, when Spenser needlessly throws himself into the line of fire, it comes off as more melodramatic rather than heroic.
Other than that, this is another solid installment in the long-running series, and a vital one at that. There's not a huge amount of character development in these slender books (more so than most detective fiction I've read, I'll grant you that) so get it while you can and don't skip this one!
December 4, 2025
Oh what an unexpected twist!!
June 15, 2018
Actual rating is 4.5 stars.
This is another entry in a long running series with each one being a stand alone novel. In this one, Spenser looks into a case where a girl has signed up with a church and lives in their commune. It is basically a cult case where someone might have joined against their will.
First off, I have to say that I might be a little biased with this book. It is set in my area of the woods but in the past. It brings up memories for me especially the scene at the Assembly Square Mall movie theater (I saw many movies there and it does not exist anymore). That being said, I believe this is a terrific story for the main character. Spenser is not having the best of times and it reflects in his mood and his work. I did miss the positive Spenser but I loved the realism that everyone has their ups and downs. I applaud the author for having his character respond this way to his situation. As for the cult case, it isn't the best Spenser case but I did not see the twist at the end so that was a nice surprise. Plus, there is Hawk and a book with him is automatically going to be well liked.
I thought this was one of the better Spenser books not for the actual mystery but what it means for the character. I am really interested in what this means for Spenser in the following novels.
This is another entry in a long running series with each one being a stand alone novel. In this one, Spenser looks into a case where a girl has signed up with a church and lives in their commune. It is basically a cult case where someone might have joined against their will.
First off, I have to say that I might be a little biased with this book. It is set in my area of the woods but in the past. It brings up memories for me especially the scene at the Assembly Square Mall movie theater (I saw many movies there and it does not exist anymore). That being said, I believe this is a terrific story for the main character. Spenser is not having the best of times and it reflects in his mood and his work. I did miss the positive Spenser but I loved the realism that everyone has their ups and downs. I applaud the author for having his character respond this way to his situation. As for the cult case, it isn't the best Spenser case but I did not see the twist at the end so that was a nice surprise. Plus, there is Hawk and a book with him is automatically going to be well liked.
I thought this was one of the better Spenser books not for the actual mystery but what it means for the character. I am really interested in what this means for Spenser in the following novels.
April 19, 2024
Susan leaves Spenser for SFO and she’s known for months that she was going to leave him. This was SO harsh. I’m like pull the rip cord Spenser you can do better. Please leave Susan. But he won’t.
This book was hard to read. You learn later Susan was never alone she had someone on the side. Even-though Susan tells Spenser she needs to be ALONE. It’s all lies. Spenser decides to get a side piece too. Linda. The person from the office across the way from his. I really like her but Spenser won’t move on. He’s in suspended animation. It’s really sad to see.
The case in this one is a bit insane and it ends in gunfire and it’s VERY bad. Very bad. Ugh 😩
Paul’s in this one too and he’s throwing real truths at Spenser. Spenser is not ready to hear it. Hawk is there for him too.
This book was hard to read. You learn later Susan was never alone she had someone on the side. Even-though Susan tells Spenser she needs to be ALONE. It’s all lies. Spenser decides to get a side piece too. Linda. The person from the office across the way from his. I really like her but Spenser won’t move on. He’s in suspended animation. It’s really sad to see.
The case in this one is a bit insane and it ends in gunfire and it’s VERY bad. Very bad. Ugh 😩
Paul’s in this one too and he’s throwing real truths at Spenser. Spenser is not ready to hear it. Hawk is there for him too.
October 25, 2021
Spencer is having a really hard time in this novel as his problems with Susan boil over.
In the mix of all that Spencer takes a case looking for a young girl that may or may not have been taken by a cult. Spencer is really just phoning it in as he deals with his issues with Susan but when push comes to shove he does what needs to be done to solve the case.
This book is life imitating art as Parkers own woes in his person life make it on to the page as Spencers.
This is another great novel from Parker and one of the best in the series.
In the mix of all that Spencer takes a case looking for a young girl that may or may not have been taken by a cult. Spencer is really just phoning it in as he deals with his issues with Susan but when push comes to shove he does what needs to be done to solve the case.
This book is life imitating art as Parkers own woes in his person life make it on to the page as Spencers.
This is another great novel from Parker and one of the best in the series.
August 6, 2013
Weak 3 stars. Not as interesting as others in the series. Plot and characters were ok, but nothing special.
At the end we learn about a surprise bad guy. Not enough was said about that person’s motives and actions.
I’m reading the series because I like the author’s witty lines, but they have been less frequent in later books. There was one good line in this book. Spenser tells someone Hawk will guard him. The guy says “Can he guard me alone?” Spenser says “Hawk could guard Yugoslavia alone.”
You don’t need to read the prior books, but it was handy to have read book 8 before this (A Savage Place). In this book Spenser has a dream about finding a woman dead which happened in book 8.
Spenser and Susan have been in love and in a committed relationship in prior books. In this book Susan left him, moved away, and wants alone time. Although Spenser is suffering, he dates and has sex with Linda.
The narrator Michael Prichard was very good.
DATA:
This is book #11 in the Spenser series.
Narrative mode: 1st person Spenser. Unabridged audiobook length: 4 hrs and 24 mins (288 - 290 pages). Swearing language: strong but rarely used. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: two referred to no details. Setting: current day Boston, Mass. Book copyright: about 1984. Genre: PI mystery.
At the end we learn about a surprise bad guy. Not enough was said about that person’s motives and actions.
I’m reading the series because I like the author’s witty lines, but they have been less frequent in later books. There was one good line in this book. Spenser tells someone Hawk will guard him. The guy says “Can he guard me alone?” Spenser says “Hawk could guard Yugoslavia alone.”
You don’t need to read the prior books, but it was handy to have read book 8 before this (A Savage Place). In this book Spenser has a dream about finding a woman dead which happened in book 8.
Spenser and Susan have been in love and in a committed relationship in prior books. In this book Susan left him, moved away, and wants alone time. Although Spenser is suffering, he dates and has sex with Linda.
The narrator Michael Prichard was very good.
DATA:
This is book #11 in the Spenser series.
Narrative mode: 1st person Spenser. Unabridged audiobook length: 4 hrs and 24 mins (288 - 290 pages). Swearing language: strong but rarely used. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: two referred to no details. Setting: current day Boston, Mass. Book copyright: about 1984. Genre: PI mystery.
January 19, 2009
Valediction by Robert Parker (1992)
October 27, 2017
Somebody help me. I’m enjoying these.
November 17, 2021
The Spenser series is a gem. Parker layered his books well to provide action and depth.
July 15, 2021
Arghhh am I the only one who doesn't like Susan? I've read enough of Spenser novels to know that she will be back, but why oh why do we need her??? Can't we just have Hawk and Vinny and Henri. Their dialogue is the absolute best. Wish Susan never came back.
December 6, 2021
3.5 Best one so far. We're up to 1984. I'm making progress, only 37 more to go!
October 8, 2018
The best Spenser novel I have read so far. The case had me guessing though out. Although I did realize the person behind it right before the reveal but was still a good mystery. The one thing I didn't care for was the drama between Spenser and Susan Silverman. Her reasons for leaving seemed flimsy and nonsensical. But was fascinated by the parallels between their relationship drama and the main plot. And of course Hawk is still a bad ass.
May 16, 2025
Spenser's world has come unmoored. Susan, the center of his life, is off to find herself in San Francisco, having gotten her Ph.D. at Harvard (see "The Widening Gyre"). Paul Giacomin, Spenser's non-genetic very-nearly-adopted son, steers a case Spenser's way to distract the p.i. from his sorrow and dread. The case involves the potential kidnapping of a female member of Paul's dance company by a somewhat notorious religious sect. Spenser's investigation begins half-heartedly, but turns into something much more serious once it becomes clear that the church's leader is in cahoots (a word that Spenser might like) with a construction firm that has criminal ties. When the inevitable push-back comes, a number of people find out what it means to clash with a despairing Spenser who might not care for life without his love. There's a scene in which Spenser is stalked by a half dozen thugs that is one of the great scenes in the series. The case is resolved interestingly, and the series is propelled toward the novel ("A Catskill Eagle") in which Spenser (and Hawk) respond to a distress call from Susan. As was true of the early Spenser books, Parker's descriptive powers are highly developed in understated ways.
June 25, 2013
My hopes were running high at the very beginning of this one. It looked like Susan was going to be out of Spenser's life.:) Grrrr, maybe not. This case for Spenser had a real high body count, and for a PI on an earlier case, who couldn't shoot a guy.....he does in this one, more than once to save his butt. Parker's writing, Spenser's wit and the sharp dressed Hawk, to watch his back makes this series a fun read.
February 11, 2019
Spenser’s troubled love life continues and things get worse when Susan tells him on the day she graduates with her PhD in psychology, that she is leaving Boston for a job in San Francisco. She says she loves Spenser but has to spend some time alone. Doing her doctoral work has given her a taste of being a full unattached person whose worth is measured in her knowledge, insight and compassion. She is trying to figure out who she can be, but when she is with him, she experiences the world only through his eyes. He has a fully formed view of the world which leaves her little room to develop her own. Their views of life may be congruent but she needs to arrive at them on her own, to think her own thoughts and not have to compare them with his. She doesn’t want to end the relationship, she just wants to be alone to see where it leads, knowing she will be a lot less happy if he isn’t in some sense a part of her life. She doesn’t want him to visit or know her address, but she promises to call.
Spenser accepts the news but is devastated. He realizes he will just have to wait things out and see what happens. He sinks into a deep funk, wallows in self-pity, becomes sentimental and morose and doesn’t care whether he lives or dies. Even his workouts are not going well. He is very unlike the Spenser we knew in the past, a cool, confident private investigator who took on dangerous cases, faced down thugs and lived a happy bachelor lifestyle. Both his friend Hawk and his unofficially adopted son Paul are worried about him. Hawk asks if Susan has another boyfriend and if she does, he offers to kill him. Killing is always Hawk’s default position on everything. But Spenser believes Susan has a right to somebody else if that is what she wants. He already knows he doesn’t want anyone else.
Driven by loneliness, Spenser has a short term romance with Linda, the girl he has been blowing kisses to through his window at the office, but he is clear with her from the start that his one true love is in San Francisco. He comes to care for Linda but not in the same way he cares about Susan. The relationship ends quickly when Linda discovers the kind of dangerous life he leads which she finds impossible to accept.
This evolving personal crisis hovers in the background as Spenser takes on his next case.
Tommy Banks, the owner of a small dance company in Boston, asks Spenser to rescue his girlfriend Sherry Spellman who has been abducted by a religious cult. When Spenser arrives at The Reorganized Church of the Redemption to interview her, he is told Sherry is there voluntarily, has a right to their sanctuary and so is not to be disturbed. Their message is reinforced by two thugs calling themselves church deacons, who threaten him and tell him to stay away.
Undeterred, Spenser quietly follows the leader of the organization, Reverend Bullard Winston, to his ritzy townhome. He asks once again to speak to Sherry and Winston agrees. When Spenser finally gets to meet her, she convinces him that Tommy’s story of a kidnapping is a fantasy, that she is there voluntarily and she is doing what she wants to do. But Spenser is suspicious of some of the things he has seen in the process of trying to meet her and decides to look further into the organization and its finances. He wonders where the money needed to run such a vast organization with over ten thousand members and mission churches in so many cities comes from. It can’t simply be funded by donations. He also wonders where Winston gets the money for his costly townhouse and who pays the wages for the live-in maid and the neatly dressed thugs who call themselves deacons but are in fact there to guard the estate.
His investigation of church financing leads him to a clever drug and money laundering operation which he decides to take down with a creative plan involving his “friends” in the mob. In the process he also discovers things were never exactly as they seemed and he must take drastic action to make things right.
Parker allows his character to show some of his age in this installment. Spenser complains his energy level is down and his concentration isn’t what it used to be. He remembers a time when he could remember everything and confesses to using a notebook to help his failing memory. And in a quietly humourous passage, Spenser secretly resorts to using half-glasses to read, all the while silently complaining that a mid-life crisis is probably the next step in his future.
Hawk again makes a short but important appearance and my favourite line in the book is Spenser’s description of him as a guy so tough that “he could guard Yugoslavia alone”. And how true is that!
This novel has a plot with a couple of different layers and an interesting twist which was neatly laid out and kept things interesting. Despite the maudlin tone hovering over this time period, Spenser is still a physically strong man who can break someone’s neck with one hand even though he has taken two bullets in the chest. And although feeling flat and emotionless during this time without Susan, he is able to maintain his characteristic sharp, witty dialogue filled with wry, cryptic banter with Hawk or whenever the occasion presents itself.
Things end on a high note when Susan tells Spenser her boyfriend in San Francisco is returning to his wife and she would like him to visit. His spirits are lifted as he sees there may be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Spenser accepts the news but is devastated. He realizes he will just have to wait things out and see what happens. He sinks into a deep funk, wallows in self-pity, becomes sentimental and morose and doesn’t care whether he lives or dies. Even his workouts are not going well. He is very unlike the Spenser we knew in the past, a cool, confident private investigator who took on dangerous cases, faced down thugs and lived a happy bachelor lifestyle. Both his friend Hawk and his unofficially adopted son Paul are worried about him. Hawk asks if Susan has another boyfriend and if she does, he offers to kill him. Killing is always Hawk’s default position on everything. But Spenser believes Susan has a right to somebody else if that is what she wants. He already knows he doesn’t want anyone else.
Driven by loneliness, Spenser has a short term romance with Linda, the girl he has been blowing kisses to through his window at the office, but he is clear with her from the start that his one true love is in San Francisco. He comes to care for Linda but not in the same way he cares about Susan. The relationship ends quickly when Linda discovers the kind of dangerous life he leads which she finds impossible to accept.
This evolving personal crisis hovers in the background as Spenser takes on his next case.
Tommy Banks, the owner of a small dance company in Boston, asks Spenser to rescue his girlfriend Sherry Spellman who has been abducted by a religious cult. When Spenser arrives at The Reorganized Church of the Redemption to interview her, he is told Sherry is there voluntarily, has a right to their sanctuary and so is not to be disturbed. Their message is reinforced by two thugs calling themselves church deacons, who threaten him and tell him to stay away.
Undeterred, Spenser quietly follows the leader of the organization, Reverend Bullard Winston, to his ritzy townhome. He asks once again to speak to Sherry and Winston agrees. When Spenser finally gets to meet her, she convinces him that Tommy’s story of a kidnapping is a fantasy, that she is there voluntarily and she is doing what she wants to do. But Spenser is suspicious of some of the things he has seen in the process of trying to meet her and decides to look further into the organization and its finances. He wonders where the money needed to run such a vast organization with over ten thousand members and mission churches in so many cities comes from. It can’t simply be funded by donations. He also wonders where Winston gets the money for his costly townhouse and who pays the wages for the live-in maid and the neatly dressed thugs who call themselves deacons but are in fact there to guard the estate.
His investigation of church financing leads him to a clever drug and money laundering operation which he decides to take down with a creative plan involving his “friends” in the mob. In the process he also discovers things were never exactly as they seemed and he must take drastic action to make things right.
Parker allows his character to show some of his age in this installment. Spenser complains his energy level is down and his concentration isn’t what it used to be. He remembers a time when he could remember everything and confesses to using a notebook to help his failing memory. And in a quietly humourous passage, Spenser secretly resorts to using half-glasses to read, all the while silently complaining that a mid-life crisis is probably the next step in his future.
Hawk again makes a short but important appearance and my favourite line in the book is Spenser’s description of him as a guy so tough that “he could guard Yugoslavia alone”. And how true is that!
This novel has a plot with a couple of different layers and an interesting twist which was neatly laid out and kept things interesting. Despite the maudlin tone hovering over this time period, Spenser is still a physically strong man who can break someone’s neck with one hand even though he has taken two bullets in the chest. And although feeling flat and emotionless during this time without Susan, he is able to maintain his characteristic sharp, witty dialogue filled with wry, cryptic banter with Hawk or whenever the occasion presents itself.
Things end on a high note when Susan tells Spenser her boyfriend in San Francisco is returning to his wife and she would like him to visit. His spirits are lifted as he sees there may be a light at the end of the tunnel.
August 29, 2020
Great book
This one is a hard read. Spenser is dealing with Susan leaving, an uninteresting case that won’t tie up, and trying to date again. What can I say? It’s great! Oh and Rita Fiori is introduced.
This one is a hard read. Spenser is dealing with Susan leaving, an uninteresting case that won’t tie up, and trying to date again. What can I say? It’s great! Oh and Rita Fiori is introduced.
November 23, 2021
"Then she went out and closed the door and I was alone with my soul dwindled to icy stillness at the densely compacted center of myself."
Susan Silverman, having just received her PhD in clinical psychology at Harvard, leaves Spenser to take a job on the other coast, in San Francisco. There might even be another man involved. And - to use Mr. Parker's flowery prose - Spenser's soul dwindles to icy stillness at his densely compacted center, whatever that center is...
Robert B. Parker's Valediction (1984), the eleventh novel in the Spenser series, follows The Widening Gyre , which I quite liked and recommended. Alas, this is not the case with Valediction, which I find below average.
Paul Giacomin, an aspiring dancer, whom we know from one of the earlier books in the series, is helping Spenser survive the loneliness. He also brings him a case: one of the female dancers in the ballet company where Paul is employed has disappeared, and the company's owner, who has been romantically involved with her, hires Spenser to find the dancer. Spenser confirms that she has joined a religious sect, The Reorganized Church of the Redemption, and is trying to determine whether she is with them voluntarily or under duress.
The plot serves as a pretext to depict several violent scenes: two vicious beatings, where Spenser demonstrates his physical prowess.
I do not mind the cartoonish scenes of violence; they are an integral part of the essence of a Spenser novel. What I dislike is the "romantic" thread of Spenser pining for Susan: it reads artificial and contrived, as if the author wanted to try out a Susan-less variant of Spenser, but went for it without enough conviction. In my view, it doesn't work at all since the Susan-Spenser union is also an integral component of the essence of a Spenser novel.
I find the denouement clumsy and over-explained. To sum up, while Valediction is not entirely a clunker, it does not quite deserve my rating of
Two stars.
Susan Silverman, having just received her PhD in clinical psychology at Harvard, leaves Spenser to take a job on the other coast, in San Francisco. There might even be another man involved. And - to use Mr. Parker's flowery prose - Spenser's soul dwindles to icy stillness at his densely compacted center, whatever that center is...
Robert B. Parker's Valediction (1984), the eleventh novel in the Spenser series, follows The Widening Gyre , which I quite liked and recommended. Alas, this is not the case with Valediction, which I find below average.
Paul Giacomin, an aspiring dancer, whom we know from one of the earlier books in the series, is helping Spenser survive the loneliness. He also brings him a case: one of the female dancers in the ballet company where Paul is employed has disappeared, and the company's owner, who has been romantically involved with her, hires Spenser to find the dancer. Spenser confirms that she has joined a religious sect, The Reorganized Church of the Redemption, and is trying to determine whether she is with them voluntarily or under duress.
The plot serves as a pretext to depict several violent scenes: two vicious beatings, where Spenser demonstrates his physical prowess.
"[...] I hit his buddy across the face with my chain flail. His glasses broke and some of the glass got in his eyes. Blood appeared and he dropped the handgun and put both hands to his face. I shook the chain in a short circle to keep it out and away from him and then drove it down against the back of the fat man's neck."Particularly the second episode, when our hero defeats four skilled and armed men, leaves no doubt that Spenser could beat Superman, using just the little finger. Yet even SuperSpenser eventually gets in trouble, which calls for Hawk's intervention.
I do not mind the cartoonish scenes of violence; they are an integral part of the essence of a Spenser novel. What I dislike is the "romantic" thread of Spenser pining for Susan: it reads artificial and contrived, as if the author wanted to try out a Susan-less variant of Spenser, but went for it without enough conviction. In my view, it doesn't work at all since the Susan-Spenser union is also an integral component of the essence of a Spenser novel.
I find the denouement clumsy and over-explained. To sum up, while Valediction is not entirely a clunker, it does not quite deserve my rating of
Two stars.
June 22, 2024
Does anyone like Susan?
This is probably my third or fourth time reading the Spenser novels and each time I am hoping to maybe find something in the Susan character that I can enjoy but it seems that the opposite is happening. Because she is obviously written as a reflection of Parker’s own wife, I will keep trying but Susan is particularly annoying and selfish in this book.
That is why I love Parker’s writing and these novels in particular. Despite having a pivotal character that is very unlikable, it does not take away from the enjoyment of the book. At least not for me. Perhaps that is why she is bearable and still interesting because she is most definitely written like a real person and the dialogue between them is honest and well written.
I always love the relationship between Hawk and Spenser and getting to have some time with Paul is lovely as well. This isn’t my favorite of the Spenser novels but it’s certainly not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
This is probably my third or fourth time reading the Spenser novels and each time I am hoping to maybe find something in the Susan character that I can enjoy but it seems that the opposite is happening. Because she is obviously written as a reflection of Parker’s own wife, I will keep trying but Susan is particularly annoying and selfish in this book.
That is why I love Parker’s writing and these novels in particular. Despite having a pivotal character that is very unlikable, it does not take away from the enjoyment of the book. At least not for me. Perhaps that is why she is bearable and still interesting because she is most definitely written like a real person and the dialogue between them is honest and well written.
I always love the relationship between Hawk and Spenser and getting to have some time with Paul is lovely as well. This isn’t my favorite of the Spenser novels but it’s certainly not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
April 27, 2017
It is years since I read Spenser so I've started re-reading them in order on Kindle. This is far and away the best in the series so far. Susan has left Spenser for a job and a new man in San Francisco and he's feeling the pain, so to distract him Paul suggests he helps his employer find his missing girlfriend who has been kidnapped by a cult. The parallels between the two men's reactions is interesting and reveals more about Spenser's character. I also like the emotional support he gets from his friends and acquaintances as it seems so out of place in their macho world. Hawk has a more prominent role in this book as Spenser's support - both mentally and physically - and it is good to see their "bromance" develop. I found this a very powerful book emotionally but as always it is leavened by wit and humour making it an round great read.
February 27, 2020
Even when Spenser's heart is broken, he lives a captivating life. And Parker's storytelling, even when the story is such a sad one -- "when you ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose" -- sparkles. I read the next on e in the series out of order (A Catskill Eagle) so I know what's coming; now, having the back story, I'm ready to read it again. This is a slight book with a slight and uncomplicated story, but it's interesting to see how this master storyteller understands that the course of true love ne'er runs smooth, and so the mainspring relationship between Susan and Spenser, that's the source of his humanity, needs to be twisted to keep it real and compelling.
March 29, 2018
I will need to take a break from the Susan/Spenser drama. She is getting on my nerves staying in San Francisco and he is getting on my nerves not being able to function efficiently in his P.I. work.
I found it odd the way this story went, a church, a reverend, a dancer, a dancer.
I found it odd the way this story went, a church, a reverend, a dancer, a dancer.
March 7, 2020
Sigh... I can't say I understand Susan... If I didn't know what comes next I might wish, like others who love Spenser, that he move on from her (there are plenty of wonderful women in Parker's books, maybe better than Susan)... I guess that's the point, that he's so solid & sure & she's so... lost & selfish... which doesn't matter to him because he needs his love for her (not her, mind) to be so solid & sure...
November 18, 2020
This is Spenser at his most vulnerable and also one of the best of Parker's novels. The detective is suffering from depression and is separated from his partner of several years. He's directionless and suicidal.
A man of principle and rigid values that almost destroy him.
A man of principle and rigid values that almost destroy him.
July 4, 2021
I always find Hawk the best part !! Poor Spencer, , he tries so hard!!
April 18, 2024
Read this maybe thirty years ago and am currently rereading the series . This is classic Parker/Spenser. Slick sharp dialogue mixed with humour and extreme violence . Brutal and brilliant
June 1, 2025
Spenser out there dropping bodies. I don't recall him having a body count at all in the previous volumes.
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