Private Eye Soliloquy Goes to International Rap. King Kong is Blond. Straw-Topped Gorilla Spews Blood of...

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	• The Judas Goat Robert B. Parker Houghton Mifflin (T), 1978 - 181 pages average customer review:based on 17 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

One of the best Spensers - not just because of Hawk

I LOVE Robert B. Parker - with my favorite being the Spenser series.
His witty dialogue, the action, the humor, Susan and the other babes, Pearl the wonder dog - but before all that, looooong before comes Hawk. One man, one gun, a few words and a car. That's all there is to Spense's best friend. But whenever he turns up the action gets to be non stop with as an added bonus some of the funniest dialogue in crime writing.
Spense is tough. Hawk is tougher. Both box and both like babes. Spense has one (Susan), Hawk, well let's say he takes it as it comes.
In this story (fifth in the series and my favorite) it comes down hard and violent as Spense is asked to get a group of terrorists who bombed a restaurant in London. With a few exceptions most of the series' other books take place in or around Boston. This one takes Spense, Hawk and you around the world in a day (or how long it will take you to read the book).
Spensers are addictive and usually read in one session. You can't stop - they're that good. Just get it and enjoy the roller coaster ride.

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Hawk steals the show

This is the fifth of many novels featuring the private detective known only as Spenser. A man hires him to track down terrorists who bombed a restaurant in London and killed his wife and daughters in the process. Spenser goes to London and manages to bait the terrorists into attacking him to get things going. Before long, he arranges to have a leg breaker named Hawk come over from Boston to help with the job. I won't give away any more of the plot, but once these two are on the case together, things get even wilder.

The highlight of this book is the presence of Hawk. He seems larger than life and steals the show in most of the scenes he occupies. Spenser actually suffers in comparison as he seems flat and dull next to Hawk. The first half of the book is pretty dry, descriptions of London amount to little more than street names and a small list of landmarks. Thankfully, once Hawk comes in things pick up. The highlight of the book is a major fight at the end with one of the terrorists.

This book is a good read. Established fans of the series will almost certainly enjoy it and it wouldn't be a bad start for someone new to Spenser either. I can't say that it's a great detective novel but it moves along at a pretty good pace and has some strong actions scenes.

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Less rhetoric, more action makes for much more enjoyable read

Although I'm one who doesn't mind a more cerebral book, typically, I found the first few books in the Spenser series to be a bit overfull of rhetoric and therefore lacking in the essential action necessary in a PI novel. Not "The Judas Goat." Here the action takes us across the pond to London, Holland and Amsterdam, then back to Montreal where Spenser - with the help of Hawk (I was so happy to see him again!) - foils an attempt to kill one or more participants in the Olympic games.

I have noticed a trend in the Spenser books so far; the descriptions on the back covers (at least on the newly released reprints in mass markets paperback) have very little to do with what actually goes on in the books. From the description on the back of this one, I expected there would be an affair between Spenser and the woman involved with the terrorists, but that wasn't the case (not that she didn't make a move). Although I am not one who likes stories spoiled by overly descriptive descriptions, I do like a small blurb on a book that is ACCURATE so I know basically what a story is about before I buy it. Just a thought in passing.

This was the first of the Spenser novels that I really could sink my teeth into; not that I didn't like the first few, but this was the first one I REALLY loved. I am going to enjoy getting through the rest of the massive pile I have awaiting my attention!

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Private Eye Soliloquy Goes to International Rap. King Kong is Blond. Straw-Topped Gorilla Spews Blood of Carnage.

In THE JUDAS GOAT Spenser made the TRANSITION from lone-and-lonely Private Eye to team player and dialogue master. Since Robert B. Parker is admittedly a guy who thrives on baseball, and since Hawk is the perfect rap partner to call forth Spenser's soul, the transition was obvious yet seamless. To me this shift almost felt as if it were written in the stars, maybe even on The Players' cards.

Yep, here it is, the beginning of Parker's famous rap/jazz dialogue, with Spenser and Hawk tossing brand-new (talking) "baseballs" back-and-forth, carrying them through to home plate conclusions. The pair of Black-and-White-Knights culminated this particular plot conversation at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, doing an award-winning street-scuffle with a whale-of-a-man named Zachary. You'll wanna see that event. You won't be able to read it because the words become vision. You'll see it.

To me, the point of departure was clear, the point at which the dialogue rhythm picked up its signature beat. The grand overture occurred halfway into this plot. I've marked the page. The movement seemed to emerge from Hawk's ebony hues and blues, and Spenser's playful counterpoint. This # 5 book in the Spenser sequence is the first one in which Hawk and Spenser worked together in a true duet, which allowed Spenser to contrast himself to Hawk, expanding the awareness of their common bonds, and filling in some of the dots of the drawn lines separating each man's code.

Hawk does have a code, with basically one main rule, and it's expressed succinctly (of course) by him in this novel. The key in that rule is "word." But, Hawk's words expressing it can't be beat. You'll want to read (and reread) them, from him, within this plot.

The first half of this book was so different from the last half I was surprised the binding didn't split. As the story took flight with Spenser preparing to go to London accompanied by enough fire power to do the job, as he was preparing to understand and follow the rules for passing those accouterments through airport security, I was carried along nicely, with heightened awareness of the contrast between then and now. Ironically, this plot, taking place in 1976 (probably conceived and composed a year or so prior to the 1978 copyright), dealt with terrorism and international travel, giving an uncanny prelude to today's necessity of intensified caution.

Parker gave just enough daily detail of Spenser's travel routines, airport machinations, plane ride, and settling into London. Spenser didn't have an easy time getting a lead onto the trail on the 9 amateur terrorists who blew up his wheel-chair bound client and family, but the super sleuth spent the delay prior to "connect" as a frustrated but true tourist. I was impressed by the effective simplicity of the technique Spenser used to accomplish his link, and how he played it out.

The Judas Goat theme was well executed, yet that theme and a few others Parker touched on (including the James Bond mystique) each applied tangy twists on well-seated stereotypes. As terrorists freely and guiltlessly blew up innocent people, Parker set gentle, prose-tweaking-bombs under stereotypes, including some of the cultural icons we've come to relish and revere. Yet, Parker didn't diminish or desecrate those icons; he toyed with them with such subtle humor it sometimes slid right by me (except in the case of the Kidney Pie, which he did not treat with kid gloves).

In this plot Parker developed yet another intriguing female psychological type, Katherine Caldwell (who had at least 4 other alias's), into an interesting character with both warm and cold blood, as he slithered around another stereotype. I understand why Parker did what he did for this woman, in the conclusion of the plot. It was necessary for me to carefully reread the words in his explanation, about this soul-broken James Bond lady (and her comparison to Hawk), to get to the core of Spenser's reasoning. I don't know how to explain this without giving away too much. I also enjoyed the way Spenser skirted around Kathie's ambiguous sexuality, which provided yet another twist in the established P.I. mystique.

Given the abundance of licorice twists in this plot, I wondered if Parker weren't a master at breaking those Rubitz Cube games. I wouldn't be surprised to discover he has designed a few. On the other hand, Robert B. translates their essence so exquisitely into fiction, maybe he wouldn't have energy left to engineer physical puzzle cubes.

Okay. NOW we come to the Olympic scuffle scene in the plot culmination, in which Spenser and Hawk confronted the head terrorist and side-kick (Zachary). The fight scene with Zachary, Spenser, and Hawk was awesome, even for a reader like me who generally seeks the types of mysteries which don't engage in down-home-brutal graphics.

As I began reading along into that scene I wondered how Parker would deal with that essential physical battle, and was thankful that I'd read enough of his novels to know he doesn't overdo (or under do) the detail, and that Spenser fights with enough finesse that his prose doesn't require ten pages of gore, of fists, foot kicks, and bat tricks transforming humans into immobilized pulp. Just as I had that smug thought, however, the scene descended into basic pulp.

Somehow, I admired that grit and gore scene?

Maybe it was the fact that Spenser and Hawk were described from a never-lost mental-perspective of a potent and clear intent to come through the gauntlet intact, with the villain (who was one of the best characterizations of a true bad brut I've read) exactly where he had earned himself to be.

Whatever it was which caused me to read those scenes with appreciation for the gut-level-fighting craft, without flinching, without closing the book and tossing it into the coal stove; whatever it was, I was impressed enough to attempt to describe it as bait, then hand over the book to my husband to read through the fight, from the part where Zachary arrived and Spenser spotted him. Of course I took covert glances at my husband's face as he read (at the breakfast table). It was interesting to me that in several passages he grinned or laughed out loud. That response allowed me to realize that Parker's humor was part of what kept the fight detail from overwhelming my squeamishness and losing me, even as I could easily see why grittier souls could be pleasantly entertained by the humorless type of physically painful intensity which I avoid.

Parker's various skills as an author are so subtly intricate, I often miss the literary finesse until I begin writing a review, working to zero-in on exactly what caused my ability to be in the story at a solid level of anticipatory engrossment.

I reread the fight scene after Tom (my husband) had read it. I was looking for what parts made him laugh, and easily found them.

You done good, Parker. Again.

A straw gorilla, indeed. No, he was more of a cross between the bad side of Frankenstein, and The Hulk, with a blond crew cut.

Linda Shelnutt

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Another Good Early Spenser

THE JUDAS GOAT is the fifth Spenser novel, and it's the first book where Spenser and his friend Hawk work as a team in solving a case. Some people consider this the best Spenser book of all time. Although I wouldn't go that far, it's still a very enjoyable read.

The plot of THE JUDAS GOAT is unique, because it involves Spenser chasing after terrorists in Europe. This sounds more exciting than it really is, because much of the book is devoted to Spenser shadowing the terrorists instead of confronting them. The terrorists also have surprisingly bland personalities -- I didn't really feel they were very strong villains for the most part.

Still, this book has great dialogue (mostly between Spenser and Hawk) and some great action scenes once things get rolling. I think the major reason to read THE JUDAS GOAT is to enjoy the fun Spenser/Hawk chemistry, which makes them one of the great teams in crime fiction. Their partnership became somewhat stale in the later Spenser books, but it's really fresh and exciting in this early novel.

Three and a half stars.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

Spenser has gone to London -- and not to see the Queen. He's gone to track down a bunch of bombers who've blown away his client's wife and kids. His job is to catch them. Or kill them. His client isn't choosy.

But there are nine killers to one Spenser -- long odds. Hawk helps balance the equation. The rest depends on a wild plan. Spenser will get one of the terrorists to play Judas Goat -- to lead him to others. Trouble is, he hasn't counted on her being very blond, very beautiful and very dangerous.

"Spenser is Boston's answer to James Bond...with a little Sam Spade and Nero Wolfe thrown in...Irreverent, witty, worldly...makes for fast, amusing reading." (Pittsburgh Press)

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