Most helpful customer reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Casting Pearls Before Swine to find a Pearl in the Oyster. Reverse Right. Leave Left., April 27 2007
As a calculated contrast to life in the gang-infested DOUBLE DEUCE housing complex, scenes of daily doings in Susan's home provided prime parlay between Spenser and his lady, resulting in poignant posing in the DD bailiwick broken up by hearty humor in the SS Titanic. What a cartoon-funny difference (no black-tongued-grins from "THE WAR OF THE ROSES" there) Parker painted between Susan's fronted femaleness and Spenser's gangling guy-ness. As Parker obviously planned, the light-hearted clashes in SS roommate rambles became an "Accidental Family" foil to the heartbreaking reality-overwhelm of the gang members' no-relief lifestyle boring holes of terror into their "straight" neighbors.
In DOUBLE DEUCE Parker created another classic "pair" of new female characters, providing them with reverse personalities and reverse first letters in their names:
"E. M." was for Erin Macklin who drank her whiskey easy as she held the glass with both hands (contemplate why Parker repeated more than thrice how Macklin held her amber-filled glass, with the caring gesture of duel palms).
"M. E." was for Marge Eagen, who pumped and primped her preen until Spenser crimped her lack of style. (For an opposite styled Marge character, a genuine, real-life article of bull dog class, see the Amazon Short, "Coal & Coca-Cola."
As a Parker fan would anticipate, the scenes in which these two women seared the social brine with Spenser were intriguing, engrossing, and effortlessly entertaining.
Hawk was featured in his best ebony sheen in DOUBLE DEUCE, as his image, which had preceded him into gangland territory, was developed through interactions with the gang members, all of which were fascinating, and felt to be on target with the tang and sizzle of those subcultures. Another side of Hawk's image was uncovered here, through his intimate study of black-lady Jackie, and her jigsaw-ed break-down of Hawk's heart hung low to capture her song.
The continuation of Pearl-the-wonder-dog's character (she was introduced with pizzazz in PASTIME, # 18 Spenser) provided a welcome warm spot in this plot. I couldn't help but wonder if Parker might use the heart-healing-dog to get through to the gangs, as he used the 3 mongrels rescued in STARDUST (used them to help coax Jill's soul to return for another round of participation in life).
In the first part of Chapter 37 an exquisite scene of an easy-dance-step, multi-manoeuver training seminar set itself up around mangy machinations (no hair lost on the dog) of Susan, Spenser, pancakes, and Pearl:
>> I (Spenser) left my pancakes and went to the bedroom and put on a shirt (training from Susan). When I came back Pearl was still sitting gazing at my plate, but the plate was empty and clean. I looked at her. She looked back clear eyed and guilt free, alert for another opportunity.
>> "Ah yes," I said, "a hunting dog." <<
Contemplate that in reference to Hawk's name, which clarified in DOUBLE DEUCE's chapter 37, especially in reference to Jackie's complaints that she couldn't "get to him."
Having endured decades mired within a nurtured angst of ethical determinations, as humans trod toward the core of the Apple from "The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" ... might they sometimes long for a temporary release from the moral gauntlet; might they long for a cease of constantly pushed cerebral convolutions defining every dot quantum on the eternal line between Right and Wrong ... might they wish for a few moments to experience the easy, non-complex mind, set into the nature of a hunting dog, or a Hawk ... might they sometimes long to be:
"Clear eyed and guilt free"?
In addition to primal concepts, prime setting descriptions were applied here, as only Parker could accomplish, in bringing to pose on paper the essence of ghetto life.
Get a dog's life?
The concluding scene in DOUBLE DEUCE catered a surprising twist to Susan and Spenser's attempts at traditional homemaking. The close was as refreshing to the double S as a storm-brought rainbow. The choice carried in DD's final chapter surfaced in silent style into the thematic structure of PAPER DOLL, # 20 in the Spenser series.
A prolific author successfully carries a ranging style through time and time and time, until the heart says, "Take to the sky on the wings of a hawk."
Linda Shelnutt
Author of several Amazon Shorts and KINDLE books, including MYRTLE'S ULTIMATE MYSTERY and MOLASSES MOON.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
I honestly don't know what the other reviewers want, Mar 15 2003
Parker likes to change up the Spenser series. He gets stuck in a formula just chugging along in Boston, and likes to mix it up every few novels. He writes a basic Spenser novel, and they complain hes just going through the motions. If he writes something different they complain he should stick to what he writes best. Give me a break!
Here's why you should read Double Deuce. The classic stand off. Yes, we get to learn alot more about Hawk, but not too much as to deflate the mystery about the caracter. But the boasting that goes on between Hawk and the Gangs is interesting.
There isnt alot of mystery in this one, some of the Spenser novels arent so much a who-done-it but more of a how-will-you-resolve-it kind of book. I've read this book many times, there are better in the series, but if your reading them in order, don't skip this one!
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Perceptive look at ghetto gangs, Jan 30 2003
Parker has succeeded in writing crime thrillers that are entertaining and fast reads and yet give you issues to think about. "Double Deuce" is no exception, and this time, the issues are racial relations and gang psychology. This novel has a more intense than usual opening for Spenser, because we get to sorta know the young girl and her baby daughter just before they're killed, and to have a feeling of the life they were leading. From there, as other reviews have pointed out, Hawk is the principal character this time, though Spenser does provide him with valuable information just before the climax. And hey, Hawk is involved in a relationship too, as if trying to clear a housing project in the ghetto of a gang isn't enough. The romantic side plot this time takes up the question as to whether Spenser & Susan should be living together or not. Especially good here is the portrayal of the attitude of the project residents and the activist preacher helping them towards Spencer. Also good is the portrayal of the grudging mutual respect between Hawk and the gang leader. On top of that, we're given an idea of how Hawk, in his own way, rose above his childhood beginnings.
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by Robert Parker
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