Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues by Michael Brandman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
No one will mistake Brandman with Parker. Ace Atkins, the author conintuing the Spenser series, captured Parker's voice at least partially. Atkins got the feel of the characters, the style, and the language of Spenser. Brandman, unfortunately, is not as successfully. It is not a bad book, but it is far from Parker's Stone. One clearly sees the influence of the TV movies here, no surprise since that is how Brandman comes to the series. But Stone's edge, both from the Selleck movies and the Parker books, is too softened here. Brandman does a good job with the dialogue, but the inner life that Parker was so adept at is lost. All this said, the book was interesting and enjoyable. I am glad I tried it out, though I am not sure how quickly I'll pick up the next one. Almost certainly, it will be a library rental if I do (as was this).
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