Spenser and Hawk are a tough team; the wise-cracking Spenser is the detective, Hawk his muscle but with hidden depth. It is this novel that those depths are explaored as Hawk plays a much larger part in the story than usual. Hawk has been shot, three times whilst trying to protect a client and as he lies recovery, Spenser forms a plan for revenge. It entails talking ot Hawk's girlfriend and learning more about his long-time friend than her (and the reader) ever knew before. The vulnerabilities and the sufferings lead Spenser to question his own life and death – and the fear that surrounds it. Spenser's own girlfriend, eating-disordered shrink, Susan Silverman finally comes up with a plan that will enable Spenser and Hawk to get their own back and move on. Fans of the Boston crime fighters will not be disappointed by this book but may have some reservations about the racial comments included, apparently without good cause. Robert Parker died, still writing at his desk, in 2010, aged 77.
