Sudden Mischief

Rating:
Summary: It all began with Susan Silverman's ex-husband
Review: "Be well aware, " quoth that lady mild,
"Lest sudden mischief ye too rash provoke"
- Spenser's FAERIE QUEEN

If you're interested in an audio edition, I enthusiastically recommend the unabridged recording narrated by William Windom. The exchanges between Hawk and Spenser come out very well indeed; so does everything, in fact, including some truly slimy characters. (Didn't know that Windom could play creepy roles? See him as the prosecutor in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.)

Welcome to one of Spenser's cases where a friend has asked him to take on an unpaid job: Susan Silverman, on behalf of her ex-husband. She kept his name, but he changed it - he's now Brad Sterling. He's trying to be a Yankee success story - Harvard graduate, PR guy with his own business and a corner office - but he's now facing a lawsuit that can ruin him even if he wins.

A group of women volunteers from a fund-raiser he organized the previous year - Galapalooza, a big event put on collectively for a lot of charities too small to have their own fund-raisers - are suing him for sexual harassment. Unfortunately, one of the plaintiffs is Jeanette Ronin, the trophy wife of Francis Ronin, one of the most famous trial lawyers in the U.S. None of the defendants will talk to Spenser about the case, and even Sterling is evasive. But for Susan's sake, Spenser perseveres - and sudden mischief is indeed provoked...

Most of the usual supporting players appear: Hawk decides to hang around, after 2 thugs try to chase him away ("I made $200,000 last week in Miami, and I don't much like people threatenin' me"), Rita Fiore (knowledgeable about Ronin, having argued cases before him); Rachel Wallace; and Pearl the Wonder Dog. Even Tony Marcus is back ("Should've been life, and you out in 3 years.")

Rating:
Summary: It all began with Susan Silverman's ex-husband
Review: "Be well aware, " quoth that lady mild,
"Lest sudden mischief ye too rash provoke"
- Spenser's Faerie Queen

If you're interested in an audio edition, I enthusiastically recommend the unabridged recording narrated by William Windom. The exchanges between Hawk and Spenser come out very well indeed; so does everything, in fact, including some truly slimy characters. (Didn't know that Windom could play creepy roles? See him as the prosecutor in _To Kill a Mockingbird_.)

Welcome to one of Spenser's cases where a friend has asked him to take on an unpaid job: Susan Silverman, on behalf of her ex-husband. She kept his name, but he changed it - he's now Brad Sterling. He's trying to be a Yankee success story - Harvard graduate, PR guy with his own business and a corner office - but he's now facing a lawsuit that can ruin him even if he wins.

A group of women volunteers from a fund-raiser he organized the previous year - Galapalooza, a big event put on collectively for a lot of charities too small to have their own fund-raisers - are suing him for sexual harassment. Unfortunately, one of the plaintiffs is Jeanette Ronin, the trophy wife of Francis Ronin, one of the most famous trial lawyers in the U.S. None of the defendants will talk to Spenser about the case, and even Sterling is evasive. But for Susan's sake, Spenser perseveres - and sudden mischief is indeed provoked...

Most of the usual supporting players appear: Hawk decides to hang around, after 2 thugs try to chase him away ("I made $200,000 last week in Miami, and I don't much like people threatenin' me"), Rita Fiore (knowledgeable about Ronin, having argued cases before him); Rachel Wallace; and Pearl the Wonder Dog. Even Tony Marcus is back ("Should've been life, and you out in 3 years.")

Rating:
Summary: weak
Review: About to stop reading Spenser novels if Parker doesn't stop emphasizing Susan in this series.

Rating:
Summary: post-Vice breather
Review: After Small Vices, perhaps the best of Parker's Spenser series, a letdown was expected. It would have been inappropriate to have so intense a story follow so quickly -- the suspension of disbelief would have been been unsustainable.

So Sudden Mischief focuses on relationships more than action. While Pastimes illuminated Spenser's childhood, details of Susan's pre-Spenser history are exposed in Mischief. This isn't as bad as it might seem. Earlier in the series, I found Susan to be so self-absorbed I almost stopped reading. However, she's since matured, developed, and become more an asset to Spenser's work than a liability. I actually found her presence enjoyable here.

The "mystery" part of the book is more ordinary by Spenser standards. As others have pointed out, there's all the usual Spenser elements, including his annual rejection of supermonogamous temptations. But the story is hardly very compelling. There isn't much mystery there. The reader is left in a more passive role, turning the pages to see what will happen next, without much speculation into or concern over what that will be. Still, the story isn't overtly bad.

Even if it was, Parker's writing is always a joy. So, if you're a fan of the Spenser series, Sudden Mischief is a worthwhile investment of your time, and not only for the development of Susan's character.

Rating:
Summary: Light-Weight But Enjoyable
Review: After Small Vices, this seemed to be pretty light-weight as far a story line went. I always enjoy the humor that Parker injects into his tales, and there was plenty in this book. The scene where two thugs enter Spenser's office and threaten him...didn't that same thing happen in a recent Spenser book? An enjoyable if light-weight read.

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: 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: 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: 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: 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.