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| Stardust (Spenser) | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert B. Parker
Publisher: Berkley
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $7.98 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 103323
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0425127230
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780425127230
ASIN: 0425127230
Publication Date: May 1, 1991
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Spencer is assigned to protect a TV star in a mission that takes him to murder and beyond. 2 cassettes.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Passable Spenser, not Worth Going out of Your Way For March 9, 2008
I like Robert Parker's Spenser novels, and have read almost all of them. The early ones are quite good, but the ones after 1990 or so are pretty much a mixed bag.
STARDUST is pretty much a by-the-numbers effort, about Spenser's attempts to bodyguard an incredibly famous TV actress, who just happens to be the most neurotic, promiscuous woman on the planet. This book is mildly funny and entertaining, but not particularly original or exciting. It doesn't help that the TV actress character isn't the least bit sympathetic. The dialogues between Spenser-Susan and Spenser-Hawk are pretty much the same old stuff Parker has written many times before.
There's little in this novel you won't find in other, better Spenser books. My advice is to try those books and forget about STARDUST.
 StarBust November 13, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I usually enjoy the Spenser books, but "Stardust" was really disappointing. I didn't like the Jill character at all, so it was impossible for me to care about her and/or what happened to her. Too bad Spenser didn't walk away from this case at the get-go.
Also, is anybody else sick of Susan's perfection? And the way she eats - or doesn't eat, I guess would be more correct - makes me cringe.
I'll go on to the next Spenser and hope it's better than this one, and also hope that Spenser and Susan don't go to any restaurants.
 Neurotic TV star adds bit of spice to Spenser's life July 14, 2007
Spenser is hired by Zenith Meridian Television to protect their star television personality, Jill Joyce - who says she has been receiving harassing telephone calls and letters. When Spenser tries to find out more about these calls, Jill refuses to elaborate - insisting, however, that he protect her from "Him," as she calls her stalker, while all the while refusing to answer any questions relating to details about the problem, her past or pretty much anything at all and at the same time alternating between trying to get Spenser into bed and drinking herself into a torpor. Finally Spenser leaves her in Hawk's care and sets out to find out what he can on his own.
Jill is probably one of the least appealing people Spenser has ever set out to "save." He, however, sets out with great patience nonetheless, to do just that. He follows every lead, steps on toes from the East to the West coast in the process, has his life threatened several times and finally gets to the bottom of the situation. It ain't pretty.
Of course, you'll have to read the book to find out what happens.
I enjoyed this story, mostly because the character dynamics were so interesting. Jill Joyce was so terribly unpleasant, yet at the same time she engendered great sympathy and loyalty among so many people that it was really unbelievable. As one character remarked, she had a "quality" about her, something deep inside her that got buried under the booze and drugs. Parker did a good job with his writing skills of showing that vulnerability as well as the prickly and unpleasant exterior. Very good job. Strong recommend from me.
Well, at least he can write June 4, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Two stars because Parker is able to write, zero for plot (what plot?) characters(Puh-leeze). I tripped over this in the library needing an easy read. What amazes me is that this was apparently a popular series in the 80's. So much for the 80's. Spenser and Susan are so superior to the rest of the human race we should all be ashamed. They are witty, they are sensitive, they are honest, they are loving, they are perfect. As a natural offshoot of this they are tiresome, they are snide, they are racist, they are class-driven in their outlook and tastes. They are, frankly, very creepy. Anyway I guess something happens in the novel, I was too sick to stay around.
Gold Dust Rising from Ashes of Coal Dust April 17, 2007
What might burn to what purification and perfection, within the ashes of impoverished beginnings ...
Again, a Spenser novel kept my focus away from the snow-packed, icy curves of a Rocky Mountain corridor over the Continental Divide on Colorado State highway 50, edging the high, steep cliffs over Monarch Pass. If any feat would recommend the ability of a novel to hold a reader captive, that should.
The fascination in this # 17 in the series seemed to pivot around a flickering disgust Vs appeal of the Star of the plot, Jill Joyce, as those dark/bright flashes played through Jill's evolving relationships with Spenser, Susan, and residual characters, who mostly viewed "Jillie" as a "high-octane pain in the ..." (quoting one the book's descriptive terms of her). Parker worked an amazing double-sided realism into the plot, contrasting Jill's spoiled, impatient, sour personality; to her youthful vulnerabilities, her having not one true friend, and her carrying the weight of the job title's specific and actual demands. With drunk, druggie, an nympho added to the liabilities in this Star's aura, the scales slipped south, and provided Spenser with a challenge he couldn't refuse. I may have left out a couple descriptive terms of the down side of Jill Joyce's personality, but guessing what they might be would be a snap.
STARDUST is a classic character study, and an excellent example of fine writing, especially given Parker's vivid, delightfully sardonic descriptions of various settings, descriptions based on weather conditions and wealth divergence, contrasting Boston and surrounding areas with the San Diego and LA extended environments.
During the writing of my previous review on PLAYMATES, # 16 in this series, I began noticing an edge of embarrassment about my ongoing compulsion to write reviews on each novel in the Spenser series. Therefore, I seem to be pushed at the moment by a nag from my Left Brain to explain personal and professional motivations in feeding the continued pursuit of this "study." Actually, that's precisely what my dedication to reviewing this series has become, a study. I feel blessed to be able to observe three decades (and counting) of cultural evolution through Parker's liberal notations of styles of dress, tastes in food, ways of thinking, repartee dance-steps, etc. Yet, I'm making note of much more than that.
I'm observing the steady, methodical, dedicated evolution of an author's voice, talent, perspective, and ethical philosophy ... over thirty years of annual production in a sequential offering repeating characters, locale, and genre.
I'm observing "current" events unfolding within Parker's plots. I'm noticing subtle publisher presence and reader preference as that backdrop appears to play into Parker's choices of subject, theme, and style variances in each novel in this chain adding links upon links of evolving ethical considerations.
My interest was maintained well in STARDUST as my curiosity grew about how Spenser could save this child, who was screeching in repulsively offensive ways, for someone to take care of her, someone, anyone to care about anything in her, qualities beyond beauty, which might lie more deeply and lastingly in Jill's soul... someone to care about more than her capacity to draw in dollars. As a prostitute to overwhelming demands on her presence and physical perfection, given nothing truly refueling of self in return; Jill reminded me of Spenser's April Kyle, clearly showing that money, fame, success, and adulation are able to starve the life out of a young heart needing TLC, compassion, and a savior.
As has become Parker's relished signature, several scenes of dialogue exchanges in STARDUST were highly satisfying. One of the cheer inducements I regularly enjoy in a Spenser novel is his ever-growing-repertoire of ways to burst odorous balloons of pompous buffoons who overrate their importance by metaphoric measures of mountains of compost heaps. (See Marty Riggs in this one, especially the scene in chapter 29 with Quirk, regarding Jill having been misplaced. And, for a story about mountains of coal dust and a young Mom starring in a bull-dog win, see Coal & Coca-cola)
And then, we had here the entrance of Victor del Rio and gang-of-two, Chollo and Bobby Horse. Yep, another fascinating bad, bad, bad dude ... with a couple honorable qualities, who related well with Spenser in scene after engrossing scene.
My favorite scene in STARDUST, though, was the one noted above, with Riggs, Quirk, a collection of big wigs at Zenith, and Spenser. Quirk gives Riggs a prime-spot-comeuppance to either kill or die for. Parts of that chapter I had to read aloud to my husband. After I had read a couple paragraphs, then asked a few minutes later if he wanted to hear more, his positive pose slid immediately into an ear-toward-my-direction.
The last line in this one could serve as the beginnings of purification of poverty, if not an outright activation of alchemy.
What is Hope,
Linda Shelnutt
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