Do Some Damage discussion

Throughout the book, Pike thinks back to his time out west, his time in Mexico.

At the end of PIKE, he's heading west again, this time with Wendy.

Is there any reason to think this will go better for him?

Do you think Wendy would be better off if someone were to call social services? Is she in good hands with Pike or is she doomed, too?

They are both absolutely doomed.

A lot of Pike's relationship with Wendy is sustained by two elements that will transform into threats later in their life: Silence and purpose.

Pike gets along with Wendy because he doesn't have to talk much with her. When he does talk, all he really needs to do is address her current concerns - his vendetta and her security.

But let's face it, as soon as things normalize, Wendy will need a lot more communication. Such is the nature of raising a teen. And as easy going as Pike is in some ways, Wendy will probably not find a very understanding or supportive partner in him. Besides, communication with someone who's developing a sense of self has to be done with a recognition that they will rebel - that such rebellion is natural and inevitable.

Given that Pike tends to deal with most issues in the novel through cold, calculating anger or aggression, I'm not confident he's going to be all that great a single parent. Permissive, yes, perhaps, and certainly understanding when it comes to her getting into trouble, but a time-bomb where her rebellion is concerned.

I can see them working it out, but it's not terribly likely. If they kept in constant danger and action, Wendy could mature into an outlaw who depended on Pike, and that would be mellow enough. But settling down and having her yearn for more would most likely see them ending up estranged, as she pushes away from him and he just lets her go, possibly with some animosity to speed her on the way.

Yes, doomed.

"Whatever we're doing, we long stopped doing it for Wendy."

This book reminded me a little of the movie, "The Searchers." And a little of the speech from "A Few Good Men," about walls protecting us and us not wanting to know what really happens on the walls. Pike and Derrick exist on the front lines, right up at that wall, that's where their skills are useful, but like John Wayne in "The Searchers" at the end, when the "civilized" people rush into the house he can only stand in the doorway, there's no place for him in the house, in civilized society.

Still, I'd like to see what happens with Pike and Wendy, especially as he gets older and his body starts to break down and the relationship changes to him needing her more than she needs him.

Possible spoiler - but since we're already talking about the end of the book, probably not.

If anything I get that Mexico's the only place Pike's going to find any solace, if that's even possible. He keeps returning to it in his mind throughout the book as the one place where he didn't have to worry about all the rules, where he could actually be himself. Where he actually felt, if not happy, then at some kind of peace.

I can't imagine a character like that not running into trouble if for no other reason than he won't back down from it. The minute some Federale gets in his face it'll all go to shit again.

As to Wendy being better with child services. Eh. In a lot of ways she's like Pike. She doesn't operate well with other people's rules, partly through age and partly through personality.

It shows up a lot in how she deals with Rory. She runs rings around him and though she finds her own solace in him, only to have it taken away, much like Pike had his taken away in Mexico, she comes across as the older of the two.

I think Pike taking care of Wendy is very much a form of redemption for him, especially after abandoning Wendy's mother at such a young age. I wouldn't go as far as calling either character doomed. Their lives won't be in some sunny suburbia, but I think they'll find a quiet solace in one another.

And with Wendy going into the system, chance are she'd follow the same path her mother did.

Good point, Keith - quiet solace is a better possibility than sunny suburbia. On the other hand, I think Stephen hit the nail on the head when he said that they run into trouble because they won't back down from it. That, and the natural strain on communication coming from Wendy's maturation, still has me thinking they're sunk - if not in a grave, then at least into a tragic rut.

On the other hand, yeah, the system would have screwed them both too.

His goal may be redemption, but Pike is doomed never to find solace. Wendy is already damaged from his actions and non-actions. Being an abusive husband, an absent father, a drug addict and killer. He drew up the blue print of their lives long ago.

Will Wendy's life wind up like her mother's? Only another story will tell.

Mexico gives Pike freedom from his crimes in Cincinnati, but it can't hide him from his past. Like Derrick, Pike will ultimately die the way he lived and Wendy will be alone to fend for herself.