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God Save the Child by Robert B. Parker
Reader Reviews 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful: Great development of the Spenser character, July 11, 2003 Reviewer: Lisa - Gaming Host from Massachusetts This is Book 2, and Spenser is as feisty as ever. A couple comes to his office and says they never thought of using a Private Eye before; he's bored because he's heard it so many times. Turns out their kid has vanished, taking his guinea pig with him. This is in Smithfield, bastion of the rich up on the north shore. The local police chief is portly and doesn't like Spenser much. So what else is new? One thing is new - Susan Silverman, the High School Guidance Counsellor. She's feisty and beautiful. Their meeting-scene is rather overdone, though. She drinks a lot, which is MUCH different from later stories. He tells of his nose-breaking and she likes his carving of the "Indian on the Horse" (in front of the MFA) which he did in the first book. She's sad that she's only a guidance counselor and can't really help people. I have a feeling that many guidance counselors out there would have some objection to her point of view. You can make a difference anywhere you are - if only you do your best. Susan becomes a staple to the series, the love-partner of Spenser throughout the books, the one that brings sense to his sometimes frayed world. Unfortunately, at least in this book, she doesn't seem to be helping much. The story is extremely simplistic in dealing with the causes of child unhappiness and the ways in which it can be "fixed". The story has a good dose of homosexual behavior, drugs and fetishes - all soon to be part of the Spenser trademark plotline. What is EXTREMELY interesting to me is that while the "later" Spenser is very much a hip guy with gay friends and easily defending gay rights, he most definitely did not start out that way. Some of the stereotypes shown here border on insulting. There are other trends forming here. Alcoholic couple, the "artistic" wife is drooling all over Spenser. Also interesting is the repetition of tennis references (which I didn't think Spenser played), and his reference to the comfort food of the chop suey his mom used to make. His dead mom? State Cop Healey makes his first appearance here. Despite in general being a huge fan of Spenser stories, I hated the ending, but read it and decide for yourself on that one.
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