Frozen Steam in Dark Side Snow. Spewed Blood. Boiled Pasta. Presto Pesto. Day Saved? Penance Made? - Rated 
Hired as a bodyguard, Spenser opened a significant chapter in The Cultural Conversation, in an Ongoing Dialogue with a gay feminist author who had dedicated her life, and possibly her death, to her cause. The first half of this book had a tight focus and that was it. In Parker's hands, that simplicity of plot read out as mesmerizing, and sped along at a good clip.
The contrast was striking between THE JUDAS GOAT (fifth book in the Spenser series), and LOOKING FOR RACHEL WALLACE (sixth book). The literary style, mood, and content in these novels was dramatically different. Parker seems to possess an endless versatility of adapting his writing style to demands of theme and content.
Since this plot revolved around the antithetical anomaly of a feminist needing a bodyguard, especially with that bodyguard being Spenser; this woman, Rachel Wallace, had to come across as a full-blooded, intriguing character to carry her huge amount of plot space. Not to worry. Intriguing she was. Parker drew her in a touchingly human manner, dramatizing a sensitive underbelly barely protected by her not-as-hard-as-might-be-expected shell.
Given the serious sensitivity of the theme, I shouldn't have been surprised at the amount of funny wit Parker easily interjected into it. An especially hilarious scene was Spenser waiting/guarding outside the hotel room of his "charge" while she was inside the room, engaged with a gay partner. The humor was employed in Spenser's thoughts as he squirmed to avoid imagining precisely what events might have been unfolding behind the closed door. His obvious attraction to Rachel's partner added to the grin worthy mix.
However, the humor halted abruptly in the second half of the plot, when a seething Spenser was forced to begin looking for Rachel Wallace. At first it was hard to discern whether Spenser's boiling anger was steamed from getting himself fired; from feeling he'd failed; from protective needs surged out of respect for a few of Rachel's character traits (honest dedication to pacifism coupled with not scaring easily) which had gotten under his skin; or because he believed so strongly in free speech. I was compelled to pause between the lines, looking for those answers.
The contrasting parts here, almost in a reverse order from JUDAS GOAT, had the Spenser/Rachel dialog flowing through the first half of the book, whereas Spenser set out on rampage, alone, in the second half. In that highly skilled spree of bashing bodies, Spenser came close to losing the cheering surges from my end of the grandstand. My first take on his red streak of anger was that he was going too brutally far with his fistful means of getting people to talk.
Pausing to contemplate that picture and plot, I settled with a couple achievements of awareness:
-- Realistically (as a few interjected comments made by Belson kept to the fore), Spenser would not have been able to get Rachel back by being a nice guy, nor by means other than those applied. And he managed his physical pushes with restraint, taking them only as far as each situation demanded, to get results quickly enough to find Rachel before she was destroyed.
-- The characters which had been heatedly convinced to talk had earned Spenser's tactics, many times and in multiple ways. I had to remind myself what these people had designed themselves to be, what they had done to others, with true brutality repeatedly applied. They had habitually gone beyond what Spenser's ever present code (and sense of humanity) would have allowed him to do. This was not a matter of politics, a matter of Right Vs. Left. It was a matter of pure-and-simple, ongoing cruelty, halted only by the amount and type of force Spenser used, forced by an established history and present danger of unjustified prejudice and harmful acts done to innocent people.
I was curious to discover Spenser's reason for not seeking Hawk this time. I'll be interested to see when, why, and how he brings him back in. Spenser gave his reason in response to a question from Susan, though his explanation made me want to dig into that "why."
At least two drool-worthy cooking scenes sauced up the plot, and relieved tension. Just as I noticed I had been missing Spenser's nurturing sprees, as he connected counter-tops, cupboards, stove, and refrigerator; he brought out the pasta pot, and parleyed serviceable left-overs into a simple, luscious concoction, one step better than Pesto (I reread the short list of ingredients a few times to memorize). The way he came to have and use a Cuisinart was endearing, and I recalled that those slice-n-dice devices must have been peaking in popularity in the late 70's when this plot was probably written.
The ending scenes with Rachel were quite sensitive, the most touching ones I remember, so far in the series.
Overall this was a fast reading exposition of several dilemmas and a true dichotomy. Did Spenser construct a bridge between the honorable side of Machismo and the hardcore edge of Feminism? You decide.
This story felt like Spenser was sweating up all his strength, wise-cracking the to extent of his wit, to pull two ropes together (to begin construction on the bridge mentioned above). Yet, the ropes were simply not long enough to connect. If anyone could accomplish that impossible task, Spenser should be able to do it. Right?
I particularly liked the alternate angles from which Spenser and Rachel defined Machismo.
I'm easily sailing through Spenser seas, mostly in sequence, though I'm pleased to have read a few of the middle and later books, in order to maintain a sense of style evolution, and to feel the changes more acutely, possibly to see some of the causes for shifts in stream.
Macho rocks, and dirty socks dream ... of cleaner days. We each have our ways ... and means ... of dining on dreams.
Linda Shelnutt
The quintessential Spenser book - Rated
Robert Parker is surely a wonderful writer and Spenser is by now a fixture over here in the U.S., but to be honest, his first six or seven books are probably his best and will always remain so for me. Spenser's smartass attitude and wisecracking remarks backed up by Parker's incredible cast of characters are top-notch. Parker's set up for the story and Spenser's confrontation with Rachel Wallace are some of the best writing anywhere. The Spenser/Wallace relationship i heart-warming, maddening and some of the funniest lines written anywhere. This book, along with Early Autumn, are Spenser at his best. Take my advice--read Spenser from the beginning (The Godwulf Manuscript) and savor this wonderful series.
Spenser at his best - Rated
If you haven't read any of Parker's excellent private eye series, then you could do worse than start here, with his weight-lifting, literate, wise-cracking, gourmet 'tec Spenser playing bodyguard to a feisty feminist lesbian writer. Parker is just the best writer of this sort of stuff around - succint, witty, sophisticated, and a great guide round the city of Boston. His plots have tended to get less interesting as the series has progressed, but the mix of ingredients in this adventure is perfect, and the last chapter showdown - one of Parker's specialities - with Spenser stalking grimly to the rescue through a snowbound Boston is truly memorable.
one a par with his better books - Rated 
Having read many of his books, I begin to see certain themes in his work. I think that Parker, through Spenser, reconstructs the world as he wants it to be. A naive, but very readable book.
Spenser's at odds. - Rated
And with a lesbian feminist, no less. In no other novel does Spencer's code of ethics get tested than it does here. This was one of the first Spenser novels I ever read and it remains one of my favorites. It goes a long way towards explaining who Spenser is and his relationship with Hawk. Although it's one of Parker's shortest novels, it's also one of his best.
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