Looking for Rachel Wallace (Spenser)

Take one testosterone-laden private eye with and admirable world view but who knows that his code of honor is the backbone of everything he believes in (Spenser). Add one fiesty lesbian feminist out to point out the faults and foibles of a male-dominated society (Rachel Wallace). Shake vigorously to mix the two together so they become combatants. Season with vicious hired gunmen. It all adds up to one of the most delicious dishes ever served by Robert B. Parker. Hired by a book publisher to protect Rachel Wallace, one of their hottest properties, Spenser finds himself at odds again and again with the woman he's supposed to take care of. Both of them have their own ways of doing things, and both are intractable. Eventually their differences outweigh the reasons they should stay together and Spenser gets fired. However, someone kidnaps Rachel Wallace and Boston's toughest private eye makes things personal when he goes looking for her. Through the bluebloods and the hired street muscle, through a snowstorm that shuts the city down, Spenser goes on the hunt, mowing over everyone that gets in his path. Robert B. Parker is the author of the Spenser novels, the Jesse Stone novels and the Sunny Randall novels as well as others. This book, along with EARLY AUTUMN and MORTAL STAKES, is the best to define Spenser's character and Robert B. Parker's thoughts on the world and his place in it. In the course of this short novel, Parker explores the differences between the male and female of the human species, and the struggle that each undertakes to understand the other. This isn't a societal diatribe. It's a great novel that's larger than the sum of its parts. Not only does the suspenseful action and great dialogue keep a reader turning pages, but it serves up a healthy does of thought-provoking commentary as well. Readers who have never read a Spenser novel before would find this a good starting place. This is one of the foundation novels that spins completely out of the character, up against others and up against the world. Readers looking for a a great private eye novel with heart need to look no farther.

Spenser has a lobster dinner and is contracted to bodyguard a lesbian author, Rachel Wallace. Rachel has received death threats after writing an expose of discrimination in the workplace. You have to remember this is '80 while reading it - Spenser makes several "questionable" comments, and her foes are definitely many and bigoted. Right from the start Spenser has to protect her, although their personalities clash. He tromps all over her while trying to "save her" because of course she can't take care of herself. Rachel fires him, and *poof* she's kidnapped. Spenser finds a bigoted family with some deep conflicts. He traces through a KKK member, some loansharks, gets beaten up and drives in the snow in his 1968 Chevy Convertible. Lucky he didn't try it in Susan's MG. Spenser drinks Becks, Molsons and Asti Spumanti. Rachel, of course, is rescued in dramatic fashion. The book ends with her curled up in Spenser's apartment, holding his hand as she sleeps. My Notes: Well, I suppose even now bigotry exists, maybe I fool myself that it's not as bad as the book makes it out to be. It was pretty nasty for a woman who was just writing books. Spenser, who later has a gay police officer friend, is seriously offensive himself a few times. But I suppose to have him "supporting" a lesbian activist in '80 was a reasonably strong move. He has at various times lobster, shrimp, and oysters, even though he claimed earlier to not like fish. Susan pokes her head in for a scene and *poof* is gone - not much for a woman he swore eternal love to and couldn't live without only a short while ago. As much as Susan can generally be annoying, I like when she and Rachel talk, and Susan is gently helping the Rachel-Spenser interaction go more smoothly. Rachel says "Jeez does Spenser protect you?" and Susan replies "No, we protect each other, sort of how I'm looking out for him now." Rachel grudgingly admits this is true, and healthy. Interestingly, Susan knows how to cook in this one - onions, peppers, mushrooms. She even makes ham sandwiches (with the ham from Millerton NY, hickory smoked, no nitrates). She must have forgotten soon thereafter. Susan's power is growing - in this story it says "Her interest in people was emanating. One could almost feel it." It won't be long before the perennial word, "Palpable" shows up!! Spenser is definitely relaxing into his role in the world - I think (bigotry aside) this is the first book that he's really "comfortable with himself" in. He doesn't question his right to do things, he just does them. He punches the picketer. He jumps in when people try to drag her off. He does his job, period. Susan calls him a "Sir Gawain". It's interesting to hear Rachel bashing Spenser all the time but admit in the end that she needed him to be what he was to rescue her. I wonder if this is a pre-emptive strike at those reviewers who criticize Spenser for being so "macho" - right in the book you have the arguments both ways. Very entertaining. Sadly, no Ha

Aside from EARLY AUTUMN, there is no question that this is Parkers best novel. It's funny, fast, lots of action, and a big ending. I read all of Parkers Spenser novels in a row, twice, about six years ago, and I've gone back and re-read this one a few more times. Parkers short 200 page books are like movies, as you can have a bad day, come home, have a few beers and plow through a book in one evening. This is the one that always lifts my spirits.

Spencer is truly himself here. He is hired to protect a lesbian author who is a feminist activist. Parker creates her to be a warm person if a bit prickly. This remarkable story is really more about what Heterosexual Spencer is and how he feels about this lesbian person (and oh, by the way, Susan is there and contributing to both solutions) how she must come to realize that even though he is everything she feels she must fight against, she grudgingly comes to respect and, yes, admire Spencer. It sounds hokey, and the lesbian angle is not a turn on either. But trust me, this book is special. I have come across it late, this being 1999, but it is truly a remarkable book. You cannot read it without feeling good.

And with a lesbian feminist, no less. In no other novel does Spencer's code of ethics get tested than it does here. This was one of the first Spenser novels I ever read and it remains one of my favorites. It goes a long way towards explaining who Spenser is and his relationship with Hawk. Although it's one of Parker's shortest novels, it's also one of his best.