The Judas Goat
First edition
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| Author | Robert B. Parker |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Spenser |
| Genre | Detective fiction |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
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Publication date
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1978 |
| Media type | Hardcover, paperback, e-book |
| Pages | 181 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 3844295 |
| 813/.5/4 | |
| LC Class | PZ4.P244 Ju PS3566.A686 |
| Preceded by | Promised Land |
| Followed by | Looking for Rachel Wallace |
The Judas Goat is the fifth Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, first published in 1978.
A reclusive millionaire, Hugh Dixon, hires Spenser to find the nine members of a terrorist group that bombed a London restaurant where he and his family were dining, resulting in the deaths of his two daughters, his wife and leaving him a paraplegic. He is promised USD$2500 a head for the apprehension of each of the nine terrorists responsible, dead or alive. Spenser heads to London, England to start his investigation. Running an ad for information in The London Times results in two assassination attempts on Spenser. Spenser foils the attempts resulting in the deaths of two gunmen and the capture of another.
Spenser enlists the help of his friend Hawk, a powerful ally. Spenser tracks one of the members of the terrorist group, Liberty, and uses her as a Judas goat to lead him to other members.
"Katherine," the name she is operating under, flees to Copenhagen with Hawk and Spenser in pursuit. Spenser allows himself to be captured by Katherine's allies just to be rescued by Hawk before they can kill him. The rescue leads to the deaths of three more members of the group, but Kathie and the leader of the group, Paul, escape.
The group turns out to be an anti-communist/white-supremacist group trying to keep control of African countries away from the native Africans and in the hands of white countries and leaders. The bombing of the restaurant Dixon and his wife were in was more or less a random act of violence against England because of its backing an African country.
Tired of running from Spenser and Hawk, Paul leaves the corpses of the last two members responsible for the bombing in Spenser and Hawk's hotel room. The last member, Kathie, is tied up on a bed. A note from Paul says these are the last members of the bombing, which was executed without his involvement. He couldn't kill Kathie because he had been intimate with her for some time. Hawk and Spenser untie Kathie and interrogate her, but she doesn't know where Paul has fled. Upon further reflection, she recalls he may be at the Olympics in Montreal, Canada. Even though his obligations to Dixon are completed, the three of them fly to Montreal and rent a private home near the games. That night Kathie tries to seduce Spenser, but he rebuffs her.
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