--- Gerald So <
gso@optonline.net> wrote:
> We've mentioned how Hawk, Vinnie, Chollo et
al
> shield Spenser from hard
> decisions. One instance of Spenser-shielding
that
> bugged me more than
> any sidekick was *Parker's* killing off Candy
Sloan
> in A SAVAGE PLACE
> (1981).
Yeah, this has always bothered me, too, but I'm not sure that
I agree that Parker did it for the reason you're suggesting.
In later novels, Spenser and Susan discuss his failure to
protect Candy and how he needed Susan to "heal himself"
psychologically afterwards. I'm no psychologist, but this
sounds like babble to me--it's what they say, though.
ANYWAY, I think Parker wanted to have Spenser fail in
protecting someone he loved WITHOUT killing of Susan, Paul,
Hawk, etc. So he invented a new love interest for the express
purpose of killing her off. So while I agree with you that it
might have been interesting to see Spenser and Susan cope
with the affair had Candy lived, I don't think that was ever
in the cards.
Rather, I think Parker took the coward's way out here
in protecting his characters and inventing a new love
interest. I think it would have been much more interesting to
see Spenser lose Susan, for example--or at least to have her
almost killed, on the brink of death the way Spenser himself
has been a couple of times--when he was supposed to be
protecting her from some threat.
Personally, I was glad when Susan left for CA and it looked
like Spenser was going to go out with Rita Fiori from the
DA's office or wherever she was from.
Geez, this is starting to sound like a soap opera.
G.
===== George C. Upper III, Editor The Lightning Bell Poetry
Journal http://www.lightningbell.org/
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