Rough Weather (Spenser)

“The home, too, is called Tashtego. My husband was a great fan of Moby Dick. I am having an event there in late October, which will be attended by some of the most important and glamorous people in the world.”

“And naturally, you want me to be one of them.” — Spenser, being hired by Heidi Bradshaw

I’m very much in disagreement with those who rate this as a ho-hum Spenser entry, or worse. I put off reading this later entry in the series because the premise told me there would be a lot of the eye-rollingly vain and pretentious Susan Silverman in this one, whom I can’t stand. Spenser, stuck on her in cloying fashion after Catskill Eagle, when he should have dropped her like a bad habit, alludes to her utter pretension being a show more problem in Hugger Mugger: once through the voice of a long-time friend of hers, and once when Spenser points out that she would abandon her car at the station and walk home, rather than dirty her hands pumping her own gas. Alllrighty then!

Now that I’ve gotten around to reading Rough Weather, however, I’m sorry I didn’t read it much earlier. I really liked it. A lot. Within any good detective/nystery series, at some point there is enough colorful history and a multitude of regular and semi-regular characters for a writer to simply write a great story that isn’t a traditional mystery at all, but a story based on the characters and history. In essence, this is an entertaining novel with Spenser and that history. The narrative of this one reverberates back trough the entire series, rather than any single story-line, so is possibly best enjoyed by long-time fans. Rough Weather can’t be judged or rated by stand-alone perimeters, because it’s Parker tidying up loose ends, as he did with the April Kyle trilogy in the powerful and poignant Hundred-Dollar Baby.

Just as in Stardust, another good entry that has too big a dose of Susan Silverman, what Parker is hired to do is rather vague, both to him and the reader; the reader gets to try to figure it out at the same time as Spenser. We also get to experience the posh wedding, the hurricane that hadn’t been predicted to descend on Tashtego, and the bloody kidnapping of the young bride by non other than the Gray Man, the ever dangerous spook-for-hire who nearly killed Spenser in Small Vices, and helped he and Hawk in Cold Service, etc.

Spenser can do nothing but watch at first, but the rough weather provides an opportunity for him at the same time it plays havoc with the Gray Man’s plans. The Gray Man (Rugar) is nothing but adaptable and resilient, but so is Spenser, who manages to rescue Susan and survive. But the bride-to-be, Heidi Bradshaw’s daughter, has been taken. By Rugar. Which makes no sense at all.

Spenser of course can’t let it go, because it happened on his watch. This leads to a warning, and a heavy-duty attempt on his life. But it was from someone outsourced, which is also not Rugar’s style. This creates more confusion, and raises only more questions about Rugar’s involvement in something so messy and outlandish. None of what happened makes any sense, but that there is mortal danger at play, is without doubt :

“If I remember right, at the depths of Dante’s Inferno,” I said, “Satan is frozen in ice.”

“It’s as if Rugar has no soul,” Susan said.

“Probably doesn’t,” I said. “Got a couple of rules, I think, but soul is open to question.”

Spenser senses something wrong in Heidi’s reaction to her daughter’s kidnapping, so he begins to look into her marry-rich-and dump them lifestyle, uncovering a ruthless sexuality. Someone comments that she could @#*%* the hinges off a fire door. Spenser eventually discovers the slightest possibility of a connection between Rugar and one of Heidi’s wealthy husbands. But it’s vague, and proves nothing. The fact remains that this wasn’t a Rugar type of operation at all. So what’s really going on?

We get some Hawk in this one, including a nice Thanksgiving with the trio. It has been noted by some that in an early entry, Spenser tells Susan that Hawk isn’t the kind you invite to Thanksgiving dinner. But their relationship has grown since that early entry, and at this juncture in Rough Weather, Hawk and Spenser are together 24/7 due to the threat of the Gray Man. It’s perfectly logical, and not contradictory at all to the previous entries.

Quirk, Healy, Tony Marcus, Einstein and Iverson from previous books have fun moments and exchanges with Spenser in this one, which is always enjoyable. Parker is always a fast read, his narratives peppered with wonderful dialog and exchanges with characters we’ve come to know over the years. Even the lesser, somewhat less resonating entries, sans a small few, are wildly entertaining and enjoyable. That said, I can’t remember the last time I flew through a Spenser novel this fast. The reason wasn’t the fast-flowing, ever readable narrative which is Parker’s trademark. You always get that with Parker. It was the story itself. I was interested, compelled to keep reading.

Less than midway through Rough Weather I had a pretty good idea of the reason for Lugar’s involvement, his “connection” to the events, but it was interesting learning the entire picture at the end. The secondary story of how messed up the young kidnapped woman was, and why, added an additional layer to the story. How it came about may have not been how some wanted it to, but I had no problem with it whatsoever.

I didn’t have any problem at all with the ending to this one, in fact, or the ending to Hugger Mugger, another one with very mixed reviews and loads of criticism in regard to the conclusion. Yes, it’s untidy, but also fitting, perhaps even a touch poignant. Like Spenser asked Hawk, “What would you have done?” Hawk’s answer is to do the same thing Spenser has done. Highly recommended as enjoyable entertainment. show less

Of course Rough Weather by the great late Robert B. Parker is an entertaining, well written book. It's Parker, what else could it be. I'm deducting one star because the big reveal at the end was way too easy to figure out way earlier in the book and Spenser should have easily guessed it himself.

Typical Spenser, which is not a bad thing. SPOILER: Perhaps I'm naive, but I found the motive too far-fetched. What I like about Parker's stories is that he often asks an interesting question at the end: Doing what is right is not always simple; sometimes it's a question of which option is the least bad.

The return of another villain, as often happened during this stretch of Spenser stories. The Gray Man was first introduced eleven years earlier as a professional killer, and he nearly did end Spenser’s life. In his second appearance he acted more as a paid associate. This time he again conflicts and contrasts with Spenser: they are moral opposites with a degree of mutual respect. Accordingly, their struggle takes place on multiple levels. Some good character bits and psychological exploration--standard Parker--but also standard with the second half of his career, no clear, satisfying ending. The story sort of peters out.

The Boston Globe said "razor-sharp dialog, crisply etched characters, and high-wire narrative tension: Rough Weather once again proves that Robert B. Parker is a force of nature".

I've said it before, but nobody writes dialog like Parker. The imitators who have continued his series can't match it. As usually Spenser the detective is flippant and literary, Hawk his partner is curt and insightful and Susan, his partner in the other sense of the word is Susan. The bad guys are bad and the crime is complex. Lots of grey areas, not just good guys and bad guys some of it set in parts of New England I actually know.

No surprises in this book, if you've read any of the other books in the Spenser series. Spenser is a smart-alec Boston P.I., accompanied by his stereotypical talking African-American tough-guy side kick, Hawk, and Spenser's significant other Susan. Their banter is frequently amusing, but sometimes the story, as in this book, moves a little beyond plausibility. Still, it's a quick read and holds your interest, a delivers what's expected.

When a beautiful woman hires Spenser to pose as arm candy at her daughter's wedding, but says he can bring Susan along, where can things go but bad. The Gray Man is back, and before the marriage is minutes old, the groom is dead, the bride is kidnapped, and Susan's in danger. Oh, and there's a hurricane.

Parker's been working on his dialogue - I don't remember Susan being quite this entertaining. Hawk is Hawk and I love him, and Spenser's rarely anything but himself. As always, a very fast read, but worth every minute. Even if I did see the ending coming early.