Back Story

By: Robert B. Parker

Narrated by: Joe Mantegna

Renaissance man Spenser - he of the acerbic social commentary, the gourmet cookery, and the steely abs - turns his considerable talents to the unraveling of a thirty-year-old murder mystery. During a 1974 holdup in a Boston bank by a revolutionary group calling itself the Dread Scott Brigade, Emily Gordon, a visitor cashing traveler's checks, is shot and killed. Despite security-camera photos and a letter from the group claiming responsibility, nobody saw who shot her, and the perpetrators have remained at large for three decades. Enter Paul Giacomin, the closest thing to Spenser's son. When Paul's friend Daryl Gordon, Emily's daughter, decides she needs closure regarding her mother's death, she turns to Spenser, who must reach past the lack of clues and missing FBI report to seek the truth.

Critic reviews

"The character sketches are Ginsusharp." -Entertainment Weekly

"Spenser's back, just the way we like him." -New York Daily News

Joe Mantegna is Spencer

I love the Spencer books, and Joe Mantegna makes him come alive for me. The story is "good trumps evil" even it does smash a few folks around and maybe leaves some not-so-alive. The story was a great read and a small escape into the land where "everything works out in the end".

excellent Spencer story and production

I really loved this book. Spencer's "adopted" son, Paul, is in the story and I love Paul. He was introduced to us in the Spencer series book, "Early Autumn" . In my opinion, it would be good to have already read or listened to Early Autumn so that you know all about Paul before you listen to Back Story, but it is not necessary since this story can stand on its own. Hawk and Susan are in the story line of Back Story, which helps make it a great book. Also, Spencer meets Jesse Stone in this book. Stone appears in as the Police Chief of the town Paradise. At the first of this book It is revealed in the first of this book that Pearl the wonderdog has passed away - amazingly, Susan and Spencer get a puppy, the same breed as Pearl, to help get over the grief. To make things even more "fun", the story line brings back the memory of the hippie movement and free love. As you can see, in addition to the main story line of a 28 year old cold case murder which Spencer is attempting to solve, there is a lot going on! The reader, Joe Mantegna does his usual great job reading the book. I loves his interpretation of Spencer and of the reoccuring characgers of Susan, Hawk, Quirk, Belson, etc. I expecially love his interpretations of the very well written, witty conversations between Spencer and Hawk.

another winner for Robert Parker

I've listened to most of Parker's books as I'm unable to use my eyes, and never even noticed the "he said, she said" thing until this other reviewer mentioned it. It still isn't a problem. On the contrary, I think it's part of the rythym of his repartee. But, it might not be to everyone's taste. It's very, very dry. Brut supreme and supreme writing, IMHO.

Delightful

This detective mystery had several strong points. The length was just right. The narrator imitated well a Northeastern cop, making the story believable from the beginning. The book was intriguing from the beginning up to the surprise ending. The only negative comment I have is that I don't like profanity, even though I realize it is part of some characters' personalities.

Review of Back Story

This is my first story with this author. I like the straightforward language and the good, interesting story. I've been listening to other thriller/detective stories, and this is a good mix of straightforward writing, good, interesting plot, and understandable characters. It's engaging and complete without a lot of wasted words.

He gets at meaningful interactions between characters without wasting words. The reader gets the picture without the author's having to waste words and time with a lot of description and dialogue. I suspect this kind of writing is tough to accomplish, and it's good to read.

So it's 4 stars: good story, concise writing, interesting and tightly drawn characters, and that interesting dialogue: lots of tough guy lingo, and you can see the various characters sizing each other up and staring each other down. And shooting each other.

Mantegna is a good listen, too.

Bob