5 Stars. I've concluded that this is the best of Ace Atkin's Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. It's got a lot going for it: a dramatic premise, interesting characters, misdirection, uncertainty even to the last chapter or two, and the best of Spenser himself. That great New England Patriot linebacker Kinjo Heywood, a tough, no nonsense football player, crosses the line occasionally on the field and beyond it too. He just came out of a nasty divorce, remarried, and he's not far removed from what...

When the New England Patriot's Kinjo Heywood's son goes missing, Spenser is on the case. But who took him? Is it someone looking to squeeze a star football player out of some of his millions or is it someone with ties to Kinjo's past? Can Spenser, Hawk, and Z get Kinjo's son back in one piece? I got this book via Goodread's Firstreads program. I've never been one of those guys that thinks Spenser is the best thing since fresh-sliced Phillip Marlowe so it wasn't a big deal for me when the Parker

Considering the image conscious nature of the National Football League and the recent legal problems of a certain former member of the New England Patriots, I was more than a little shocked that Ace Atkins was able to use the actual team name as well as reference real people like Tom Brady and Bill Belichick for a story that involves a talented but trouble prone player. I would be willing to bet that more than a few lawyers from the NFL, the Patriots and the publisher got to bill some hours whil...

Never thought I would say this, but Ace Atkins IS the new Robert B. Parker. And thank goodness, because the very enjoyable Spenser series has survived Parker's sad passing in 2010. In fact, the books are better than ever. This latest installment has all the colorful dialog - witty and irreverent - that characterized Parker's writing. It features a clever plot, written against the backdrop of professional football and the fair city of Boston. CHEAP SHOT will not be confused with fine literature.

On rereading it (a year after the first reading; that's how much I miss Spenser), Ace Atkins's third Spenser book ranks somewhere among Parker's first ten books (fourth, maybe). He captures Spenser's voice and methods, and actually improves on Hawk (edgier and more deadly), Susan (much less irritating), and Zee (carrying less in the way of an iconic burden as a Native American character, though he gets a couple of funny lines about his status, one referring to Thanksgiving). The byplay among Spe...

Close, but not quite. Atkins had the tone right for pages, even chapters, at a time. I'd be reading along quite happily for a time and then a character would say or do something that would remind me that this book was not, in fact, written by the late lamented Parker. Susan, for example. I've had my issues with her; she often annoyed me. But even at her most annoying she was never vulgar. As I remarked elsewhere I just didn't find it in character for her to drop the "F bomb" or threaten to kick

Got half-way through and was too bored to finish it.

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 rep...

If you are a hardboiled PI fan, and you are not reading the new Spenser novels written by Ace Atkins, you are doing yourself a disservice. In my opinion, these are the very best of that American genre being produced right now.Atkins is not only channeling Robert B. Parker, but Parker at the height of his powers. These new Spenser novels are better than quite a few of Parker’s.The son of a successful high profile defensive Pro Bowler signed to the Patriots is kidnapped. After suspicious vehicles

Spenser and his extended family have joined the immortals.Ace Atkins has finally GOT IT! His snappy dialog and plot lines are classic Robert B. Parker. I had my doubts earlier but "Cheap Shot" has taken the franchise to a new level. Not only are Spenser, Hawk and Susan (and their supporting cast of police and criminals)here and true to form, but Z (Zebulon Sixkill) is also stepping into his own character -- and growing.I didn't know how long Atkins could prolong the series after Parker's death i...

The worst Ace Atkins' "Parker" novel for sure. Reading this was like plodding through War and Peace...for all the negative reasons. It makes me think Atkins was using Parker's style of writing...write the story, not sure where it will go or who "dunnit" until you get there. The only problem is that the logical place where the book would turn towards its' conclusion...it kept going, and going, and going. I think Atkins might have been paid per character as he kept introducing new and returning c

Review: Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot by Ace Atkins Publication Date: 26th March 2015  Publisher: No Exit Press  ISBN: 978-1-84344-449-7 Source: Real Readers by nudge  Rating: 4* Synopsis:Kinjo Heywood is one of the New England Patriots' marquee players - a hard-nosed linebacker who has 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 have been harassing his client.  H...

This is the third book in Robert B. Parker's Spenser series since Ace Atkins took over the franchise, and each of the entries continues to demonstrate the wisdom of the Parker family in turning to Atkins. He's definitely breathed new life into a series that needed it, while maintaining an allegiance to the characters and to the world that Parker created.In this outing, Spenser is hired by Kinjo Heywood, a ferocious linebacker for the New England Patriots. Someone's been following Heywood; he ass...

The forty- first Spenser detective novel, the third from beyond the grave and I've read them all. Hard to believe that Robert B. Parker and now, Ace Atkins, would be the authors I've read the most. It seems one would prefer the honor to go to, say, Dostoyevsky or Jane Austen or some modern writer, Evelyn Waugh or Ernest Hemingway. Three things occur to me; one, there is a certain mental satisfaction in reading the detective novel ; two, one can read a well rendered example in a single shot; thre...

I honestly admit not being a big fan of Robert B Parkers' Spenser books, while some of them are really good other ones are to much talk and too little content. I came to Parker because of Jessie Stone, and did read some Spenser because of that. Spenser was too much involved with his everlasting girlfriend Susan and their banter while amusing often took over the tale instead of enhancing it.Parker died but Spenser did not and his return in this continuation novel was kind of a curiosity for me. L...

Every book is better than the last, but Ace Atkins still doesn't have it right. The story is good, but not great. Spenser exhibits physical and behavioral "issues" he's never had before. Hawk uses the word "Babe" more times in this book than in the collected series the RBP wrote - channeling Avery Brooks's interpretation of Hawk, not the literary character. Susan too is on more than one occasion out of character. In fact, of the recurring characters, only Quirk, Belson and Pearl feel anywhere ne...

I'm always read for a new Spenser. I'm even MORE ready now that Ace Atkins is writing the books. He writes like the old Parker - the one that actually wrote longer books with more going on and not double spaced large print. Mr. Parker was obviously getting tired and obviously unwell. Perhaps he should have taken on a ghost writer - kind of like James Patterson who apparently doesn't write most of his books. James MIchener, supposedly, didn't write a lot of what was penned under his name from wha...

Ace Atkins is so good at emulating Robert B. Parker that it was hard to remember that Parker didn't write this. What was interesting about this book is that Spenser was not as old as he once was but he is definitely relying on Z much more. This book delved into the world of football and the kidnapping of a player's 8 year old son. But there is no ransom request. So Kenjo and his ex wife slowly dissolve into puddles of panic, so much so that Spenser brought in Susan Silverman on a professional le...

This may be Ace Atkins' best work since the Robert B. Parker estate chose him to continue the works after the icon of the dogged, slick mouthed detective novels passed on 01/10. The genre owes so much to this trailblazer.Just keeping the Spenser, with an s, and Hawk characters alive is cause for me and legions of fans to rejoice. Btw, has there been a more apropos name given to a fictional, black, street tough character than Hawk?!?!I grew up in the 70's-80's so remembering seeing these characte...