Promised Land (A Spenser Novel)

Spenser and Susan are moving into his new office when a man comes by, wanting to find his wife. He lives out on the Cape with his kids; his wife has run off to New Bedford. It's the first time Hawk shows up in a book - he's just leaving (on a "visit") when Spenser arrives to talk the next day in Hyannis. He's working for Powers, a loan shark. Turns out both the guy and his wife are in trouble; Spenser cooks up an elaborate plot to entrap the bad guys on each side and rescue the couple. He helps out Hawk, and Hawk helps out him, but they're very "adversarial" although friendly. The couple is very clueless and you have to wonder if they're worth saving -grin-. My Notes: OK, so Spenser starts out talking deeply with Susan, but says he was on the Cape with "Brenda Loring" (what's with these full names?) a few months ago! He ogles the 16 yr old kid of his client. Hawk is a little too "jive" to be cool. But it's interesting to hear he fought along with Hawk 20 years ago and had met in gyms and such since them. They have "mutual respect". Note that if Spenser is therefore around 40 in this book, that makes him approaching 70 in current stories ... I suppose he has James Bond's immortal powers. Spenser's growing towards suavehood, but isn't quite there yet. I mean, he talks about throwing the kid through the window for being surly! He's not exactly understanding of the women he meets. This is not the Spenser I love -grin-. He at LEAST is drinking Amstel Lights and Heinekens now. Susan's more annoying than helpful; his comments about her are that she told him to sip his beer and such. She still guzzles food and drink. At the end he proposes marriage and she goes "Oh, jeez, I don't think so now. I just wanted you to ask". But now they're committed to each other forever even though a scant few months ago he was going for weekends with Brenda? Hmmmmm. And even though he's practically all over the woman in the story. True Love.

This book holds a few surprises. It is also quite interesting how Spenser manages to handle these surprises. In the process it makes a few valid observations about the feminist movement. Enjoy the book, then if you have the opportunity to see the movie with Robert Urich, enjoy that as well.

Robert B. Parker's THE PROMISED LAND lives up to its promise. In this novel, Spenser finally hits his bestselling stride. All of the major series characters are in place, and this is the novel that was dramatized to launch the original SPENSER series. Read it and enjoy it.

The Promised Land is one of the earliest Spenser novels. It's set and written in the 1970s, and the bad guys wear leisure suits. Susan Silverman is working as a high school guidance counselor. Much more clearly than in later novels, Hawk is bad: working as an enforcer, a creature from the dark side. He does some things which a good person would not do. Plus, everyone is a lot younger. They drink and eat more, they exercise harder, and they try to do the right thing. Well, okay, some of them try to do the wrong thing. But that's why they're the bad guys!This is a novel of relationships: Spenser and Susan (just getting started in 1976), Spenser and Hawk (same), the woman Spenser is hired to find and her over-loving husband. The relationships are live, in constant action, and filled with risk. The characters think constantly. They talk about why they think the way they do. They explore each others' lives and try to come to terms with the kind of people they all are, or were, or might become. The wise-ass repartee is tremendously appealing; it's hilarious; it couldn't be better.If you've never read one of Robert B. Parker's novels, this might be the best one to start with. If you've read them all, this is a great one to read again.