Most of the characters in Parker's recent Spenser novels are pretty familiar to anyone who has been following the series. Spenser, himself, continues to mature in his sensitivity to his own shortcomings and in his relations with others. Nevertheless, he must maintain a certain protective distance at times in order to deal effectively with the forces of evil. There are still times when he must be hard and unyielding in order to survive and to do his job. The dialectic between openness and sensitivity and control and professionalism Parker developed early on in the series continues in this book.

While he changes he also remains largely the same.

Lisa Belson is also reminiscent of other women Spenser is hired to find or rescue. Plagued by an unsavory or at least hidden past, she must help the detective uncover her dark side in order to resolve the narrative and...