Rating: 
Summary: Parker's Spencer is irreverent, humorous, ironical and true.
Review: As much as I like all of the Spencer novels by Robert B. Parker, A Catskill Eagle is the first one that I read, and will always be my favorite. In addition to being a great mystery story, the detective, Spencer, is irreverent, humorous, ironical and true-to-life. Parker definitely gets a ten as an author in my book
Rating: 
Summary: The beginning of the end for Spenser...
Review: Bad, bad, bad. Spenser goes pretentious and boring. After an interesting beginning, things (and the length of the book) spin out of control, as Spenser finds Susan again and makes up. Ever since, they've been gag-reflex inducing lovebirds... Still, the worst part of this book is the finale. Spenser becomes Bond, invades an underground base (all the while soul-searching himself endlessly), wraps things up before you know it and very unspectacularly, and goes out again. Pointless and ridiculous - and totally at odds with the attempts at greater profundity. Things were never the same after this... unfortunately.
Rating: 
Summary: This is where the downfall began
Review: Before this every Spenser novel was enjoyable, rich with characterization, and an amazing sense of style.Then came A Catskill Eagle. It's like Parker used everything up right here. He has Spenser go cross country to save his girl and all of a sudden everything becomes overblown. There is no reason to believe that the villain is FBI related and a terrorist until Parker runs out of steam. And then it turns into a James Bond novel. Which isn't what I'm looking for. It gets three stars because it's Parker, but after this Parker loses some steam, and the novels are on the decline. Until Small Vices anyway.
Rating:
Summary: This is where the downfall began
Review: Before this every Spenser novel was enjoyable, rich with characterization, and an amazing sense of style. Then came A Catskill Eagle. It's like Parker used everything up right here. He has Spenser go cross country to save his girl and all of a sudden everything becomes overblown. There is no reason to believe that the villain is FBI related and a terrorist until Parker runs out of steam. And then it turns into a James Bond novel. Which isn't what I'm looking for. It gets three stars because it's Parker, but after this Parker loses some steam, and the novels are on the decline. Until Small Vices anyway.
Rating:
Summary: The Best of the Spensers
Review: Having read all of Parker's Spenser novels -- and all but the first are very good or better -- this one is the best. It integrates all the familiar Spenser characters from earlier novels, even Rachel Wallace, sheds further light on the relationship with Hawk, and, most especially, on that with Susan Silverman, which is the subject of the esoteric title. It shows Spencer sensitive and suffering over the woman he loves, seems satisfying psychologically to me, although I'm not sure Susan would act quite as she did. But that's a quibble. This is Parker at his best, Spenser at his height, and a good, rip-roaring, cross-country adventure story to boot. I like God Save the Child and Mortal Stakes and Early Autumn and Small Vices very much. But if I had to take one Spenser book with me on a long, boring journey, this would be it.
Rating:
Summary: The best Spenser so far!
Review: I am an unabashed Parker/Spenser fan. I've read, no devoured, each and every Spenser novel. With that, I recommend A Catskill Eagle to you with my highest rating. It is action packed and scenery is always changing. It goes beyond the lives and backgrounds of Hawk, Spenser, and Susan to reveal the character of each. Robert Parker will really have work to ever beat this, but all Spenser fans are hoping, he'll put aside those other distractions and try.
Mark Felderman, Emmetsburg, Iowa
Rating: 
Summary: Spenser faces the Battle for Susan
Review: I had trouble getting into this story, mainly because the characters didn't behave as I am accustomed with so many other Spenser novels. The whole storyline was a little too weird for me, and I refuse to believe our government would pardon a criminal on the condition that he perform a covert action that wouldn't pass the "Washington Post test".
Rating:
Summary: Spenser faces the Battle for Susan
Review: I had trouble getting into this story, mainly because the characters didn't behave as I am accustomed with so many other Spenser novels. The whole storyline was a little too weird for me, and I refuse to believe our government would pardon a criminal on the condition that he perform a covert action that wouldn't pass the "Washington Post test".
Rating: 
Summary: Not among the best but still very good.
Review: I have read several Spenser novels chronologically starting with Mortal Stakes. This was my least favorite so far, but I still give it high grades. Parker is really stretching credibility in a story that boils down to a fight between two boys over a girl. It is a really big and complicated fight, and it involves mercenaries, gun manufacturers, CIA, FBI, so on and so on. But Parker somehow pulled it off. I can't help but enjoy the dynamic of Spenser, Hawk, Susan, et al. As with all of Parker's books, the strength lies in his characters. Overall, it was an entertaining but not quite great book; it was just a little too farfetched to get a five star rating. But if you are a fan of Spenser, you have to read this book. It is of crucial importance if you are following the relationships and the development of the characters.
Rating:
Summary: Not among the best but still very good.
Review: I have read several Spenser novels chronologically starting with Mortal Stakes. This was my least favorite so far, but I still give it high grades. Parker is really stretching credibility in a story that boils down to a fight between two boys over a girl. It is a really big and complicated fight, and it involves mercenaries, gun manufacturers, CIA, FBI, so on and so on. But Parker somehow pulled it off. I can't help but enjoy the dynamic of Spenser, Hawk, Susan, et al. As with all of Parker's books, the strength lies in his characters. Overall, it was an entertaining but not quite great book; it was just a little too farfetched to get a five star rating. But if you are a fan of Spenser, you have to read this book. It is of crucial importance if you are following the relationships and the development of the characters.
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