Walking Shadow (Spenser)

Spenser sets out to help his signficant other with a stalker situation related to a local theatre board in Port City. The goal, however, changes when there is a dramatic murder of an actor during the performance of a play. Teaming with Hawk and Vinnie to established the murderer, Spenser finds himself embroiled in a complex mystery that involves a suspicious chief of police, a confused young lady, and Chinese illegal operation of immigrants that includes gang violence. As the plot becomes more complex, and as he battles to stay alive, Spenser has difficulty establishing who is guilty and why. Aside from some early action, this book contains less action than most Parker books and is generally less heroic than Spenser usually demonstrates.

This well-written story has a high level of educational benefit as we learn not just about theatre, but also about Chinese culture and the continuing problem of immigration. The chapter describing the living conditions of immigrants working to pay back their debt and become a normal part of society is gripping and has far ranging social implications in our world today. Without prejudice or "preachiness" the book objectively presents the challenges of dealing with different cultures that grow out of immigration. Throw in several theatre references and some confusing detail about stalkers and we have a plot rich in potential.

Unfortunately the story dissolves near the end and becomes focused on one individual and the complexity caused by character flaws and human foibles. This makes the Chinese connection to the story become peripheral to the purpose thereby causing the book to seem rather disconnected by the end. Almost as though the author became uninterested in the story and decided to finish without resolving the cultural issues. Further adding to the weak process, we find very little purpose in Hawk's or Vinnie's presence along the way. The introduction of Mei Ling is fascinating and she becomes one of the most interesting characters in the book.

A good read and ironically educational, overall this book does not progress well and leaves many unanswered questions. What will happen to the Death Dragons? Why is Rikki Wu so caught up in herself? What does the weird play have to do with the story? What will the immigrants do or become once they pay their debts? Still, it is a fun read by an outstanding writer. Worth reading for its complexity and social challenges.

Book 21 of the series, and I recommend reading them in order

Fairly involved plot and some good twists that I didn't see coming. Vinnie is back,and more of a gun-slinger than I understood his role with Joe Broz, so that was a little jarring. Some minor plot development for the rest of the series. I guess I'll have to get over my discomfort that Spenser never gets paid in these books....

By the time you get to "Walking Shadow," the twenty-first Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, you expect there to be a certain escalation in the dangers confronting our hero. The clearest sign of that this particular time around the block is that Spenser needs the backup of both Hawk and Vinnie Morris the defrocked mobster. Having faced down billionaire eccentrics, syndicate bosses and homicidal maniacs, Spenser is now facing what might be his greatest danger, a Chinese tong. As with the life in the projects portrayed in "Double Deuces," Parker has been reading up on Chinese-American culture, continuing to expand Spenser's horizons. Certainly the extent to which this novel is concerned with the problems of illegal Chinese immigration makes it far and away the most socially conscious Spenser story. At one point Hawk tells Spenser this is the silliest case they have ever worked together, but by the end that proves most decidedly not to be true.
Susan Silverman, a board member of the Port City Theater Company, asks our hero to discover the identity of the figure in black who has been stalking the Artistic Director. During a performance of an obtuse play that makes "Waiting for Godot" a paragon of clear reason, a figure in black shoots dead one of the actors on stage. The square peg to be pounded into the round hole this time around is how these two acts are connected. After all, Spenser does not believe in coincidence, especially when he starts nosing around and is quickly threatened by the head of the tong. Toss into the mix the local chief of police, a former state cop who appears to have sold his good name to obtain a small measure of power in this world. "Walking Shadow" is probably the Spenser novel in which our hero seems most like a duck out of water, because, after all, this time around its Chinatown (supply your own dramatic music). Fortunately the man knows how to be patient. On the home front there is not much cooking in this novel (lots of sandwiches and picnic lunches), but Spenser and Susan are busy restoring a cottage for their weekends together where Pearl gets to chase squirrels. "Walking Shadow" is certainly an above average Spenser novel with some of Parker's better twists at the end of the ride.

Whenever I read a Spenser/Hawk book I am picturing Robert Urich, who was unbeatable as that character in the t.v.'s series of Spenser. I miss him, but on to the story. Spenser is asked by Susan, his girl, to help find out who is stalking the director of the Port City Theater's Company, of which Susan is a trustee. He finds no stalker, but while watching the play, one of the cast is shot right in front of the audience and killed. Another woman claims that she is being stalked and yet they find no one stalking her and then he receives a tape of her tied to a chair and being held hostage. There is the Chinese mafia connection, as a large portion of Port City is Chinese and another of the trustees is Chinese with connections to them. Spenser is threatened by the boss and told not to come back or he will be killed and so enters Hawk and Vinnie for back up protection. The educational part is learning a little about the illegal immigration trafficking of the Chinese people. My favorite characters, as always, were Spenser and Hawk. I don't want to tell you too much more except that I did enjoy the book.

The opening rhythm and balsamic detail of this Spenser novel has drifted toward the jazzy flow of Parker's later series entries, leaving the early novels in the annals of classic detective fiction, lush with setting ambiance and yummy P.I. moodiness. The first page plot movement in WALKING SHADOW set an immediate rhythm into an ongoing situation, using a writing "technique" which translated to me as Parker's talent rolling so naturally now that he had no compulsion to set up anything.

For me, this style seemed to say that he didn't feel any need to grab the reader by the lapels and jerk him into the story, didn't need to waste words cajoling anybody outside Spenser's reality to join the party. Parker just started right in typing with what Spenser was thinking about the drama he and Susan were into, typing with a sort of helter-skelter abandon, a seeming non concern about the presence of a reader, typing tidbits about the history leading up and the current ... "riding along in an automobile."

Loved it!

How refreshing it is to read an author who seems to have absolutely lost the angst of being a good novelist (if he ever actually had any concerns about his talent or skill). The irony is that once an author loses the overwhelm of this type of self-nagging, his writing naturally, effortlessly begins to "work" in enthralling the reader, and both writer and reader win the brass.

On the other hand, I'm not implying the opposite. Many, if not most writers angst over this and that about their work, and they produce great stuff.

X-Ray vision Spenser. His interviews in this one seemed to be even more potent than his norm, especially in painting amazingly insightful reductions of individual essences, simultaneous to highlighting exquisite ethical visions, separating solid values from superficial hypocrisy.

My habit is to mark passages of high profile excellence, to refer to later, when writing a review. In one particular interview, with Leonard O, the playwright, Spenser's pithy observations were so hot, I gave up scribbling check marks and noted the whole interview as worth a verbatim quote. I was loathing that guy so much, I was hoping he was the murderer, but, of course, he would be getting off too easy, however high or low he was hung.

In fact, each interview in this book was worth quoting or rendering in oils. Talk about artistic! Parker laid bare the essence of the artistic world, from adequate angles to satisfy a sensual geometry professor. Each comment any character made about art was worth designing into poster panache (of course, all those opinions came out of from Parker's complex brain).

How did one man, Parker, acquire so much wisdom in a single lifetime, and hone the ability to communicate that wisdom through the precise form of the detective novel? Yeah, he has stretched the package at times, but nothing has ever popped in any way but hot, as far as I would judge.

If King is a literary master disguised within the horror genre, Parker is a literary master eloquently exposed within classic mystery parameters. Yet both authors are more than that. They're masters of reducing to clarity many of the varieties of individual essences within the human species.

The Chinatown insights were interesting (one could say fascinating), realistically done, and something about which I knew nothing.

Loved the interactions w/Pearl and the coddling of her, as well as the "remodeling" on the old house.

Enjoyed the sensuality and underlying "how to deal with" insights in Spenser's small collection of brief moodiness scenes with his litanies of being "sick of ... sick of ... sick of ..."

Yup, this will do. Way more than. More! Next.

Spenser is more than meets the eye, private or public.

Linda G. Shelnutt

I've been reading Spenser books this summer. As far as detective stories go, I have been enjoying them more than some that I've attempted to read. I don't think that it was my favorite, but I did enjoy it quite a bit. This one was one of the most convoluted that I've read. When I finished I attempted to describe it to my wife, and she wasn't able to follow my description. Perhaps that's just a testament to my descriptive skills, but I would also say that, in this story more than most, the reader is kept in the dark longer. In the end I did enjoy the book and I'd put it in the top 3rd of Spenser books (that I've read so far)

“Shadow” is another typical entry in Parker’s lengthy 39-book Spenser series – this one a middle outing at #21. Susan is on the board of a struggling small theater group in run-down coastal town Port City. While she and Spenser are attending a play, the leading man is shot dead from the back of the auditorium, so naturally our hero is recruited to find the perp. Clues are so slow to surface that both the characters and we readers are rather frustrated. Finally Spenser’s usual poking and prodding develops some possibilities of many bad things going on, with Hawk and Vinny providing almost protective custody as Spenser gets both death threats as well as several near-miss attacks. We did not at all guess the plot’s final outcomes, in a somewhat more twisty tale than usual – but despite that suspense, this was not necessarily one of our favorite story lines. But as usual, we were sufficiently entertained despite polishing off the entire novel in a single reading session while on an airport layover!

Port City must be the most dreary place on planet Earth. I've never been there, but I feel like I have. Spenser somehow escaped pneumonia in this twisted thriller, not too mention being the #1 target of the Chinese mafia. This unusual story starts with a Greek theater director, who thinks he's being stalked. Then it takes off with murder, illegal immigration, and some whacky women. Spenser needs more help than Hawk can give him, so he finds a thug named Vinnie and a Chinese grad student to help him navigate through the streets of Port City in this curious adventure. The book reads well, and the plot twists keep you entertained. Robert Parker knows how to write a book that reads fast.

Spencer, Hawk, Susan (and wonder dog Pearl) are at it a gain, Robert Parker knew how to catch and hold a reader - literally could not put book down! Always enjoy Spencer's acerbic wit and the repartee between him and Hawk is priceless.
Have read nearly all of Robert Parker's books and the Spencer series is far and away the best!

The plot is muddled, the story is muddled, but it's still Spenser. The first book in which Vinnie gets involved on Spenser's side. At the end of day 3 totally disjointed stories come together and magically gets solved by Vinnie, Hawk and Spenser. Make sure this isn't the first Spenser book you read or it may be your last.

This Spenser novel is just enough of a puzzler to exercise your mind. Former stories in the series have looked at the mindset of the ghetto gangs along with the more organized crime sydicates. This one takes a hard look at the Chinese connection. Parker as always successfully stays clear of stereotyped characters. And as always, there's always a bit of sympathy...maybe empathy is a better word...for even the least likeable characters.
Also, there is always the look at ethics and morality. At the end of the book, you might well be asking yourself which character was the true villain or villainess of the piece.

To my great regret, I discovered Robert Parker after his death. Or, maybe that causes me to savor each book that I discover. Walking Shadow is no exception. Believable characters with a bit of eccentricity to make things interesting. Spenser is the kind of PI that I would just like to share Rolling Rock with.

Walking Shadow starts with considerable promise. It has all the elements -- engaging characters, an interesting locale, a novel crime, and Parker's usual wonderful dialog.
However, like the play which opens the work, Walking Shadow drags on. All the main characters seem to become bored with the case. How can the reader avoid following their example? It's a bad sign when I was relieved to finally reach the end, an end which was achieved without much of a climax.
Overall, it isn't a bad work, and is certainly recommended for fans of the Spenser series. But I certainly wouldn't rank it among Parker's best.

Story line was o.k., but the characters were awesome. Parker does a great job with his usualy characters and describes the new ones very well, I can almost picture them in my own mind. I am a huge fan of Parker so I always enjoy his work, although this story line was a little weak. I enjoyed the twists and turns it take and that's what kept my so engaged.

Story line was o.k., but the characters were awesome. Parker does a great job with his usualy characters and describes the new ones very well, I can almost picture them in my own mind. I am a huge fan of Parker so I always enjoy his work, although this story line was a little weak. I enjoyed the twists and turns it take and that's what kept my so engaged.

Robert Parker books are always a good read. Quick, snappy and entertaining, I enjoy them immensely and Walking Shadow is no exception. The book opens with Spenser and Susan, his girlfriend, attending a play in a nearby small coastal town where Susan is on the board of directors. During the performance an actor is shot and killed on stage. Hawk and Vinnie are enlisted to help Spenser find the killer. During their investigation, they discover the small town is not as placid as it seems and the rest of the story is vintage Robert Parker with a few unexpected twists and turns.

I love Spenser novels for their humor and integrity; Spenser and Hawk always win, good triumphs over evil, Spenser is always faithful to Susan and Pearl the dog is always the darling.

Parker knows his devoted followers well; ignoring the usual set up descriptions for scenes and
characters preferring to move the story along with brevity and expedition. Spenser's witty repartee
with his Susan and his sidekick Hawk is worth the price of the book. The plot becomes secondary.
Tucked in is always a little lesson for life and few bon mots of French and English lit.

Pure Spencer, crisp and witty in dialogue, exciting in plot, delightful to read. And, as always, full of action, suspense, and excellent plot. It's always hard to put down a Robert Parker book. This one is another of his masterpieces. Don't miss it.

Hated the reader of this book. Sounded like a kid, and constantly misprounced "pictures" as "pitchers." And there were a lot of "pitchers" in this book.

The reader of a book is infinitely important. This is obvious when you listen to Jonathan Marosz reading the first several Myron Bolitar books, then hear the readers they use after Marosz retired. Unlistenable.

And the readers of Jack Reacher and Lucas Davenport - after hearing those, I can't believe the weak readers who do the Spenser novels.

Just totally disappointing.