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School Days (Spenser) | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert B. Parker
Publisher: Putnam
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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You Save: $22.78 (91%)
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Rating:  78 reviews
Sales Rank: 589761
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.1 x 1.2
ASIN: B000F5ZH7Q
Publication Date: September 27, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: GOOD with average wear to cover and pages. We offer a no-hassle guarantee on all our items. Orders generally ship by the next business day. Default Text
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Product Description
The celebrated series continues as a troubled teenager accused of a horrific crime draws Spenser into one of the most desperate cases of his career.
Lily Ellsworth-erect, firm, white-haired, and stylish-is the grand dame of Dowling, Massachusetts, and possesses an iron will and a bottomless purse. When she hires Spenser to investigate her grandson Jared Clark's alleged involvement in a school shooting, Spenser is led into an inquiry that grows more harrowing at every turn. Though seven people were killed in cold blood, and despite Jared's being named as a co-conspirator by the other shooter, Mrs. Ellsworth is convinced of her grandson's innocence. Jared's parents are resigned to his fate, and the boy himself doesn't seem to care whether he goes to prison for a crime he might not have committed.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 73 more reviews...
 Spenser On His Own October 11, 2008
First--I did this book on unabridged audio CD. Joe Mantegna is amazing as Spenser on the audio books and he outdid himself here.
This is rather unusual as a Spenser novel because Susan is gone and Hawk is not in the book. Spenser takes on what appears to be an open-and-shut case involving two teenaged students shooting up a school--outside Boston.
As always, Parker's books are particularly enjoyable for their spare style combined with a real mastery of dialogue. Mantegna's presentation acts as a true partner to Parker's writing. I think Parker has more chapters for fewer lines than any other author.
It appears that most Spenser readers are like me--looking forward to new installments of familiar characters. Even though Susan and Hawk are not factors in this book, it won't disappoint Spenser fans.
Spenser is once again a white knight, seeking justice for a disturbed boy July 20, 2008
In this story, Spenser is once again a white knight chasing what appears to be a false hope. Lily Ellsworth is the grandmother of Jared Clark, one of two boys who took pistols and shot up their high school, killing several people. Lily firmly believes that Jared is innocent, so she hires Spenser. The other boy is Wendell Grant and he was the only one caught inside the building. Since Grant has told the police that Clark was the other boy and Jared has confessed, Spenser's task seems pointless.
Difficult of course has never deterred Spenser, so while Susan is at a conference, he takes Pearl with him on his explorations. The more he investigates, the more the case makes no sense. Everyone, from the police to the boy's parents to the officials at the school all wants the case to end. Jared's lawyer is inexperienced in criminal cases, yet that disturbs no one.
The search for clues and sense brings Spenser into contact with two street gangs, one wild and vicious young thug and several police officers that help him because their street sense tells them something is wrong. At the end, the circumstances turn out to be that everyone associated with Jared is looking after their own interests, which means that the case needs to go away as quietly and quickly as possible.
With Susan gone at a conference, several women tempt Spenser and Parker is very adept at softly describing their attractiveness to him. Hawk is only mentioned, so Spenser is on his own, which is good because most of the story is about lost kids and their psychology. Spenser scratches off the scabs and reveals some very deep infections, which helps resolve the why regarding the kids shooting so many people.
While there is less action in this Spenser story compared to others, more deep thought is necessary. It is clear that there are some ugly truths underneath the surface regarding Jared and that keeps you reading as Parker slowly unwinds the clues and exposes some very ugly realities. I can see why Parker kept Susan out of the story; she most likely would have solved the puzzle very qyuickly.
Engaging May 3, 2008
Robert Parker's novels featuring a Boston private detective named Spenser got off to a slam-bang start in the 1970s. But since then, the series has grown in popularity but deteriorated in quality, the plots becoming as thin as negligees and the wisecracking detective turning into a parody of himself...
Is this the handwriting on the wall for Susan? February 27, 2008
I truly hope that this is setting us up for the disappearance of Susan. I have never liked her character, and despite all their protestations, I just don't feel a close bond between them. Spenser seems besotted with her, but I never get the feeling that she loves him as much. She's very high maintenance and actually redundant, as he has the same basic relationship with Hawk, except for the sex.
Their banter can be light, give insight into them, or be incredibly menacing, depending on the situation.
Sooo please Mr Parker...Lose Susan, keep Hawk. Oh and Spenser gets custody of Pearl.
 Not as bad as Potshot - but that isn't saying much January 13, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've only read two Spenser novels and this one is only marginally better than the last one I read. Potshot (the other Spenser novel that I've read) was cartoonish; with a plot as sophisticated as an episode of `Scooby Doo Where Are You?' The criminals in that novel were trying to scare everyone out of town with a gang of bad men (rather than spooky phantoms) so they could secretly find water in the hills, buy the town up for a song and make a bundle. (And they would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for that pesky Spenser)
The trouble with School Days is that Parker, who has been writing novels for 35 years and is well past 70 years old by now, clearly has no idea how teenagers think and talk and act. This is a problem because he has set this novel in a high school. I think Parker(who has churned out well over 50 novels in his career) thought that basing this novel on a school shooting would give the tried and true formula a bit of contemporary feel. The problem is, there is a huge disconnect between the emotional gravity of a school shooting, and the irreverent tone to Parker's novels. The snappy banter of a Spenser novel doesn't work well in this context.
School Days is not as terrible as Potshot, but there are too many other books out there to read to waste time on this sort of thing. Fans of Spenser may want to offer suggestions of a Spenser novel that would help me understand why so many people are fans of these novels. So far - I don't get it.
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