 "Gritty thriller of redemption" | 2008-05-27 |
| - Reviewed By lorenellroy |
I am not an expert on baseball -the sport is not big in my native UK and receives minimal TV exposure .I am pleased to say however ,that despite its being marketed as a baseball themed book it is perfectly possible to enjoy this novel as a taut thriller in its own right without possessing a great knowledge of the sport and its history.If you do possess this interest then it will enhance your appreciation but this is not a prerquisite of enjoyment .
It revolves around the first season in the majors of Jackie Robinson ,the first black player to play in a Major League team .Joseph Burke ,a World war 2 veterran ,wounded on Guadalcanal is hired by the franchise owner to act as bodyguard to Robinson .The book here explores familiar Parker territory -the relationshsip between Robinson and Burke evokes that between Hawk and Spencer in Parker's PI series about Spencer and Burke has many things in common with Spencer.Both are ex boxers ,both are widely read and intelligent men ,both are involved in a relationship with an intelligent if somewhat prickly woman and both are called upon to display above average levels of physical toughness in their jobs.
While the book does delve into the history of the baseball season ,to the extent of publishing box scores of the games Robinson was involved in ,the sport is secondary to the relationship and mutual respect between Robinson and Burke .Most prominence however is given to Burke's relationship with Lauren ,an unsatble woman whose father is a luminarty on the local social scene .This relationship is anathema to her father and to Louis Boucicoult the son of a local mobster who wants her for himself and is not above using enforcers from his father's mob to get his way .Burke must protect not only Robinson but himself as their enemies gather
I learned very little of Robinson as a baseball player -the box scores were as meaningless to me as a "wagon wheel" for a cricket innings would be to the average American -but I did get a sense of him as a person and the pressures he faced as a pioneer in the racial integrataion of sport.The book is best enjoyed as a Parker novel not a baseball novel and the virues of all his books are present -smooth redable prose ,good dialogue and a brisk pace
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 "A short pop out to right." | 2008-03-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3K398ZEWJ6TY9 |
| Not a bad book for a bargain pick up but nothing really special here. No real intensity and really no care for the main character. A quick read if that's something your looking for. |
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| "Good Look at Baseball and Jackie Robinson" | 2007-12-17 |
| - Reviewed By drebbles |
It is 1947 and Jackie Robinson has broken baseball's color barrier, but it has not been easy. The Dodgers decide he needs a bodyguard and they hire World War II Vet Joseph burke to protect him. Burke's wife left him while he was in the hospital recovering from war wounds and since then he hasn't cared much about anything or anyone except his job. Lauren Roach comes closes to stealing his heart, but she's trouble. Burke knows guarding Robinson may be dangerous but he doesn't realize that working with Robinson will change Burke's life in ways he never imagined.
"Double Play" is an enjoyable change from Robert Parker's Spenser series. There are some similarities - the relationship between Burke and Robinson will remind readers of Spenser and Hawk - but the fact that the novel is based on real life events adds a lot to the novel. The book starts off slowly, Robinson isn't introduced until almost halfway through and I didn't find Burke all that interesting a character, but once Robinson is introduced the book picks up. For the most part, Parker does a good job with the historical parts of the novel and the prejudice on both sides is eye opening. However, Parker isn't into deep writing and the book is mostly dialogue driven. Since the book is from Burke's viewpoint, readers do get a sense of what makes him as a character, but he's not a deeply layered character and his relationship with Lauren didn't move me in any particular way. Robinson is not as deep a character, which is a shame because I would have liked to know more about what he was thinking and feeling during that tumultuous first year. Outside of reminiscences by "Bobby" (no doubt Parker himself, and which I could have done without since they don't add to the plot) and some box scores, the baseball aspects of the book are surprisingly thin and I wish they had been better developed.
"Double Play" is a good, if somewhat light read about baseball and Jackie Robinson.
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| "fast flowing hard boiled drama, with real characters" | 2007-11-19 |
| - Reviewed By dr_paul_skinner |
| The idea of fictionalizing a plausible scenario involving real, historical characters makes for a great book, and Parker certainly knows how to write a lively tale. A war hero comes home from WWII, recovering from wounds and a Dear John letter. He gets a job working as a bodyguard for a rich man, protecting his daughter. Then he gets another job to protect Jackie Robinson. Between baseball action, we get a lot of "Spenser-like" hardboiled action involving guts and very little extraneous talk. Any fan of the Spenser series will love this book. |
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 "Spenser And Hawk's Excellent Adventure" | 2007-07-15 |
| - Reviewed By andrewsalmon20002 |
| I was looking forward to this novel because whenever Parker gets away from his formulaic Spenser novels, he is one damn, fine writer! Picking up Double Play, I was thinking of his Love And Glory which is an excellent novel about romance during WWII. I was expecting another entertaining period piece although on a different subject. What I got instead was Spenser and Hawk transported back in time into the bodies of Jackie Robinson and his bodyguard. They speak in the same stunted shorthand, are both too tough and irresistable to the ladies... very, very familiar ground. Place this one in the modern day, switch Robinson's and his bodyguard's dialog, and you've got a Spenser novel. That's all well and good if you're in the mood for a Spenser novel, but I was hoping for something more. Now I'm not knocking Parker's long-running series. I read them for the dialog, which can be witty and is always well-paced. But the Spenser series is overrated in my mind and certainly is not a worthy successor to the Hammett/Chandler/Spillane tradition. The early ones are very good, but the current ones are very thin. And so is Double Play. Instead of a captivating trip back in time, we get a superficial Spenser novel with different names for the characters. This is a waste of material and potential, leaving this reader disappointed. So if you love Spenser no matter how he is dished up, then Double Play is for you. If you're looking for more, look elsewhere. |
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 "RICK SHAQ GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "THIS IS THE BOOK THAT HOOKED ME ON ROBERT B. PARKER!"" | 2007-06-22 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1623N94C3XATU |
| I of course, had always heard of Robert B. Parker, and I had also heard of Spencer. I even watched the old TV series "Spencer For Hire". But, despite my voracious reading, I had never read one of Parker's books. Then one day, I saw one of my idol's, Jackie Robinson's (See one of Shaq's prior reviews.) name on a cover of a book, and low and behold, it was by Robert B. Parker. I bought it, and "WOW", was I hooked! What creative genius, for Parker to combine a true, real life hero, with fictional characters, in a real landmark event, (Jackie breaking baseball's color line.) with a fictional side story, and if that wasn't enough, to have Parker deftly, insert his own, actual childhood, into the story, is simply fascinating. The stories main character, is Joseph Burke, a wounded World War II veteran, who becomes a boxer, a strong arm for the mob, and finally, he is hired by Branch Rickey, to be Jackie's bodyguard during his rookie season. The beginning of this book, makes you feel like you're watching an old Jimmy Cagney or Humphrey Bogart movie, and then you're into baseball and the human condition. And finally, as you're deep into the story, little Bobby Parker, steals the show. Have you ever read a book, that is so good, that as you're reading it, you don't want it to end? Well, this is that book! Buy it! P.S. I have since read twenty-five Parker books, including the entire Jesse Stone series. I now feel like Spencer and my "main man" Hawk, are my drinking buddies! |
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| "who thought I would agree with ng about anything" | 2007-06-11 |
| - Reviewed By scubedbooks |
| I wouldn't have thought I did, but as far as his thoughts about this book, I find them right on. As a fan of both baseball and Spenser, it was a foregone conclusion that I would pick the book up, but I wouldn't have predicted how deeply it would move me or how often it would come back to my thoughts. If you like Parker, you'll like Burke, another in the Spenser/Stone/Randall style of protagonists. Add to that thoughtful (if ficitionalized) history of the integration of baseball, and some of the issues about it that might not have occurred to you in only passing thought and you have a total winner |
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| "An Infield Double" | 2006-08-26 |
| - Reviewed By southerndeb3 |
I read this book several years ago when I first began my "Robert Parker Phase." I'm a baseball fan, so I of course enjoyed the book but it wasn't really a WOW or "this is a great book" kind of book. And I am a huge Robert Parker fan.
Robert Forster's narration absolutely makes this book both wow and great. He catches the malaise of the character in just the right way. There is almost a delayed reaction in the reading, just as if Burke was too tired and too unattached to answer. Parker's books are 99% dialogue, with a lot of he saids and she saids. You don't even notice them in the audio version because the narrator does such a fine job of dropping his voice down after he says the meat of the sentence, and often even attaches emotions to the he saids and she saids.
I grew up in Mississippi before civil rights. It was very painful to hear some of the language spoken because my father talked like that as a matter of course. He was born in Selma, Alabama in 1918 and I like to think he didn't know any better, but that's no excuse. I cannot imagine the confidence and security Robinson must have possessed to put himself through what this books hints at were his experiences.
This book is not even five hours, and it was over way too quick. I plan to listen to it many times.
This is a character study of two very different people, but both with an honor that can't be disputed.
Five stars, yes, five.
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