Cold Service

Cold Service is one of Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels.  This is the first book that I have read of Robert B. Parker's so I was not up on the series.  The novel worked okay as a stand alone, but I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had read the previous novels in the series.

Spenser is a private detective, who owns his own business.  In this novel, his best friend, Hawk, is exacting revenge on some bad people who almost killed him, and did kill someone who was under his protection.  Spenser always has his best friend's back, so they go about their investigation and revenge plot together.  There is plenty of action, but the revenge plot is not well explained.  It is a complicated plot, and rather than tell the reader about it, the details of the plan are glossed over and the novel is wrapped up quite quickly and succinctly.  I kept thinking that maybe I had missed something, but I went back through the book and I hadn't missed anything.  The author just chose not to include those details.  Personally, I felt those details would have further the story a little more smoothly.

For action and suspense, the novel works.  I just wish the author had given me a little more detail.  The relationships between the characters work as well, although there is a language between Spenser and Hawk that is so personal, I felt left out.  That being said, Parker is able to deliver a magnitude of feeling with just a few words and the reader is quite aware of the bond between these two men.  Maybe long time readers of the series would understand their language better than I did.  I would only recommend this one if you are a fan of Robert B. Parker, and have read the other novels in this series.

Happy Reading!