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    Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot: A Spenser Novel
    Unavailable
    Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot: A Spenser Novel
    Unavailable
    Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot: A Spenser Novel
    Audiobook7 hours

    Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot: A Spenser Novel

    Written by Ace Atkins

    Narrated by Joe Mantegna

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The iconic, tough-but-tender Boston PI Spenser returns in an outstanding new addition to the New York Times-bestselling series from author Ace Atkins.

    Kinjo Heywood is one of the New England Patriots' marquee players-a hard-nosed linebacker who's earned his reputation as one of the toughest guys in the league. When off-field violence repeatedly lands Heywood in the news, his slick agent hires Spenser to find the men who he says have been harassing his client.

    Heywood's troubles seem to be tied to a nightclub shooting from two years earlier. But when Heywood's nine-year-old son, Akira, is kidnapped, ransom demands are given, and a winding trail through Boston's underworld begins, Spenser puts together his own all-star team of toughs. It will take both Hawk and Spenser's protégé, Zebulon Sixkill, to watch Spenser's back and return the child to the football star's sprawling Chestnut Hill mansion. A controversial decision from Heywood only ups the ante as the clock winds down on Akira's future.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 6, 2014
    ISBN9780449807965
    Unavailable
    Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot: A Spenser Novel
    Author

    Ace Atkins

    Ace Atkins is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-seven books, including ten books in his Quinn Colson series. Handpicked by the Robert B. Parker Estate nearly a decade ago to continue the Spenser series, he's written nine novels about the iconic private eye. He lives and works in Oxford, Mississippi.

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    Reviews for Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot

    3.5/5

    64 ratings14 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I am usually not a fan of continuing an author's character long after the author has died. You would think I would be as a big fan of comic books where this the norm. I just don't find that many books that can maintain the magic. Capture the voice. I don't know hoe Atkins has done it but reading these books is like reading Robert B. Parker. It is that seemless. With one exception. I think that Parker was slipping towards the end. Atkins has invigorated the series again. Reading these books is like meeting a friend you haven't seen in years. Atkins has a much better hold of the plot.

      You are never going to read Spenser to figure out what the world is about. You read Spenser for the characters. They are all here. Hell, I even like Susan again. Great story. Fast read. Leaves you wanting more. A perfect recipe.
    • 4/5
      The Spenser novels by Atkins are every bit as good as the Parker books at the end if the latter' career. Nothing beats the Spenser novels of the 1970s and early 1980s, of course. But this was an exciting read and true to the characters.
    • 3/5
      Atkins continues the adventures of Spenser, Hawk, Zebulon Sixpack, and Susan Silverman. His plotting is more complex than Parker's, and while the characters are still recognizable, he takes a few liberties. He relies much less on choppy dialogue than Parker had come to do in his later novels. Arguably, he has freshened things up a bit. I enjoy reading these, but I miss the "old" Spenser too. He makes me want to go back to the beginning and watch it all unfold once more.
    • 4/5
      Might be better than a real Robert B Parker.
    • 4/5
      Once again, Ace Atkins seamlessly tells a great story in the mode of Robert B. Parker. As long as Atkins can keep up the adventures of Spenser of Hawk in a manner befitting the late Parker, I hope to see this series continued indefinitely.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as Atkins' first two Spenser novels.
    • 4/5
      Robert B. Parkers Cheap ShotLove the series and enjoy the story based around Boston, MA. Follow the clues and find out who isinvolved in this book about a football Patriots player and somebody has kidnapped his son so he calls in PI Spenser. Clues go from thosecloseby the family to people from the past.I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
    • 4/5
      Ace Atkins has perfectly captured the late Robert Parker's style and his characters' personalities. What a joy to still be able to read these books about Spenser and Hawk, etc. This novel is also a great story with suspense and nuance, that kept me engaged until the last page. I devoured it in a day because I didn't want to put it down. I look forward to reading additional titles by Mr. Atkins. This advance reading copy was provided by Putnam through Goodreads.
    • 4/5
      When you are 43 books into a series, surprises are not really expected - you are here to meet the same people you had grown to really like. After Parker died, I was a bit worried about the Spenser series - it relied a lot on the very distinct style of the author which pulled off even the weaker books. But I still wanted to see where the next writer will get the characters - so I just proceeded to work through the series, now written by Atkins. And the previous two installments did not disappoint. And neither did this one.Hawk is back in town, Susan is there, Pearl makes a brief appearance. Zebulon Sixkill is still around (and almost recovered from the mess he got himself into in the last books), Quirk and Belson are around as always, the new FBI head-agent who replaced Epstein is the usual moron. We are missing some of the usual cast (Rita always makes me smile and we had not seen Lee Farrell or Paul Giacomin or most of the extended character list but we cannot get them every time I guess.When the book opens, Spenser is hired to protect a pro-ball player - although it is not clear if it is the player that needs protection or he is asked to protect people from the player. Before long things take an ugly turn - the player's 8 years old son Akira disappears and the job changes. And off everyone goes - the state police (no Healy...), FBI, Spenser - everyone seems to be trying to do the same thing - find the child. But the kidnappers refuse to call and everyone seems to be chasing shadows. Add a second wife and the mother of the child, a somewhat checkered past of the first and some back history of the father, Gerry Broz selling fish (nope, not Gino Fish -- real fish) and some more of the rogue gallery suddenly being helpful and things start getting complicated.When Parker introduced Z, it looked like a repetition - he is too close to Hawk as a character (minus the sleekness of the older man). Atkins chose not just to keep him but also to use him - but he had a bit of a problem - Hawk and Spenser had a third in the face of Vinnie. As last year took care of that (and I suspect that we are still to see all the repercussions), Z slid into the role which Vinnie had played in earlier books, except that Z is around a bit more. And this time, without a third character, the novel would not have worked.If you had been reading the series so far, this novel is a good addition - it is closer to the middle novels from Spenser, more complex in the plotting than the later books (although I would argue that the seemingly simple plots are what makes this series good). In places it feels as if some of the side stories may have been dropped without harming the book. But if you have never read the series before, I would say not to start here - while you will get the basic introduction to Z, most of the older characters are not even introduced and there are so many allusions to older novels and throwaway phrases that make sense only if you had read the books that I am not sure if the novel won't feel more like a sketch than a real novel if you are not getting them.
    • 4/5
      This is an enjoyable novel. Has a nice salad dressing recipe. It gives great dimension to the character of Vinnie.

      It might be me, but, this novel had many more character names to keep straight than usual. Some odd names, gangster names, and Palese, and private eyes, and ancillary characters.
      So, start paying attention early in the book to keep things straight.

      You know, I tend to over eat when I read a Spencer novel. Obviously, he works out more than I do.
    • 3/5
      I was sent a free copy of this book to review, by RealReaders.I have to confess that I have not read any of the original Spenser series, by Robert B Parker, and this makes it difficult for me to give a proper review, as I have no idea whether or not Ace Atkins has produced a book that is as good as, apparently, were those written by Robert B. Parker - but I’ll give a review that ignores this issue for now. Although I do find it quite strange that an author would write books based on another man’s style; why not start his own detective PI series? Perhaps that is a matter for a different discussion.Spenser is a Private Investigator in Boston; from this story, I’m not 100% sure whether he was originally a cop, but he has a lot of contacts within all levels of Boston’s law enforcement - and Boston’s criminal underworld, where he hovers on the brink at all times. This novel focuses on the kidnap for ransom of a Linebacker within the New England Patriots - a hard nosed player who has earned a reputation as one of the toughest guys in the league, with a propensity for violence off field as well as on it. Basically, it’s a good enough story and an easy read, if you like crime/P.I.s as a genre (as I do). I got somewhat confused about who were the ‘good’ guys and who were the ‘bad’, partly because the book makes a lot of reference to previous stories in the series - which I have not read. Because of this back reference, I found some of the characters were not as developed as I needed for this story. As a fan of the Robert Crais ‘Cole and Pike’ series, I found a lot of similarities - the same laconic style, the same interaction between law enforcers and law breakers. It is possibly unfair to say that I prefer the Crais books, because I have read most of them in sequence. And I think that is what I would recommend anyone looking to read this book - go back to the beginning of the series and start there, because I believe you will get more out of the books that way. I would have to leave it for someone who has read many of the previous books to say if this one is as good as - or even better than - the originals, but I would certainly give the series a go. I have given this book 3 stars but it is quite possible that if I had read some of the previous books, I would have given it 4.
    • 4/5
      The many things that fans of Spenser have come to know and love from Robert Parker, are now capably handled by Ace Atkins. Ace keeps the banter and the ambiguous nature of the varying personalities with remarkable depth. This is a excellent continuation of Spenser and Parker’s legacy.Free review copy.
    • 4/5
      Cheap Shot – Another Brilliant Spenser NovelAce Atkins has once again entered the realm as the writer who has taken Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels and with Cheap Shot written a book that is comparable to anything Parker wrote. I would go as far as to say you cannot tell this is another author writing Atkins has picked up where Parker left Spenser and the hardnosed Boston PI continues unabashed.Kinjo Heywood is one of the stars of the New England Patriots NFL team based in Boston who has a reputation as one of the hard men of the league due to his position as a linebacker. He also has a reputation as a hot head outside of the game and a couple of years before had been part of an investigation in to a murder outside a club in New York but had an alibi for the night. But mud sticks. He has recently been waving a gun in public when his slick agent hires Spenser to find out what and who is causing him problems.When Kinjo’s son, Akira, is kidnapped and the police and FBI have no leads, Kinjo changes the game up in the kidnapping; Spenser knows what he has to do to get the kid back. Dancing between the criminal underworld and law enforcement Spenser will do and use whatever he needs to get Kinjo his son back and the various answers to many of the questions that are posed.The great thing about The Spenser Novels and with Ace Atkins taking up the reigns here in Cheap Shot is that we get the continued development of the characters and that laconic style that we see in many American PI novel series. We are able to imagine Spenser and his colleagues walking that thin line between law enforcement and law breakers respecting neither but understand both. This sort of crime novel may seem old and clichéd but I enjoy it all the same and I hope you do too.
    • 3/5
      Boston private eye Spenser is hired by the New England Patriots star linebacker Kinjo Heywood. Heywood is being followed by unknown men in an SUV, and he wants to know who these people are and why they are tailing him. While Spenser is working on finding out who is harassing the football star, Heywood’s nine-year-old son Akira is grabbed at gunpoint from Heywood’s wife Cristal while she is driving him to school. Nothing is heard from the kidnappers for more than a week, and when the ransom demand finally comes, it is for $10 million (which is only one year of Heywood’s salary). Dissatisfied with the efforts and results of the police and FBI, Heywood asks Spenser to forget the guys in the SUV and help find his son. Naturally, Spenser, with the assistance of his ever-faithful wisecracking companions - the Native-American Zebulon Sixkill and African-American Hawk, out-sleuths the local and state police and the FBI, and finds the boy after a complicated search that explores some of the seamier sides of Boston’s underworld. Discussion: Ace Atkins has an excellent ear for language, and he expertly captures the coarse patois of mobsters and football players. Nevertheless, this story just didn’t grab me. It wasn’t very suspenseful, and the supporting characters were one dimensional and wooden: Heywood’s first wife was too beautiful and responsible; the second wife was too much of a drunk and a floozy; and the kidnapped boy was too perfect. Moreover, the personality conflicts between Spenser and the player’s agent, the team’s security consultant, and the local head of the FBI were a tad tedious even though they served as an excuse for Spenser to show off his renowned wit. Evaluation: I listened to the audio version of the book, read by the famous and very competent actor Joe Mantegna. Mantegna’s timing and pace were exceptional, and his variation of voices and accents among the characters was superb. (Jab)