Cold Service

By Robert B. Parker

This is a review of an audiobook I listened to on my commute, another Parker mystery novel, Cold Service, a Spenser novel. By this time, I think it's redundant to even review Parker's novels. In short, this is a good listen. The narrator is clear and a good voice actor. The story is engaging and thought-provoking.

The only beef I have with this book has nothing to do with the book's contents or Parker's writing, but with the audiobook itself. I listened to this book on CD. Normally, the Parker novel track breaks align with chapter breaks. Very long chapter may have a break at a natural pause. But for this CD, whoever produced it, decided to throw track breaks in at random points. Really. One character could be speaking and then there'd be a track break. Of course, track breaks on a CD are inaudible: I only saw these breaks when glancing at my car's CD display. Often I'd hit the track "back" button near the beginning of a chapter to rewind to the start of the chapter, only to be thrown into the middle of the previous chapter! Really, I have no idea who produced this CD or what they were thinking with the track breaks, but this was a really poor effort. It didn't ruin the contents of the book, but it sure made navigating it a pain. Otherwise, it's a great audiobook, all other production qualities being perfect.

Without giving anything away, the plot revolves around Hawk, and the fallout of a job he did gone sour. He was hired to protect a low-level criminal, but gets shot and nearly killed in the process. Spenser helps him out as he attempts to find out who shot him and why... and get even (get it? Cold Service? "Revenge is a dish best served cold"?). Another recurring character, Vinnie Morris, also makes an appearence and, of course, Susan and Pearl are thrown in for good measure.

As I've said before, I like Parker's books, but I do have a problem with his overuse of the F-word. Fortunately, this book hardly uses it at all. I can only recall hearing it once or twice. Either that, or I'm getting desensitized to it.

All in all, a good Parker book, featuring your favorite private dick, Spenser.

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External links

• Cold Service page from Robert B. Parker's website