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Spenser #37
The Professional
A knock on Spenser's office door can only mean one thing: a new case. This time the visitor is a local lawyer with an interesting story. Elizabeth Shaw specializes in wills and trusts at the Boston law firm of Shaw & Cartwright, and over the years she-s developed a friendship with wives of very wealthy men. However, these rich wives have a mutual secret: they've all had an affair with a man named Gary Eisenhower- and now he's blackmailing them for money. Shaw hires Spenser to make Eisenhower 'cease and desist' so to speak, but when women start turning up dead, Spenser's assignment goes from blackmail to murder.
As matters become more complicated, Spenser's longtime love, Susan, begins offering some input by analyzing Eisenhower's behavior patterns in hopes of opening up a new avenue of investigation. It seems that not all of Gary's women are rich. So if he's not using them for blackmail, then what is his purpose? Spenser switches tactics to focus on the husbands, only to find that innocence and guilt may be two sides of the same coin.
With its eloquently spare prose and some of the best supporting characters to grace the printed page, The Professional is further proof that -[t]here's hardly an author in the crime novel business like Parker- (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).
As matters become more complicated, Spenser's longtime love, Susan, begins offering some input by analyzing Eisenhower's behavior patterns in hopes of opening up a new avenue of investigation. It seems that not all of Gary's women are rich. So if he's not using them for blackmail, then what is his purpose? Spenser switches tactics to focus on the husbands, only to find that innocence and guilt may be two sides of the same coin.
With its eloquently spare prose and some of the best supporting characters to grace the printed page, The Professional is further proof that -[t]here's hardly an author in the crime novel business like Parker- (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2009
512 people are currently reading
1470 people want to read
About the author
Robert B. Parker
492 books2,300 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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October 23, 2018
One of Robert B. Parker’s later entries in the Spenser series, I recalled this one fondly, so recently read it again. I found this to be much better than expected, confirming my initial opinion of it years ago. There is just enough Vinnie and Hawk to keep it interesting, and though any of the vain and pretentious Susan Silverman is almost too much for this reader, the interludes between her and Spenser are brief enough that they don’t have time to descend into snobbery, or nauseating dissections of a love so special they just are too liberally cool and enlightened for marriage. Un-huh.
What really makes this one interesting is a story-line peppered with women every guy over forty has known, and the same type of homage that Spenser used in Potshot, with a twist. Whereas Parker paid homage to a film — The Magnificent Seven — in Potshot, here he pays minor homage to Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men.
This one begins when Spenser is hired through an attorney out of her depth to help four relatively young, upscale and beautiful women get a blackmailer off their back. All of them are “kept” women who’ve married wealthy older men, and each is in jeopardy of losing her Sugar Daddy, due to fooling around without compunction with Gary Eisenhower. Lovable Gary has video and audio of their encounters and has seen a way to make a buck.
This becomes interesting because Parker pulls no punches here in showing the four women, beyond their well-described outer appearances, to be shallow and petty. The inference is that they are perhaps more culpable than hound dog Gary Eisenhower, whom Spenser is surprised to discover he likes. One of the young babes is a drunk, another thinks — with good reason — she’s a nymphomaniac, and all the women were quite enamored of good ole Gary; at least until blackmail reared its ugly little head. In fact, one of the women may still want to be with him.
Oddly, the only marriage where any affection exists is a sham in ways that go far beyond Sugar Daddy and nymphette. Gary could, in fact, unknowingly destroy a Senate candidate. Unfortunately, the husband of another of the women already knows about Gary, and is none too pleased with his wife’s philandering ways. His name is Chet, and his millions mask a business that has him familiar with Tony Marcus. Yeah, that Tony Marcus. Enter Chet’s top man, his shooter Zel, and Zel’s buddy Boo, an ex-fighter Zel looks out for, and suddenly the whole affair — or should it be affairs? — takes on a more dangerous pallor.
The premise sounds simple enough, but there’s actually a lot going on here. First, there is Gary’s swinging relationship with Estelle, who knows about all of Gary’s women, and approves. And someone involved in this mess may be more twisted than Spenser, Gary, Chet or Tony Marcus ever imagined. The Professional is in fact a more complex entry than it initially appears.
Of course we get the inevitable and ongoing discussion between Susan and Spenser about pathology, and just who is being used here. But as Spenser alludes to at one point during the mystery, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and Gary appears to be exactly what he seems — a happy-go-lucky guy who likes rich and attractive married women he can hit up for cash when times get lean. While Spenser doesn’t necessarily approve of Gary, he finds it difficult to work up any sense of anger at the affable hound dog, and has equal difficulty sympathizing with “victims” who are anything but innocent. The women in fact have already found other playmates with whom to cheat on their respective spouses.
Faint echoes of Steinbeck’s classic get louder as this one turns unexpectedly bloody. The Professional has a poignant conclusion you’ll see coming midway through the narrative, yet still be moved by, making this well worth reading. A surprisingly good one in the series, despite it being a later entry in the Spenser canon. A fine read.
What really makes this one interesting is a story-line peppered with women every guy over forty has known, and the same type of homage that Spenser used in Potshot, with a twist. Whereas Parker paid homage to a film — The Magnificent Seven — in Potshot, here he pays minor homage to Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men.
This one begins when Spenser is hired through an attorney out of her depth to help four relatively young, upscale and beautiful women get a blackmailer off their back. All of them are “kept” women who’ve married wealthy older men, and each is in jeopardy of losing her Sugar Daddy, due to fooling around without compunction with Gary Eisenhower. Lovable Gary has video and audio of their encounters and has seen a way to make a buck.
This becomes interesting because Parker pulls no punches here in showing the four women, beyond their well-described outer appearances, to be shallow and petty. The inference is that they are perhaps more culpable than hound dog Gary Eisenhower, whom Spenser is surprised to discover he likes. One of the young babes is a drunk, another thinks — with good reason — she’s a nymphomaniac, and all the women were quite enamored of good ole Gary; at least until blackmail reared its ugly little head. In fact, one of the women may still want to be with him.
Oddly, the only marriage where any affection exists is a sham in ways that go far beyond Sugar Daddy and nymphette. Gary could, in fact, unknowingly destroy a Senate candidate. Unfortunately, the husband of another of the women already knows about Gary, and is none too pleased with his wife’s philandering ways. His name is Chet, and his millions mask a business that has him familiar with Tony Marcus. Yeah, that Tony Marcus. Enter Chet’s top man, his shooter Zel, and Zel’s buddy Boo, an ex-fighter Zel looks out for, and suddenly the whole affair — or should it be affairs? — takes on a more dangerous pallor.
The premise sounds simple enough, but there’s actually a lot going on here. First, there is Gary’s swinging relationship with Estelle, who knows about all of Gary’s women, and approves. And someone involved in this mess may be more twisted than Spenser, Gary, Chet or Tony Marcus ever imagined. The Professional is in fact a more complex entry than it initially appears.
Of course we get the inevitable and ongoing discussion between Susan and Spenser about pathology, and just who is being used here. But as Spenser alludes to at one point during the mystery, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and Gary appears to be exactly what he seems — a happy-go-lucky guy who likes rich and attractive married women he can hit up for cash when times get lean. While Spenser doesn’t necessarily approve of Gary, he finds it difficult to work up any sense of anger at the affable hound dog, and has equal difficulty sympathizing with “victims” who are anything but innocent. The women in fact have already found other playmates with whom to cheat on their respective spouses.
Faint echoes of Steinbeck’s classic get louder as this one turns unexpectedly bloody. The Professional has a poignant conclusion you’ll see coming midway through the narrative, yet still be moved by, making this well worth reading. A surprisingly good one in the series, despite it being a later entry in the Spenser canon. A fine read.
January 27, 2020
An unsuccessful but somewhat interesting Spenser. All the irritating Spenser things (motive-exploring dialog, Susan, the Tonto-ization of Hawk) are here, but the delightful things (snappy patter, vivid descriptions of places and people, drive-by literary allusions) are here as well.
To further complicate matters, the book's principal strength turns into its greatest weakness. Parker introduces an obvious Spenser character foil--Gary Eisenhower--whom Spenser likes and even somewhat admires. Sure, Eisenhower seduces and blackmails the wives of wealthy men, yet he possesses a code and even a kind of bravery--like our hero. The only problem with this is that Parker can't figure out how to make Eisenhower central to the plot, and the ending of the book seems anti-climactic and cobbled together.
There is a new bad guy pair here, though, and the relationship between the smart shooter (Zel) and the dumb gorilla (Boo) almost saved the book for me.
Almost. But not quite.
January 19, 2010
*I wrote this long review where I indulged in some Parker bashing a few weeks back. I just read that he died today. Yes, I do feel like a jackass.*
Once upon a time there was a crime writer named Robert B. Parker, and in the early ‘70s, he started a line of books about a P.I. named Spenser. The books were good and the critics loved him and deemed him the heir to Raymond Chandler. He wrote about a dozen of these books and everything was great for him and his readers.
Then disaster struck. His wife had an affair, and they almost divorced. Depressed, Parker integrated the story into the books with Spenser and his long-time girlfriend Susan having a break-up. Eventually Parker and his wife reconciled, and he again worked this into his fiction by having Spenser and Susan reunite in one of the best storylines of the Spenser series.
Parker and his wife may be together, but he’s been writing about her affair for roughly the last twenty years. Book after book has revolved around a rugged main character who loves a woman who is flawed and not faithful, but he stands by her no matter what she does. This has been repeated in not just the Spenser books, but in other ones that Parker has written.
Even worse, Parker has fallen so in love with the hero he created that he can’t bear to show him as anything less than perfect. While the Spenser of the early books was definitely a ‘good guy’, he was also human. He was capable of feeling emotions like anger and guilt, and did things he wasn’t proud of. But since the mid-’80s, Spenser has become a self-contained model of stoic individualism who cares about nothing but his love for Susan. His cases are just something to do when he can’t be with her. And that has made him boring and repetitive. He’s also been doing the same jokes and lovey-dovey talk for years now.
Why do I keep reading? Because I loved the early Spenser books, and I keep hoping against hope that Parker has a few good ones left in him if he’ll drop some of the baggage that’s turned a once great fictional detective into a bore. And actually, the last couple of Spenser books have been an improvement.
This time out, Spenser is hired by a lawyer representing four women being blackmailed by a man they all had affairs with named Gary Eisenhower. Eisenhower is a charming rogue and even Spenser kind of likes the guy. He tries to break up the scheme and limit the damage to all parties. But things get complicated and then people get dead.
Parker made some improvements in dropping some of the old themes, but he still can’t resist including at least one ‘good’ man who loves a ‘bad’ woman. There’s also the usual jokes between Spenser and other professional tough guys about how good they are at what they do in addition to the same awful banter between Susan and Spenser about how precious they are and how much they love each other. (Excuse me. I just threw up in my mouth a little.) And of course, there had to be a scene where Spenser tries to interview an unhappy woman who gets drunk and hits on him. I think that makes about the 3000th time this has occurred.
But overall, this was better than the other recent Spenser novels or other books that Parker has done so I’ll still keep reading in the hopes that he’ll manage a return to greatness some day.
Next up: Spenser looks at some art in Painted Ladies.
Once upon a time there was a crime writer named Robert B. Parker, and in the early ‘70s, he started a line of books about a P.I. named Spenser. The books were good and the critics loved him and deemed him the heir to Raymond Chandler. He wrote about a dozen of these books and everything was great for him and his readers.
Then disaster struck. His wife had an affair, and they almost divorced. Depressed, Parker integrated the story into the books with Spenser and his long-time girlfriend Susan having a break-up. Eventually Parker and his wife reconciled, and he again worked this into his fiction by having Spenser and Susan reunite in one of the best storylines of the Spenser series.
Parker and his wife may be together, but he’s been writing about her affair for roughly the last twenty years. Book after book has revolved around a rugged main character who loves a woman who is flawed and not faithful, but he stands by her no matter what she does. This has been repeated in not just the Spenser books, but in other ones that Parker has written.
Even worse, Parker has fallen so in love with the hero he created that he can’t bear to show him as anything less than perfect. While the Spenser of the early books was definitely a ‘good guy’, he was also human. He was capable of feeling emotions like anger and guilt, and did things he wasn’t proud of. But since the mid-’80s, Spenser has become a self-contained model of stoic individualism who cares about nothing but his love for Susan. His cases are just something to do when he can’t be with her. And that has made him boring and repetitive. He’s also been doing the same jokes and lovey-dovey talk for years now.
Why do I keep reading? Because I loved the early Spenser books, and I keep hoping against hope that Parker has a few good ones left in him if he’ll drop some of the baggage that’s turned a once great fictional detective into a bore. And actually, the last couple of Spenser books have been an improvement.
This time out, Spenser is hired by a lawyer representing four women being blackmailed by a man they all had affairs with named Gary Eisenhower. Eisenhower is a charming rogue and even Spenser kind of likes the guy. He tries to break up the scheme and limit the damage to all parties. But things get complicated and then people get dead.
Parker made some improvements in dropping some of the old themes, but he still can’t resist including at least one ‘good’ man who loves a ‘bad’ woman. There’s also the usual jokes between Spenser and other professional tough guys about how good they are at what they do in addition to the same awful banter between Susan and Spenser about how precious they are and how much they love each other. (Excuse me. I just threw up in my mouth a little.) And of course, there had to be a scene where Spenser tries to interview an unhappy woman who gets drunk and hits on him. I think that makes about the 3000th time this has occurred.
But overall, this was better than the other recent Spenser novels or other books that Parker has done so I’ll still keep reading in the hopes that he’ll manage a return to greatness some day.
Next up: Spenser looks at some art in Painted Ladies.
February 18, 2018
★ ★ ★ 1/2
The post-Poodle Springs work of Robert B. Parker have come to be known by two unifying traits. The first is unsatisfying endings. Cases solve themselves and bad guys often walk away unscathed, both because the author couldn’t find an appropriate way to bring things to a close. The second byproduct of Parker’s abandonment of plotting is filler. Is there another answer when the work has to get done but you are unsure of what should happen next? The increasing fluff and padding turned me from a loyal reader into someone who would pick up his stuff on the cheap whenever I got around to it. Apparently Parker started to address these issues near the end of his life. Spare Change was the only Sunny Randall novel I completely liked and the previous Spenser effort had a serviceable conclusion.
I am very much glad for this because Parker’s strengths are considerable. His reoccurring characters are like old friends. And he can find and dissect the underlining psychological reasons for some fairly complicated actions and reactions. And of course humor has always been a part of his repertoire.
The Professional involves a seducer of women who has taken his abilities to newer levels, first by living off his victim’s generosity, then by selecting wives of rich, older men, and resorting to blackmail. Thing get more complicated, as they have to, and if the ending isn’t great at least it works in terms of the characters we’ve met. Not the glory days by any means but when the positives outweigh the faults, my time was well spent.
The post-Poodle Springs work of Robert B. Parker have come to be known by two unifying traits. The first is unsatisfying endings. Cases solve themselves and bad guys often walk away unscathed, both because the author couldn’t find an appropriate way to bring things to a close. The second byproduct of Parker’s abandonment of plotting is filler. Is there another answer when the work has to get done but you are unsure of what should happen next? The increasing fluff and padding turned me from a loyal reader into someone who would pick up his stuff on the cheap whenever I got around to it. Apparently Parker started to address these issues near the end of his life. Spare Change was the only Sunny Randall novel I completely liked and the previous Spenser effort had a serviceable conclusion.
I am very much glad for this because Parker’s strengths are considerable. His reoccurring characters are like old friends. And he can find and dissect the underlining psychological reasons for some fairly complicated actions and reactions. And of course humor has always been a part of his repertoire.
The Professional involves a seducer of women who has taken his abilities to newer levels, first by living off his victim’s generosity, then by selecting wives of rich, older men, and resorting to blackmail. Thing get more complicated, as they have to, and if the ending isn’t great at least it works in terms of the characters we’ve met. Not the glory days by any means but when the positives outweigh the faults, my time was well spent.
December 31, 2010
Boston P.I. Spenser makes his thirty-seventh appearance in The Professional. Four women are married to older, wealthy men and each of the women has been having having great sex on the side with a man named Gary Eisenhower. Sadly, Eisenhower has been videotaping his sessions with the women and is now blackmailing all of them. The women would like it to stop--the blackmailing if not the sex--and so they hire Spenser to deal with the problem.
Spenser swings into action, along with the usual cast of sidekicks, including his endlessly annoying girlfriend, Susan Silverman. As the story progresses, one of the cuckolded husbands discovers what is going on and decides to deal with Eisenhower in his own way. Ultimately, there will be several dead bodies littering the landscape and Spenser will have to sort it all out.
As has been the case with a lot of the later Spenser novels, the plot is not remotely believable, and the book takes no time to read at all. Again the reader has to endure Susan and Spenser making love about 150 times through the course of the book and telling each other how great they are. And as usual in the later Spenser novels, this comprises about half of the book.
Fortunately, in this case the other half of the book is a step or two above the work that Parker did in the several books preceding this one. The case is entertaining, if not in any way suspenseful or frightening, and it's fun to watch Spenser pursue it, even though a child of twelve would identify the ultimate villain before Spenser reveals it.
I would certainly not recommend this book to anyone who has never read Robert B. Parker. If there is such a person, he or she would be better advised to go way back to the early books in this series which are much superior to Parker's later work. But those who have followed Spenser's adventures since The Godwulf Manuscript and who have stuck with him even through the more disappointing efforts will be rewarded with a book that rises above some of the last Spenser outings.
Spenser swings into action, along with the usual cast of sidekicks, including his endlessly annoying girlfriend, Susan Silverman. As the story progresses, one of the cuckolded husbands discovers what is going on and decides to deal with Eisenhower in his own way. Ultimately, there will be several dead bodies littering the landscape and Spenser will have to sort it all out.
As has been the case with a lot of the later Spenser novels, the plot is not remotely believable, and the book takes no time to read at all. Again the reader has to endure Susan and Spenser making love about 150 times through the course of the book and telling each other how great they are. And as usual in the later Spenser novels, this comprises about half of the book.
Fortunately, in this case the other half of the book is a step or two above the work that Parker did in the several books preceding this one. The case is entertaining, if not in any way suspenseful or frightening, and it's fun to watch Spenser pursue it, even though a child of twelve would identify the ultimate villain before Spenser reveals it.
I would certainly not recommend this book to anyone who has never read Robert B. Parker. If there is such a person, he or she would be better advised to go way back to the early books in this series which are much superior to Parker's later work. But those who have followed Spenser's adventures since The Godwulf Manuscript and who have stuck with him even through the more disappointing efforts will be rewarded with a book that rises above some of the last Spenser outings.
April 29, 2021
(The word "maroon" appears only once in this book)
This is the last Spenser published before Parker's death in 2010.
Surprisingly sad core to this story.
Some sweet characters don't make it, some do. There's a ruthless femme fatale, and new heavies Zel and Boo. Very Of Mice and Men there, poignant in places, deeper than usual for Spenser. Hawk is around some, not much. Tony and Vinnie and a few others make a supporting appearance. The character of Tony has mellowed substantially in the last 10 books or so, but haven't we all?
Susan is not as overbearing with her psychology as in some previous books, and adds to the mystery of Gary, Beth, and other players in a thoughtful and enlightening way. Truly assisting Spenser.
Again, I note: The key to Parker's love and life is banter, badinage, discourse. It's what makes Susan/Joan The One , along with their intense sexual appetites. Verbal banter is how they fit together, and physical banter is how they love. A quite sweet mystery made clear.
Book dedication not "to Joan":
For Emma, who arrived; and for Gracie, who left.
Perhaps dogs? Apparently, Joan got a new bull terrier named Emma in April 2009.
Quotes I like:
“Belson came into the apartment with some crime-scene people and two homicide detectives.
“This guy,” Charlie said, and looked at his notebook, “Spenser. He was impersonating a police officer.”
Belson glanced at him. “We all thought that,” Belson said, “when he was a cop.”
--
“I sat and looked up at the blue sky and across at the blank windows for a long time. A woman I’d once cared about had worked in anadvertising agency over there. Sometimes, when the sun came at them from a different angle, I could see through the windows across the street and watch her moving about her office. Agency was gone now. Maybe the whole building was gone, replaced by a new one. It was hard to remember.”
This is the last Spenser published before Parker's death in 2010.
Surprisingly sad core to this story.
Some sweet characters don't make it, some do. There's a ruthless femme fatale, and new heavies Zel and Boo. Very Of Mice and Men there, poignant in places, deeper than usual for Spenser. Hawk is around some, not much. Tony and Vinnie and a few others make a supporting appearance. The character of Tony has mellowed substantially in the last 10 books or so, but haven't we all?
Susan is not as overbearing with her psychology as in some previous books, and adds to the mystery of Gary, Beth, and other players in a thoughtful and enlightening way. Truly assisting Spenser.
Again, I note: The key to Parker's love and life is banter, badinage, discourse. It's what makes Susan/Joan The One , along with their intense sexual appetites. Verbal banter is how they fit together, and physical banter is how they love. A quite sweet mystery made clear.
Book dedication not "to Joan":
For Emma, who arrived; and for Gracie, who left.
Perhaps dogs? Apparently, Joan got a new bull terrier named Emma in April 2009.
Quotes I like:
“Belson came into the apartment with some crime-scene people and two homicide detectives.
“This guy,” Charlie said, and looked at his notebook, “Spenser. He was impersonating a police officer.”
Belson glanced at him. “We all thought that,” Belson said, “when he was a cop.”
--
“I sat and looked up at the blue sky and across at the blank windows for a long time. A woman I’d once cared about had worked in anadvertising agency over there. Sometimes, when the sun came at them from a different angle, I could see through the windows across the street and watch her moving about her office. Agency was gone now. Maybe the whole building was gone, replaced by a new one. It was hard to remember.”
November 7, 2025
Parker grew more peculiar and more Parker with every iteration. Of course three-fourths of the book is macho posturing: if you needed something to tell you how to be a real man, Parker is your author. His characters are curious and often unrealistic; here the story is about a sexy man who sexes up a bunch of sexy married women and then blackmails them. But he's not the villain; Spenser kind of likes him. He is, after all, mostly a real man. The single most irritating thing about the audio book version is the attribution, 'he said.' Memo to the dead Parker: when two people are talking, you do not need 'I said' and 'Hawk said' at the end of every sentence.
November 26, 2018
AUDIBLE BOOK
Spencer , hired by 4 women to make a blackmailer back off.
Everybody except Spencer is getting murdered. Some of then deserve it.
Spencer , hired by 4 women to make a blackmailer back off.
Everybody except Spencer is getting murdered. Some of then deserve it.
April 29, 2021
As I get closer to completing my chronological reading of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series (this is the 37th book of the 39 that Parker wrote), I wonder whether I’m reading them for enjoyment or just indulging my completist inclinations. Completing the series is part of the appeal, but there’s no doubt that Parker’s books are almost invariably a treat for me. I enjoy Spenser’s introspection, his talent for badinage, and the often unconventional moral vision that he tries (more or less successfully) to apply to his cases. The Professional is no exception.
The book begins with Spenser taking a case on behalf of four women who have been having affairs with a man who calls himself Gary Eisenhower. It seems that Gary is a gigolo who targets married women with wealthy husbands. The women didn’t mind paying for hotels, restaurants, clothes, and more to support him, but he has now threatened to reveal the affairs to their husbands unless they pay him substantial sums of money. They want Spenser to “make him cease and desist, without causing a stir.” Spenser agrees. He’s non-judgmental about Gary’s career as a professional lover, especially since all the women clearly enjoyed the affairs, but he will draw the line at allowing him to be a professional blackmailer.
Spenser has no doubt that he can do that, and he soon tracks Gary down. But he discovers that the situation may be more complicated than he thought. “One of my problems was trying to figure out which side I was on. I wasn’t even sure how I wanted things to turn out. I had some sympathy for the women in the case, more for some than for others. I kind of liked Gary. The cuckolded husbands deserved some sympathy, but maybe some blame, or at least some of them.… But there was something wrong with the whole setup. Everything kept turning out not to be quite what it started out seeming to be. There was a lot of bottled-up stuff lying around …”
Fortunately, Spenser has his psychologist girlfriend Susan Silverman to help him sort out some of the bottled-up stuff. I have been known to complain about Spenser’s worship of Susan throughout the series, but in The Professional, it’s not too extreme, and she actually does help figure some things out. Not without a bit of banter, of course. At one point, when someone’s been killed, Spenser asks Susan whether she thinks Gary Eisenhower might have done it. “‘No,’ Susan said. ’Shrink insight or woman’s intuition?’ I said. ‘Sometimes there’s not much difference,’ Susan said. ‘I don’t think he did it, either,’ I said. ‘Gumshoe insight?’ Susan said. ‘Or male intuition?’ I grinned at her. ‘Sometimes,’ I said, ‘there’s not much difference.’”
Spenser clearly values Susan’s opinions and advice, and there’s no doubt, of course, that he’s in love with her. But it’s nice to hear him musing about his relationship a bit differently for once: “Sometimes I thought that Susan was the only thing in life that I cared about. But I knew that if it were actually so, it would destroy us. We both needed to work. We had to do things. Making moon eyes at Susan was not a sufficient career. It was cases like the one I was on that reminded me now and then that I could care about other things.” Is it possible that Parker is toning down the Susan hagiography a little bit, maybe in response to readers’ complaints? I doubt it, but in any event, this passage is a little refreshing.
As far as the case goes, Spenser has to make decisions, as he often does, about how he will close things out. Does he share everything he knows with the police and allow the law to take its course, or does he impose his own sense of justice, of right and wrong, on the outcome? Despite his good relationship with the Boston police, it’s almost always the latter. Sometimes I agree with his decisions and sometimes I don’t, but they always make me think. That’s one of the things I like best about the series and one of the reasons I’ve kept reading it through 37 books.
The book begins with Spenser taking a case on behalf of four women who have been having affairs with a man who calls himself Gary Eisenhower. It seems that Gary is a gigolo who targets married women with wealthy husbands. The women didn’t mind paying for hotels, restaurants, clothes, and more to support him, but he has now threatened to reveal the affairs to their husbands unless they pay him substantial sums of money. They want Spenser to “make him cease and desist, without causing a stir.” Spenser agrees. He’s non-judgmental about Gary’s career as a professional lover, especially since all the women clearly enjoyed the affairs, but he will draw the line at allowing him to be a professional blackmailer.
Spenser has no doubt that he can do that, and he soon tracks Gary down. But he discovers that the situation may be more complicated than he thought. “One of my problems was trying to figure out which side I was on. I wasn’t even sure how I wanted things to turn out. I had some sympathy for the women in the case, more for some than for others. I kind of liked Gary. The cuckolded husbands deserved some sympathy, but maybe some blame, or at least some of them.… But there was something wrong with the whole setup. Everything kept turning out not to be quite what it started out seeming to be. There was a lot of bottled-up stuff lying around …”
Fortunately, Spenser has his psychologist girlfriend Susan Silverman to help him sort out some of the bottled-up stuff. I have been known to complain about Spenser’s worship of Susan throughout the series, but in The Professional, it’s not too extreme, and she actually does help figure some things out. Not without a bit of banter, of course. At one point, when someone’s been killed, Spenser asks Susan whether she thinks Gary Eisenhower might have done it. “‘No,’ Susan said. ’Shrink insight or woman’s intuition?’ I said. ‘Sometimes there’s not much difference,’ Susan said. ‘I don’t think he did it, either,’ I said. ‘Gumshoe insight?’ Susan said. ‘Or male intuition?’ I grinned at her. ‘Sometimes,’ I said, ‘there’s not much difference.’”
Spenser clearly values Susan’s opinions and advice, and there’s no doubt, of course, that he’s in love with her. But it’s nice to hear him musing about his relationship a bit differently for once: “Sometimes I thought that Susan was the only thing in life that I cared about. But I knew that if it were actually so, it would destroy us. We both needed to work. We had to do things. Making moon eyes at Susan was not a sufficient career. It was cases like the one I was on that reminded me now and then that I could care about other things.” Is it possible that Parker is toning down the Susan hagiography a little bit, maybe in response to readers’ complaints? I doubt it, but in any event, this passage is a little refreshing.
As far as the case goes, Spenser has to make decisions, as he often does, about how he will close things out. Does he share everything he knows with the police and allow the law to take its course, or does he impose his own sense of justice, of right and wrong, on the outcome? Despite his good relationship with the Boston police, it’s almost always the latter. Sometimes I agree with his decisions and sometimes I don’t, but they always make me think. That’s one of the things I like best about the series and one of the reasons I’ve kept reading it through 37 books.
November 2, 2009
Oh, Spenser. You are a Korean War vet, which makes you at least 74, yet you can still beat up 25-year-old thugs, eat and drink like an Amish farmer after a barn raising, and make hot monkey love to Susan Silverman every single night. What is your secret, man? And Susan, who must be in her late 60s -- why is she still supermodel gorgeous? And why is Hawk (who's been eligible for the senior meal at Denny's for at least 15 years) still attracting college coeds, despite speaking in that creepy dialect right out of an Amos & Andy radio show? And why do I keep reading these books?
May 18, 2010
Although this should not be considered a comparison to other 4 star rated books, this was enjoyable enough for me to assign it to this one. The Professional, was one of Robert Parker's last mysteries written prior to his death this past year. As ever,this Spenser novel is filled with his usual cast of stars and with numerous colorful personalities. One could not classify his stories as having a heart-pounding, suspenseful nature; but the plot moves along pleasantly, with much wit and clever repartee among the characters. An added pleasure for me is reading about familiar places around my home state. I usually have found a pleasant, though brief, interlude with Parker's books. He will be deeply missed by me.
September 14, 2012
This is one of the last books by Robert B Parker with his hero Spenser. This book is a morality tale in essence and the end proves that humans will always be driven by selfish needs.
Spenser gets hired by a group of women that are all married to older rich men and they all had a sexual relation with the same man. This man decided to blackmail them and they all cannot have their nice lives ruined by their lover.
As expected all is not as black and white as one would expect. And Spenser starts his quest for the man's identity and once he has found him finds that he actually doesn't dislike him. It is only when people start dying that the matter has to be resolved.
A good story about the sexual morals of women and men. What I like with RBP is that Spenser seems to be very liberal and is open for different ideas even if he does not practice them. It makes for a light and pleasurable read about a situation that you know has to end in a troubled ending. The road taken/read is well worth it.
Spenser gets hired by a group of women that are all married to older rich men and they all had a sexual relation with the same man. This man decided to blackmail them and they all cannot have their nice lives ruined by their lover.
As expected all is not as black and white as one would expect. And Spenser starts his quest for the man's identity and once he has found him finds that he actually doesn't dislike him. It is only when people start dying that the matter has to be resolved.
A good story about the sexual morals of women and men. What I like with RBP is that Spenser seems to be very liberal and is open for different ideas even if he does not practice them. It makes for a light and pleasurable read about a situation that you know has to end in a troubled ending. The road taken/read is well worth it.
July 13, 2010
The usual snappy TV dialogue reminiscent of the old Spenser for Hire show coupled with a much more introspective Spenser. I'll always hear Robert Urich and Avery Brooks doing the dialogue. A fast read, thanks to larger print and lots of white space; finished in less than 12 hours of reading time.
A storyline that seemed to drag itself out, as if it didn't want to end; much like the "case" Spenser worked on with a lot of free time on his hands. A little too much Susan and not enough of the smart, witty Hawk. Most of the supporting characters didn't elicit much sympathy; didn't feel developed enough; even Gary, the central reason for the story was a shadow. A slight nod to Steinbeck with the introduction of Zel & Boo, but it took a long time coming. Something to read in place of current TV, but less of the punchy action usually found in this series. Time to start back at #1 in the series, but adjusting back to the 1970's may be tough.
February 17, 2018
It’s the characters more than the writing.
January 31, 2017
Gary has a "job" many young men would love to have. He is intimate with a lot of attractive married women and he gets paid for it. You see these women are married to rich older men and they want to stay married. Gary gets the evidence needed to blackmail these ladies and then requests payment. What a profession. I think I knew guys who majored in this in college.
The "victims" hire Spenser to get Gary to knock it off. Gary declines. The women won't do anything for fear of exposure so the case kinda dies. Then people start dying.
There is a little bit of "Of Mice and Men" by John Stienbeck involved with a couple of characters who are hired by one of the rich husbands.
Beside an interesting way to make money, this book wasn't the best. Spenser appeared to idolize Gary and did his best to save him throughout.
The "victims" hire Spenser to get Gary to knock it off. Gary declines. The women won't do anything for fear of exposure so the case kinda dies. Then people start dying.
There is a little bit of "Of Mice and Men" by John Stienbeck involved with a couple of characters who are hired by one of the rich husbands.
Beside an interesting way to make money, this book wasn't the best. Spenser appeared to idolize Gary and did his best to save him throughout.
April 12, 2020
As with all of Parker’s books, if I don’t care about the people any of his principals are working for or trying to help, I don’t love the book. This mystery wasn’t quite smart enough either. Only 2 or 3 Spenser books left, that’s kind of a bummer. Much more so than this 3 star book.
March 10, 2017
Hacía tiempo que tenía bastante olvidado a Robert B. Parker y a su serie del inspector Spencer. He decidido volver a su lectura, empezando con esta novela.
Como la mayoría de las novelas de este autor, la trama es bastante sencilla. Los personajes cambian poco a lo largo de las sucesivas entregas, y la acción no es lo principal en la trama. En esta, cuatro mujeres casadas con maridos que las mantienen contentas económicamente acuden a Spencer cuando son chantajeadas.
Esta es una de las últimas entregas del autor, antes de su fallecimiento. Solamente de Spencer dejó casi 40 novelas, sin contar el resto. Si lo que quieres es pasar una tarde de lectura corta, entretenida, bastante divertida en general, y con diálogos afilados, este tipo de thrillers son más que aconsejables. No busques una novela ni trepidante ni magistralmente escrita. Sólo pasar un buen rato, y entonces es posible que la disfrutes como yo.
Como la mayoría de las novelas de este autor, la trama es bastante sencilla. Los personajes cambian poco a lo largo de las sucesivas entregas, y la acción no es lo principal en la trama. En esta, cuatro mujeres casadas con maridos que las mantienen contentas económicamente acuden a Spencer cuando son chantajeadas.
Esta es una de las últimas entregas del autor, antes de su fallecimiento. Solamente de Spencer dejó casi 40 novelas, sin contar el resto. Si lo que quieres es pasar una tarde de lectura corta, entretenida, bastante divertida en general, y con diálogos afilados, este tipo de thrillers son más que aconsejables. No busques una novela ni trepidante ni magistralmente escrita. Sólo pasar un buen rato, y entonces es posible que la disfrutes como yo.
May 25, 2018
3 1/2 for me. The things that are good are pretty dang good, but the bad really weigh it down. Four women are being blackmailed for their sex lives. And the blackmailer is someone Spenser keeps talking about in positive ways. Don't really get that. And Susan really bugs as usual. I'm glad they're still so in love, but god, give it a rest. Vinnie and Hawk only make small appearances, which is disappointing. Despite these shortcomings, I still lament that there's only two or three RBP-penned Spensers left in the series. I do hate good-byes.
August 4, 2017
Great as always. I really don't remember reading this one and perhaps I didn't given the late date (2009). But Spenser, Hawk and Susan...what could go wrong?
May 16, 2019
Without Love
Here is a morality play between actors who represent all of Spenser’s most base aspects. It’s a good story, but without love, behaviors are fetishes. If it were written in iambic pentameter, it could be Shakespeare.
Here is a morality play between actors who represent all of Spenser’s most base aspects. It’s a good story, but without love, behaviors are fetishes. If it were written in iambic pentameter, it could be Shakespeare.
April 20, 2024
Thirty-seven down, and thirteen to go!
October 2, 2023
Spenser is hired by four women who are being blackmailed by a man that has a large sexual appetite. The perversions both fascinate and repulse him. You follow the developments through time and it eventually leads to murders. This is one of Parker’s strangest mysteries and it does not end well for some of those involved. I still wonder how Spenser makes a living. Not a bad book and it does cause reflection.
October 10, 2009
Much like using a sorbet as a palate cleanser, I needed to read a little Robert B. Parker after my bloated course of Pynchon. So I was going to enjoy "The Professional" on almost any terms. The fact that it was an enjoyable romp with Spencer and Susan was like finding that cool scoop in the crystal dish is MANGO!
Parker has written over 50 books, perhaps half of which feature Spenser et al. While Parker seems to becoming ever more economical as a writer -- the book must be published in 20 point font -- Spenser, in almost equal degrees, is growing ever more rich as a character. You know him so well that his reactions, decisions and failings are exactly what you'd expect. Perhaps that leads to fewer surprises but for me it simply deepens the understanding and regard for a character well and consistently written.
Thank you Spenser for the digestive interlude ... now back to Brown's "The Lost Symbol."
Parker has written over 50 books, perhaps half of which feature Spenser et al. While Parker seems to becoming ever more economical as a writer -- the book must be published in 20 point font -- Spenser, in almost equal degrees, is growing ever more rich as a character. You know him so well that his reactions, decisions and failings are exactly what you'd expect. Perhaps that leads to fewer surprises but for me it simply deepens the understanding and regard for a character well and consistently written.
Thank you Spenser for the digestive interlude ... now back to Brown's "The Lost Symbol."
May 31, 2017
2.5 stars
The topic of infidelity and blackmail didn't hold my attention very well. I skimmed through many parts of it in the first half. I get a bit burned out on the dialogue between Spenser and his black thug friends, Ty-Bop, Boo, Zel, in this case and others, who can't seem to talk without using their M-F***ing profanity, and who's testerone levels are larger than their brains.
This case is 4 women who are married to rich, older men, and have sex with a gigolo who then blackmails them to keep quiet about their goings-on. They want Spenser to stop him from doing so. He doesn't really know what to do, just gather facts and get acquainted with the players. The novel redeems itself (somewhat) when bodies start dropping in the last half, and ultimately comes to a satisfactory conclusion. In my humble opinion it's not one of Parker's best Spenser novels.
The topic of infidelity and blackmail didn't hold my attention very well. I skimmed through many parts of it in the first half. I get a bit burned out on the dialogue between Spenser and his black thug friends, Ty-Bop, Boo, Zel, in this case and others, who can't seem to talk without using their M-F***ing profanity, and who's testerone levels are larger than their brains.
This case is 4 women who are married to rich, older men, and have sex with a gigolo who then blackmails them to keep quiet about their goings-on. They want Spenser to stop him from doing so. He doesn't really know what to do, just gather facts and get acquainted with the players. The novel redeems itself (somewhat) when bodies start dropping in the last half, and ultimately comes to a satisfactory conclusion. In my humble opinion it's not one of Parker's best Spenser novels.
June 10, 2010
I was listening to this, one of the last Spenser novels, on audio and smiled. (I will miss Robert B Parker and his cast of characters who inhabit his world. ) In one scene, Spenser joins Hawk at a bar. Next to Hawk is a hardback, which has a place marked about 100 pages into it. Spenser asks Hawk what he is reading.
"The new Evanovich book."
"Any good?"
"Would I be reading it if it ain't?"
If Hawk can read Evanovich, so can I. :)
"The new Evanovich book."
"Any good?"
"Would I be reading it if it ain't?"
If Hawk can read Evanovich, so can I. :)
April 9, 2017
In re-reading Parker, I've noticed in the last few Spenser books he wrote just a year or two before his death, he's letting the bad guys walk, because they have a good motive at the core of their action. In this one, a professional shooter named Zel takes a hike in the final moments. A novel about a professional womanizer who has affairs with married women, is easy-going and likeable, but he turns to blackmail to make his livelihood until things go awry when he hooks up with the wrong woman who has the sweet name of Beth, but she's anything but. Parker uses a scene where Spenser goes to interview her mother in this godforsaken town called Tarbridge, and he spends an entire chapter describing the house and the mother in grotesque detail. You feel grimy after reading it, but it's a tour de force in observation of physical decline in material goods and human lives. Brilliant, really. I just checked Tarbridge doesn't exist, but I'm betting you could find many little towns like this in New England It's worth reading the book just for Chapter 53 to understand why people flee as soon as they can to escape what you'll find in that chapter
August 2, 2021
This was a very interesting premise. I feel like this has been done before, but I cannot think of where or any better. Parker, of course, keeps us riveted with his terse prose and colorful turns of phrase.
The story starts out very routine. In the first few pages you really do think you know exactly what’s going on and what is going to happen. I actually found myself disappointed in Parker that the story would be this mundane. I was wrong. The twist is fun. The journey is enjoyable. And the wry humor never fails to delight.
The story starts out very routine. In the first few pages you really do think you know exactly what’s going on and what is going to happen. I actually found myself disappointed in Parker that the story would be this mundane. I was wrong. The twist is fun. The journey is enjoyable. And the wry humor never fails to delight.
February 21, 2022
“The best moments in my life have come because I loved somebody…And the worst.”
“Your husband had betrayed me. For this you both shall die.”
“Love and money.”
This wasn’t the best Spenser book. It was a little icky at times with a lot of romantic entanglements. Like a lot of Spenser books, Spenser and Susan ponder deep thoughts, this time about love and emotional connections. I did like the ending, though.
“Your husband had betrayed me. For this you both shall die.”
“Love and money.”
This wasn’t the best Spenser book. It was a little icky at times with a lot of romantic entanglements. Like a lot of Spenser books, Spenser and Susan ponder deep thoughts, this time about love and emotional connections. I did like the ending, though.
February 7, 2024
It's Spenser. It's book 37, so either you shouldn't start here, or you already know you'll like it.
Now Spenser is confused about a man who makes love to as many women as he can, and blackmails a few of them as he does so. But he remains happy, throughout. The women who help him, the woman who pays the blackmail, while still sleeping with him... it's a mystifying mess of human behaviour. And more Spenser/Susan fun, with just a little Hawk and Vinnie, on the side.
Now Spenser is confused about a man who makes love to as many women as he can, and blackmails a few of them as he does so. But he remains happy, throughout. The women who help him, the woman who pays the blackmail, while still sleeping with him... it's a mystifying mess of human behaviour. And more Spenser/Susan fun, with just a little Hawk and Vinnie, on the side.
September 20, 2024
Good one for fans. The social/moral issues here are even muddier than usual. There’s a lot of wondering about if pleasure is sinful but blackmailing and murder and such are not as up for debate. The humility involved in sympathy for criminals is interesting though. The difference between law and justice is not; that’s pretty standard for cop shows and thrillers. And it’s dangerous as soon as the vigilante is not also a saint.
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