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The Godwulf Manuscript: Spenser
Unavailable
The Godwulf Manuscript: Spenser
Unavailable
The Godwulf Manuscript: Spenser
Audiobook5 hours

The Godwulf Manuscript: Spenser

Written by Robert B. Parker

Narrated by Michael Prichard

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Spenser earned his degree in the school of hard knocks, so he is ready when a Boston university hires him to recover a rare, stolen manuscript. He is hardly surprised that his only clue is a radical student with four bullets in his chest.

The cops are ready to throw the book at the pretty blond coed whose prints are all over the murder weapon but Spenser knows there are no easy answers. He tackles some very heavy homework and knows that if he doesn't finish his assignment soon, he could end up marked "D" -- for dead.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 14, 2009
ISBN9780307705075
Unavailable
The Godwulf Manuscript: Spenser
Author

Robert B. Parker

Robert B Parker was the best-selling author of over 60 books, including Small Vices, Sudden Mischief, Hush Money, Hugger Mugger, Potshot, Widows Walk, Night Passage, Trouble in Paradise, Death in Paradise, Family Honor, Perish Twice, Shrink Rap, Stone Cold, Melancholy Baby, Back Story, Double Play, Bad Business, Cold Service, Sea Change, School Days and Blue Screen. He died in 2010 at the age of 77.

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Reviews for The Godwulf Manuscript

Rating: 3.5451219970731707 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

410 ratings26 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Don't let the title fool you. This has very little to do with the Godwulf manuscript, or any other ancient tomes. It is all about life in the 1970s in a college town. Sex, drugs, murder and the various subversive groups on a college campus in those days. A real flashback in time.I like Spencer's sarcastic wit, and this is a fun romp through time.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another excellent novel by Parker. Spenser (spelled like the poet, with an 's', not a 'c') is a tough, noir detective. The plot had me guessing a fair amount & it was very well paced. Loved the ending. Well read, too. I'll look forward to more of these.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The first Spenser novel. We meet Spenser with his smart mouth. When people try to scare him off he doesn't back down.There are a lot of descriptions of people, places, even what he is eating.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Bottom Line or TweetWelcome to Boston's finest.Plot or PremiseSpenser is hired to find a rare book stolen from a university and the first witness he talks to ends up standing over a dead body within a day, but claims she didn't do it.What I LikedThis is the first book in the long-running Spenser series, and it is one of my favorite series of all time. Quirk and Belson are introduced, as well as some general hoodlums, and it is classic Spenser. Keep plugging along, doing what he wants to do or thinks is right, even after the book-napping is resolved..What I Didn't LikeWithout Silverman or Hawk, it almost feels like Spenser's on vacation on his own, not quite a full Spenser story. As such, it runs a bit more linearly than some of his other books..DisclosureI received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow him / her on social media.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I was worried that I would have trouble finding a new thriller author after finishing all of the John D. MacDonald novels. I thought Robert B. Parker would be one to try. My mistake. This is nothing but an abridged Danielle Steel novel. Apparently his books work great for 1 hour TV series episodes. I'm told the Spencer books get better further into the series but I just can't be bothered
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love Spenser's snarkiness. This is a good mystery dealing with a missing manuscript, a couple of murders, and an underground student organization.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I loved this book. It is a really great hardboiled novel set in the 70s! I'm sure it was treat back in the day when it came out but it was doubly so to me today. It brought back some great memories of another era. I love Spenser with an S, S-P-E-N-S-E-R. He's a tough guy with a soft spot for the innocent and no patience for the arrogant. He's got all the right credentials for a hardboiled PI, ex military, ex cop, ex boxer. He knows his streets and has a wisecrack for every situation. He knows his way around the kitchen and has a way with the ladies. Well most of them anyways. I can't wait to read more of this series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The first Spenser novel. A good first effort, with an interesting gumshoe and well drawn 1970s landscape. Made me a bit nostalgic My only complaint was the fact every woman found Spenser so irresistible..
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Full of cliches and charicatures but rattles along at a good pace and is very enjoyable in a brain-candy sort of way. I might even read another at some point.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the first book in a loooong series. I'm glad I have 39 more of them to read. This one was a fast-paced crime novel with plenty of bad guys for sassy and savvy Private Investigator Spenser to put in their place. He is hired by a Boston university president to recover a stolen medieval manuscript. The plot quickly thickens with several murders and Mafia involvement. Spenser's softer side is awakened when a female college student is accused of the murder of her boyfriend. He doggedly pursues her innocence as he maneuvers his way through the twists and turns of a rollicking good read.Set in the early 1970s, I enjoyed the nostalgia of a time when two sandwiches, four beers, and the tip could be covered by a five-dollar bill. I was a bit surprised by the literary references until I read that at the time he wrote this book, Parker was a professor at Northeastern University. My goal is to read the 40 books in the Spenser series in the next five years. Wish me luck!
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I read a few chapters and found it lacking.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Audible is doing a great service by issuing many of the original Spenser novels in audiobook form and read by one of my favorite readers: Michael Pritchard, who also does the Rex Stout mysteries. The Godwulf Manuscript is apparently the first Spenser novel (you know, spelled as in the poet.)

    Some folks credit Parker with development of the wise-cracking detective. I would beg to differ. As a devoted fan of Rex Stout, I saw so many shades of Archie in Spenser, except for the rough play. This Spenser is more interesting than the later one, when he is involved with Susan and tries so hard to be psychologically and politically correct. It's before he meets Hawk, also. I'll gradually work my way through the entire series, being less haphazard than in the past.

    I don't mind violence nor anything prurient, but it does seem to me that I prefer novels where the detectives remain within legal parameters and use their wits more than their fists. There is something subversive that conveys a message, which says the only way to right a wrong is by going outside the law. Clever is always preferable to bludgeoning. What saves Godwulf is the clever language and ripostes.

    His western series (I have read Appaloosa) and Jesse Stone are also excellnt.

    Pritchard is sooo much better as a reader than Ellitt Gould or Joe Mantegna. Avoid the latter two.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book is so much tosh, Librarything didn't even want to let me add to my library! An unusual case of reverse-first book syndrome - most series debuts make me want to buy the rest of the set in one go, but this one bored me silly. I'll play fair, though, and try a later title from the series.I think my main problem was the 1970s setting - the dialogue (I'd check the word count on 'sonova bitch' if I could be bothered), the sleaze and dear lord, the fashion (which Parker describes in detail, for some reason)! Please stop! Also, Spenser - with an s - tries way too hard. His tough guy narration is pathetic, paling in comparison with Marlowe or even my pet detetctive Archie Goodwin. He boffs a mother and daughter, gets beaten and shot, drinks and drives (yeah, I know, me and my modern sensibilities), and is just generally skeevy. Plus - not as funny as Parker obviously thinks he is. My favourite line? 'I am a horse's ass'. Because it's true.The 'mystery' is nonsensical too. Don't expect Inspector Morse at Oxford, despite the title - the manuscript is just a plot device. What we actually get is drugs and gangsters, hey ho. Nice try, though, Mr Parker.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    1st Spenser novel, spends a good deal of time describing the wardrobes of the period, (I'd forgotten we wore clothes like that) and some interesting meals.I've read several later Spenser books, and enjoyed them enough to want to start at the beginning, and I'm glad I did. Parker wrote forty Spenser novels, so I can spend the next couple of years watching him grow and develop as a private detective and a person. Brenda Loring makes her fist appearance in this book, Susan Silverman makes her first appearance in the next, 'God Save the child'.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Godwulf Manuscript. Spenser is such a classic gumshoe. Attractive to women, but sensitive; smart; bends the rules for a good cause; and likes his booze. Oh, and he is better in the kitchen than I am! A quick, amusing read. I will look for more in the series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This campy noir-style mystery is the first of the insanely long-running Spenser series, that is now on it's 40th book and second author, Ace Atkins, who takes over for the late Parker. This brisk pocket-read has a few of the hallmarks of a new author (wordy, overly descriptive, slightly one dimensional characters) but also shows its potential. Spenser is a guy's guy - hard drinking, smart mouthed, tough - but shows a few soft spots in all the right places. The sex scenes in this story feel misplaced, like they were added in for shock value rather than for any reason pertaining to the plot, but thats really my biggest gripe. Readers should take this entry with a grain of salt as its showing its age, but its still a fun little romp to spend a couple empty hours on.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I read this for the monthly book-reading game at the KindleBoards.com forum. By design, it is in a genre outside of my comfort zone. In spite of that, I still enjoyed it, though a few of its quirks kept me from totally getting into it. The protagonist's penchant for irritating everyone became irritating to me: why did all these people hire him in spite of the fact that he rubbed them all the wrong way? Also, his tendency to describe all sorts of details (clothes, furniture, street scenes, etc.) got annoying. The vast majority had no bearing on the story, other than apparently to prove to us how well this detective noticed all the details.But, the story-telling was brisk, the plot interesting, and the characters generally believable and not entirely stereotyped. As the book was published way back when I graduated from high school, it was kind of fun to see references to a lot of things peculiar to that time, form the clothes to the cigarettes -- and no concern about promiscuity and AIDS/HIV.Overall, if I were into the mystery/detective genre, I'd probably want to check out some of the later books to see how they evolved, as I liked much of the writing. But as it's really not my thing, I suspect it is unlikely I'll read more of them.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    First in the Spenser series.Boston, mid-1970s. Someone has stolen the Godwulf Manuscript from an urban Boston university, and Spenser--an ex-policeman turned private investigator--is hired to recover it. Simultaneously, a student connected with a radical cult organization winds up dead, with four bullet holes in his chest; his young lover is the prime suspect in the murder. Spenser believes the two incidents are connected, but his investigation is frustrated repeatedly by lack of leads.Parker broke new ground with Spenser, a tough, sarcastic, cynical private investigator with a past. Supposedly, McDonald, Leonard, Connolly developed their protagonists more or less on the model created by Parker with Spenser. I also see no small resemblance with Elvis Cole, Myron Bolitar and some other, more contemporary PIs. The plot is good although nothing special; what makes the book is the character of Spenser (who, among other things, is quite a good cook) and the interesting characters that fill the story.Not the best police procedural I’ve read, but interesting enough that I will read at least one more in the series.Recommended for aficionados.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This is the Spenser series set in Boston, and of course, was made into a serial drama. I am not impressed with the character or with the writing. I felt that I was transposed to an earlier decade, and I did not enjoy the journey. Spenser seems to carry a big block on his shoulder, and seems to always be in hot water. At times, Spenser seemed like a bad replica of Raymond Chandler's Marlowe. Chandler provides a better setting and a better characterization than Parker. I do not believe I will continue with the Spenser series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I didn't like Spenser, and that's a problem with a novel starting a series, one in a first person voice where Spenser is supposed to be your intimate guide into the story. If you don't like your narrator and protagonist, then you're going to need a really strong voice or plot or style or characterizations, and I didn't find that the case here. I did rather enjoy the story in the beginning--it was published in 1973 and reading about the campus radicals, the hippies, the days where you called cops "pigs" and "Super Swine" was like a trip in a time machine; it was interesting to visit, all the more because you're happy you don't live there. Spenser has a rather smart--and smart aleck voice. But boy, this is another hard-drinking PI who thinks nothing of break-ins--and worse--roughing up a guy who won't talk, and sleeping not only with his client's wife, but their daughter. It was around there, about half-way through, when I gave up on Spenser. The mystery certainly wasn't enough. Part of the problem might be I'm reading way too many hard-boiled private detective series lately back to back. The last one was Paretsky's VI Warshawski, and she too gets worked over at one point by mobster types--and in both cases, I'm thinking, gee, isn't that sort of holding a Neon sign over your head saying "look here for villain?" I stayed with the Paretsky though, because I liked her detective--Spenser however, just came across as a thug.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Spenser is a great combination of wise guy, tough guy, and heart, and his first adventure is certainly worth reading for its own sake as well as for an introduction to the character before some of the hightlights of the series.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've read several of the Spenser novels and have enjoyed them. I decided to go back and see what he was like in the beginning. He's deffinitely got a different roughness to this character. It's interesting to see Spenser without Susan and Hawk involved in the witty dialogues. I really enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot, not really sure how Spenser was going to uncover substantial leads to break the case. Several good action sequences that built to a climax with a nice solid end to the story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I don't normally like mysteries, but I loved this one! It's the first in the Spenser series (Spenser being the inspiration for the "Spenser: For Hire" TV show of the '80s). Spenser's hired by a university to track down a missing illuminated manuscript, but along the way he stumbles into a drug-smuggling plot and has to save a girl who's in over her head.This book was especially notable, to me, because of the inclusion of a terrific character of color: a woman who's strong, intelligent, and independent -- neither a token nor a sex object. That was fantastic, and very surprising in a book written in 1973!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It took me a while to find this first book in the Spenser series. I came to discover Parker only a few years ago and was reluctant to take on Spenser. Again, with the books adapted to a tv series, I felt I would be comparing Robert Urich to the book constantly. However, I decided I would try the first 2 and see how it went. First, it's a very short book and a very quick read. Easily finishable in a few hours. And I was surprised that the lack of personal details regarding Spensers physical description were wonderful. Whether that holds out in future installments remains to be seen, but I was not on the contstant comparison grandstand. (Hey I'm not Knocking Urich--I thought he was a great actor and he will forever be Dan Tanna as far as I'm concerned.) I hope the series progresses, in both time and character development. It has great promise. And it was nice to enjoy a read that didn't just keep beating you about the head with the story, but that sort of jsut happened, kinda like life.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Spenser's '74 launching. Campus radicals and the drug trade. Exciting, but not as slick as the later ones.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was my very first Spenser novel, and I really enjoyed it. Its strength was its dialogue. Especially Spensers. It was fast, snappy, and intelligent and was an intregal part of the overall character development. Highly recommended. Especially for fans of Grafton, Hammett, and Muller.