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Rough Weather (Spenser Mysteries) |  | Author: Robert B. Parker
Creator: Joe Mantegna
Publisher: Random House Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $17.09
as of 3/19/2010 02:28 CDT details
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Seller: booksXpress
Rating:  68 reviews
Sales Rank: 465776
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 5
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.9 x 5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0739339982
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780739339985
ASIN: 0739339982
Publication Date: October 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
“Robert B. Parker is that rarity–a prolific author whose books are consistently original, suspenseful and fascinating. His crackling dialogue is always fresh and smart-alecky. You’re happily hooked before you know it.”-Forbes
Heidi Bradshaw is wealthy, beautiful, and well connected–and she needs Spenser’s help. In a most unlikely request, Heidi, a notorious gold digger recently separated from her latest husband, recruits the Boston P.I. to accompany her to her private island, Tashtego, for her daughter’s wedding. Spenser is unsure of what his role as personal bodyguard will entail, but he consents when it’s decided that he can bring his beloved Susan Silverman along.
It should be a straightforward job for Spenser: show up for appearances, have some drinks, and spend some quality time with Susan. Yet when his old nemesis Rugar–the Gray Man–arrives on Tashtego, Spenser realizes that something is amiss. With a hurricane-level storm brewing outside, the Gray Man jumps into action, firing fatal shots into the crowd of wedding guests and kidnapping the bride–but Spenser knows that the sloppy guns-for-hire abduction is not Rugar’s style. Unable to prevent the attack, Spenser will stop at nothing to recover the kidnapped bride and figure out how the Gray Man is connected. It’s up to Spenser to decide who the real enemy is . . . before more people end up dead.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 68
 The complexity of the crime in combination with the softness of the ending weaken what could have been a very powerful book March 7, 2010
Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States(cashbacher@yahoo.com))
While this book still sparkles with the crispness and quality of the dialog and there is an adversary worthy of Spenser, the circumstances of the main crime and the resolution are a bit too extreme.
Gold digger extraordinaire Heidi Bradshaw has amassed a fortune through marrying and divorcing well several times and her daughter is about to be married. Even though the wedding will take place on a private island and she has hired an excellent security firm, Heidi also hires Spenser to attend. He is given no real instructions regarding his role, so with Susan Silverman at his side, Spenser is in the crowd as the "happy" couple is about to wed.
However, an extremely sophisticated group arrives by helicopter, kidnaps the bride and kills the groom and every member of the security detail. This group is led by Rugar a.k.a. the Gray Man and when a hurricane arrives, Spenser is able to escape and extract Susan from the group of hostages. Even though Spenser is paid off, his sense of pride and responsibility keeps him working the case, which is baffling because there is no ransom note. The trail involves local crime lords, international spying, child sexual abuse and the honor among thugs for hire. There is a resolution, but it is extremely tame, there is no climactic shootout or confrontation.
The main crime is so sophisticated that the complexity is on the border of overwhelming, it could have been toned down a bit and that would have improved the story. Given the number of deaths, while the ending is somewhat noble, it evokes no real tension or excitement. One of the high points is when Spenser, Hawk, Susan and Pearl are having Thanksgiving dinner together and Susan voices the love they have for each other.
 Two stars because it is Parker January 12, 2010
Scott Wilkey (Louisville, CO)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am a long time RBP fan. That is now said. However, this book should have been 3 chapters long. One in which he gets hired, one to go to the wedding see Gray Man, kill him and then a wrap up chapter. Despite the fact that the rest of the book is pretty standard (if not tired) RBP Spenser, the whole book does not work because of the beginning. It is his JOB to be there for his employer. Yet Spenser drags Susan along to his job, sees his Arch Enemy and does NOTHING!!!! What the hell did he think GM was there for?! At bare minimum Susan should have been sent home and Hawk called in to deal with this. Also, wayyyyyy too much Susan. It would be OK if she would do something. By now it is like watching paint dry when she is in a chapter. Let something happen to her like some of the previous novels. Or better yet, make a couple of books with barely a reference to her at all.
Thank goodness, I got this one from the Library. I give it two stars just because of RBP. Don't waste your money.
Quick fix for most of this book:
If RBP had not let The Gray Man be seen at the start of the wedding and let it be a surprise later that it was him, the book would have worked and everyone would be happy (at least I would have). I just cant believe ole Spense let it happen that way.
Spenser, come back! December 18, 2009
Brian D
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
First on, let's focus on the positives: for almost four decades the Spenser stories have collectively been, without doubt, one of the greatest detective series ever. He and his allies (most notably his paramour Susan Silverman and his tougher-than-nails sidekick Hawk) have meted out their own special justice in over three dozen mysteries--most but not all in the Boston area.
Throughout this series Spenser's fans could always count upon his quick wit, fast hands, an unshakeable ethical code, and his "See It Through to the End" credo. Whether the cases involved a missing person, a cheating spouse, personal security, or even carrying out vengeance, Spenser's work always carried with it an ethical dilemma from which true justice would have to be extracted, with or without the consent of his employer.
I've been reading these novels ever since my late college years in the early 1970s ("The Godwulf Manuscript"), and I have always been enthused every time a new Spenser paperback hit the shelves. During the interim I felt I always got what I'd paid for: humor, adventure, a clever plot, and a compelling case that moored my guy in a quandary that required an unusual and clever resolution. And I loved Parker's spare writing style, one that always seemed to me to symbolize how Hemingway would have written had he a sense of humor.
That is, until recently. Not usually a naysayer, I've heard the complaints of others and yet I tried to ignore what they were saying: the formula is getting stale; there have been too many trips to the well; no new ground is being broken. But I hung in there...the books were still fun, and I'd rather spend my time inside Spenser's head, even on a bad day, than with most characters on their best.
But with "Rough Weather," I have to admit that I, too, am getting bored. It's not just that for the umpteenth time he's re-treading an old character, doing more or less a sequel. No, it's more than that. It's kind of a...well...a boredom has set in. Like so many other fans, I think Mr. Parker is just earning a paycheck.
As I read "Rough Weather" I once again watched as all the basic elements were wheeled out: the sexy repartee between Our Hero and the perpetually "ready for a roll in the hay" Ms. Silverman; the racially centered badinage between him and Hawk (whose most essential feature lately is to alternate his speaking style between that of a street thug and a college graduate); the inevitable punch out scene where our Hunk knocks out a tough guy; and the women who throw themselves at him but he remains true to Dear Old Sue.
But it goes further than even that: in "Rough Weather," the antagonist doesn't even remain consistent within his own characterization. He's appeared before, and up until now the most interesting thing about him has been his sheer professionalism; he is maddeningly thorough and NEVER makes a mistake. In fact, he's the one foe who has come closest to ending Spenser's reign. But by the end of this novel he's behaving like a sniveling fool.
And yes, everything HAS been done before. We know that Spenser is going to run up against some amalgamate of evil corporate types; sexually frustrated women who spin out of control when he walks by; pseudo intellectuals who appear to know it all but are only a Spenser quip away from a humbling experience; tough brutes who would scare the pants off you and me, but Spenser and Hawk routinely dispatch like they're swatting flies, and the perennially steamy repartee between Spenser and Susan, who falls into a swoon with him about a dozen times a book.
Unfortunately, I think, after all of this time, that P.I. Spenser may finally be facing the one fundamental foe he cannot vanquish, the one enemy he cannot overcome: a languid Robert B. Parker, who has gotten too comfortable himself, and is content with doing what Our Hero never would: phoning it in.
 Still for Hire? December 5, 2009
john purcell (Purcellville, VA USA)
This is the first Spenser book that I have read, although of course we all know the 1970's TV show. in this caper, Spenser is hired by a mysterious woman, to provide undefined services at her daughter's wedding on her remote island estate. Spenser brings Susan for the weekend nuptials, and meets up with a recycled character called the Gray Man. Apparently the name is due to his clothing, not the one-dimensional aspect of his character.
Spenser and the Gray Man have been on the opposite sides of previous rhubarbs, but apparently have reached a rapproachment, driven by mutual respect, neither will harm the other or anyone from the other's camp. Next all hell breaks loose, the Gray Man disrupts the wedding, kidnaps the bride, and murders the minister and the groom. Spenser seems ambivalent about the whole encounter, somewhat non-chalantly finds Susan and makes his return to Boston.
Now the detective part commences. Spenser follows various leads, crosses paths with unsavory characters, shoots a few of them, and settles into a quiet lifestyle with Susan and his side-kick Hawk. Apparently Spenser knows everyone in Boston law enforcement, and they enjoy his help and witty dialogue.
After chasing down leads, pushing people to tell him more than they should, and boxing matches with minor characters, the Gray Man shows up and explains the whole thing to Spenser. Lucky break that, since it seemed Spenser was stuck in solving the crime, and more interested in weekend trips and quiet dinners with Susan.
All in all, not a bad read. The audio version is good with a spirited Joe Mantegna doing the voices. Parker does not write for the book to be read aloud, but Mantegna gives it his best and he is an accomplished actor. Too bad they are not still churning out Rockford Files episodes, that was a much better 1970's TV show than Spenser, although Barbara Stock was hotter than Rockford's scrawny girlfriends.
First Spenser Novel November 29, 2009
Mateo Morales (New York City, New York USA)
So, this is the first Spenser novel I have read from Robert B. Parker. Someone had wanted to get rid of all their books and I decided to take some, one of them being 'Rough Weather'. So, on a rainy day I decided to take it out and read it. After going through it in 2 days, I must say that I found it to be a very easy read and hard to put down. Yes, there were some parts that were a bit cliched, but for the most part, it was one of those books that sort of involves you into the storyline.
The story begins in a detective's office and ends there, which was a neat way to start and end it. I won't go into much detail, but let's just say that it is a mystery that will keep you going and thinking of how it all will eventually turn out. The characters are few, but that makes for good characterization with each one, which makes me wonder how the other Spenser novels must be like.
Enjoy the beginning, middle and end. Take this book for what it is....a mystery you can pick up on a rainy day and enjoy!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 68
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