Shrink Rap: A Sunny Randall Mystery [Paperback]

The bad news is that Mr. Parker seems to have decided what Sunny's final scene was to be before he started the book . . . and had a horrible time making a believable plot lead up to that scene. Many people have commented that a plot element about being able to disguise herself for extended periods of time at close range from someone she has had confrontations with at close range seems a little hard to take. I thought that problem was one of the minor plot issues. The whole decadent act with regard to what the villain, Dr. John Melvin, has been doing just seems unbelievable. I couldn't take his character or his actions seriously. I also found that reluctance of his ex-wife, Ms. Melanie Joan Hall, to be candid about him more than a little surprising . . . because her lack of candor just increased her danger.

Here's the story in a nutshell: Sunny is hired to escort Ms. Hall on a book tour because she's concerned about being stalked by her ex-husband, a psychiatrist, who really knows how to yank her chain. He shows up, and she reacts. Sunny decides to investigate him, and goes so far as to go into analysis with an objective therapist . . . and with the creep. In the process, she makes some startling self-realizations: She's stuck in her relationship with her ex-husband, Richie, in part because she wants Richie to act like her take-charge father . . . while she doesn't want to become her passive mother. Along the way, circumstances with Richie get more complicated because he develops a serious relationship with another woman. Sunny finds herself trying out a fling with a Hollywood type, and liking the taste.

The writing about Sunny's relationship with Richie and her feelings about Richie's new girl friend are superb. It's hard to imagine that a man can write what sounds so true about what a woman in the situation might say.

The book opens this way: "I always loved Richie's hands . . . They were still. Richie was always still. It was one of the things that had made it hard to be married to him."

Sunny later visits Richie's condo to pick up Rosie, the dog they share. Sunny finds herself face to face with Richie's new girl friend. "She was great looking, for a floozie, and she looked nothing like me." After they chat, Sunny thinks, "I could shoot her. I had my gun in my purse. Or I could shoot me. I hated how good-looking she was. How good her legs were. I especially hated how nice she seemed." Later, in the car, Sunny growls at Rosie, "You little round heels. You'll roll over for anyone that will pat your belly and give you a cookie."

Writing like this is what makes the book worth reading.

So take a big pinch of salt whenever you get into a plot element you cannot stand, throw it over your shoulder and wish for luck. And plow forward looking for the next beautiful section of writing within the thorns of this plot's many unpleasant thickets.

After you finish the book, think about where your ambivalence about what you really want is keeping you from moving on with your life. What's behind the door you are inclined to select: The lady or the tiger? If it's the lady, get acquainted. If it's the tiger, be prepared to defend yourself. Either way, you're better off moving ahead. Otherwise, you'll never learn to hesitate to procrastinate, as Dr. Richard Bandler would say.

Of course the only way you can read only of Robert B. Parker's Sunny Randall novels and not see it as a juggling around of the elements of his Spenser for Hire series is that you never read any of the Spenser for Hire novels. Yes, the main character is a female rather than a male, was actually married to their obvious sole mate, and the two of them share a good looking bull terrier that is in much better shape that Pearl the beloved wonder dog. But given how long it took Spencer and Susan to figure out their relationship things do not portend well for Sunny and Richie. However, that remains the secondary consideration in this novel to the case Sunny is working and by now it is clear that whatever the case she is working the climax has to be so her willingness (or rather her unwillingness) to have anybody provide help in the big showdown. In that regard, "Shrink Rap" turns out to be rather different from the previous novels in the series, "Perish Twice" and "Family Honor."

Ultimately, the secondary considerations outweigh the case at hand in this novel. The showdown actually ends up being less than fulfilling given everything that sets it up and what becomes more interesting are Sunny's ruminations on her life in the book's several therapy sessions (not that Sunny is in therapy, mind you, just pretending to be in therapy and talking about the pretend therapy). Consequently, her character actually seems to be making some progress with her troubled life.

As always, Parker provides a quick read; these are novels where
the only real way to avoid reading it in one day is to start it late at night. However, such books are perfect for the commuter lifestyle. The dialogue is typical Parker, where the one-liners are always driven by character and context. At least now we know if there is any chance for Sunny and Richie to end up happily ever after, it is going to happen this century...

The really good thing I have to say for SHRINK RAP is you can read it in one sitting without eyestrain, since the pages are filled with so much of Parker's characteristic dialogue that one doesn't need to worry about stumbling into any description along the way. The really bad thing I have to say is that Parker seems to have discovered a wonderful new technique whereby all his characters are interchangeable. Simply alter the name and slap them into different books. Sunny talked so much like Spenser (the PI Parker usually writes about, featured in books such as WIDOW'S WALK) that at times I forgot she wasn't Spenser. And as for the dog ... when the dog starts getting whole chapters of her own in which to fetch balls and take walks, you know the plot has foundered. Sunny did have a couple of good scenes with the shrink, but after she has explained to her friends and cohorts six or seven times why it is she doesn't need their help, my eyes start rolling.

If you love Parker no matter what, SHRINK RAP will give you a good dose of more of the same. But otherwise, I suggest you reread the early Spenser novels and leave Sunny on the shelf.