Scan barcode
A review by brettt
Kickback by Ace Atkins
3.0
Of the ghostwritten works continuing the lives and adventures of the late Robert B. Parker's characters, generally Ace Atkins' version of Parker mainstay Spenser has earned the highest marks. Rather than try to write like his late predecessor, Atkins apparently chose to try to write the characters and so produced recognizable versions of them.
For the most part, Kickback follows in that trend, although Atkins seems to suffer from a continuity lapse or two that makes some of the supporting cast come off oddly. Spenser is hired by a woman whose son was sent to a hardened juvenile detention facility for a fairly minor prank. The no-nonsense judge who sentenced him seems to have a habit of that kind of draconian punishment and the woman thinks her son and other kids are being mistreated out of line with their crimes. Spenser, as his wont, uncovers more than just a bullying judge misusing his authority, as he and his friend Hawk wind up taking on organized crime outfits that have an unusual interest in keeping a tough judge on his bench. They'll defend their interests in their usual way, though, meaning that Spenser and Hawk will need to be about the toughest men in Boston in order to see the case through and survive. Fortunately, they probably are just that.
Atkins has come the closest of any of Parker's successors to getting his ear for zippy dialogue and has firmly grasped Spenser as knight in tarnished armor, touched more than a little by the seamy world in which he has to work but unbowed in the strength of his convictions and desire to see the right thing done. He continues to do so, but Kickback's versions of both Boston Police investigator Frank Belson and mobster Vinnie Morris ring more false than true. Belson owes Spenser for the safe recovery of his wife but here acts as if the private investigator is part of the problem. Morris doesn't seem a good fit as a mob boss instead of a gunman, but that thread may continue to develop.
A bigger problem is the way Atkins wants his book to be an indictment of private prison companies and the corruption that plagues the industry. There's certainly a good case to be made on those counts, but Kickback's ham-handed treatment lacks only a mustache-twirl or two to be straight-up silent-movie melodrama.
The bungled characterizations and political cartoon plot ultimately hamstring Atkins' fourth Spenser novel. More than either of its three predecessors, Kickback has the air of 90s-00s Parker works that had flashes of style but not much else.
Original available here.
For the most part, Kickback follows in that trend, although Atkins seems to suffer from a continuity lapse or two that makes some of the supporting cast come off oddly. Spenser is hired by a woman whose son was sent to a hardened juvenile detention facility for a fairly minor prank. The no-nonsense judge who sentenced him seems to have a habit of that kind of draconian punishment and the woman thinks her son and other kids are being mistreated out of line with their crimes. Spenser, as his wont, uncovers more than just a bullying judge misusing his authority, as he and his friend Hawk wind up taking on organized crime outfits that have an unusual interest in keeping a tough judge on his bench. They'll defend their interests in their usual way, though, meaning that Spenser and Hawk will need to be about the toughest men in Boston in order to see the case through and survive. Fortunately, they probably are just that.
Atkins has come the closest of any of Parker's successors to getting his ear for zippy dialogue and has firmly grasped Spenser as knight in tarnished armor, touched more than a little by the seamy world in which he has to work but unbowed in the strength of his convictions and desire to see the right thing done. He continues to do so, but Kickback's versions of both Boston Police investigator Frank Belson and mobster Vinnie Morris ring more false than true. Belson owes Spenser for the safe recovery of his wife but here acts as if the private investigator is part of the problem. Morris doesn't seem a good fit as a mob boss instead of a gunman, but that thread may continue to develop.
A bigger problem is the way Atkins wants his book to be an indictment of private prison companies and the corruption that plagues the industry. There's certainly a good case to be made on those counts, but Kickback's ham-handed treatment lacks only a mustache-twirl or two to be straight-up silent-movie melodrama.
The bungled characterizations and political cartoon plot ultimately hamstring Atkins' fourth Spenser novel. More than either of its three predecessors, Kickback has the air of 90s-00s Parker works that had flashes of style but not much else.
Original available here.