Small Vices

A Spenser Novel

By: Robert B. Parker

Narrated by: Burt Reynolds

Ellis Alves is no angel. But his lawyer says he was framed for the murder of college student Melissa Henderson...and asks Spenser for help.

From Boston's back streets to Manhattan's elite, Spenser and Hawk search for suspects, including Melissa's rich-kid, tennis-star boyfriend. But when a man with a .22 puts Spenser in a coma, the hope for justice may die with him.

©1997 Robert B. Parker (P)2005 Phoenix Audio, All Rights Reserved

Critic reviews

"Robert B. Parker is a tough act to follow." (The New York Times Book Review)

Really good Spenser novel

Story: Really good. There's a lot going on to keep folks interested. Sure, it's the same strategy, poke around until someone makes a run at you, but there are a lot of interesting facets to the story such as.. doing the right thing even if it means helping bad people, the question of children in Spenser and Susan's life, and Spenser's mortality. Performance: Some voices just didn't come across well and, at times, the pace of the narration slowed down to the point where it seemed an extra effort was needed to get the words out properly. Fortunately, that was the exception, so overall I was very pleased. Overall: Highly recommended.

Conundrum

Can anyone explain how Ellis served four years for a crime committed eighteen months ago?

Standard Spenser

This is standard Spenser fare. If you've ready one Parker mystery, this is very likely the same. Spenser's still cracking wise. Hawk's still tough and kinda scary and Susan's....well...Susan. Utterly standard, solid and forgettable. Charming characters in an uninspired mystery.

Difficult to understand!

This is absolutely one of the most difficult narrations to understand clearly. If you listen in your car, in can be nearly impossible to hear many of the sentence endings. I completely readjusted my stereo (decrease base, increase treble, and turn the volume way up!) to enable me to follow this story. The story is good - a typical Robert Parker - but I don't think I'll invest in any more read by Mr. Reynolds.

Small Vices

Burt Reynolds was terrific. He did all of the voices well, especially Hawk's. Super effort by ole Burt!