The Professional

August 17, 2009
Bestseller Parker makes producing snappy banter look easy in his 37th Spenser novel (after Rough Weather
). He also manages to draw new readers into the Boston PI's major personal relationships—with love interest Susan Silverman and friend/ally/bodyguard Hawk—without shoveling on the backstory. Spenser agrees to help a quartet of married women fend off extortion demands from stud Gary Eisenhower, with whom each has had an affair. Meanwhile, the husband of one of the women under blackmail threat hires some thugs to deal with the matter. The action takes its time getting to a dead body, but, as usual, the smooth, entertaining prose more than compensates for any deficiencies of plot. The absence of major personal developments for Spenser or his associates marks this as a less memorable entry than others in this iconic series, but it remains a solid, enjoyable contemporary detective novel.

September 1, 2009
Not even Spenser's formidable gifts are equal to the problems posed by a charming blackmailer who kisses and threatens to tell.

At least four women—Abigail Larson, Beth Jackson, Regina Hartley and Nancy Sinclair—have been photographed and tape-recorded trysting with Gary Eisenhower. Their only regret is that if he doesn't get $25,000 a month from each of them, he'll go to their older, wealthier husbands. While they're fretting about their limited options and Spenser is tracking the lover they shared to Pinnacle Fitness, one of the husbands, tough-guy financier Chester Jackson, gets wind of Spenser's inquiries and takes matters into his own hands, sending a pair of goons after Boston's favorite detective. Spenser can deal with the goons, at least at first, but he can't deal with Eisenhower, who blandly admits that he likes sleeping with married women, lots of them, and likes raising money from his amours even better. At length Spenser succeeds in orchestrating the kind of pressure necessary to make Eisenhower back down. But by then the case has already started to spiral, like so many of the PI's recent outings (Rough Weather, 2008, etc.), into something darker and more violent, something Spenser doesn't know any better how to deal with. Even after three characters have died and he's certain who killed them, he still can't figure out how"to make everything come out okay."

Though Parker's flagship sleuth doesn't distinguish himself as either a detective or a problem-solver, his bewildered uncertainty is more touching and revealing than his customary machismo.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 9, 2009
The latest (after Rough Weather) in the long-running Spenser series finds the wisecracking Boston PI employed by a bevy of beautiful women to investigate a handsome gigolo with a habit of seducing and blackmailing young wives of wealthy older men. Fists and literary allusions fly, accompanied by psychological commentary courtesy of Spenser's longtime girlfriend, Susan Silverman. Many series regulars make cameos as Spenser unravels the gigolo's blackmail scheme only to uncover other tangled webs of influence and victimization. The dialog crackles, and the plot moves quickly as Spenser discovers once again how sex, greed, and stupidity can disrupt the best laid plans, and how a personal moral code can be quite separate from social conventions or legal authority. Verdict A fast-paced, enjoyable trip through familiar territory for fans of the series. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/09.]-Bradley A. Scott, Brighton Dist. Lib., MI

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2009
Is there a more promising opening in contemporary crime fiction than Boston PI Spenser opening his office door to a new client? Instantly, we get Spensers clear-eyed view of the client, what his or her dress and stature have to say, and the rat-a-tat-tat of Spensers wise-guy answers to the clients queries. And then were plunged into the clients problems, which quickly intensify, growing more and more dangerous both for client and Spenser. In this thirty-seventh of a series of unflagging excellence, Spensers new client is a lawyer who seeks his advice on behalf of four of her women friends. Theyre all married to wealthy older men. Theyve all been carrying on simultaneous affairs with one very seductive man. The turnoff? The lothario has started blackmailing them. Spenser is hired to coerce the lover, Gary Eisenhower, to stop. Eisenhower, however, is immune to physical threats, and none of the women is willing to confess to her husband, thus ending the blackmail. Adding to the confusion, Eisenhower has cast a much wider net of exploited women than the four complainants. A series of murders ensues. Is it the handiwork of Eisenhower or of an unhinged husband? Dr. Susan Silverman, Spensers longtime love, provides some intriguing psychological insights. Great plotting, clever dialogue, and Spensers mouthwatering cooking all make for a fantastic time.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)