I have absolutely no interest in baseball. The only reason I picked up this book is that I know that Robert B. Parker is not capable of telling a bad story. The first third of the novel - which gives bodyguard Joseph Burke's background - was interesting, but the story really did not really begin to come alive until Burke started to interact with Robinson. (And, yes, it does echo the Spencer/Hawk dynamics.) While I might have prefered another Spencer, this was a quite enjoyable story very much worth the telling.