Now & Then by Robert B. Parker
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

"'This,' he said, 'has been a model of law enforcement give-and-take. Me, a representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. You, a simple private peep. And we share what we know to the betterment of our common interest.'
'Ain't it grand,' I said."

Yeah, right, sure! Like so believable!

A man hires Spenser to find out what his wife, an English professor at a private college, "is up to." She seems to be distant, comes home late, with alcohol on her breath. Spenser follows the wife: indeed she meets a guy in a hotel bar. The next day Spenser drops a listening device in the woman's purse and listens to her not only having sex with the man, but also participating in a conversation about radical groups on campus and FBI's antiterrorist activities.

The scope of the case grows rapidly - three people are killed - which allows Robert B. Parker to use several recurring characters in his Now and Then (2007). Not only does the reader meet Susan Silverman and Hawk, who are permanent fixtures in the series, but Spenser also needs help of two "troubleshooters" (one could omit the 'trouble' part), Vinnie Morris, and Chollo. Obviously, these four guys together would pose a formidable threat to the entire military force of any middle-size country.

This is a sort of a fairy-tale for grown-ups, with evildoers and killers instead of princesses and unicorns. The plot is grossly implausible and the ending preposterous. Mr. Parker usually infuses the conversations between characters, particularly the banter between Susan and Spenser, with touches of humor, occasionally quite charming. Even this is largely missing here - I only laughed at the mention of a certain real-estate mogul from New York, who, unbeknownst to the author, will, in a few years, spectacularly fail as an extremely important politician. Also, as a mathematician, I like the following definition:

"'Nothing says even like two in the head,' Hawk said."

I find this installment of the Spenser saga well below the average level of the series.

One-and-three-quarter stars.


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