Reply To: Still Life: What do you think of Agent Nichol?
I don’t think you’re off base, Susan. I initially thought the same thing when reading. Nichol doesn’t seem to be able to pick up on social signals well. She also doesn’t seem to always understand what I would think would be transparent – like when she takes Gamache’s “I forget” literally and again with the phrase on Ruth’s mirror. That was just so odd to me. But, she has other behaviors that I puzzled over that I don’t associate with ASD. Gamache observes how she dresses and how she isolates herself in a room of people. She seems to have to put in a lot of effort into thinking about how to appear to be “nice” and her thoughts seem to always veer towards feeling as if she’s being denigrated or attacked. Jane, you are right Nichol’s father hiding her badge and card was cruel, but so too was lying for years about the heroic uncle in order to raise his family’s status and garner sympathy. So I can see that Nichol may have picked up on more than one negative behavior from her father. Going to a therapist would definitely help. And I think Gamache did the best he could given they were in the middle of an investigation.
