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Robert B. Parker's Kickback

By: Ace Atkins, Robert B. Parker - creator
Narrated by: Joe Mantegna
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Summary

P. I. Spenser, knight-errant of the Back Bay, returns in this stellar addition to the iconic New York Times best-selling series from author Ace Atkins.

What started out as a joke landed 17-year-old Dillon Yates in a lockdown juvenile facility in Boston Harbor. When he set up a prank Twitter account for his vice principal, he never dreamed he could be brought up on criminal charges, but that's exactly what happened.

This is Blackburn, Massachusetts, where zero tolerance for minors is a way of life.

Leading the movement is tough-as-nails Judge Joe Scali, who gives speeches about getting tough on today's wild youth. But Dillon's mother, who knows other Blackburn kids who are doing hard time for minor infractions, isn't buying Scali's line. She hires Spenser to find the truth behind the draconian sentencing.

From the Harbor Islands to a gated Florida community, Spenser and trusted ally Hawk follow a trail through the Boston underworld with links to a shadowy corporation that runs New England's private prisons. They eventually uncover a culture of corruption and cover-ups in the old mill town, where hundreds of kids are sent off to for-profit juvie jails.

©2015 Ace Atkins (P)2015 Random House Audio
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Critic reviews

“It’s great to see Spenser tackle a social evil with its roots in real life.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“A topical plot line propels bestseller Atkins’s engrossing fourth Spenser novel... Once again, Atkins has done a splendid job of capturing the voice of the late Robert B. Parker.” (Publishers Weekly)

“Atkins does a wonderful job with the characters created by Parker. To loyalists it may be heresy, but a case can be made for the Atkins novels being better than some of the last Spenser mysteries penned by Parker. A top-notch thriller.”(Booklist)

What listeners say about Robert B. Parker's Kickback

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Joe Mantagne gets Spenser so right!

Joe Mantagne gets Spenser so right! Didn't like the story though! Ace Atkins usually does a good job - just didn't like this one!

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  • Overall
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Missing the maestro

Its not the same anymore now that sadly Mr Parker has no input, its very sad as Spenser and Hawk are such great characters, the story is weaker, the foul language worse and I don't think Joe Mantegna can remember the voices he did last time.

Overall, very disappointing.

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