A review by nonna7
Robert B. Parker's Kickback by Ace Atkins

3.0

It's always enjoy to kickback with a Parker/Atkins book. But having it CALLED "Kickback," made it just a little more fun. The books is based on the real life story of the Pennsylvania judge who recently went to jail. He was convicted of getting payments from a private boys' "rehabilitation center." It's a phony. They advertise education and wholesome meals and nature walks. What they really do is eat slop, stare at old workbooks that are already filled in and pick up trash that has washed ashore on the island where the facility is located. A zero tolerance policy started by a weasel-like Judge Scali puts boys in the facility for even minor infractions: things that in the past would have merited detention and, perhaps, counseling. The town where this is going on is Blackburn, MA, a place that has seen better days and is mainly populated by working people with little education and immigrants who don't understand the system. Both are afraid to make waves. Some think that Judge Scali is the only person preventing the town from descending into chaos from gangs and drugs. When a boy creates a fake twitter account in the school principal's name and tweets outrageous tweets, he is arrested. His divorced mother allows the boy's grandfather to take him to court. He signs a waiver that he doesn't understand which means that her son is waiving his right to an attorney. She is determined to get him out. She has a young Harvard Law grad attorney working in Rita Fiore's office. (If you've read others, you know who Rita is.) They tell her to contact Spenser. Both the attorney and Spenser, of course, do he case pro bono. The book is really interesting with a lot of detail. Atkins writes in Parker's style, but with the detail that Parker stopped using in his later books. For instance Susan, who is a psychotherapist in addition to being Spenser's very sexy long term love, comments that while juvenile crime is down, juvenile incarcerations have remained the same. This is a thought provoking book that made me angry after reading it. Don't miss it.