Book Review: "Broken Trust" by Mike Lupica

 Spenser investigates the past secrets of an elusive tech billionaire in this latest installment of Robert B. Parker’s beloved series, and the first written by celebrated writer Mike Lupica.

The beautiful wife of one of the world’s richest men comes to Spenser in the hope that he can find out what skeletons lurk in her husband’s closet. Though he is a generous philanthropist and loving family man, she is concerned—he recently has become secretive, bordering on paranoid, and she wants Spenser to find out why. As Spenser digs into the billionaire’s past, he realizes that the man may have done terrible things on his rise to the top—but he also may have had good reason to. What he discovers will cause him to question his own views on morality—and place him in grave danger. - from Netgalley.com

I received this eARC from NEtgalley.com and am providing an unbiased review.

This is the fiftieth book in Robert B. Parker's 'Spenser for Hire' series, and I have l very greatly enjoyed every book. Lupica's writing style is similar to Parker's, in not only how the character does his thing, but even the way chapters are done. I constantly think back to the '80's with Robert Urich playing the main character on the television show. I can't think of any greater words to say about this book other than I truly enjoyed reading another story from this series, and Lupica did a fine job.

Book Review: "Robert B. Parker's Bad Influence" by Alison Gaylin

 

Boston PI Sunny Randall investigates the dark side of social media in this exciting new thriller in the bestselling series.

Sunny Randall’s newest client, Blake, seems to have it all: he is an Instagram influencer, with all the perks the lifestyle entails—a beautiful girlfriend, wealth, and adoring fans. But one of those fans has turned ugly, and Sunny is brought on board by Blake’s manager, Bethany, to protect him and to uncover who is out to kill him. In doing so, she investigates a glamorous world rife with lies and schemes…and ties to a dangerous criminal scene.

When Bethany goes missing and the threats against Blake escalate, Sunny realizes that in order to solve this case, she has to find out exactly who Blake and Bethany are, behind the Instagram filters. While digging into their pasts, she is also forced to confront her own, as old friends—and ex-husbands—reappear. With a combination of old-school crime-solving skills and modern internet savvy, Sunny will stop at nothing to catch a killer. - from Netgalley.com

I received this eARC from Netgalley.com and am providing an unbiased review.

Having been a fan of Robert B. Parker's writings for many years, I requested this 11th book in the Sunny Randall series. For those of you not familiar, Parker wrote the original series of 'Spenser', that lead into a television show called 'Spenser For Hire' featuring Robert Urich and Avery Brooks. I became a fan of the show, which led me to reading the books. Parker has created the Jesse Stone (made into several movies starring Tom Selleck) and Sunny Randall series. He has several stand-alone novels and another series based in the old west.

So being a big fan, when Parker passed away around 2010, I was very happy several authors took up the reins on these series of books. This is the first one I have seen from Alison Gaylin, and she has copied Parker's writing and story style very well. In fact, I believe she has improved it, as she seems to write with more detail than Parker did, which helps add more color to the world we are reading about.

Overall, finding a storyline in a detective series that is fresh and new can be daunting, but Graylin has done a very good job with this novel. I was kept guessing throughout most of the story to determine the 'whodunit', and once discovered, she wrapped it up well. I definitely would look forward to more from this author, even if it not following a series by Parker.