Customer Reviews

A Savage Place

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

To this point, Spenser's adventures have been (relatively) light-hearted - some kidnappings, shake-downs, things of that nature. However, when he travels to Tinseltown to work as a bodyguard for Candy Sloan, an up-and-coming young investigative reporter on the trail of corruption in a movie studio who has been threatened, things turn very serious, very fast. The very first night he is in town, after Candy drops him off at his hotel - assuring him she will be fine on her own this first night - she gets grabbed off the street and beat up. Not too much later, a man she has been seeing is murdered. I don't want to get into more than this, as I do not want to ruin the story for those who have not read it - but this is not a story with a shiny-happy feel to it - this is detective noir at its grittiest. Beautifully envisioned, wonderfully written - filled with Spenser wise-cracks - but dark and gritty nonetheless.

I loved it. This is life. Thank you, Robert Parker, for giving us this day our Spenser.

This could have been a good story. Instead, it was a conglomeration of events and choices that made no sense and was horribly mired by Spenser's plummet from hero status. The image of Spenser dancing, slow and tight, with his client was disturbing enough. (This story comes after his commitment to Susan Silverman. A _slow_ dance with another woman on the balcony of her hotel room should be against Spenser's honorable "system" for living.) But it doesn't end there. He strips her and himself, carries her to bed, and spends the night. The next morning he explains that, since he doesn't have a relationship with this woman, having sex with her was alright and wouldn't bother Susan _much_. Bothering Susan _at all_ by sleeping with another woman should be against his system. He later reveals his stunning logic that sleeping with this woman a second time _would_ be cheating on Susan. Spenser's shining armor is bashed to bits in this story.

Also, the client (her name is "Candy" for heaven's sake) is an investigative reporter for a television station who is trying to prove that she is more than a pretty face and a swaying backside: she is good at her job. How does she go about proving this? By sleeping with men for information! She enhances this image of intelligence by zombe-like chanting of "I want it all, I want it all." As a result, instead of going to the police with information regarding very dangerous people, she meets dire consequences. Quite an intelligent lady.

Spenser dreams of Susan on his flight home to Boston. How wonderful of him.

This is the eighth entry in the Spenser series and is very disappointing. The 10th, 11th and 12th stories (_The Widening Gyre_, _Valediction_, and _A Catskill Eagle_) help restore some of Spenser's honor.

In many ways, Spenser is just another tough private detective. He is good with his fists and will not hesitate to kill anyone who gets in his way. The plots and villainous characters are not terribly unique and in this case the client is the standard lovely lady in distress. However, what distinguishes Spenser from other fictional detectives is the quality of the dialogue. He is a habitual smart aleck, forever doing what he can to offend friend and foe. Those on his side are charmed by it; his opponents relish the chance to beat his head in.
In this story, a beautiful TV reporter named Candy Sloan is investigating corruption in the Hollywood movie industry. Spenser takes the job as her bodyguard and Candy proves to be a very determined woman, willing to use her body to extract the information she needs. Spenser handles himself well, but Candy is not as clever as she thinks and she is murdered. At that point Spenser continues on the job, tracking down the murdered and completing the case.
Despite all of his macho antics, Spenser is an intelligent, honest man who will risk his life in an attempt to see that justice is done. The combination of intelligent dialog and noble actions are what makes the Spenser novels my favorite series of detective fiction.

Are you tired of the typical formula novel or tv series? Parker isn't afraid to give Spenser, and his readers, a kick in the gut with this plot twist. As Spenser visits L.A. (a savage place) and experiences its cold indifference, he finds his own savage side. Spenser is such a poised but quick P.I. We see his (rarely shown) visceral reaction to brutality. Candy Sloan, his reporter/client, is a woman making her path (any way that she can) in a man's world.

This book is set mainly in California. Spenser is strongest when he stays in the Boston area, but this book is very good and should be read by all Spenser fans.

A SAVAGE PLACE is the eighth Spenser novel, and it's a very solid entry.

In this book, Spenser is hired to act as a bodyguard for Candy Sloan, a Los Angeles television newscaster who is on the verge of breaking a story involving the mob. Needless to say, Sloan's life is in constant danger, and Spenser has his hands full in trying to protect her while she aggressively pursues the story that could make her career.

A SAVAGE PLACE is rather unique for a Spenser book. The novel takes place in LA instead of Boston, which means that Spenser is completely on his own. Hawk and Susan Silverman do not make appearances, and Spenser has no connections with the local police force. This makes for fresher, more exciting story overall, since Spenser acts much more like a lone wolf.

I also found the ending of A SAVAGE PLACE to be surprising and terrifically dark. The final "showdown" in the book is absolutely gripping, and it's one of my favorite moments in any Spenser book.

The only slight downside of this book is the character of Candy Sloan. She is not a particularly admirable character, and speaks more like a psychologist than a reporter in many scenes. As another reviewer pointed out, she's kind of a watered-down version of Rachel Wallace, a character from a previous Spenser novel. Unfortunately, I didn't find her particularly likable or believable for the most part.

Overall, though, this is a solid entry in the series and I highly recommend it.

This one is a little different, because of what happens to his latest client. But it seems to fit. This was a good story, and Spenser's descriptions and reactions to Los Angeles and Hollywood are priceless. The ending was pretty unrealistic though.

i disagree with the above reviews in that i believe that this was a very important book in the spencer series. i believe the entire premise behind the spencer character is not that different from the characters in "the bodyguard", "the last boyscout", "die hard", and "ronin" - they are all derivations of a solo samurai theme the characters travel through life alone with not much more than their convictions. how life tests these principles and how these characters choose and ultimately end up is the basic heart of the stories. spencer has proved himself in his comfortable settings in boston. a ronin (or samurai without a master) constantly wanders around searching...(for direction or a new master). see how spencer arrives with just a bag at the airport. this shows his lack of a settled lifestyle and such. this la trip was important in that it tests his relationship with friends he has left at home and people he has known there. the constant way in which he interacts with other ex-boxers and ex-strongmen displays a system of honor (or samurai, whatever) which is generally hard to grasp unless you see or read a lot of these stories. i admit that these stories are more male gender inclined but to see it in just that perspective, you lose what mr. parker is trying to convey about spencer and his world.

This is an early novel of Spenser and Parker is dead now and I can only intepret what I read. From those stories of Spenser that I have read, I have decided Parker is more plot oriented than character; some people think this is a drawback, automatically making for a poor story. I do not, Spenser's character is refined more and more in every story about him Parker has written. The preceding story, "Early Autumn" defines part of Spenser's character, it tells us how he feels about parenting and I think it did a good job. "A Savage Place" drops Giacomin, Susan Silverman and Hawk completely, isolating Spenser so we can see how he operates on his own and get somewhat of a feel for his code, how he feels about some things. Consequently the story is not much like the others, the plot is the thing of interest.
There is no sense complaining about the absurdities, accept them. The fact that a West Coast TV reporter calls all the way back east to hire a bodyguard and that the studio will pay his fee and expenes are the start. The reporter is not some big, well-known name, it is a woman trying to break into the big time on her own and she feels there is this glass ceiling that stops her. She wants to break through and the book shows it in its characterizaion of her. She employs sex to her advantage, other women have done it and Candy Sloan wants to use it if and when it is to her advantage to do so. Men do not, she feels this is a handicap and lets Spenser see her views on the subject. She is so tightly wound up in her drive that she ignores the dangers her attitude puts her into and expects Spenser to be her defense. She stumbles into the beginnings of an expose of corruption in Hollywood movie making, does not understand what she hears and Spenser does not know enough to straighten her out. (Alert: plot outlined.)
He lets her blunder along and expects to protect her even though she throws herself at one of the major figures in this orruption, lets a lower standing individual know her intentions and is eliminated.
Spenser is unable to protect her and later realizes he has misinterpreted the actuality. He now holds himself responsible for the outcome and swings into his usual pattern of action and solves the case, turning the perps over to a detective he has met in L.A. and returns to Boston, promising to come back out west when he is summoned.

Tags" Spenser, robert parker, Los Angeles, movie payoffs, TV reporter

A great detective novel, written by an author, Robert B Parker, who never seems to run out of interesting plots to write about. Another example of a well-written page-turner.