Rating: 
Summary: I skip the Susan parts
Review: In reading the past three or four books, I skipped right over the inter-chapters depicting Spenser with Susan. It makes for quick reading and I miss nothing.
Rating: 
Summary: This book bring out more of Susan's character
Review: I liked this book a lot; putting me in the minority, apparently. It's interesting to see Susan as a more fallible person, less of a goody two shoes. The relationship between Spencer and Susan is interesting, deep and not your conventional boy-girl scene. Even though they are deeply in love, they don't have the traditional happy ending. Very much more realistic, actually, for many of us.One thing I do agree on is that there should be more of Hawk. What a great character!
Rating: 
Summary: The time has come to dump Susan
Review: I have read all the Spenser books until now, but unless Susan goes, I may not read the next one. I would trade 10 Susans for one Hawk.
Rating:
Summary: self congratulatory pseudo feminist psychobabble tripe
Review: I am still a big fan of the Spenser novels.Always fun to read (and a fast read too); Spenser's repartee with Hawk is still my favorite part. In fact, Hawk is the only character who retains some sense of continuity, but I cannot understand what it is about Susan Silverman that appeals to him. Susan Silverman is a royal pain and loses Parker 2 stars. Who gives a rat's about her self indulgent, quite boring and overly-needy ego? No empathy here. Spenser should dump her and go for Rita Fiore. Even getting it on with Rachel Wallace would make a better read.
Rating: 
Summary: Who would have thunk it?
Review: Spenser as Alan Alda-oozing-type male feminist? Come on Robert B!... Spenser USED to be a very sexy character - a girl likes a bit of sensitivity, but that cotton candy stuff has got to go!! And enough with the Susan Silverman whining, it's even a turn off for me, and I'm a woman! Sorry I wasted the $$ on this one, hope RBP can redeem himself soon. Sincerely.
Rating: 
Summary: A major disappointment
Review: I consider myself a Spenser fanatic, as I have read every one of the books at least twice, many of them so often I don't even care to remember, yet the most recent effort I found practically unreadable. Honestly, who cares about Susan Silverman's petty self-centered analyses about her childhood and consequences thereof? At least one half of the book concentrated on this, and the rest consisted of a haphazard crime plot, the substance of which seemed to have been thrown together on a coffee break (decaf, right, Spenser?). To summarize: so far I've read only good or brilliant Spenser novels; this one was the first downright miserable one. You can do better, Mr. Parker.
Rating:
Summary: Is Susan an only child or the youngest of three?
Review: I love all of Parker's Spenser novels. However, lately he seems to forget the background he's given some of them. Susan is a good case in point. Many books ago(maybe A Catskill Eagle?) Susan tells Spenser she is the youngest of three. Now, amazingly, she was an only child. Which is it? Seems Parker is not interested enough in this character to be consistent. And enough of her whining already. She has become a stereotype. Hawk/Spenser dialogue is the best part of the novels. Not enough of that here. Still, looking forward to the next installment.
Rating:
Summary: it's hard not to love Spenser
Review: but I agree with everyone else... Please get rid of Susan's angst! It seemed to stymie, rather than clarify, Parker's plot in this one. And the way the plot has been strung together... I think he's produced better in earlier novels, hasn't he? Still, we're so fond of Spenser (and not the Ulrich TV version, either! i listen to the Burt Reynolds audio books) that we can excuse a lot, including lame dialogue and weak plotting. Sigh... such beautiful memories of earlier excursions, but I'm sure Spenser will rise again to fight the evils of the world and eat plenty of good oysters and merlot.And it's okay if Susan's there, too. I admire his devotion, but she might eventually annoy me if I ever read all 25 Spenser novels.
Rating:
Summary: Spenser, Hawk...and, regrettably, Susan - AGAIN.
Review: At some point in time in the late 80's, Parker either decided to "get in touch with his feminine side," or, alternatively, the influence of his wife, Joan, overcame his previously dead-certain writer's sense. This Spenser book, "Sudden Mischief," is as tedious as they come, due in main part to the ubiquitous Susan, and her seemingly endless supply of angst and psychobabble. Let me make this clear: I am a female reader, of more-than-adult age, of this series. A female character is perfectly acceptable to me. What is *not* acceptable to me is that the very things that previously made the Spenser works so enjoyable should suffer badly solely so the reader can "understand" Susan Silverman....as if there is anything worth understanding. Susan's endless involvement, beginning, if memory serves, with "Ceremony," in Spenser's cases has become the downfall of the series. And whom, precisely, is it that actually *wants* to know Susa! n better? She has never changed; her character is unattractive and boring. She is spoiled, vain, and an unredeemable neurotic. The only possible reason ever seen for Spenser to be attracted to her is that she "allows" him to be who and what he is...which is a rather shaky basis for a purported 20-year relationship. Doesn't Spenser ever get tired of "saving" Susan, whether from bad guys, or herself? And, if Spenser is allowed to "be himself," then why on earth would he violate his most deeply held beliefs, and allow Brad Sterling to go free, if not for Susan? Even the (formerly) finely-honed repartee between Hawk and Spenser suffers (again) in this work. Hawk is indubitably the finest character drawn by Parker; many-shaded, deeper than apparent; and unrelentingly and unrepentently violent, as needed. But, the more we are "treated" to Susan, the less we see of Hawk, and more's the pity. It is time for Parker to give up the psy! chobabble, relegate Susan to a supporting role, where she b! elongs, and reinvigorate the existence, and joy, of Hawk and Spenser doing that which they do - professional thugs, albeit with a conscience. The succinct dialogue needs refreshing, and the repartee needs to be disinterred from whatever writer's graveyard to which it has been consigned. Lastly, the pseudo-angst of Susan needs to be sent where it belongs: some "support group" for the perpetually neurotic, along with other unattractive, self-centered women who believe that the universe revolves about them and their problems. For any mature reader, there is nothing endearing about Susan and her immature problems; you merely want to slap her and tell her to grow the hell up. Mr. Parker, it is admirable that you are a "sensitive" man. But do all of your long-term fans a favor, please: banish your wife to some other room of the house, make Susan the supporting player she was always meant to be, and return to writing the quick, momentum-packed, terse, wi! tty and escapist prose that made the early Spenser action/adventure novels the success that captured our imaginations and hearts. We don't *want* a "kinder, gentler" Spenser, and, unless you make some very dramatic changes in her character, I could not care less if I *ever* saw Susan again. I concur with another reviewer's comment; I should be just as happy if she were killed off, which would be a viable reason to return Spenser to his roots.
Rating:
Summary: He did it again!
Review: Reading Robert B Parker is for me like eating potato chips or cotton candy. Insubstantial for the most part but I cannot stop. Once again, the silver-tongued Spenser dazzles his way through most of Massachusetts, unwinding a ball of twine which has Susans ex-husband in the middle. Susan, who has always seemed slightly above the rest of mortal women, actually shows some flakiness here. But she still doesnt eat or drink. I am looking forward to a novel which has Susan ingesting more than a teaspoon of anything. This one is a great (but way too quick) read.
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