I've read every one of the Spenser, Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall books. I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep reading the non-Parker novels. Even after reading the first Atkins book I wasn't totally convinced. The story was ok, and seemed Parker-ish but the dialogue seemed forced to me and it seemed like Atkins was trying a bit too hard. After reading his new book, Wonderland, I'm definitely in for the long haul. I really enjoyed it. The story is good, and the dialogue much better. I even like Spen...

Writer Ace Atkins continues the Spenser tradition established by the late Robert B. Parker, and once again, he hits the nail on the head nine times out of 10. In this one, private investigator Spenser at first takes on a pro bono job for old friend and boxing trainer Henry Cimoli; he and members of his condo association are being harassed both mentally and physically as they steadfastly refuse to sell their building for a bargain-basement price.The attacks, Henry believes, are coming at the hand...

A good effort at channeling Robert Parker's Spenser: Better than some Parker wrote near the end, but not anywhere as good as Mortal Stakes, Judas Goat and others from the period thru Pale Kings---but then not much is that good.

Ace Atkins has done well at continuing Robert Parker’s Spenser series, but it’s a little melancholy, a little less humorous. I can’t imagine a harder job than continuing a long series like the Spenser series.

I like what Ace Atkins is doing. He is staying true to the characters, the style, and the overall feel of the Spenser series, but he is also nudging the series forward. I was curious what Parker would have done with Z when he introduced the character. But, since Z was left under-developed and without a history, Atkins can and is using him to explore the Spenser-verse in a new ways. Most significantly for the series going forward are the developments with Vinnie and Gino Fish.As I said in my firs...

Ace Atkins continues his winning ways with the Robert Parker series. Spenser is asked to help Henry Cimoni, owner of the gym where he and Hawk have trained for years. Cimoni currently lives in a high rise condo on Revere beach which is under attack from someone who wants to buy the whole condo building. It has turned dangerous for those who haven't signed the agreement. Spenser and his sidekick-in-training, Zebulon Sixkill, endeavor to solve the situation. It seems that groups want the land to

You all know how I love Spenser.And if you remember I was concerned when author Robert Parker died and Ace Atkins took over the Spenser series. His first book, Sixkill was good, had that Parker feel, almost seamless in the turnover. Edit: This is actually Parker's last book, Atkins took over the next one...d"oh! This one...well, it was good, still has the Parker feel but something was a little bit off. Not bad...but off.At first I thought it was because Atkins didn't have enough of that quick,

This is the second novel written by Ace Atkins featuring Boston P.I. Spenser, the late Robert B. Parker's best-known and best-loved series character. As the story opens, Spenser is approached by his long-time friend and trainer, Henry Cimoli, who owns the gym where Spenser works out. Henry has never before asked Spenser for a favor, but he needs one now.Henry lives in a condo complex near an abandoned dog racing track called Wonderland. The units in the complex are owned mostly by elderly citize...

Fast paced crime novel revisiting Robert B. Parkers Spenser character. Set in one of my favorite cities, Boston, the new author Ace Atkins captures the flavor, descriptiveness and catchy dialogue of the original author. I remember watching an episode of the tv series Spenser for Hire starring Robert Urich being filmed while I was in the area of the Boston Garden. Several hours to shoot what turns into a few minutes on screen. He was much taller in person. Anyway it was enjoyable spending time wi...

This is an enjoyable Spenser adventure but it is a book of two halves. The first half is a sedate affair but it's worth sticking with it as it takes off in the second half.

This is the second book in the Robert B Parker Spenser legacy series. As I noted in my review of Ace Atkin's freshman effort in this series, having read all 30+ Spenser novels, often more than once, it is difficult to accept someone else writing the series. After reading, Lullaby, Atkins's first Spenser book, I generally liked it a lot. I had some issues of tone and description but overall it was well worth reading. Wonderland is more of a mixed bag for me. On the one hand Atkins has done the mo...

This is the second outing for Ace Atkins as the successor to the great Robert B. Parker in continuing the Spenser series. Though not quite as strong as Lullaby, Wonderland is a fine addition.New authors picking up the baton from a deceased author has been done before. Parker himself wrote two Philip Marlowe novels. John Gardner took a run at James Bond. Eric Van Lustbader picked up Jason Bourne. Joe Gores gave us a new Sam Spade novel. And Sherlock Holmes has been tackled by everyone from Stephe...

Brilliant WonderlandHaving read Wonderland by Robert B. Parker I can see why they called him “...one of the greats of the American hard-boiled genre” because this book is brilliance defined. If you want to know how to write about private detectives then he has to be a must read. For me, Spence is the best private detective in modern American crime fiction. I know want to read more of what Parker has written as he is succinct does not drag anything out and his prose speaks Bostonian hard working

Robert Parker died in 2010. Ace Atkins took over without skipping a beat. This former newspaper reporter for the Tampa Tribune and the St Pete Times is described by Michael Connelly as "one of the best crime writers working today". The dialog is hard bitten and full of sardonic humor and Hawk isn't even there. He is in Miami. This is a case where criminal types are trying to force their way into buying property in beantown which happens to include the condo of one of Spenser's friends named Henr...

I recently got to see some mystery writers including Ace Atkins and Megan Abbott at an event and signing in St. Louis and got one of my proudest moments when I met Atkins and mentioned that I liked the homage he’d done to True Grit in his first Spenser novel Lullaby. “You know, you’re only like the third person I’ve talked to who picked up on that, and Megan Abbott there was one of the other ones,” Atkins told me. This made me so happy that I walked around with a big stupid grin on my face for t...

Ace Atkins, author of the excellent Quinn Colson series, captures Spenser's voice, though it's more the voice of the last couple of dozen Spenser novels and not the more tautly paced first dozen. Spenser's old pal, Henry Cimoli, is being pressured out of his condo (along with all of the other older people who live there) by gaming interests who are out to build a giant casino. Spenser and his protege, Zebulon Sixkill (Hawk is in Miami on a job, unfortunately) move against the thugs who are press...

I just enjoy these Spenser books - certainly not works of fiction, but I've always appreciated how well the stories are told. Atkins does a respectable job of keeping the books as Robert B. Parker would have written them - I love books with lots of dialog, especially well written dialog.

I was devastated when Robert B. Parker died in 2010, as he was one of my favorite writers for decades. I have read every one of his books, and his death left a huge hole in my literary pleasure. I was hugely skeptical when I learned that his books were to be written by an unknown (to me, at that point)author. Thankfully, his estate hand-picked a fitting writer to carry on the tradition. "Wonderland" is the second Spenser novel written by Ace Atkins, and it's a dandy. The language is the same, as...

Ace Atkins flawlessly captures Parker's narrative voice and has produced the best Spenser novel in years. It reads like Parker in his prime, even without Hawk appearing in the book. There isn't a single false note in the plotting, character or voice. It's an astonishing feat. It's actually better, and truer to Parker and his characters, than the last few Spenser novels that Parker himself wrote. It's a shame Atkins can't take on Jesse Stone and Virgil Cole, too.

4 Stars. There's an old dog track in Boston called "Wonderland." Now closed, bankrupt and derelict. Before that, it had been an amusement park. Spenser notes that the park seemed dated even when he visited as a child. How does this become part of a Spenser novel? Do you recall that our hero loves to box, had done a little professionally, and still works out at Henry Cimoli's Harbor Club? Someone is trying to buy Henry's condo building on Revere Beach near the old track. To level it? The develope...