Crime

"Everyone in Blackburn says I'm an outsider," she said. "They tell me to let this all play out. Keep my mouth shut. Don't piss people off."
"Let me piss 'em off," I said.
"I heard you're good at that."
"Yeah," I said. "I've had years of practice." ( )

A fun read with a side order of criticism of for-profit prisons. Ace Atkins does a great job channeling Parker. ( )

Atkins continues to do a good job with this series, and I admire the fact that he owns up to how long our man Spenser has been at his rough profession by letting age impair him just a little bit. This story line is based on real events that are very familiar to me---the "kids for cash" scandal that played out in a neighboring county to mine in 2008. Two county judges were convicted of accepting money from the builder of private, for-profit youth centers for the detention of juveniles, in return for contracting with the facilities and imposing harsh sentences on juveniles brought before the judges for minor, sometimes non-criminal offenses. (While the lawfirm I worked for never dealt with juvenile matters, or much criminal law at all, the set-up of our local courts often had judges hearing both civil and criminal cases, and several of our attorneys appeared before both of the judges involved in this scandal at one time or another.) In the book, as in real life, one boy was sentenced to 18 months detention without the benefit of counsel (parents were persuaded to sign away their children's rights in the hope of getting lesser sentences) for setting up a fake social media account in his school principal's name and posting embarrassing messages. Atkins has moved this whole ugly mess from Northeastern Pennsylvania to the suburbs of Boston, and made the detention center a sort of Alcatraz on a landfill island in the harbor. I think he has taken great license with the conditions there, as I don't recall hearing that the juveniles were treated brutally or that their lives were endangered as happens in the novel, but the other details stick pretty close to the facts, proving once again that you don't NEED to make this stuff up. Naturally, when the mother of one of the boys sent off to "Fortune Island" seeks Spenser's assistance, the jig is up, and justice eventually prevails.

I listened to some of this on audio, and Joe Montegna (who played Spenser in some TV movies) does a decent job of the narration. ( )

Kickback – Another Brilliant Spenser Novel

Once again Ace Atkins has captured the essence of Robert B. Parker’s Private Eye Spenser who works the mean streets of Boston and the wider Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Once again Ace Atkins does not waste words, but delivers maximum suspense like Rocky Marciano used to deliver punches.

What started out as a social media joke, making fun of his high school’s vice principal, Dillon Yates has been arrested and sentenced to a juvenile prison out in Boston bay. When Dillon’s mother makes contact with Spencer, she wants to look at ways he can help her get her son back. Nobody should be going to jail for a joke, Judge Joe Scali disagrees and is leading a movement of being tough on crime and juveniles.

When Dillion Yate’s mother appears in Spenser’s office with a sandwich and a request to help her get her boy back there is only going to be one inevitable out course. Spenser will travel to Blackburn Massachusetts to find out what is really happening up there. When kicking over the stones in Blackburn to see what crawls out soon has the Blackburn PD and other shady people turning up at his office.

Little did Spenser know that the case about juvenile detention would take him from the cold of Blackburn to the warmth and sun of Tampa. The city of sun has some interesting stories to tell about corruption of the judicial system up in Blackburn, and as for the judge’s yacht! Spenser and his trusted ally Hawk are kicking ass and taking names between Florida and Massachusetts all in the name of finding the truth.

Ace Atkins has once again delivered a gritty and tough Spenser novel following in the tradition of Robert B Parker. The way in which he is able to mimic the originals is stunning and so delivers a punch novel that will deliver for all readers. ( )