The Professional

A Spenser Novel

De: Robert B. Parker

Narrado por: Joe Mantegna

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).

©2009 Robert B. Parker (P)2009 Random House

Reader does a great job

The reader does a great job and the book is very entertaining. It's on my better book list.

Heard Parts of this on XM Book Radio

Would you consider the audio edition of The Professional to be better than the print version?

I got into listening to this story on XM Book Radio. Unfortunately they only played an hour at a time and I was missing chapters. I like the way Joe Montagna reads the story. I agree with some of the others about the

Another wonderful Spencer book

As with an earlier reviewer I, too, have been reading the Spencer books for a very long time. I have either read or listened to them all from the first book and have always enjoyed them for what they are - light reading with an interesting story to tell, but with no serious moral issues at stake.

I would not normally have reviewed this book since I have not reviewed any of the previous Audible Spencer books I have listened to, but was convinced to do so by some of the negative reviews I saw. Robert B Parker was a master of the short sentence and short chapter. His books are full of "He said" and "She said", but they are at the core of his writing style and, over time, I have become so wrapped up in the story and the characters that I no longer even notice. Rather it is the regular characters in the book, their relationships with each other and the underlying humor that have made these books so enjoyable, at least for me. Add to that an interesting story, the process of unraveling what actually happened and who did it and the masterful reading of Joe Mantegna and you have a pleasant couple of days of listening.

I enjoy these books so much that I often listen to them again when I want to spend a couple of days just relaxing. For me, the pleasure is in the listening and light humor more than in the "who-dun-it". If you are looking for the Maltese Falcon, you are not going to find it here. I, for one, am truly going to miss seeing more of these books since Mr. Parker recently died and I assume there is no one to continue the series.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who just wants a pleasant relaxed read, but I would also recommend that they start with some of the earlier books since much of the pleasure from the book involves the relations between the characters and that is something that you need some history to understand.

Lots of twists

Always a great story from Mr. Parker! Enjoyed this throughly. Spenser novels are the best for listening to as we travel.

I said, she said !!!

It’s unfair for me to give the performance three stars, because I’m assuming it’s the way the story is written. I absolutely love Joe Mantegna. I search for books to listen to by the narrators. He does a great job, love the sound of his voice, and keeps me interested in the stories. I’ve listened to many books by Robert Parker, and they’re usually fun to listen to.
Instead of buying more credits like I usually do midmonth, I decided to go back and listen to a story that I gave up on before. I was hoping that it was may be my mood that kept me from finishing it. As soon as this book started I remembered that it was hard to listen to with every comment , sentence , and expression, ending in I said, he said, she said. It’s just so annoying. As hard as I try I can’t listen to the story. Seriously it is him saying “ Ah I said indeed she said, it’s terrible. Still love Joe !!!

Simply the best

Robert Parker could do dialogue better than any writer I have ever read. This was his last book; the conversations in it are some of the best you will ever read. This is classic Parker, along with Joe Mantegna's classic narrative, it simply doesn't get any better than this. Enjoy!

Lenny and George redux

It seems as though my favorite author Robert Parker in this novel, wrote two novels and had difficulty getting them together.

A little too much "I said, he said, she said".

Other than that, it was a pretty entertaining story. I'll try another Spencer again soon.

Just What I Was Looking For

Robert B. Parker doesn't disappoint. The Professional delivers the kind of story that's perfect for the genre, and the narrator is just the right choice.

Mantegna's great!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Professional to be better than the print version?

The narrator made this book great, especially in his voice characterizations. His voice for the muscle, Boo, for example, is worth the price of the book, in my opinion. The one problem with the audio version is really caused by Parker's writing style: the number of the times the phrase "he said" and "she said" appears in this book is in the hundreds; and that number is obvious when the book is read aloud. Mantenga's performance, however, outweighs the aggravation caused by the "he said/she said" issue, in my opinion.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes. This is the third of Parker's books that I have read or listened two, and I have enjoyed the plots of all of them. I haven't finished this book yet, and I still don't know "who done it."

Which scene was your favorite?

Any scene with the mobster Boo... :). Also, the character Hawk has some funny lines, as always.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed out loud on a few occasions, and often listened with a smile on my face and an occasional chuckle. Very enjoyable book!