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Description edit
The adoring wife of a senatorial candidate has a smile as sweet as candy and dots her "i's" with little hearts. A blond beauty, she is the perfect mate for an ambitious politician, but she has a little problem with sex and drugs--a problem someone has managed to put on videotape. The big... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters edit
- Mr. Spenser: Hard boiled detective (The series is based on the adventures of this character)
- Vinnie Morris: The 'gun' for Gino a mobster but also a friend of Spenser's who helps him in some cases.
- Ronni Alexander: Add a description of this character.
- Dr. Susan Silverman: Spenser's long time girlfriend. She is a psychologist and his sounding board.
- Frank Belson: Continuing character - Sargent in Boston Homicide and friend of Spenser
- Browne
- Paul Giacomin: A young man that Spenser saved from a terrible home situation in an earlier case and has become like his son.
- Cosgrove
- Gerry Broz: Wiseguy boss from Boston in the mob with his father Joe.
- Joe Broz: Mob boss and Gerry's father
- Farrell
- Linda
- Melanie
- Meade Alexander
- Nolan
- Fraser
- John
- Margy
- Hawk: Spenser's friend and backup. Hawk is a handsome and dangerous black man.
- Cynthia
- Paige
- Westin
- Roger
- Sal
- Henry Cimoli: Runs the gym Spencer and Hawk use - The Harbor Health Club
- Cambell
- Barry
Quotes edit
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““I’m going to hurt you too,” he said. “We’re the only ones that can, me and Susan. And inevitably I’ll do it too.” “Can’t be helped,” I said.”
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““No.” Paul said. “It can’t. What’s happened to you is that you’ve left Susan inside, and you’ve let me inside. Before us you were invulnerable. You were compassionate but safe, you understand? You could set those standards for your own behavior and if other people didn’t meet those standards it was their loss, but your integrity was …”—he thought for a minute—“… intact. You weren’t disappointed. You didn’t expect much from other people and were content with the rightness of yourself.””
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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“‘Paid a high price for living too long with a single dream,’”
Highlighted by 23 Kindle customers -
When you thought about it, silence was rarely silent. Silence was the small noises you heard when the larger noises disappeared.
Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers -
“Shopping is never over,” Susan said. “It is merely suspended.”
Highlighted by 12 Kindle customers -
“I am what I am, kid. Not by accident. By effort, a brick at a time. I knew what I wanted to be and I finally am. I won’t go back.”
Highlighted by 12 Kindle customers -
“‘Margaret, are you grieving,’” I said, “‘over Golden-grove unleaving?’ ”
Highlighted by 12 Kindle customers -
“I’m not becoming myself,” Susan said. “I’m trying out selves, I’m working up a self. That’s part of the problem. I never had a center, a core full of self-certainty and conviction. I’ve merely picked up the colorations of the yous: my father, my husband, my …”—she smiled a little—“… friend.
Highlighted by 11 Kindle customers -
Maybe being a good man didn’t amount to anything anyway. It didn’t seem to get you much. You ended up in the same place as the bad men. Sometimes with a cheaper coffin.
Highlighted by 11 Kindle customers -
Somebody, maybe Adlai Stevenson, had said that wanting to be elected disqualifies you for the job.
Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers -
I shrugged. “The ways of the Lord,” I said, “are often dark, but never pleasant.”
Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers -
To say that Susan shopped would be like saying that sharks eat. It was disciplined frenzy.
Highlighted by 8 Kindle customers
Setting & Locations edit
First Sentence edit
I was nursing a bottle of Murphy's Irish Whiskey, drinking it from the neck of the bottle sparingly, and looking down from the window of my office at Berkeley Street where it crosses Boylstone.
Series & Lists edit
This is book 10 of 40 in The Spenser Novels. (standard series)
Preceded by Ceremony, and followed by Valediction.
Authors & Contributors edit
- Robert B. Parker (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Delacorte
Country: US
Publication Date: 1983
ISBN: 0440087406
Page Count: 181
Publisher: Delacorte
Country: US
Publication Date: 1983
ISBN: 0440087406
Page Count: 181
Awards edit
- Shamus Award (1984: Best P.I. Hardcover)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 813
Popular Tags
Links to Supplemental Material edit
- Robert B. Parker: Author's website
Books with Additional Background Information edit
Books Cited by This Book edit
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