Rating: 
Summary: strange criticism
Review: I find it odd, having actually discovered Parker with this book, that so many people seem to dislike it. I thought it was incredible, & continue to think so even after reading every other spenser book. I also don't know why people are reading the books if they don't like Susan. The relationship has been there since book two, & i find this chapter in their relationship to be a worthy addition. Are people looking for action? Most of his books, with the notable exception of a Catskill Eagle, are heavy on dialougue, not action. The relationships between all the characters are what have made this series compelling. A worthy addition, and a good introduction for those of us who joined the party late. By the way, I think Valediction is his best.
Rating: 
Summary: bad first time, wonderful second time
Review: I guess I was in a bad mood when I read this installment in the Spenser series. Because I often trashed it for not being very good. Then I went back years later to read it again. I was wrong.
I loved this book. It was a little bit different, but not some stupid want-to-be cowboy novel. You get to know Susan a little bit more, action, wise-cracks, Spenser novel stuff. Read with pleasure.
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: Don't get the audio version!
Review: I like Spenser books - the good and not so good, and I love audiobooks as they eliminate commuting driving stress / road rage. But this one made me angry because Windom's reading is REALLY bad! You can't tell one character from another in dialogues. Windom has odd inflection, particularly at the ends of sentences. And he sounds like he's sucking in his last breath with each phrase. Mr. WIndom, find another line of work, please!
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: 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: No room in the end!
Review: I see that I am not the only person becoming more and more dissappointed with the Spenser books. Spenser has contradicted himself in this latest stab in the series. There was no climax to this book. The boy scout Spenser allows Susan's ex to just simply run off when he has brutually murdered two people, one being a woman with the excuse of "they will catch up to him soon". For Spenser, who has just about always portrayed that "someone has got to pay", dissappointing doesn't come close to describing this debacle. I had been put off with the book from the first two or three pages and it didn't get much better throughout. But the end, there is no room for such crap!
Rating:
Summary: Better than the recent average
Review: I'm not as pessimistic as "judge" above. Yes, Parker slipped badly in the early 90s - I was particularly annoyed by several short books with very wide margins. But this and the last entry ("Small Vices") were much improved. In both these books Spenser and Susan deal with substantive issues in their relationship: whether or not to adopt a child in the first, and Susan's silence about her past and her loyalty and committment to men not worthy of her in this one (Spenser, of course, both does and does not fit that category.) Where Parker is lacking is precisely those places that Judge identifies - Spenser's wonderful relationships with the supporting cast, and the excellent characterizations found there. I read these books as much for Hawk and Belson and Quirk, and the more of them the merrier. At least Rachel Wallace makes a cameo here. Another significant shortcoming is the waste of a truly worthy white-collar foe for Spenser, a visciously corrupt Brahmin lawyer/judge who meekly shows up at the end and writes a check.... Boo! You'd be hard pressed to beat the climaxes of both this book and Small Vices, though. I found them gripping and beliveable, and Spenser's restraint both times it quite impressive. Get it from the library, or wait for the paperback, however - I haven't bought Parker in hardcover since "A Catskill Eagle."
Rating:
Summary: Better than the recent average
Review: I'm not as pessimistic as "judge" above. Yes, Parker slipped badly in the early 90s - I was particularly annoyed by several short books with very wide margins. But this and the last entry ("Small Vices") were much improved. In both these books Spenser and Susan deal with substantive issues in their relationship: whether or not to adopt a child in the first, and Susan's silence about her past and her loyalty and committment to men not worthy of her in this one (Spenser, of course, both does and does not fit that category.) Where Parker is lacking is precisely those places that Judge identifies - Spenser's wonderful relationships with the supporting cast, and the excellent characterizations found there. I read these books as much for Hawk and Belson and Quirk, and the more of them the merrier. At least Rachel Wallace makes a cameo here. Another significant shortcoming is the waste of a truly worthy white-collar foe for Spenser, a visciously corrupt Brahmin lawyer/judge who meekly shows up at the end and writes a check.... Boo! You'd be hard pressed to beat the climaxes of both this book and Small Vices, though. I found them gripping and beliveable, and Spenser's restraint both times it quite impressive. Get it from the library, or wait for the paperback, however - I haven't bought Parker in hardcover since "A Catskill Eagle."
Rating:
Summary: A lot of Susan
Review: I've noticed that passionate Spenser fans tend to be split on the issue of Susan Silverman. Is she an equal, challanging partner, worthy of our hero? Or is she an inflated, whining bore? I've always fallen squarely into both camps. I think she's smart, beautiful, self-indulgent and self-involved. It's always bothered me that Spenser, so acute in his observations about others, seems blind to Susan's more annoying traits. Until now. She asks him to help her ex-husband out of a bind and then acts like a complete and total witch while he does it. And Spenser actually acknowleges it! Of course he accepts it, and the obstacles of the case, with the patience of Job. But that's what makes him Spenser. I thoroughly enjoyed this installment, more than the more recent POTSHOT. And I had none of the issues that other reviewers mentioned about William Windom's rendition. He's not as good a Spenser as Joe Mantagna, but I liked him better than Burt Reynolds. I do wish the technicians had mixed the tape a little better, though. The sound was frequently just too soft. (Or perhaps, like Spenser, I'm showing my age!)
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