But unlike them, he is not an existential loner. An outsider, perhaps, but definitely linked to the world through his psychotherapist girlfriend, Susan Silverman, and sometimes sidekick, Hawk.
Unmarried, still Spenser is attached. And the relationship between him and Susan, developing slowly over the years, has in part kept readers coming back for more throughout the two dozen plus novels in the Spenser series. Newgate Callendar itemized the ingredients for the success of the Spenser books in a New York Times Book Review critique of Parker's eleventh title in the series, The Widening Gyre. Callendar describes him as a man's man, a former professional fighter who will not back down to any opposition. Yet, he is honest and sensitive. "Spenser may be something of a smart aleck but only when he is faced with pomposity and pretension," Callendar said. "Then he reacts, sometimes violently." While Spenser is educated and well read, he does not flaunt his knowledge. Moreover, his girlfriend is the perfect foil and as smart as he. "Pushed as he is by his social conscience, he is sometimes dogged enough to seem quixotic," Callendar added.
Though the adjusted nose angle and scar tissue around the eyes attest to his former career as a boxer, Spenser is no mere quasi-legal hired thug: he likes the finer things, noting with intense detail his dining habits--usually gourmet--and dress--causal but not sloppy.
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