Rating: 
Summary: Spensers take on love and marriage; Hawk's first appearance
Review: "Promised Land" starts with the expected Spenser beginning, where our hero shows up in Cape Code to investigate a runaway wife but quickly discovers the situation is a lot more complicated than that and will require, as such cases invariably do, his special touch to save the day. What will stand out in this fourth novel in Robert B. Parker's series is not so much the Spensarian dissection of the feminist movement or the first appearance of the character of Hawk, but Susan Silverman telling Spenser that she loves him and waiting for him to make some sort of appropriate reply. Clearly their relationship has settled down from the previous novel and now it is just a question of putting it into words the two of them can agree upon. "Promised Land" is not so much a departure from the earlier books as it is a reminder that Parker is not going to fall into a predictable formula. The fight sequences are neither as brutal or as long, the action is out of town so there is less cooking than usual, and Spenser spends more time counseling his clients than investigating. Most of his time is spent trying to figure out what to do about the problems at hand takes up more time than determining exactly what is going on this time around. Given Susan's declaration this is rather appropriate, since there is an unhappy marriage at the root of all the extra curricular troubles. Still, Spenser is rubbing people the wrong way, rarely finding an appreciative audience for his acerbic wit, which is fun since the whole point is that the audience is the only one in on most of the jokes. You will be well into the downhill part of the book before it becomes clear what the shopping bag and rifle on the cover have to do with the story, but the ironic meaning of the title will become clear early on. This book qualifies as an average Spenser mystery, which still makes it a great read for those of us living the commuter life style.
Rating:
Summary: Spensers take on love and marriage; Hawk's first appearance
Review: "Promised Land" starts with the expected Spenser beginning, where our hero shows up in Cape Code to investigate a runaway wife but quickly discovers the situation is a lot more complicated than that and will require, as such cases invariably do, his special touch to save the day. What will stand out in this fourth novel in Robert B. Parker's series is not so much the Spensarian dissection of the feminist movement or the first appearance of the character of Hawk, but Susan Silverman telling Spenser that she loves him and waiting for him to make some sort of appropriate reply. Clearly their relationship has settled down from the previous novel and now it is just a question of putting it into words the two of them can agree upon. "Promised Land" is not so much a departure from the earlier books as it is a reminder that Parker is not going to fall into a predictable formula. The fight sequences are neither as brutal or as long, the action is out of town so there is less cooking than usual, and Spenser spends more time counseling his clients than investigating. Most of his time is spent trying to figure out what to do about the problems at hand takes up more time than determining exactly what is going on this time around. Given Susan's declaration this is rather appropriate, since there is an unhappy marriage at the root of all the extra curricular troubles. Still, Spenser is rubbing people the wrong way, rarely finding an appreciative audience for his acerbic wit, which is fun since the whole point is that the audience is the only one in on most of the jokes. You will be well into the downhill part of the book before it becomes clear what the shopping bag and rifle on the cover have to do with the story, but the ironic meaning of the title will become clear early on. This book qualifies as an average Spenser mystery, which still makes it a great read for those of us living the commuter life style.
Rating: 
Summary: I read this book about a thousand times during Saturday...
Review: ...detention when i was in high school.It was one of three books that i owned(the other two were Cujo and Brian Bosworth's autobiography)and my library privileges had been suspended.My criticism with this book and the whole Spenser series is that all the books are 3 star time killers that give the readers hints of potential greatness that never fully materializes.There is something too comfortable about them. I chose Promised Land to review over the other spenser novels because this book gives the best hint of the character Hawk's darkside and i think Robert B. Parker could write a real mofo prequel about Hawk and Spenser when they were younger more rash and aimed right at each other.Maybe if Robert B. Parker was hungry enough to write that book he'd have a shot at real immortality like the kind all the dead men Spenser likes to quote have.
Rating: 
Summary: PROMISED LAND holds no promise
Review: I am just extremely! glad that I didn't start off my long road with SPENCER reading this book, because it would have been the last.I was not impressed. Maybe because in the first one I had read the relationships between the characters had already been sorted out. I had gotten use to Spencer being able to handle the emotional side as far as Susan is concerned and therefore I found Susan's "problem" with Spencer's' attitude towards love, life and his work extremely irritating. Hawk was about as scary/dangerous as a reflection. The whit was there, the easy repartee, the cooking and all the other things that make Spencer an excellent read, but had I never read this book it wouldn't have mattered one iota. BUT - not to worry, the other books are excellent, worth your time and money and re-readable several times. ENJOY
Rating:
Summary: Early yet timeless Spenser
Review: If you aren't familiar with the Spenser series, this is the fourth book. Not that you have to read them in any particular order--but it is interesting to follow the development of the series chronologically. In this tale, Spenser ends up involved in finding a runaway wife--and bailing out her husband from his own mess too. This being an earlier Spenser book gives us a glimpse at how Spenser's relationship with Susan Silverman evolves and a foreshadowing of events to come in the relationship's future. Most notable is the introduction of Hawk to the series (not necessarily as an ally!). Parker's excellent characterization of Spenser through the character's musings, witty remarks, and ethical action are as strong in this novel as any of the other Spenser books I've read thus far. The plot itself has an entertaining build up and even better conclusion--I'd definitely recommend Promised Land to anyone curious about the series.
Rating:
Summary: Early yet timeless Spenser
Review: If you aren't familiar with the Spenser series, this is the fourth book. Not that you have to read them in any particular order--but it is interesting to follow the development of the series chronologically. In this tale, Spenser ends up involved in finding a runaway wife--and bailing out her husband from his own mess too. This being an earlier Spenser book gives us a glimpse at how Spenser's relationship with Susan Silverman evolves and a foreshadowing of events to come in the relationship's future. Most notable is the introduction of Hawk to the series (not necessarily as an ally!). Parker's excellent characterization of Spenser through the character's musings, witty remarks, and ethical action are as strong in this novel as any of the other Spenser books I've read thus far. The plot itself has an entertaining build up and even better conclusion--I'd definitely recommend Promised Land to anyone curious about the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Well worth the read.
Review: Robert B. Parker's THE PROMISED LAND lives up to its promise. In this novel, Spenser finally hits his bestselling stride. All of the major series characters are in place, and this is the novel that was dramatized to launch the original SPENSER series. Read it and enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: KEEPING ITS PROMISE
Review: Robert B. Parker's THE PROMISED LAND lives up to its promise. In this novel, Spenser finally hits his bestselling stride. All of the major series characters are in place, and this is the novel that was dramatized to launch the original SPENSER series. Read it and enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: The Introduction of Hawk
Review: Spenser and Susan are moving into his new office when a man comes by, wanting to find his wife. He lives out on the Cape with his kids; his wife has run off to New Bedford. It's the first time Hawk shows up in a book - he's just leaving (on a "visit") when Spenser arrives to talk the next day in Hyannis. He's working for Powers, a loan shark. Turns out both the guy and his wife are in trouble; Spenser cooks up an elaborate plot to entrap the bad guys on each side and rescue the couple. He helps out Hawk, and Hawk helps out him, but they're very "adversarial" although friendly. The couple is very clueless and you have to wonder if they're worth saving -grin-. My Notes: OK, so Spenser starts out talking deeply with Susan, but says he was on the Cape with "Brenda Loring" (what's with these full names?) a few months ago! He ogles the 16 yr old kid of his client. Hawk is a little too "jive" to be cool. But it's interesting to hear he fought along with Hawk 20 years ago and had met in gyms and such since them. They have "mutual respect". Note that if Spenser is therefore around 40 in this book, that makes him approaching 70 in current stories ... I suppose he has James Bond's immortal powers. Spenser's growing towards suavehood, but isn't quite there yet. I mean, he talks about throwing the kid through the window for being surly! He's not exactly understanding of the women he meets. This is not the Spenser I love -grin-. He at LEAST is drinking Amstel Lights and Heinekens now. Susan's more annoying than helpful; his comments about her are that she told him to sip his beer and such. She still guzzles food and drink. At the end he proposes marriage and she goes "Oh, jeez, I don't think so now. I just wanted you to ask". But now they're committed to each other forever even though a scant few months ago he was going for weekends with Brenda? Hmmmmm. And even though he's practically all over the woman in the story. True Love.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth the read.
Review: This book holds a few surprises. It is also quite interesting how Spenser manages to handle these surprises. In the process it makes a few valid observations about the feminist movement. Enjoy the book, then if you have the opportunity to see the movie with Robert Urich, enjoy that as well.
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