As so many reviewers here have said, it's quite remarkable how much more taut, crisp, bright, and engaging a Spenser book can be with Susan Silverman neatly removed, compared to the staleness and heaviness of the other Parker books which she permeates. For a long time, I had trouble admitting to myself that I found her ungenerous, controlling, compulsive, self-centered and tedious. For, in every new book, Parker continued to show Spenser besotted by her, and it wasn't easy to look past how he saw her, and judge her by what she actually did and said. The first book in a long time that is free of her is a real delight in many ways. But this book might turn out to be considerably more than that. It could be the turning point of the Spenser series. What stands out most about School Days -- and what might possibly mean that something wonderful is going to happen -- is that Spenser himself complains about her more than he has ever done. And he is right on target every time he does it. Could Parker be preparing a massive rejuvenation of the whole series and actually be thinking of getting rid of Susan? Could it be even better than that and mean that Spenser will see through her and let go of her himself? Just the thought makes hope rise and the heavens open. And how true it would be to Spenser's character. How much it would show Parker's profound understanding of him. It would be the truth that would win Spenser's ultimate loyalty, not his fantasy of a true love, who may never have been what he believed her to be. Is it possible that all of us who write reviews about how much better he is without her could have seen that so clearly, if Spenser himself is not, on some level, seeing it, too? It might be messy on the home front for Parker to do it, but he seems to be giving us delicious hints in School Days, that he might be willing to bite the bullet and let Spenser have the insight of his life.