Summer

This is not as good as his Jesse Stone series. Too many unbelievable characters and situations. Spenser is a private eye with his own super hero team of operatives and even the police department work with him in order to take down the bad guys with no questions asked of Spenser's methods as the body count rises. Even Spenser's beautiful lover is included in the action as part of her job as a counselor. ( )

First edition signed as new

First off, too much Susan Silverman. Spencer and her mentioned her Harvard PHD so many times, it eventually became irritating. Actually the presence of Silverman in the plot sort of dragged the whole book down. The ending seemed more like it was time to end the book without really completing the plot. ( )

Most of what I have read by Robert Parker is the Jesse Stone series, but this fit a category for a challenge so thought I would try a Spencer book. The book had witty dialogue, a tough-as-nails protagonist, three quirky sidekicks (Hawk, Vinnie, Chollo), and a rather unpleasant character in Susan. It's a formula that obviously worked through many years and more than 50 books featuring these characters. Now and Then certainly holds its own among novels of the suspense genre. It was a well-paced, realistic detective thriller...but I still like Jesse Stone more. ( )