First limited edition, #175 of 300 signed
Fine

This is just a short, short story, ugly and unsatisfying. A man has hired an ex-con to rape his ex-wife. On behalf of the female victim, Parker has Hawk bring the rapist to meet with the divorced pair. She shoots them both, as Parker lets her, and directs Hawk to get rid of the bodies . There's lots of wife/ husband argumentation, revealing that she's got a nasty side and he's just pathetic. There's no clever dialogue or engaging action or anything else that might make this unpleasant tale worthwhile. Did Parker really write this? If so, why? It's easy to see why Parker didn't try publishing this until 9 years after he wrote it. Thus, it's wound up in "Crime 3", a weak collection of dubious works, cast- offs that (with few exceptions) will be of little interest to fans of the genre.

This short story is available as a single, for 350 dollars. Rather than waste their money, readers can find it online for free here: https://stchas.instructure.com/courses/6080/pages/surrogate-by-robert-b-parker

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