What do you think?
Rate this book
Spenser #2
God Save The Child
Appie Knoll is the kind of suburb where kids grow up right. But something is wrong. Fourteen-year-old Kevin Bartlett disappears. Everyone thinks he's run away -- until the comic strip ransom note arrives. It doesn't take Spenser long to get the picture -- an affluent family seething with rage, a desperate boy making strange friends...friends like Vic Harroway, body builder. Mr. Muscle is Spenser's only lead and he isn't talking...except with his fists. But when push comes to shove, when a boy's life is on the line, Spenser can speak that language too.
205 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
1285 people are currently reading
1935 people want to read
About the author
Robert B. Parker
489 books2,294 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 641 reviews
April 7, 2019
Oh, Parker. I swear, there must have been a standard in the 70s (1974, to be exact) where 25% of a detective novel had to be description. I think it's driving Jilly nuts over in Kinsey-Malone land, but I'm finding Parker's version of it kind of eye-watering. I mean, my idea of dressing myself back then was Garanimals, so I shouldn't judge. But just you try and see this:
He was dressed in what must have been his wife's idea of the contemporary look... He had on baggy white cuffed flares, a solid scarlet shirt with long collar points, a wide pink tie, and a red-and-white-plaid seersucker jacket with wide lapels and the waist nipped. A prefolded handkerchief in his breast pocket matched the tie. He had on black and white saddle shoes and looked as happy as a hound in a doggie sweater.
That's just the start, though; later in the book, Spenser puts on a white trench coat. Spiffy! There's also one paragraph that is literally a description of every single store seen as Spenser drives along a commercial 'canyon,' and it's actually kind of fun. I mean, had I been reading it in 1980, maybe not so much. But now, sure: "restaurants that look like log cabins, restaurants that look like sailing ships, restaurants that look like Moorish town houses, restaurants that look like car washes, car washes, shopping centers, a fish market, a skimobile shop, an automotive accessory shop..." The paragraph takes up most of a page. No joke. I can't think why it was relevant. It builds the setting of leaving the city to the Happy Sunda 'burbs, and it lets Parker sneak in a snide comment about how "Squanto might have made a mistake" (in allowing the whites to settle).
I mean, that's really why we read these oldies, right? To sort-of-sink into the mentality of the past? And I kind of dig this glimpse into the past, with Parker's Spenser's asides, except for the part where Spenser notes that the high school guidance counselor, Susan Silverman, has a "thin dark Jewish face." Um, I don't even. But onward. She does a lot of shrugging, throws in some "I don't know's" in response to his questioning and when they have dinner--and this was wonderful--has a second helping of gravy. It's truly interesting to see the first appearance of a character who will one day annoy me as she nibbles on a lettuce leaf and makes enigmatic statements.
It's also quite interesting to have a Spenser that is a bit... slow on the uptake, and who gets/allows himself to be manipulated, and doesn't intuit the solution. Oh, but then it gets slightly weird again with a homosexual angle. Spenser even hangs out at a local divey gay bar trying to run into a suspect. Is it judgey? Maybe indirectly in the descriptions, but if it is, it's less so than the implied judgement at the drunken hetro bash thrown by his clients.
Still, I'll read a few more. I'm curious to remember how Hawk comes into the picture, and when the writing starts to shift to the streamlined version. Maybe he eventually found an editor that said, "we need to take out all the description," and the 1990s Spenser is what was left. Overall, an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours, although I probably should have been more productive.
Two and-a-half-stars, rounding up because I read most of the words.
He was dressed in what must have been his wife's idea of the contemporary look... He had on baggy white cuffed flares, a solid scarlet shirt with long collar points, a wide pink tie, and a red-and-white-plaid seersucker jacket with wide lapels and the waist nipped. A prefolded handkerchief in his breast pocket matched the tie. He had on black and white saddle shoes and looked as happy as a hound in a doggie sweater.
That's just the start, though; later in the book, Spenser puts on a white trench coat. Spiffy! There's also one paragraph that is literally a description of every single store seen as Spenser drives along a commercial 'canyon,' and it's actually kind of fun. I mean, had I been reading it in 1980, maybe not so much. But now, sure: "restaurants that look like log cabins, restaurants that look like sailing ships, restaurants that look like Moorish town houses, restaurants that look like car washes, car washes, shopping centers, a fish market, a skimobile shop, an automotive accessory shop..." The paragraph takes up most of a page. No joke. I can't think why it was relevant. It builds the setting of leaving the city to the Happy Sunda 'burbs, and it lets Parker sneak in a snide comment about how "Squanto might have made a mistake" (in allowing the whites to settle).
I mean, that's really why we read these oldies, right? To sort-of-sink into the mentality of the past? And I kind of dig this glimpse into the past, with Parker's Spenser's asides, except for the part where Spenser notes that the high school guidance counselor, Susan Silverman, has a "thin dark Jewish face." Um, I don't even. But onward. She does a lot of shrugging, throws in some "I don't know's" in response to his questioning and when they have dinner--and this was wonderful--has a second helping of gravy. It's truly interesting to see the first appearance of a character who will one day annoy me as she nibbles on a lettuce leaf and makes enigmatic statements.
It's also quite interesting to have a Spenser that is a bit... slow on the uptake, and who gets/allows himself to be manipulated, and doesn't intuit the solution. Oh, but then it gets slightly weird again with a homosexual angle. Spenser even hangs out at a local divey gay bar trying to run into a suspect. Is it judgey? Maybe indirectly in the descriptions, but if it is, it's less so than the implied judgement at the drunken hetro bash thrown by his clients.
Still, I'll read a few more. I'm curious to remember how Hawk comes into the picture, and when the writing starts to shift to the streamlined version. Maybe he eventually found an editor that said, "we need to take out all the description," and the 1990s Spenser is what was left. Overall, an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours, although I probably should have been more productive.
Two and-a-half-stars, rounding up because I read most of the words.
March 6, 2019
This second entry in the Spenser series is a good one, featuring an interesting plot, vivid characters and scenes, and the introduction of school psychologist Susan Silverman, Spenser's perennial lover and friend.
Spenser is hired by the Bartletts to find their missing son Kevin. At first, Spenser supposes Kevin may be just a runaway--after all, the Barletts are parents any self-respecting high school sophomore would want to escape from—but then, the ransom note for $50,000 arrives. Still Spenser has doubts. The kidnapper's communications seem flip, unprofessional (one of the them is a hand-drawn cartoon!)--as if this were some kind of a joke. But then there is a murder, and it becomes clear that the kidnapping—although possibly a prank—is definitely no laughing matter.
There are memorable characters here, particularly the self-dramatizing mother Marge Barlett, the self-important Sherriff Trask, the body-builder Harroway, and the eminent, enigmatic Dr. Croft. There are good scenes here too: Spenser and Susan's visit to a semi-criminal commune, the Barlett's drunken evening party, and the climax, where Spenser beats a man to a pulp for a very Spenserian moral reason.
Unlike many of her later appearances, Susan Silverman is an asset to God Save the Child. When Spenser first sees her, he tells us that she “wasn't beautiful, but there was a tangibility about her, a physical reality that made [her] secretary with the lime green bosom seem insubstantial.” Her character talks and acts like a real woman, something not that common in the hard-boiled books of the '70's. Even more important, though, she allows our hero Spenser to show us his sensitivity and vulnerability, sides he would never have revealed to us so unguardedly on his own.
September 16, 2020
”’He appeared to be patting you on the hip,’ I said.
‘That’s why you came over.’ Susan smiled and shook her head. ‘Were you prepared to defend my virtue?’
‘I’m in pursuit of it myself and I don’t like poachers.’
‘He’s a very big man in this town,’ Susan said. ‘Board of Selectmen, Conservation Commission, advisor to the Board of Health, used to be Planning Board chairman. All the best people have him when they’re sick.’
‘He’s a hip patter,’ I said.
‘Very wealthy,’ she said. ‘Very big house.’
‘Pushy bastard,’ I said.
‘Wonder what it is in women,’ she said. ‘Whenever they find a big strong guy with a wide adolescent streak running through him they get a powerful urge to hold his head in their laps.’
‘Right here?’ I said.”
I’ve been rewatching episodes of Spenser for Hire which first aired back in the late 1980s and as I read this book I kept hearing the late Robert Urich’s voice in my head. Unfortunately he lost his battle with cancer in 2002, dying at the tender age of 55 so I guess you could say I had a ghost in my head. RIP.
If one is attempting to put together a first edition collection, this is the most rare and most expensive of the Spenser novels. I’d been unwilling to pay $600-$800 to own a first edition copy even though the gap tooth in my Robert B. Parker collection was always a nagging concern. Occasionally I will run a check for copies through my normal sources just to see if someone, desperate for cash is trying to unload their copy at a quick sale price or someone doesn’t know what they have. I was flipping through the selection of Parker books available on eBay when I spotted an ARC of God Save the Child for $15. I’m like, what??? ARC’s are actually more rare than first editions because so many fewer of them are produced and they come out before the first edition so that reviewers and booksellers have a chance to read the book and hopefully generate some excitement for the book before it is ever published.
I looked at the pictures. The yellow back cover of the book was cheddar along with a couple of the interior white pages, but it didn’t look like the damage had reached the actual text. The spine was almost completely gnawed away to the glue. I’m not sure what caused that level of damage, but something strange had happened to this book. By some miracle the front cover, the most important part of the exterior was fine. I loaded up some pictures to my Facebook blog page if any of you are interested. The before pictures are down in the comments. https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeete...
The seller had a Best Offer option on the book and even though $15 was a good deal I decided to roll the dice and offered $11. I was running the risk that some other collector would find it and snatch it up while I was playing around trying to get a slightly better price. I was thrilled that the gap tooth in my shelf was finally going to be filled. You would think I wouldn’t be taking any chances, but this felt strangely fated. The seller immediately accepted my offer and then all I had to ponder and worry about was the book becoming lost in the mail.
Because I bought the book at such a great price I started contemplating something I’ve never done before, having a book rebound. Usually it adds too much expense to a book to make it worthwhile, but in this case I had some built in equity to work with. I thought about cloth covers which would be smart and relatively inexpensive, but I was afraid it would look like a rebound library book, so after some contemplation I decided to go for leather, real leather, antique wine colored leather. I’d googled around and found this bindery company called...Grimm...right? How could I resist a company named Grimm? They were out of Wisconsin and after several conversations with them I decided that I would trust them with the book.
Then I just had to worry about getting the book safely to them and getting it back safely. I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but the postal service has been less reliable of late. I’ve lost two books this year and lost none in the previous five. My worries turned out to be groundless and a month later the package from Grimm arrived. I enjoyed the process, especially the satisfaction I felt with saving a collectable book that could very well have ended up on the scrap heap.
Oh and the book smells amazing.
What makes this book interesting is that this is where he meets the love of his life, Susan Silverman. He was done, stick a fork in him, at first sight. The repartee between them is excellent from the beginning. He has finally found a woman who understands his off color humor, but also a woman who isn’t threatened by his masculinity. They are so different, but so well matched where it counts the most...in the mind. It’s been a while since I’ve read a Spenser and I’d missed the humor, not always PC, but genuine in its intent to make sense of the world.
This is a kidnapping case and the title of course refers to the Billie Holiday song. There is even a moment where Spenser is at a party and this song cuts through the patter of voices. He can’t resist moving closer to the stereo so he can luxuriate in the sultry sounds of a woman I consider to be a national treasure. A picture of her, belting out a song, hangs over my desk. I can always put on her music and be transported elsewhere. Spenser agrees.
Spenser spends most of the book being annoyed with the very people he is trying to help. The father is almost too busy to be concerned about his son. His mother is a drunk who is indescretely trying to ride every dick she comes in contact with. They are too self-absorbed to be parents. As Spenser unravels the tangled personal relationships of all involved he finally finds a path forward that might even convince a family of what is most important. He has to use his brawn and his brains in equal measure to preserve the innocent and bring justice to those who prey on the weak.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
‘That’s why you came over.’ Susan smiled and shook her head. ‘Were you prepared to defend my virtue?’
‘I’m in pursuit of it myself and I don’t like poachers.’
‘He’s a very big man in this town,’ Susan said. ‘Board of Selectmen, Conservation Commission, advisor to the Board of Health, used to be Planning Board chairman. All the best people have him when they’re sick.’
‘He’s a hip patter,’ I said.
‘Very wealthy,’ she said. ‘Very big house.’
‘Pushy bastard,’ I said.
‘Wonder what it is in women,’ she said. ‘Whenever they find a big strong guy with a wide adolescent streak running through him they get a powerful urge to hold his head in their laps.’
‘Right here?’ I said.”
I’ve been rewatching episodes of Spenser for Hire which first aired back in the late 1980s and as I read this book I kept hearing the late Robert Urich’s voice in my head. Unfortunately he lost his battle with cancer in 2002, dying at the tender age of 55 so I guess you could say I had a ghost in my head. RIP.
If one is attempting to put together a first edition collection, this is the most rare and most expensive of the Spenser novels. I’d been unwilling to pay $600-$800 to own a first edition copy even though the gap tooth in my Robert B. Parker collection was always a nagging concern. Occasionally I will run a check for copies through my normal sources just to see if someone, desperate for cash is trying to unload their copy at a quick sale price or someone doesn’t know what they have. I was flipping through the selection of Parker books available on eBay when I spotted an ARC of God Save the Child for $15. I’m like, what??? ARC’s are actually more rare than first editions because so many fewer of them are produced and they come out before the first edition so that reviewers and booksellers have a chance to read the book and hopefully generate some excitement for the book before it is ever published.
I looked at the pictures. The yellow back cover of the book was cheddar along with a couple of the interior white pages, but it didn’t look like the damage had reached the actual text. The spine was almost completely gnawed away to the glue. I’m not sure what caused that level of damage, but something strange had happened to this book. By some miracle the front cover, the most important part of the exterior was fine. I loaded up some pictures to my Facebook blog page if any of you are interested. The before pictures are down in the comments. https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeete...
The seller had a Best Offer option on the book and even though $15 was a good deal I decided to roll the dice and offered $11. I was running the risk that some other collector would find it and snatch it up while I was playing around trying to get a slightly better price. I was thrilled that the gap tooth in my shelf was finally going to be filled. You would think I wouldn’t be taking any chances, but this felt strangely fated. The seller immediately accepted my offer and then all I had to ponder and worry about was the book becoming lost in the mail.
Because I bought the book at such a great price I started contemplating something I’ve never done before, having a book rebound. Usually it adds too much expense to a book to make it worthwhile, but in this case I had some built in equity to work with. I thought about cloth covers which would be smart and relatively inexpensive, but I was afraid it would look like a rebound library book, so after some contemplation I decided to go for leather, real leather, antique wine colored leather. I’d googled around and found this bindery company called...Grimm...right? How could I resist a company named Grimm? They were out of Wisconsin and after several conversations with them I decided that I would trust them with the book.
Then I just had to worry about getting the book safely to them and getting it back safely. I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but the postal service has been less reliable of late. I’ve lost two books this year and lost none in the previous five. My worries turned out to be groundless and a month later the package from Grimm arrived. I enjoyed the process, especially the satisfaction I felt with saving a collectable book that could very well have ended up on the scrap heap.
Oh and the book smells amazing.
What makes this book interesting is that this is where he meets the love of his life, Susan Silverman. He was done, stick a fork in him, at first sight. The repartee between them is excellent from the beginning. He has finally found a woman who understands his off color humor, but also a woman who isn’t threatened by his masculinity. They are so different, but so well matched where it counts the most...in the mind. It’s been a while since I’ve read a Spenser and I’d missed the humor, not always PC, but genuine in its intent to make sense of the world.
This is a kidnapping case and the title of course refers to the Billie Holiday song. There is even a moment where Spenser is at a party and this song cuts through the patter of voices. He can’t resist moving closer to the stereo so he can luxuriate in the sultry sounds of a woman I consider to be a national treasure. A picture of her, belting out a song, hangs over my desk. I can always put on her music and be transported elsewhere. Spenser agrees.
Spenser spends most of the book being annoyed with the very people he is trying to help. The father is almost too busy to be concerned about his son. His mother is a drunk who is indescretely trying to ride every dick she comes in contact with. They are too self-absorbed to be parents. As Spenser unravels the tangled personal relationships of all involved he finally finds a path forward that might even convince a family of what is most important. He has to use his brawn and his brains in equal measure to preserve the innocent and bring justice to those who prey on the weak.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
September 28, 2010
Spenser goes to a gay bar circa 1974. Wacky hijinks ensue.
God Save the Child is the second book of the Spenser series, and it’s probably most notable for the introduction of Susan Silverman, the woman who will become Spenser’s long-time girlfriend and eventually the center of his world.
Since the Spenser and Susan angle would become the focus of the later books at the expense of the overall quality of the series, it’s easy to Susan-bash, but re-reading her introduction and the start of their romance, I remembered that their chemistry was one of the main draws of the early books and helped keep Spenser from being just another Marlowe knock-off.
It was entertaining to go back to their initial meeting, and the first date where Spenser prepares one his trademark gourmet dinners only to realize after the fact that he just served pork to a Jewish woman, and the second date where work causes him to be very late and Susan is understandably miffed. This is Spenser and Susan as actual human beings attracted to each other, not boring soul-mates with no issues in their relationship.
This story revolves around a missing 16 year old boy. The kid’s home life was a mess with a selfish drunk for a mother and a weak father, and this book establishes a pattern where Spenser usually won’t like the people who hire him very much. When the case takes a turn into kidnapping and then murder, Spenser zeroes in on a gay weightlifter named Vic Halloway as a key suspect.
Vic has a taste for young men, so I was worried that this book written in '74 was going to read like a ‘homosexual-as-pervert/villain-scenario’ in 2010, but Parker avoided that trap by portraying Vic as outcast and disliked by the gay community for his tastes. Another gay character dismisses him as the kind of guy who would go after teen-age female virgins if he was straight. In other words, Vic is a douche bag who just happens to be gay. There’s a few cringe-worthy comments and jokes from other characters, and there is a questionable scene of Spenser in a gay bar and getting hit on, but by and large, Parker acquits himself pretty well in dealing with gay culture during an era when the word ‘fag’ was still in common usage.
This one also starts to establish a bit of Spenser’s macho code that’d become a larger part of the series, and since this is early Spenser, Parker still has him capable of making mistakes. And he makes a doozy at the end of this one, which was refreshing to read after years of Spenser being near perfect.
Next up: Spenser takes in a ball game in Mortal Stakes
God Save the Child is the second book of the Spenser series, and it’s probably most notable for the introduction of Susan Silverman, the woman who will become Spenser’s long-time girlfriend and eventually the center of his world.
Since the Spenser and Susan angle would become the focus of the later books at the expense of the overall quality of the series, it’s easy to Susan-bash, but re-reading her introduction and the start of their romance, I remembered that their chemistry was one of the main draws of the early books and helped keep Spenser from being just another Marlowe knock-off.
It was entertaining to go back to their initial meeting, and the first date where Spenser prepares one his trademark gourmet dinners only to realize after the fact that he just served pork to a Jewish woman, and the second date where work causes him to be very late and Susan is understandably miffed. This is Spenser and Susan as actual human beings attracted to each other, not boring soul-mates with no issues in their relationship.
This story revolves around a missing 16 year old boy. The kid’s home life was a mess with a selfish drunk for a mother and a weak father, and this book establishes a pattern where Spenser usually won’t like the people who hire him very much. When the case takes a turn into kidnapping and then murder, Spenser zeroes in on a gay weightlifter named Vic Halloway as a key suspect.
Vic has a taste for young men, so I was worried that this book written in '74 was going to read like a ‘homosexual-as-pervert/villain-scenario’ in 2010, but Parker avoided that trap by portraying Vic as outcast and disliked by the gay community for his tastes. Another gay character dismisses him as the kind of guy who would go after teen-age female virgins if he was straight. In other words, Vic is a douche bag who just happens to be gay. There’s a few cringe-worthy comments and jokes from other characters, and there is a questionable scene of Spenser in a gay bar and getting hit on, but by and large, Parker acquits himself pretty well in dealing with gay culture during an era when the word ‘fag’ was still in common usage.
This one also starts to establish a bit of Spenser’s macho code that’d become a larger part of the series, and since this is early Spenser, Parker still has him capable of making mistakes. And he makes a doozy at the end of this one, which was refreshing to read after years of Spenser being near perfect.
Next up: Spenser takes in a ball game in Mortal Stakes
March 12, 2018
I enjoyed this one more than the first of the series. It feels like Parker is getting comfortable with the style and his main character. The plot was adequately twisty. I'll definitely be moving on to #3.
April 24, 2010
Kevin Bartlett has been kidnapped and it's up to Spenser to find him. But was he really kidnapped in the first place... ?
The second Spenser book picks weeks after the first left off and does a good job fleshing out Spenser's character a bit more. Susan Silverman is added to the supporting cast and will provide Spenser with a steady girlfriend for a long time to come from what I hear. The case itself was a little on the predictable side, although the drugs and pimping made it a little more complex. Spenser rose a few notches in my esteem in this outing.
The Bartletts were well realized supporting characters, especially since they'll probably be one shots. I felt sorry for Roger and pitied his drunken slattern of a wife.
After reading the first two Spenser books, I've noticed that Parker spends a fair bit of time describing Spenser's meal preparation. Not a gripe, just an observation.
All things considered, I was quite pleased with God Save the Child and plan to nab the next one when I run across it.
The second Spenser book picks weeks after the first left off and does a good job fleshing out Spenser's character a bit more. Susan Silverman is added to the supporting cast and will provide Spenser with a steady girlfriend for a long time to come from what I hear. The case itself was a little on the predictable side, although the drugs and pimping made it a little more complex. Spenser rose a few notches in my esteem in this outing.
The Bartletts were well realized supporting characters, especially since they'll probably be one shots. I felt sorry for Roger and pitied his drunken slattern of a wife.
After reading the first two Spenser books, I've noticed that Parker spends a fair bit of time describing Spenser's meal preparation. Not a gripe, just an observation.
All things considered, I was quite pleased with God Save the Child and plan to nab the next one when I run across it.
December 31, 2019
The second in Robert B. Parker's famed Spencer series, God Save The Child is an enjoyable tough-guy private detective story mixed with a dose of social commentary on the failings of the suburban bourgeoisie.
The mystery itself, which revolves around a missing high school student sought after (if only occasionally it seems) by his distraught (though rarely by the loss of their son) parents. Spencer must figure out what happened to the boy and bring him back even as he uncovers one nefarious player after another within the dysfunctional circle of wealthy pseudo-elites that orbit around the family.
There's plenty to enjoy here: skillful if economical prose, Spencer's clever banter, the pleasure of watching him verbally eviscerate those who would see themselves as his betters, and the budding relationship with series love interest Susan Silverman.
There are also, however, all those elements in a crime novel that invariably cause a book written in the 1970's to feel dated. At the forefront of these is the way homosexuality is alternately viewed as natural, a personal choice, and occasionally as a mental disorder. Spencer himself largely stays above the fray here in that he neither persecutes nor seems uncomfortable around gay characters, but in the broader context of the book, gayness is frequently portrayed as effeminate and, if not deviant itself, then certainly attached to forms of deviancy. I'm no expert on popular fiction of the 1970's so it's hard for me to say if the Spencer books are merely symptomatic of the times or perhaps even liberal given the inherent conservatism of crime novels.
So your experience reading the book will be at least in part dependent on how easily you can set aside those issues. For me, I came away wondering whether the contemporary crime novels I read are actually more socially enlightened than those of the old days or if they're just doing a better job of hiding the very same biases. As for the book itself, God Save the Child is a fast-paced read with enough depth of character to make it easy to see why Spencer has been a perennial favourite of the genre for so many decades.
The mystery itself, which revolves around a missing high school student sought after (if only occasionally it seems) by his distraught (though rarely by the loss of their son) parents. Spencer must figure out what happened to the boy and bring him back even as he uncovers one nefarious player after another within the dysfunctional circle of wealthy pseudo-elites that orbit around the family.
There's plenty to enjoy here: skillful if economical prose, Spencer's clever banter, the pleasure of watching him verbally eviscerate those who would see themselves as his betters, and the budding relationship with series love interest Susan Silverman.
There are also, however, all those elements in a crime novel that invariably cause a book written in the 1970's to feel dated. At the forefront of these is the way homosexuality is alternately viewed as natural, a personal choice, and occasionally as a mental disorder. Spencer himself largely stays above the fray here in that he neither persecutes nor seems uncomfortable around gay characters, but in the broader context of the book, gayness is frequently portrayed as effeminate and, if not deviant itself, then certainly attached to forms of deviancy. I'm no expert on popular fiction of the 1970's so it's hard for me to say if the Spencer books are merely symptomatic of the times or perhaps even liberal given the inherent conservatism of crime novels.
So your experience reading the book will be at least in part dependent on how easily you can set aside those issues. For me, I came away wondering whether the contemporary crime novels I read are actually more socially enlightened than those of the old days or if they're just doing a better job of hiding the very same biases. As for the book itself, God Save the Child is a fast-paced read with enough depth of character to make it easy to see why Spencer has been a perennial favourite of the genre for so many decades.
June 25, 2024
Solidly enjoyable mystery that also manages to be an interesting and moving character study of the family at the centre of it.
July 8, 2013
Reading these Spenser books in order, very enjoyable. They're dated, this one being first published in 1974. The story involves a kidnapped teen boy, a murder of a lawyer, an alcoholic mother, a crazy bodybuilder, romance with a guidance counselor, and a guinea pig (not romance with a guinea pig, just a guinea pig).
July 18, 2018
More of the same from Spenser in this book, with lots of wisecracking, flirting, and a little fighting. The usual fun, it seems.
The story was interesting, with a few twists toward the end, and the solution was not obvious. It went quickly, and I was done before I started, almost.
The story was interesting, with a few twists toward the end, and the solution was not obvious. It went quickly, and I was done before I started, almost.
November 3, 2023
A very compelling, well written mystery surrounding the kidnapping of a young boy. An interesting cast of characters and of course Spenser’s cutting wit. Also, it introduces Spenser’s love interest.
June 17, 2023
Not great. No tension. Weird pacing. Spenser didn’t do any real detective work until more than halfway in. Anticlimactic conclusion. I’m a little bit baffled why so many folks go gaga over these Spenser novels. Is it based on nostalgia? Nevertheless, I’ll read a couple more to give these a fair shake.
November 29, 2020
God Save The Child is the 2nd book in the Spenser series by Robert B. Parker. It was a totally enjoyable, entertaining story. Private investigator Spenser, working out of Boston in the '70s, is hired to find a teenage boy who has gone missing. Kevin Bartlett comes from a dysfunctional family, flighty mother and cowed father.
A ransom call is received and Spenser helps the cops, both local and state, try to catch the kidnapper but s(he) escapes. Spenser now begins to investigate the case and on the way meets guidance counselor Sarah Silverman (lovely woman). It's a fascinating story, short, succinct, filled with sufficient action and it shows a neat portrayal of the '70s. (Makes sense since it was written then, eh?)
Spenser is an interesting character; smart, wry, tough. He's a good cook too (having said that, he cooks '70s meals, so.... ;0)). The story is quite interesting and takes some neat diversions until the satisfying end. Parker spins an excellent story, moves things along nicely and has interesting characters. I look forward to continuing this series. (4.0 stars)
A ransom call is received and Spenser helps the cops, both local and state, try to catch the kidnapper but s(he) escapes. Spenser now begins to investigate the case and on the way meets guidance counselor Sarah Silverman (lovely woman). It's a fascinating story, short, succinct, filled with sufficient action and it shows a neat portrayal of the '70s. (Makes sense since it was written then, eh?)
Spenser is an interesting character; smart, wry, tough. He's a good cook too (having said that, he cooks '70s meals, so.... ;0)). The story is quite interesting and takes some neat diversions until the satisfying end. Parker spins an excellent story, moves things along nicely and has interesting characters. I look forward to continuing this series. (4.0 stars)
June 9, 2018
More wall-to-wall Spenser goodness. This one was an investigation into a missing kid as opposed to the missing manuscript of the first novel and it had plenty of twists and turns, even if some of them might be easy to see coming by seasoned mystery readers. Spenser remains a ton of fun to hang out with and his charmingly awkward relationship with Susan was interesting (the part where he freaks out about serving pork to a Jewish woman was funny and seemed true-to-life). I also absolutely loved
October 1, 2017
The mystery aspect was meh. But Spenser is just so snarky he makes the story entertaining.
Favorite quote:
"If at first you don't succeed, to hell with it."
Favorite quote:
"If at first you don't succeed, to hell with it."
December 2, 2025
Not my cup of tea. Detective series that became Spenser for Hire TV show.
December 4, 2017
PROTAGONIST: Spenser, PI
SETTING: Boston
SERIES: #2
RATING: 3.5
WHY: Roger and Margery Bartlett hire PI Spenser when their 13-year-old son, Kevin, goes missing. After seeing how dysfunctional the family relationships are, Spenser wonders whether the boy ran away or was kidnapped. Kevin was infatuated with an older man, Vic Harroway, who appeared to be a sexual predator. Parker excels at descriptive writing—the characters and settings are very visual. This book introduces his romantic interest, Susan Silverman. Their repartee is clever, but I could have done without all her psychobabble.
SETTING: Boston
SERIES: #2
RATING: 3.5
WHY: Roger and Margery Bartlett hire PI Spenser when their 13-year-old son, Kevin, goes missing. After seeing how dysfunctional the family relationships are, Spenser wonders whether the boy ran away or was kidnapped. Kevin was infatuated with an older man, Vic Harroway, who appeared to be a sexual predator. Parker excels at descriptive writing—the characters and settings are very visual. This book introduces his romantic interest, Susan Silverman. Their repartee is clever, but I could have done without all her psychobabble.
December 1, 2016
Oh the joys of Robert Parker, Spenser and Seventies fashion.
She was probably older than she looked and not as heavy. Her legs were very slim, the kind women admire and men don't. They made her plumpish upper body look heavier. Her face had a bland, spoiled, pretty look, carefully made up with eye shadow and pancake makeup and false eyelashes. She looked as though if she cried she'd erode. Her hair, freshly blond, was cut close around her face. Gaminelike, I bet her hairdresser said. Mia Farrow, I bet he said. She was wearing a paisley caftan slit up the side and black ankle-strapped platform shoes with three-inch soles and heels.Spenser doesn't spare hubbie, either.
He was dressed in what must have been his wife's idea of the contemporary look. You can usually tell when a guy's wife buys his clothes. He had on baggy white cuffed flares, a solid scarlet shirt with long collar points, a wide pink tie and a red-and-white-plaid seersucker jacket with wide lapels and the waist nipped. A prefolded hankerchief in his breast pocket matched the tie. He had on black and white saddle shoes and looked as happy as a hound in a doggie sweater.Can this marriage be saved? Probably not. Can their runaway son be found? If anyone can do it, it's Spenser. But what if the boy doesn't want to be found? All the usual Spenser pleasures: Boston setting, snappy dialog, moral dilemmas and Spenser cooking dinner for Susan Silverman on their first date (pork tenderloin en croute!)
July 10, 2015
More vintage Parker as we see inside a very dysfunctional family whose teenage son is missing. Now that enough time has elapsed since it was published in 1974, Spenser's detailed observations also serve as a time capsule of clothing, food, attitudes, and problems. Not that the problems have changed that much, which is also worthy of reflection.
This is the book where Susan Silverman, the love of Spenser's life, is introduced. I'd forgotten that she showed up this early in the series.
I was never crazy about Susan the way that Spenser is but rereading this after such a long time I can see that she is interesting, funny, perceptive, and a good addition to this book. She acts as a nice foil, coming from a psychologically based background, and definitely makes Spenser a more well rounded, interesting person (though most of that becomes more apparent in upcoming books so I'm jumping the gun a bit).
I also appreciated the fact that Parker leaves the possibility of redemption for some of the most dysfunctional characters, as well as the tentative beginning of positive change.
As with The Godwulf Manuscript, once again I remembered the big solution and had forgotten most of the intervening action and intertwined mysteries. Experiencing it again "for the first time" it came off much better than when I first read it (or perhaps that is my more mature appreciation coming through).
This is the book where Susan Silverman, the love of Spenser's life, is introduced. I'd forgotten that she showed up this early in the series.
I was never crazy about Susan the way that Spenser is but rereading this after such a long time I can see that she is interesting, funny, perceptive, and a good addition to this book. She acts as a nice foil, coming from a psychologically based background, and definitely makes Spenser a more well rounded, interesting person (though most of that becomes more apparent in upcoming books so I'm jumping the gun a bit).
I also appreciated the fact that Parker leaves the possibility of redemption for some of the most dysfunctional characters, as well as the tentative beginning of positive change.
As with The Godwulf Manuscript, once again I remembered the big solution and had forgotten most of the intervening action and intertwined mysteries. Experiencing it again "for the first time" it came off much better than when I first read it (or perhaps that is my more mature appreciation coming through).
June 4, 2024
The second Spenser book possesses a lot of what I liked about the early series: Spenser working on his own (before Hawk), tremendous descriptions of the world in which he works (as in the section on his first drive to Smithfield), sharp social commentary (all the better because it is not overt), a real relationship (it's the first book with Susan, who is a real character in it, not the caricature she becomes), and some hard-edged physicality (as in the fight with Vic Harroway). Spenser is, of course, funny; maybe funnier, in fact, than later. His ability to let the air out of gasbags is highly developed. The actual case—a kidnapping—is interesting enough, and provides a platform for the social commentary (see the cocktail party at Rog and Marge's house). All in all, it ranksfavorably with another early case that involved both kidnapping and social commentary: "Promised Land."
April 16, 2016
Weak 3 stars. Just ok. My mind wandered at times. Other books in the series are better.
The plot was not well developed. I wanted a better understanding of the son’s motivations and why certain bad guys were working together. Someone is killed in the end. I wanted more details about that. And I was annoyed with the ending. It was incomplete.
This is book 2 in the series. Here Spenser meets Susan who is a high school guidance counselor. Susan continues as Spenser’s love interest in future books.
The narrator Michael Prichard was very good.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 1st person Spenser. Unabridged audiobook length: 5 hrs and 3 mins (154 pages). Swearing language: Probably mild. I don’t recall much. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: one, briefly referred to no details shown. Setting: around 1974 Massachusetts. Book copyright: 1974. Genre: PI mystery.
The plot was not well developed. I wanted a better understanding of the son’s motivations and why certain bad guys were working together. Someone is killed in the end. I wanted more details about that. And I was annoyed with the ending. It was incomplete.
This is book 2 in the series. Here Spenser meets Susan who is a high school guidance counselor. Susan continues as Spenser’s love interest in future books.
The narrator Michael Prichard was very good.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 1st person Spenser. Unabridged audiobook length: 5 hrs and 3 mins (154 pages). Swearing language: Probably mild. I don’t recall much. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: one, briefly referred to no details shown. Setting: around 1974 Massachusetts. Book copyright: 1974. Genre: PI mystery.
June 4, 2022
It was okay.
I like the character of Spenser and I like the writing style. I just wish it wasn't quite so... inevitable. Nothing much happens, and what does happen is marred by the fact that we already know who has the boy and whether or not he's in any danger.
So it's all about Spenser, instead. As I say, I like the character, but I'd rather see him in adversity, than just doing the daily routine. Ho-hum, another day, another nothing-much-happening.
I'm sure I'll eventually get around to the next in the series. I expect it to get much better, because of reputation, alone. But I'm not feverish about it.
I like the character of Spenser and I like the writing style. I just wish it wasn't quite so... inevitable. Nothing much happens, and what does happen is marred by the fact that we already know who has the boy and whether or not he's in any danger.
So it's all about Spenser, instead. As I say, I like the character, but I'd rather see him in adversity, than just doing the daily routine. Ho-hum, another day, another nothing-much-happening.
I'm sure I'll eventually get around to the next in the series. I expect it to get much better, because of reputation, alone. But I'm not feverish about it.
July 3, 2012
I use to read a ton of detective mystery novels in my younger days. Today there are a lot of modern authors writing in this genre but many of them are just a little too graphic in the violence department. Parker was writing in the early 70’s and the violence is handled with a more gentle hand. I enjoyed the first book and this one was pretty good also. Spenser is the quintessential smart ass PI and he makes a nice addition to my available book picks.
December 12, 2017
Spenser has become my favorite character. Funny, Tough, and pretty bad ass.
November 24, 2023
Libby audio book Topeka to The Woodlands
March 27, 2024
This is my 2nd Spenser book and like the previous book, Spenser’s clients are complete assholes.
Marge is an EPIC narcissist. She’s the mother of the missing boy. The father isn’t much of a prize either. Spenser gets hired to find the kid. At the start of the book and after learning a bit about the parents, I was rooting for the kid to never be found.
Like this is the mom’s attitude:
“What can I do the cops can’t?” “You can stay close to me,” Mrs. Bartlett said. “You can go with me when I shop and go to parties and play rehearsal and things. You can be right here in the house.” “We’d be employing you as a bodyguard,” Maguire said. “While I’m guarding your body, I can’t be looking for your kid,” I said. “Just for a little while,” she said. “Please? For me?”
Ugh. What a psycho. Anyway… the silver lining is Spenser found Susan. The missing kid’s guidance counselor. She really gets Spenser’s quirky sense of humor and doesn’t try to change him.
Spoiler alert… the kid is found and Spenser uncovers a more sinister plot than you are expecting. It ends on a down note but I’m hoping that the villain gets what’s coming to him eventually. It was a compelling enough of a story that it deserves 4 stars ⭐️
Marge is an EPIC narcissist. She’s the mother of the missing boy. The father isn’t much of a prize either. Spenser gets hired to find the kid. At the start of the book and after learning a bit about the parents, I was rooting for the kid to never be found.
Like this is the mom’s attitude:
“What can I do the cops can’t?” “You can stay close to me,” Mrs. Bartlett said. “You can go with me when I shop and go to parties and play rehearsal and things. You can be right here in the house.” “We’d be employing you as a bodyguard,” Maguire said. “While I’m guarding your body, I can’t be looking for your kid,” I said. “Just for a little while,” she said. “Please? For me?”
Ugh. What a psycho. Anyway… the silver lining is Spenser found Susan. The missing kid’s guidance counselor. She really gets Spenser’s quirky sense of humor and doesn’t try to change him.
Spoiler alert… the kid is found and Spenser uncovers a more sinister plot than you are expecting. It ends on a down note but I’m hoping that the villain gets what’s coming to him eventually. It was a compelling enough of a story that it deserves 4 stars ⭐️
March 11, 2024
Second in the Spencer series....old fashioned detective story.
May 28, 2021
The second book in this series was just as good as the first. Written in the 70's these books are a little dated but for me this adds to it charm.
I really like Spencer as a character and the mystery itself was OK, this is a series I will continue to listen to.
I hardly ever mention the narrators in my reviews but the narrator of this book was amazing.
I really like Spencer as a character and the mystery itself was OK, this is a series I will continue to listen to.
I hardly ever mention the narrators in my reviews but the narrator of this book was amazing.
August 15, 2010
56 out of 100 for 2010.
The Spenser and Susan Silverman make, I think, one of the great literary couples. Over the 35 plus years and I don't know how many novels that their romance unfolds, both help the other become who they are.
This novel, the second in the Spenser series, is the one where Spenser meets Susan. Of course, it's secondary to the plot of the book, but it makes the book worth reading for that.
Spenser is hired to find a young man named Kevin, who has run away from home. No one has been able to find him; as Spenser gets to know the parents, he understands why Kevin ran away (what will become a fairly familiar plot device in the books). Much more is going on, and the police, doctors, and criminals in Smithfield are a bit too cozy. Spense is able to, eventually, get all straightened out and save Kevin. The novel also introduces Belsen, a Mass. State detective who will become prominent in the series. No Hawk.
The Spenser and Susan Silverman make, I think, one of the great literary couples. Over the 35 plus years and I don't know how many novels that their romance unfolds, both help the other become who they are.
This novel, the second in the Spenser series, is the one where Spenser meets Susan. Of course, it's secondary to the plot of the book, but it makes the book worth reading for that.
Spenser is hired to find a young man named Kevin, who has run away from home. No one has been able to find him; as Spenser gets to know the parents, he understands why Kevin ran away (what will become a fairly familiar plot device in the books). Much more is going on, and the police, doctors, and criminals in Smithfield are a bit too cozy. Spense is able to, eventually, get all straightened out and save Kevin. The novel also introduces Belsen, a Mass. State detective who will become prominent in the series. No Hawk.
July 1, 2015
We’re slowly knocking off the original 39-book Spenser set, about a third of the way through; and concentrating recently on the early entries, of which “Child” is just the second outing. It is possibly more notable for the introduction and budding romance between our hero and Susan Silverman, their relationship a staple, indeed often a dominating factor, in later novels. {No Hawk yet!}
In the plot, Spenser is hired to assist the family after the kidnapping of teenager Kevin Bartlett, but suspects not all is as it should be in this tale of Boston suburbia. Some interesting developments involving gay relationships (probably at least somewhat “taboo” back in 1987) surface, which we feel Parker treated pretty well given the nearly 30 years having passed since publication. As usual, Spenser prevails in solving the whole matter and dispensing sometimes his own brand of justice – as usual, making for an adequately entertaining story.
In the plot, Spenser is hired to assist the family after the kidnapping of teenager Kevin Bartlett, but suspects not all is as it should be in this tale of Boston suburbia. Some interesting developments involving gay relationships (probably at least somewhat “taboo” back in 1987) surface, which we feel Parker treated pretty well given the nearly 30 years having passed since publication. As usual, Spenser prevails in solving the whole matter and dispensing sometimes his own brand of justice – as usual, making for an adequately entertaining story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 641 reviews