Rating: 
Summary: It's okay. They can't all be knockouts.
Review: Sometimes I wonder if those of us who read series (especially long-standing series like Spenser) have unrealistically high expectations for each new book. I think the truth of the matter is that some books will be great and some will be just okay, and maybe a few will genuinely suck (though not too many, we hope). After all, who has a great year every year? Some are good, some better than others. That's just real life. And Parker's series seems to do a good job of replicating this aspect in Spenser's life. Some years have huge crises and brushes with death; others not much happens.This volume is one of the mid-level ones. It's okay, not bad, not great either. One aspect I think rather unrealistic is the idea that Spenser and Susan have been together for twenty years and have never talked about her past. In most dating relationships, this comes up in the first month. In some ways, perhaps this is Parker overcompensating for unduly neglecting this aspect of Susan's character in the past. He probably felt like he had to get it in sometime, and though it would have been more appropriate some ten or fifteen books ago, it's probably good that he got it in now. Parker has said that he doesn't have a favorite Spenser book; he feels like all of them are just episodes in an ongoing series and they sort of blur together. And maybe in this way, Spenser really reflects life. So if this book wasn't a dazzler, that's okay. That's just life.
Rating: 
Summary: Probably gets too far ahead of a typical Spencer story
Review: Having read all but 4 Spencer novels over the period of 5 months, I find this story gets too far into the James Bond type of character. While an ok novel, I hope we can go back to the mid era of Spenser novels in the future. I'm I sorry I bought the book, not a chance. Luv the guy.
Rating:
Summary: wow, what a sensitive guy
Review: the perversity of relationships is beyond belief, and well illustrated in sudden mischief. how does one sense a liar? and if you discover your loved one is lying to you in word and deed, how long do you resist facing up to it? the culprit's decision to repeat past behavior even though it has stopped working for him is a classic study of our psychological weaknesses. spenser and hawk are my dream mates - intuitive, sensitive, and they can beat the crap out of anybody who gives me a hard time. must be like having the hulk as your best friend, only he likes to drink & smoke, & doesn't go through so many clothes.
Rating:
Summary: Spenser keeps going, fading a bit
Review: We've gone through the entire series and in fact I have them all reviewed. I really admire his ethics, and like the characterizations, but Susan bugs me. She romps through life, treating Spenser unkindly, and he sticks by her. Does she deserve it? In this novel she's not exactly sane. At least she helps him with a brick at for sure that Brad won't come back and kill Susan later! What bothered me most was his train of thought with the "cheated-on husband" - it's better to be lied to than to know the truth. WHAT???
Rating: 
Summary: This book is dark and mentally thought provoking!
Review: Once again Robert B. Parker has gone out and written a masterful novel in the Spenser series. This time Spenser is asked to look into a sexual harasssment case against Susan's ex- husband, Brad Silverman. As Spenser digs deeper and deeper into the past of Brad and Susan, Brad suddenly disappears. Because Spenser and Hawk found a dead body in Brad's office suspicion is shifted towards Brad and his cloudy and questionable past. When one of Brad's other ex- wives is found murdered that is when Spenser becomes very confused about where Brad is hiding and who killed these two people. Happy reading spenser fans!
Rating:
Summary: Clever dialogue, good character development, good plot.
Review: Spenser, a Boston private detective, is approached by his girl friend to help her ex-husband with his sexual harrassment lawsuit. The twists and turns of plot leads to murder and mayhem which is sorted out by Spenser and his ad hoc colleague Hawk. Hawk is a gentleman of color who can on occasion lapse into ghettoese. Parker captures the dialogue in ways which are reminiscent of Mark Twain at his best. As an example, Spenser and Hawk visit a bar owned by Tony a gentleman who runs the prostitution operation in Boston. Hawk notes: "'Tall skinny kid with the slick hair? Came in with the other two brothers? Name is Ty-Bop Tatum. He's Tony's shooter.' 'Ty-Bop?' I said. 'What happens when you got thirteen-year-old girls naming babies,' Hawk said." An entertaining and satisfying reading experience.
Rating:
Summary: Aging Spencer is back with a vengence. A delightful read.
Review: Spencer is back, in all his aging glory. This book did not disappoint. As with all spencer books, the engaging repartee' was delightful. Want to know what happens to p.i.'s when they get older? Do they just fade away? Not this guy. Hawk appears deeper, yet!
Rating:
Summary: Susan, Please go away!!!
Review: Memo to Mr. Parker: For God's sake, kill off Susan. I am so sick of her anorexic eating habits, neurotic behavior and ambivalent feelings toward our hero. Give Spenser a break. It will do wonders for his career which seems to be stuck in neutral. Think of the pathos. A story that has Susan going to that big group therapy session in the sky will be an instant bestseller. Fans will buy the book just to make sure that she is really gone. Maybe then Spenser and Hawk can get back to kicking butt and taking names, something that they haven't done much of lately.
Rating: 
Summary: Another loaf of bread soaked with tasteless water
Review: It seems to me that Parker has lost the ways and means of continuing this series. Boring scenario, plotless plot, trying to be wisecracking but not funny at all dialogue with lot of short and single words such as "Umm," he said; "Yep," I said; "Maybe," I said; "Sure," he said; and lots of repeating of the upper line, such as "Even if we don't," ...I said, "Even if." It also seems to me that Parker is an loyal oyster lover since he made Spenser and Hawk eat lot of oysters in this novel(shall we call it a short story, since the plotting and the wordings of it are both short and non-exist?) Some one may still fail to pull himself out of the extremely pretentious short style of dialogue created by Parker, but in reality, this kind of short dialogue might mean termination of any kind of relationships in marriage and friendship, since the two persons involved in speaking could not find anything meaningful to say but only short and pretentious and repeative words. By using a charity gone sour and Susan's ex hubby in this poor and tasteless novel only implied that Parker has lost interest in trying to make the Spenser series more interesting or transcend himself in writing a new one better than the formers but just want to cash in by his fame. There were so many moment that Parker showed the readers that he himself could not find where to go with this book: Page 156, Chapter 27, I was sitting in my office...trying to find a pattern in the matter of...(writing this story?) Making Brad Sterling disappear at 2/3 of this book and then let him appear in the end for a quickie round-up; making Gavion cry in Page 248 and simply said, "I...loved...her." to save a lot of more complicated explanation which also made this encounter a most ridiculous fact: until Page 247, when Gavin asked Spenser, "So what went wrong?" "I don't know," I said. "Maybe...." It only means that until then, Parker still don't know how to final! ize this bored-to-death hollow story and "Yes, that bothers me too," I said to myself while holding this heavy hardcover like Spenser told Gavin in Page 247. Also, by using heavy, thick paper and loose lines printing to balloon this (should-be-120~150paged) book upto a total 288 pages thick book, wasting a lot of trees, is also a shameless trick by the publisher who just want to heighten the selling price not by quality but quantity.
Rating:
Summary: Love the dialog; the plot is secondary to a Spenser novel!
Review: Parker's witty dialog among Spenser, Hawk, Susan, et al, is why I enjoy the Spenser series so much. If you're looking for tons of action, violence and convoluted story line, look elsewhere. Parker shines in continuing to develop, nurture and mature the characters we've come to love and befriend over the years. Also, anyone who has a dog knows that "Pearl" really is a person.
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