Rent: A Catskill Eagle

This was my second Spencer, and was nearly my last. It was one of the worst books I've ever read. My main problem was with the plot, which made absolutely no sense. The whole book was based around a situation that seemingly had no significance, I still don't understand what was Susan's actual problem. The book also lacked the characteristic Spenser humor, and Hawk was quickly getting tiring.

A CATSKILL EAGLE is the twelfth Spenser novel, and it's the first one with a really silly plot. The absurdity of the story makes this book difficult to thoroughly enjoy.

In this novel, Susan Silverman hooks up with a new boyfriend whose father just happens to be a evil arms dealer (and a white supremacist and anti-semitic to boot). Spenser and Hawk try to rescue her and somehow hook up with the CIA (!) who enlist them to covertly kill the arms dealer. The conclusion of this book involves Spenser breaking into the arms dealer's fortress and going through a secret tunnel to kill him.

Anyway, the whole plot of A CATSKILL EAGLE is absurd, and it's only Parker's snappy writing that makes this novel worthwhile. This is one of my least favorite Spenser novels, and I would definitely not recommend it to a newcomer to Parker's work. My advice would be to read PROMISED LAND, LOOKING FOR RACHEL WALLACE or EARLY AUTUMN first. Those novels have much more realistic, compelling plots that show Parker at his best.

In this episode of the Spenser series, Spenser receives a cryptic note from Susan; she needs him to come to California. Hawk is in jail and she is afraid she might be in trouble. This is all the coaxing Spenser needs to drop everything and head to California, where he immediately sets out to break as many laws in as creative ways as possible ("It's not easy to mumble to yourself if you don't feel moved to mumble. I didn't know what to mumble and finally began to mumble the starting lineup for the impossible-dream Red Sox team of '67"). Along the way he gets hooked up with governmental agencies with whom, for a change, he has a goal in common - get rid of Jerry Costigan, the father of Russell Costigan, the other man in Susan's life. Then things get complicated . . .

A transitory chapter in Spenser's life - he and Susan begin to work out their differences, which is great. He and Hawk bond and Susan and Rachel Wallace (who makes a return appearance in this book) begin to catch a glimpse of the mystery that is Spenser and Hawk's friendship. Throw in some illegal immigrants basically being used as slave labor whose revolt Spenser and Hawk use to get to Susan, secret bases hidden in mines in Idaho and some typical Spenser kicking butt, and you have a great Spenser novel.

For those who are reading them randomly - please stop. Read them in order. Believe me, it makes all the difference in the world!

I read the hard cover version of this book and loved it so much. The best ever of all in the Spenser series in my opinion. I bought the audio version (read by, Michael Prichard),thinking it would be great fun to listen to it. I was very disappointed. The book was read, but with no character, (no emotion). I would love to listen to this one again, if read by Joe Mantegna

Rachel Wallace and Hawk, feminist and leg-breaker, connect for some exquisite, touching banter. Though that's not the main theme, it's one of my favorite feathers in the nest of A CATSKILL EAGLE, # 12 in the Spenser series.

CATSKILL's plot and delivery changed style considerably from previous novels in the Spenser series, giving the appearance that the classic detective novel's solitary-private-eye may have walked off lonely street. Here he sang heated duets of a different kind of wounded blues (slowly being healed). Spenser and Hawk were a team throughout this plot. They committed and sacrificed nearly everything, to rescue Susan, both body and soul. Paradoxical hints were given that she couldn't, yet might rescue herself, which brought up the issue again of Robert Frost's "need and love being one." The full quote from Frost's poetry was used in MORTAL STAKES, # 3 Spenser, and repeated here within a fascinating, key exchange between Spenser and Susan's psychiatrist.

We had the FBI and CIA entering into this plot, requiring their piece of the purge-of-society-pie, in return for rescuing Hawk and Spenser from legal consequences of ethically chaotic acts collecting the highest of criminal charges, in the name of saving Susan.

The GYRE was still churning. The storm swirled stronger, hotter, and faster. Of course, due to all the above, this novel pushed a more rapid, forceful read than previous Spenser offerings. What a contrast this was to the pilot, THE GODWULF MANUSCRIPT, both great novels, and as age-stretching different as the 70's were from the 80's.

Parker is uncannily adept at using soul pain to spin the process of ethical evolution, tossing questions without answers, for readers to clear, if they can get up from their easy chairs and walk, after a bout of several pages ingested here. I had to wonder if someone whined that Spenser hadn't been providing enough fast-paced, heart-screeching action. Well, Parker brought it on now, whatever it took to addict readers to his characters and series.

I recall reading a comment Parker made in his blog on Amazon, about having accepted this series as his means of earning a living. GYRE, VALEDICTION, and now CATSKILL have surged snippets of speculation in my mind, about an author accepting a dream come true, which then swirls into a yolk of a different color, which he may not have anticipated. What if, whereas, wherever, and whatever, I doubt Parker/Spenser would be able to walk away from a challenge, not even one which took over 30 years of his life, working through both internal and external literary expectations, necessities, and trade-offs.

To me, within the potent force of the pivotal point of this novel added to the previous three, Parker felt to be struggling at soul bottom with a pair of the most basic of needs, those of demanding freedom of creative expression, and those of expecting a soul mate to behave as one.

Or. Maybe Parker simply enjoyed the heck out of writing this fast-paced, thought-provoking adventure, rescuing Susan with Hawk's help, drawing in the FBI, CIA, Quirk, and Benson to aid and abet in a swirling storm of ethical chaos.

This one has taken most if not all the so far ingredients and themes in the series, tossed them into a pot of High Plot, simmered through GYRE, turned up the heat a bit in VALEDICTION, then stirred with a vengeance of nuclear proportions in CATSKILL.

CATSKILL's ending was amazing, one of the best in the series, as far as achieving literary clarity and finesse of a seasoned novelist's skill. As per this whole series, however, ethical considerations on each page, including the riveting denouement, reached a high of surging questions and contemplations of actions that we usually condemn, placing them in the hands of the heroes. I couldn't put this one down, then automatically move my mind onward, to whatever was next in my life.

I've been nagged by this story for many reasons. I've known a few readers to quit the series here, no longer able to see Spenser, Hawk, or Susan in a clean, heroic light. I'm speculating that readers will either do that, or willingly acquiesce to a near compulsive need to continue to observe and contemplate the evolution of characters, themes, and literary style in this series.

I've acquiesced. I've already purchased the next 2 books in the series, # 13 & 14.

At least for now, I'm willing to go into the dark of my mind, with a hero struggling so closely with evil (in order to define and extract it from himself and others) he won't be able to avoid getting dirty.

Linda Shelnutt