Parker surrounds his hero with reliable friends and familiar foes to renew their vows to the codes of misconduct that were laid down three decades ago [in The Godwulf Manuscript]
- Marilyn Stasio, New York Times
one of the strongest Spenser novels in recent years
- Michael Carlson, Crime Time
What makes this superior Parker is the moral dilemma. Spenser is pursuing a case that no one wants him to pursue, including the person who had asked him to in the first place, and six Krispy Kremes is not a good enough reason
- Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe
the book's genial mood, saucy tone and ripping action...discourage all attempts to put it down
- Eugen Weber, The Los Angeles Times
In 1974, a revolutionary group held up the Old Shawmut Bank in Boston's Audubon Circle. Money was stolen. And a woman named Emily Gordon, a visitor in town cashing traveller's checks, was shot and killed. No one saw who shot her. Despite security-camera photos and a letter from the group claiming responsibility, the perpetrators have remained at large for nearly three decades.
Enter Paul Giacomin, the closest thing to a son Spenser has. Twice before, Spenser's come to the young man's assistance; and now Paul is thirty-seven, his troubled past behind him. When Paul's friend Daryl Gordon-daughter of the long-gone Emily-decides she needs closure regarding her mother's death, it's Spenser she turns to. The lack of clues and a missing FBI intelligence report force Spenser to reach out in every direction-to Daryl's estranged, hippie father, to Vinnie Morris and the mob, to the mysterious Ives - testing his resourcefulness and his courageousness.