[.ca] Valediction (ISBN 0440192463)

one of the best Spensers, with an s:
This book leads into my favorite spenser, A Catskill Eagle, but is excellent all alone. This time we see Spenser after Susan has left him and he's tortured by her absence, not really sure he wants to live anymore, he gets sloppy at his job. His dreams when he is under the knife are very powerful. There are many great Spenser novels in his thirty-year history but in terms of character development he changes more through Valediction and A Catskill Eagle than he does in the other 28 books combined. This book also has the best action/survival scene in the whole series when an attempt is made by five men on Spenser's life, his actions are CHARACTER-DEFINING in a way a million words of dialogue can't convey.

Symbolism Steeps & Steams. Spenser Loses Sleep, Speaks-in-Tongues to Loss & Life:
This might not be much of a review since the only word which has come to mind since I've finished the read is, "WOW." More than most offerings in this series so far, # 11 VALEDICTION concluded a catharsis which had been building through previous plots. The theme set by the title and dedication in THE WIDENING GYRE, # 10, continued to gyrate here, accumulating insight about the center holding (at the cliff-edge of a workable level of obsession), weathering The Storm, using as Super Glue a commitment to Capital "L" LOVE. Even so, I believe that a reader could open this offering in the series as a first taste of Spenser and easily slip into the plot (more like willingly fall down a well) and enjoy it. I'm thankful, though, that I received the addictive effect of having carefully read the previous 10 books in order, prior to approaching VALEDICTION. The solitary, diary-narrative-style set in GYRE continued in VALEDICTION, yet with a gradual erosion of the set-apart, lonely P. I. Emotions ran (and rutted mesmerizing-ly) so deeply that, especially in retrospect, I felt more like I had lived within this book instead of reading its words. I fell so far into the story that I'm not able to immediately recall details of the action, though (they were abundant?) there was plenty (of delicious detail(s?) and apothecary action). I was particularly intrigued by purposely-parallel-situations exposing various levels-of-obsessions. Parker used Spenser's male client as a juxtaposition of nearly identical feelings of loss endured in a contrasted way to Spenser's handling of Susan's journey taking her further and further away. The precise way in which Susan initiated her abandonment of Spenser was quietly shocking, to the reader as well as to Spenser. Yet, Parker's way of dealing with this complex type of trauma, through Spenser and other characters, was one of the best dramatizations I've read, of coming through the deepest types of separation or loss. This novel traveled to the ends of several roads in the visceral labyrinths of human intimacy. Lusciously included in this labyrinth were signature scenes with Hawk, Paul & Paige; touching phone conversations with Susan; and a Partridge-Pear-Tree-Gateway, which opened "Through-The-Looking-Glass" of the woman-at-the-drawing-board who'd been posed through several previous novels, in the window across from Spenser's office. Whew. Take a breath. Impressive to the Nth degree, Dr. Parker. You've done it again, yet gone beyond anywhere you'd been. I have no doubt that the next eleven Spenser novels have been written at sequential levels of mastery, with the first eleven proving a foundation of perfection. Landmark. Lazarus. Phenomenon. Whatever. Wow. Linda Shelnutt

Spenser facing his enormous emotional vulnerabilities:
Spenser is without a doubt as tough as they come. However, he also can be as sappy as they come, with emotional vulnerabilities that can get him killed. The book opens with Spenser and Susan Silverman attending commencement at Harvard, where she is awarded a Ph. D in clinical psychology. Shortly after this event, Susan informs him that she is moving to Los Angeles in an attempt to be alone for awhile. Spenser is devastated, and Paul Giacomin moves in with him in an attempt to help him through the crisis. Hawk and Spenser's other friends do what they can, but he has lost much of his will to live. He is asked to investigate the disappearance of a woman, which leads him to an unusual religious cult. Nothing is as it seems and Spenser makes mistakes that nearly get him killed. This book describes him as a powerful, ruthless and yet very vulnerable person. Parker takes the vulnerability to the edge of believability, but wisely pulls back from that point. Despite his anguish and lack of interest in living, Spenser is still a formidable fighting machine, wisecracking with friends and foes alike. Spenser beds a woman who works near him, and afterward he sleeps for the first time since Susan left. However, that relationship ends when Spenser kills four of the five killers sent to eliminate him. Unlike Susan, this woman cannot accept the fact that Spenser is forced to kill people in his line of work. This is a Spenser book that many will dislike and others will consider their favorite. The romantic vulnerability of Spenser has always been there, but in this book it is greatly expanded. If you like romance, then you will enjoy it. However, if your tastes are more for the action, then this may be one of your least favorite novels in the series.

Not great, but certainly not bad.:
Robert B. Parker, Valediction (Delacorte, 1982) One of the best things that can be said about Valediction is that it sets up the events in one of the best Spenser novels to date, A Catskill Eagle. That alone is enough to make it worth reading. Itï¿1/2s also a little heaver on The Continuing Saga of Spenser and Susan than many Spenser novels; judge as you will and buy accordingly. Somewhere beneath all that, thereï¿1/2s a mystery waiting to happen. In this case, Spenser is hired by one of his foster childï¿1/2s dance instructors to find said instructorï¿1/2s girlfriend, whom he believes has been kidnapped by a sect of religious extremists. The story sounds wonky from the beginning, but what seems a little off at first ends up being stranger than anyone involved ever imagined. The cast list reads rather like a Spenserï¿1/2s Greatest Hits novel. Almost everyone in here has popped up before in a Spenser novel, from kids to hoods. The framework of the characters is already set up, and the plot pretty much writes itself. Itï¿1/2s empty calories, the kind of stuff youï¿1/2d never catch the main character eating. However, this book is less about the mystery therein than it is about Spenser himself and how his changing relationship with Susan affects his own outlook on life. It sets the book apart somewhat, and that, combined with the events in the next book it sets up, makes this one a worthwhile addition to the canon. ***

Good Ol' Parker:
He rarely disappoints, and he rarely surprises. Parker is as dependable as they come, and so it is with Valediction. The premise in this one is that Susan is taking a break from Spenser, so Spenser is a tad more daredevillish -- but still, it's Spenser through and through. Patented wisecracks, cute self-deprecations, verbal jabs with Hawk, the formula that keeps going and going and going. Our favorite Boston private eye tackles cults in this novel, but don't expect anything deep or grandiose -- just expect to be thoroughly entertained. If you're new to Spenser, you'll find this a great read. If you're an old pro, you won't be disappointed. And if you hate Spenser, well, why the heck are you reading it?