What if you were the guy hired to be Jackie Robinson's bodyguard right at the time he crosses the color barrier to play in major-league baseball? This book would be perfect if that was all that Parker had written. However, by interspersing the reflections of "Bobby" a boy who, inthe same 1947, writes in his journal about his young adolescence and his love of baseball, Parker makes the book something else. I suppose it could be called literature, but, to me, it seems to distract from the primary story. All in all, a minor complaint.

Released at 01/09/2007 Meet-up.

Picked up at January Meetup

Unlike stephenorr, I really enjoyed the reflections of Bobby (who must be Robert Parker, don't you think?). It gave some real life setting to the story of Jackie Robinson, what the world was like then and how monumental breaking the color barrier in baseball was. The story of Burke, the bodyguard, has some of the tough guyness of Spenser but Burke is a much colder character. He's been wounded in the war and in life and seems to care about very little. I understand that he is changed by seeing the world as Robinson sees it but it becomes hard to believe that he transforms into the person he is at the end. The final scene with Robinson, Burke and Lauren, has a little too much of a Spenser, Hawk, and Susan motif but I'm mkaing it sound like I didh't like the book and I did. It was very hard to put down, I read it in about 2 days and that was only because I feel alseep about 1 am before I could finish the last twenty pages!

I've loaned this to my Mom, who might journal it or might not.

My Mom isn't going to journal it but she liked it very much and is handing it on to my sister, who might journal it.

RELEASE NOTES:

For Boston August MeetUp

Picked up this book at the most recent Bookcrossing meetup. Will go in my "to be read" pile. Looks like an interesting read...

Not nearly as much baseball as I expected in this book. Baseball isn't even brought up until page 92, and then it's still more a story of relationships and gangsters than of baseball. Not a bad book overall (though not great either), just not what I expected.

Picked up at the October 2007 Boston Bookcrossing meeting. Looks interesting!

Received in a Boston sports-themed care package. Believe I've read this before. But Robert B. Parker non-Spenser novels are a treat. Will likely be a 2020 summer vacation read.