PMellEagle's Full Review: Robert B. Parker - A Catskill Eagle
Robert B. Parker scored another solid hit with A Catskill Eagle, a "Spenser" novel from 1985... This one involves the "rescue" of Spenser's long time sweetie, Susan Silverman from the clutches of one Russell Costigan, a rich, millionaire, pretty-boy who has woo'd and whisked Susan to California while she was undergoing her "identity crisis" chronicled in the previous tomes of "Spenser" lore...
The Plot
Hawk has been arrested in California after Susan called him and asked him to come help her return to Boston... a trap awaited him and when the local thug-police tried to "send a message" by beating him up, he killed one of them...
So now that Susan has gotten Hawk into trouble by trying to not have Spenser help her from her jam, she has to contact Spenser to rescue him... which he does readily...
After the daring jailbreak, and succeeding search and rescue mission that became more search and destroy Costigan property, they decide to return to Boston to regroup...
Warrants have been issued for their arrest for numerous offenses (many of them true!) and when they contact their local police lieutenant-friend, Lt. Martin Quirk, he has arranged a solution... seems our nations government wants Costigans father assassinated and if Spenser and Hawk will do that, they will have assistance in finding the Maiden in the Tower as the head government agent calls Susan and their charges will be erased and their names cleared of the frame-up and succession of events thereafter.
The Characters
As always, Parker brings in the old and the new... as far as characters go... Aside from the central characters, Spenser, Hawk, Susan, Lt. Quirk, and Sgt. Frank Belson; we are re-introduced to Rachel Wallace, the lesbian-activist who Spenser had saved from kidnappers some years prior. We also meet a special agent from the CIA... known only as Ives... who orchestrates the needed information (and sadly, some misinformation) to lead our heroes on their mission. (Ives plays a prominent role in 1997's Spenser epic, "Small Vices", thereby proving that even after twelve years, Parker does not forget a character...)
Overview
As an adventure, it is one of Spenser's best! Life hangs in the balance, be it life or death, or Life; without possibility of parole, so the tension is there. Susan has always been a bundle of problems for Spenser, but their special love is part of the magic of the character... so tough, yet so tender; so egotistical, yet so faithful... Some wonder if Susan's character is important to the overall feel of the series, but in many ways this is more her series than Spensers... many of his cases either involve her or are caused by her... similar yet different ideas.
The exploration of the relationship between Spenser & Hawk (and Hawk & Quirk for that matter) is most interesting as well... Never would Spenser or Hawk think that the other might not be there for him. And Quirk, the super-cop with the utmost in morals understands that while Hawk is capable of all he's accused of and worse, that he's pertinent to Spenser doing all the good he does, so he orchestrates the contact to clear them both...
Final Thought
This book is steeped in Spenser lore, but can be read quite easily as a stand-alone or a jumping on point to the series.
But BEWARE... the Spenser Mythos can be addicting!
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