Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot

Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot by Ace Atkins (2014) 308 pp

Facing a 2000-mile road trip I loaded up on books on CD to keep my attention while navigating the boring interstates.  How could I miss with an author named Ace Atkins? And, of course, I was familiar with Robert B. Parker’s fictitious Boston bad-boy, Spenser. The story is preposterous – a pro football player’s son kidnapped by many potential perpetrators and many motives. The cast is seemingly endless and includes Spenser’s longtime sidekick Hawk, and a new addition, Zebulon Sixkill, aka Z.  The writing is lively, albeit hackneyed, and the production is saved by the narrator, veteran actor Joe Mantegna, who has an uncanny ability to come up with a distinctive voice for each character. I’m a grump. Parker is passé.  When an author dies, don’t get a shiny new scribe to churn out the same (dated) formula stories – RIP Spenser.