God Save The Child by Robert B. Parker is in the mold of the classic hard-boiled detective genre with a few twists that veer it in a new direction. The hero is similar to heroes in classic detective fiction by authors like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Jack Spenser is in the mold of fictional detectives Phillip Marlowe and Sam Spade. He is a tough, macho, confrontational sleuth who engages in witty repartee and muses on the hypocrisies and sordid goings on of the upper middle-class. However, the Boston detective is an enlightened man who understands the difficulties between the genders, the problems of child rearing in the modern world and is often awkward with the female sex and his own romantic notions. He is hired by Roger and Margery Bartlett to find their missing son Kevin. Spenser is immediately put off by the Bartlett’s relationship, one that seems based on constant bickering, unsatisfied longings and the superficial trappings of their monied existence. He has a horror of Mrs. Bartlett’s penchant for make-up and Mr. Bartlett’s poor taste in clothing, “She looked as though if she’d cry, she’d erode…He was dressed in what must have been his wife’s idea of the contemporary look” (Parker 9, 10).
Spenser’s blunt and straightforward manner, coupled with sharp wit, astute observation and a penchant for using both makes him rub most people the wrong way. Whether he’s insulting the law enforcement officers working on the case or those from whom he hopes to elicit information, Spenser can’t help calling it as he sees it. After insulting the principal of the high school where Kevin goes, he muses, “Good going, Spenser. Insult the guy’s grammar so he sulks at you and won’t talk. Maybe I ought to watch my mouth as people keep telling me” (Parker 34). Yet, Spenser does not watch his mouth too often. Worldly-wise and a man who’s seen his fair sh
...