Reviews

Lullaby by Ace Atkins

applegnreads's review against another edition

3.0

Not nearly as good as Parker. Characters are fun still but have lost a little sparkle.

robhood's review against another edition

2.0

I forced my way thru a third of it and was totally uninspired!

duparker's review against another edition

3.0

Not too much to say, other than I thought it was ironic that a book with similar themes to True Grit mentions Charles Portis. I liked the attempts to tie Mattie to Paul, and found it interesting that April Kyle wasn't mentioned at all.

Typical late Parker style, nothing shocking occurs, good reminiscence about other books. I really need a companion guide though, after 40 books to follow some of the mobsters and the extraneous side characters.

stevem0214's review against another edition

4.0

I've said that I've read this book before, but I don't think I have. It was pretty memorable and a good read. Also the first in the series that was written by Ace Atkins (as far as I know). Mr. Atkins updates Spenser and Hawk a little bit with cell phones and new cars and whatnot, but they are still the same guys I've come to love, with the same cast of bad guys pretty much. In this one Gerry Broz shows himself again to cause trouble for Spenser and a young girl.

papidoc's review against another edition

2.0

Better than the last Spenser novel by Ace Atkins, but still not up to the Parker standard by a long shot. Last time, I said I wasn't going to read any more Spenser novels by Atkins, but I guess I wanted to hear from Spenser again. Very disappointing.

leinartk's review against another edition

1.0

Disappointing. I've loved the Spenser series, but Ace Atkins is no Robert Parker.

dubya13's review against another edition

3.0

Interesting...I’ll have to try another book or two to actually get a feel for it.

jakewritesbooks's review against another edition

3.0

I am a dad. And as I get older, I’ve resigned myself to reading—and enjoying—more dadlit. But if I resign myself to this fate, at least let it be for something written by Ace Atkins, who breathes new, much needed life into the Spenser series. Plotting and pacing are as good as Atkins does but these books have a hard ceiling with Spenser’s insufferable-ness and the shallow natures of the supporting cast. Still, I’m probably gonna bowl through these.

nshellab's review against another edition

3.0

He's not quite Parker. The dialogue tries too hard on the witty repartee. But Spenser is at his best with adolescents in trouble, and I did enjoy the Boston scenery.

thebeardedpoet's review against another edition

4.0

Well, I'm surprised. Having read every Robert B. Parker Spenser novel, I didn't expect that anyone could pick up where Parker left off and do it so well. The pacing and rhythms felt natural and just like Parker's. The descriptions and word choice were just like Parker at the top of his game. And the book has everything a long time fan of Spenser would appreciate, such as lots of Hawk, nods to earlier books, plenty of recurring supporting cast, and solid action along the way. Some things might have actually been improved over Parker's more recent Spenser novels: there were fewer Spenser/Susan banter/recaps (which get old after awhile), there was more violence, action, and peril (which had been phased out in the last few years), and the "he/she said" and "I said"s have be trimmed way down (which when you read these books aloud, like I do, is a tremendous blessing. If anything was not up to Parker snuff it was the amount and quality of the humor. Don't get me wrong, I did laugh and felt like the wisecracks were up to snuff for Spenser, but it just wasn't quite as funny as I remember Parker's dialogue being. This may be a very subjective thing, so don't be deterred by my opinion. I noticed too that Pearl didn't get much attention here, which ties in with the humor comment since Parker often used Pearl for humor. All and all, I am impressed. One last note about the profane language: that seemed more extreme than I remembered it being before. However, the enemies are organized crime thugs which have to be characterized as foul-mouthed (it's a rule or something). On the other hand, the young girl who hires Spenser has a pretty foul mouth as well. That made me uncomfortable. The language is a big problem when reading aloud to your wife, so I had to work pretty hard at editing as I read. And that decreased the fun a bit. This is probably a non-issue though for the average Spenser reader.