This is a review of the audio CD, not the novel. I have ten other Spenser audio CDs that I have enjoyed immensely. One of the things I like about Parker's Spenser is the humor in the books. When I listed to the novels on the CDs I pick up even more humor than is available in the books. The audio Cds are slower-paced than reading the books so things I miss as I'm racing along in the novels get picked up in the Cds. I've been very satisfied with Joe Montegna as the reader on the CDs I have but was willing to give William Windom a try. I'm sorry I did. There are several things wrong with Windom as the reader. The two most important are: William Windom's voice carries a world-weary tone that is completely opposite to Spenser's Parker who is unfailingly upbeat with a "glass-is-always-half-full approach to life and who always has a hint of humor in his conversation. The second problem is that Windom doesn't even attempt to change his voice for the various characters so, often, since Parker doesn't always use "he said" or "she says" for every line, you can't tell who is supposed to be talking. Windom also has the annoying habit of using an upward inflection at the end of sentences that don't call for it and, conversely, of dropping off the end of some sentences with so low a tone that he is inaudible. Altogether, a very unsatisfactory production.

I love Spenser but this novel was way too much psychoanalysis for me. It got a bit boring, too. Why Susan was attracted to bad men and all that baloney did nothing to make me feel for Susan and why was Rachel Wallace in this? The story line had a lot of promise but it just faltered. Won't keep me from reading more of Parker's books on Spenser.

In "Sudden Mischief," Susan comes to Spenser asking him to help out her ex-husband, Brad Sterling (he has changed his name). Brad is "on the edge of dissolution" and has been sued for sexual harassment by four women after he chaired a major charity event. However, when Spenser goes to talk to Brad, Brad laughs it off - claiming he is doing fine, there is no problem with harassment and Susan was over-reacting. Puzzled, Spenser starts to dig. And, of course, that brings some bruisers to bear upon him. Discovering that the charity event brought no money to any of the charities - except maybe one mysterious charity chaired by another of Brad's ex-wives called Civil Streets, but Spenser cannot be sure because no one will talk to him about it - Spenser becomes suspicious. Also, the harassment suit comes under fire when Spenser discovers love letters and naked pictures of one of the woman under Brad's bed.

Well paced and intricately plotted, this novel had more twists than the California coastal highway. I enjoy the Spenser novels, because they keep you guessing until the end. Not to be missed!

SUDDEN MISCHIEF, # 25 in the Spenser series, provided another prime work up on the Man/Woman relationship scene, dealing with ex-hubby scars, Susan's turtle-snap moods, and a new-and-improved conversational skill from Dr. Sigmund Spenser. I'm roaring onward toward the end of the series with continued amazement at how many miasmas of human angst Parker has been able to muck into, for Spenser to clarify and deodorize; and how many relationship scenes and character cards he can lay bare on any table, with Spades called true.

Opening what I might term "The Pandora in The Relationship," a scene between Spenser and Susan slipped suddenly from the most comfy of cozy, with humor set and staged on-a-roll ... to sour milk, paused peace, and stomach knots. I felt that hit along with Spenser, possibly more than any other emotional toll taken in the series (except when Susan left in VALEDICTION, # 11 in the series). The way Spenser worked with and through the situation was a perfect expression of ... not of psychological actualization ... but of the wisdom of a dynamically-operating human maturity. This scene and Spenser's "self-talk" in understanding the dense drama underlying Susan's behavior took the reader ozone holes beyond the trite advice to "roll with the punches."

I particularly enjoyed the few glove punches of tribute to X-Files here, in the slight, playful change in the style of humor between Hawk and Spenser, and in the Lone Gunman computer geek. SUDDEN MISCHIEF was another example of the cultural evolutionary intrigue contained in this triple-decade-running series. In this one and in a few previous recent offerings readers were also given hints of the beginning of The-Waitress-Hurry-Rush-Syndrome, which appeared to have begun in the nineties.

In SUDDEN MISCHIEF Spenser stepped up to the tallest measure of being Susan's hero, savior, Knight-in-Shining Armor, and her Shrink. Acting as her shrink, Spenser's jangled the jargon from the popular surge of psycho-self-help books which carried "come-communicate" concepts from the 70's and 80's into the 90's. Spenser's part of every dialogue with every character seemed to have suddenly altered in MISCHIEF in a manner which felt somewhat but not totally, tongue-in-cheek. The alteration came through the famous style of the Shrink's SILENCE, the true listening mode ... of no response ... to stretches of out-loud contemplations from whomever happened to be the partner in repartee (or payer of shrink-wrap fees). I enjoyed the fact that the dialogues often took place over meals or in interesting restaurants, so that when Spenser worked the no response deal, he replaced the saved mouth motion with warm, moist bites of fresh, spongy bread, and savored the yeasty flavor. Usually his comment in that venue went something like, "I took a bite of .... It was good."

Spenser did the shrink silence with as much perfection as he has done all else. Even so, one of the reasons for success of his perfection was his ability to see (and note) his and Susan's flaws here. And, Susan's self-actualization scene in chapter 48 was truly incredible in Parker's perfection of process of her coming to that catharsis, with Spenser providing support in an awesomely effective way of stand-aside-but-be-ready.

As noted above, it appeared to me that the humor had changed slightly in this one, with appetizer overtures in recent previous offerings as well. Some of the conversational fun-poking definitely seemed to have taken on a warmly entertaining edge of the X-Files, Fox Mulder type.

The combo of these subtle changes continued to herald the "Signs of the Times," reinforcing my sense of one of the major values in this series being its feathered function as a cultural-evolution-landmark for the 70's, 80's, 90's, and 00's.

Sometimes series authors have espoused a wish that they could get out of the limitations of a genre and write something "significant." Parker has repeatedly and unfailingly honored his series genre, while packing his products with the ultimate in literary significance. Possibly the greatest gift in this accomplishment is that readers can choose to see this significance (and be awed by it). Or, they can merely let go of cares and worries, and be entertained by pure escape fiction.

I wonder if RBP was born on the precise point of an Annular Solar Eclipse, to have continually generated and successfully manifested so much primal, pivotal creativity. Or maybe ... like today ... Robert B. Parker was born during a Blue Moon peaking full in the company of Jupiter and Vesta (the asteroid). All I know about that is that he was born in 1947 (or 48?), a Baby Boomer like many of us.

Another man, born in 1928, wasn't a Baby Boomer, nor an author, yet he reminds me of Parker, in the sense of the above described type of continued creative generation and manifestation. See the Amazon Short, I Worked: A True Story

Immensely thankful for fascinating feats such as these,
Linda G. Shelnutt

I enjoy Robert Parker's books a lot, and SUDDEN MISCHIEF is one of the better novels in his Spenser series.

Many of Parker's books after 1990 are hit and miss, especially when it comes to the mystery plots. Fortunately, SUDDEN MISCHIEF has a fully developed storyline that kept me interested in what was going on. This novel is also noteworthy in that Parker reveals key information about the past of Dr. Susan Silverman, a key character in the series.

If you've never read Spenser before, my advice is not to start with this novel. It's the 25th book in a long running series, and features some key characters that were introduced in prior novels. I would recommend looking at some of the early novels instead, like THE JUDAS GOAT and LOOKING FOR RACHEL WALLACE. Generally speaking, the very best Spenser novels are the earliest ones, written before 1985.