Rating: 
Summary: Good for Spenser Fans
Review: If you are a Spenser fan you'll like this book which builds out more of Susan's background than ever before - and it's a interesting background. The plot is not bad, but not great and the character of Susan's husband is a bit cheesy. However the dialouge is classic Parker and that's always top notch. I enjoyed the book but having read many a Spenser novel and having read Hush Money before hand I can definitely say there are better Spenser books to read first. Hush Money is excellent, and so is Walking Shadow.
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: 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: Spenser has to help out Susan's ex-husband...fun ensues
Review: It would be accurate to describe "Sudden Mischief" as the Spenser novel in which our hero has a client who refuses to tell him much about the subject under investigation and when Spenser starts poking his nose around in things people show up and tell him to drop the case or they will beat him up. Eventually he finds out the truth and attempts to do the right thing. Of course this describes a whole bunch of Robert B. Parker's novels in this series and the fact that I have been reading them straight through in order probably magnifies the redundancies. That being said, there are certainly some interesting developments in this 25th Spenser story, although most of them focus on the always fascinating relationship between our hero and Susan Silverman. Especially when Susan gets to hit a guy in the head with a brick.Out of a clear blue sky Susan has received a visit from her ex-husband Brad Sterling (the joke is HE changed his name after Susan nee Hirsch Silverman divorced him). Brad tells Susan he has financial difficulties and a sexual harassment suit that will ruin him. Susan asks our hero to look into the latter, but Brad does not seem too worried about things even though one of the nation's most prominent lawyers is out to get him. Susan, to say the least in an example of gross understatement, is conflicted over the fact she has asked her lover to help her ex-husband. In "Sudden Mischief" we find out more about Susan's past, the way we did about Spenser in "Pastime." The main question on the psychologist's couch is why Susan has been drawn to the men who have complicated her lives. Against this interpersonal drama the case under investigation seems rather incidental, even though there are corpses showing up that do not always have their tongues. "Sudden Mischief" is one of those Spenser novels that make you realize the Spenser series is really an epic love story where our hero and Susan just get distracted by these pesky little cases.
Rating:
Summary: Spenser has to help out Susan's ex-husband...fun ensues
Review: It would be accurate to describe "Sudden Mischief" as the Spenser novel in which our hero has a client who refuses to tell him much about the subject under investigation and when Spenser starts poking his nose around in things people show up and tell him to drop the case or they will beat him up. Eventually he finds out the truth and attempts to do the right thing. Of course this describes a whole bunch of Robert B. Parker's novels in this series and the fact that I have been reading them straight through in order probably magnifies the redundancies. That being said, there are certainly some interesting developments in this 25th Spenser story, although most of them focus on the always fascinating relationship between our hero and Susan Silverman. Especially when Susan gets to hit a guy in the head with a brick. Out of a clear blue sky Susan has received a visit from her ex-husband Brad Sterling (the joke is HE changed his name after Susan nee Hirsch Silverman divorced him). Brad tells Susan he has financial difficulties and a sexual harassment suit that will ruin him. Susan asks our hero to look into the latter, but Brad does not seem too worried about things even though one of the nation's most prominent lawyers is out to get him. Susan, to say the least in an example of gross understatement, is conflicted over the fact she has asked her lover to help her ex-husband. In "Sudden Mischief" we find out more about Susan's past, the way we did about Spenser in "Pastime." The main question on the psychologist's couch is why Susan has been drawn to the men who have complicated her lives. Against this interpersonal drama the case under investigation seems rather incidental, even though there are corpses showing up that do not always have their tongues. "Sudden Mischief" is one of those Spenser novels that make you realize the Spenser series is really an epic love story where our hero and Susan just get distracted by these pesky little cases.
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 WONDERFUL PIECE OF PARKER ESCAPISM
Review: Mr Parker continues to do what he does best, offer a source of "male escapism". Mr Parker write his novels not for literary brilliance but for pleasuring the male ego. "Sudden Mischief" continues the well proven theme of a tough but sensitive detective. Mr Parker's scene description ability makes it very easy to place one's self at the scene as though it is a site that is visited on a daily basis. He will never win the Pulitzer for a novel but Roberrt B. Parker's Sudden Mischief continues Spenser's antics, adventures, and escapades while maintaining a strong "grin factor". Highly recommended reading for a good time.
Rating:
Summary: "Sudden Mischief" Is A Terrific Diversion With Old Friends
Review: Ok, there isn't as much action in "Sudden Mischief" as there is in some of the other Spenser novels. No matter. It has always been my contention that Robert B. Parker writes love stories that are disguised within the mystery genre. Think about it. What has always been paramount in his novels has been the relationships, especially those of Spenser to Hawk and Susan. And when the cases are most compelling, it means Spenser has taken a personal interest in his client: Paul Giacomin, say, or Rachel Wallace. In "Sudden Mischief," Spenser's client is Susan, as she asks him to help our her troubled ex-husband. There's no getting away from the fact that this is Susan at her neurotic best, but it also is Spenser at his compassionate best. The story also gives new colors (no pun intended) to his friendship with Hawk, and at the very least continues to paint Boston and environs in delightful new shades. If you can get through the early chapters without getting hunry for fried oysters, you're a better person than I. "Sudden Mischief" may not be a major work in the series, like "Early Autumn" or "Mortal Stakes." But it is a terrific diversion with characters who have become old friends, and who but a curmudgeon could complain about that?
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: 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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