A Savage Place (The Spenser Series Book 8)

Back in the mid 70’s a literate friend of mine suggested a new author called Robert B. Parker and his book, The Godwulf Manuscript (Spencer #1/1973), as a good read. Ate it up and by the end of Parker’s second entry, God Save the Child (1973), I was hooked. Previous gen tough guy/private eye/crime thriller types emphasized the manly aspect to the detriment of other qualities, but Spencer had tough in spades along with a fully blossomed humanity, a truly caring and compassionate hero that protected the weak and innocent (and occasionally the not so innocent). Add in a snarky sense of humor and the voice of a generation was alive and well as Parker gradually established himself as the doyen of modern crime fiction and one of the the all time greats of the genre. Then along came Looking for Rachel Wallace (#6/1980) where the outspoken Spenser was hired as a body guard for the militant lesbian Wallace. They immediately did not hit it off. He shrugged off Wallace’s scorn and abuse, was fired by her and then, never the less, when she was kidnapped he hiked across Boston in the middle of a blizzard that had shut the city down and rescued her from the bad guys in a feat of derring-do. The book ends as he is sitting by a traumatized Wallace’s bedside holding her hand while she sleeps. The ending bit deep and changed my ideal of what a man and a decent human being should be. I considered Spencer an influential role model of the person I matured into over the next decades.Lets talk limits, being a human is all about limits, your IQ, your height, how long you will live, there seems to be an upward limit to what a human is capable of and that includes how many first rate books one person can write. The number of classic texts one author is capable of creating is open to debate but in my reading I have not yet run into an author that has written more than ten truly first rate full length novels and that includes Robert B. Parker, a human just like the rest of us. The effects of having to produce a fresh episode with the same characters every 12 months for decades on end seems to encourage formulaic plots and phoned in manuscripts. Back to the Spencer oeuvre- while I have read every Spenser Parker wrote I soon found the non-Spencer books just did not work for me, I was spoiled and knew it. I didn’t really stop to think about how good the individual entries were, the glow of fandom had me just assuming all of them were first rate. Then, years ago, reading the Parker release for that year, Hugger Mugger (#27/2000), where Spencer spent day after day sitting on a porch somewhere in Georgia and calling it investigating I found myself dozing off, terminally bored. I shook it off but the worm of doubt continued to eat away at my belief in the sanctity of every Spencer episode being hallowed ground. By the time Parker died in 2010 I was burned on the series. The post Parker ghost writers after a mildly promising start only ended up throwing the final spadefuls of dirt on the coffin. Or so I thought, a few years later as I was discarding my core paper book collection and replacing it with digital I grabbed some Spencer entries and found they were fresher after the break and I decided I would read the entire series from start to finish. I found I had to struggle through some while others were fresh and powerful but less than halfway through Parker’s 39-41 Spencer novels (count varies, why is a can of worms best left for another time) I was ready to scream from too many entries that did not do Parker justice or keep me awake. What I discovered was that for me Parker’s early but not the very first stuff tended to be his best. Here is the list of what I consider his timeless works:Looking for Rachel Wallace (#6/1980), Early Autumn( #7/1980), A Savage Place (#8/1981), A Widening Gyre (#10/1983), Valediction (#11/1984), A Catskill Eagle (#12/1985), Small Vices (#24/1997), Rough Weather (#36/2008) with an honorable mention for the last numbered entry in the series, Sixkill (#40/2011).That’s it for what I consider Parker’s best, they all have earned their high spots in my Kindle’s rereads collection.

This book helps the series by showing that not all problems get fixed. With more entertaining deadpan humor and some new scenery in LA.

Who could wash clean in a savage place. Who decided Spenser was too perfect. Parker? A reader? An editor? Who would have the John Galt clarity to dictate Spenser's path through literary annals and genre pitfalls. Galt would have the clarity but, by character, couldn't dictate.Whatever the concept or motivation, the result was another good story; I can go with perfect or imperfect. This one was a soul wash, and left me pensive long past the last lines.Paul Giacomin's EARLY AUTUMN (# 7 in series) had blown away with crisp golden leaves. He was off-stage developing his dance; the Shrug had Shuffled. New York was yesterday; today it was L. A., in THE SAVAGE PLACE, # 8 in series. Spenser's views of cultural geographics were, of course, always a gas. A kick. A fun farce of the first fizz water. Until the heavy rain drained the fizz, the fuzz did the dilemma, and Spenser flew. Yeah, there was symbolism in that, which came quietly when the read was done.Candy Sloan was a good name for a California blond "bimbo" who slid out of the stereotype by not being broke in the brawny brains bailiwick. Would she escape her feminine fate? Since Spenser was again playing the bodyguard, this time to a News Anchor, SAVAGE gave an interesting contrast to LOOKING FOR RACHEL WALLACE (# 6 in series), especially since Rachel referred Spenser to the case (giving a small, scrumptious sample of their past repartee ripping along phone lines). How many different angles could the X Chromosome carry? Only Spenser would know? His Shadow was still sleuthing.The relationship between Candy and Spenser developed with sensual starts, spurts, and a few "slim pickings," providing contrasts to his so far female connections, and expanding the underpinnings of his soul-mate code. I was intrigued by the way Parker played the Spenser ethics off "his and hers" choices, actions, and justifications. Candy was as different as "day-and-night," blond and brunette, etc., compared to Suze, and who could help comparing? Observing the differences I flashed to Brenda Loring and the previous novel's mention of Spenser's receipt of an invitation to her wedding, which he noted studying for a long time. Of course all that caused a care to contrast the three characters.Given Parker's established subtle complexities of composition, I continued to wonder how much the name Candy would relate to cultural implications of the term. Was she a contrast to the salt developing with Susan? Was she a sweet to balance the sour of losing Brenda, even though Spenser realized that his life partnerships were evolving as they should and must?And, of course you had the social-situational-tragicomedies, the thematic surety. Here was an ambitious news anchor lady working beyond her name to get a name. When she bagged her serious "mob bought" story would she change her name to Caramel? To Creme Brulee?One of my favorite scenes which was worked toward a chapter's closing line, occurred in SAVAGE, about individuals with great differences in DNA, experiential dance, and dogma being able or not to comprehend each other's angst. You won't want to miss this (mid-book) chapter end, which Spenser wraps with, "You wouldn't understand." Having that line ahead won't spoil it. The prescience should enhance the pithy punch, and it's a punch which deserves this preface. Spenser has mastered his timing for slipping in zingers which rarely fail to get the out loud guffaw. The zap is best when he takes a few pages to work and tweak the preparation.This plot seems more complicated than those which precede it, though the course of convolutions doesn't quite surface until the end, washing to a miasmatic surface with a heavy, hard rain.Another contrast from a Master.Linda Shelnutt

Spenser gets lured to the west coast to protect a beautiful TV journalist who is in danger from her investigative journalism into the payoff of the mob into movie making. Candy Sloane has reason to believe her life is in danger, proven when she is kidnapped, beaten up and dropped off on a local freeway upon Spenser's arrival in Los Angeles. Although left alive, she stubbornly intends to expose everyone involved to the point that Spenser's life is in danger too. The end has its disappointment, but the book is a very good read.

Well written, good humour throughout and as always good storytelling keeping you wanting more. Would recommend, looking forward to the next in the series.

he in shorthand instead of ratling on and grabs your attention in the first chapter sadly know dead all his old books are readable if you can get them

Once again Robert. B. Parker tells a magnificent story of his longtime alter-ego, the every clever Spenser. Once you read one, you will read them all.

Usual good writing, good story. Not my favourite Spencer novel but is is key to the development and understanding of the character.

I started reading Spenser recently, and loved every one of the five so far. This one is the best of the lot, but I'll read the rest, just in case!