This is the ninth Jesse Stone novel written by Robert B. Parker. It was originally published in 2010 and was the first book published after the death of Dr. Parker.

NOTE: This review will contain spoilers.

Preceded By: Night And Day

PLOT SUMMARY:

This is [...]]]> BOOK DETAILS/INFORMATION:

This is the ninth Jesse Stone novel written by Robert B. Parker. It was originally published in 2010 and was the first book published after the death of Dr. Parker.

NOTE: This review will contain spoilers.

Preceded By: Night And Day

PLOT SUMMARY:

This is essentially two stories in one novel, one of them being a Jesse Stone story and one of them being a Sunny Randall story.  The Stone side of the story goes something like this.  A mob shooter ends up dead in the trunk of his car in Paradise.  After some investigation, Jesse and crew find out that not only do they have one former mob boss living in Paradise, but they’ve got two that happen to live right next door to one another.  Oh yeah… and they’re married to twin sisters.  If that wasn’t good enough, the sisters have a past that has given them the moniker of “The Bang Bang Twins”.  You do the math.  Jesse goes on a bender based on Jenn issues that are still not dealt with.  Another body shows up and Jesse quickly begins to deduce that the twins are somehow involved.  There are a few twists and turns by the time everything is solved which I won’t reveal here.

As I said, there is also a Sunny Randall story going on here as well.  Sunny has been hired by a girl’s parents to find out who has “kidnapped” their daughter.  Turns out she’s run away and joined a “cult” which she is very happy with.  A little while later, Sunny learns that the girl has gone missing from the cult as well and learns that the parents have kidnapped their own daughter away from the cult.  Sunny’s friend Spike helps Sunny rescue the girl from her parents and return her to where she’s happiest (with the commune).  That is until she’s forced into  some sexual situations she’s not comfortable with (imagine that).  When Jesse and Sunny let the leaders of the cult know that they’ve got the situation figured out they conveniently agree to leave town and wrap up this part of the story.

Obviously during these two plots, Jesse and Sunny have been spending quite a bit of time together.  Jenn and Richie are no longer a part of Jesse and Sunny’s lives so it’s full speed ahead for their relationship.  By the time the book ends they’re professing their love for one another.

COMMENTARY:

This book was published after Dr. Parker’s death, so as I was reading it I couldn’t help but have a heavy heart.  I have to say that I was thrilled to see the Jesse and Sunny storyline continue in earnest without Jenn and Richie getting in the way.  I’m not sure what I think of having two story lines going on in one book.  I think Parker could have very easily gotten Sunny to Paradise without giving her a case there.  It seemed like both plots were a bit rushed and tied up a bit too neatly for my tastes (especially the Stone plot).  I’ve never been a big fan of the way Parker allows some of his plots to end with either the bad guy essentially “getting away with it” due to “the code” (particularly with Spenser) or the way his character allow vigilante justice to take care of things.  With those plot devices aside, I still always enjoy Parker’s novels primarily due to the witty dialogue and character interaction.  While this definitely isn’t my favorite of Parker’s novels it’s not my least favorite either.  I’m not sure how many (if any) additional Jesse Stone novels we’ll get so I’m certainly glad I got to read this one.

Even if you weren’t [...]]]> The world lost a great author yesterday when Robert B. Parker died at his home in Massachusetts.  Dr. Parker was the author of over 50 novels.  He was 77 years old and is survived by his wife and two sons.  Ever the working man, Dr. Parker died sitting at his desk.

Even if you weren’t a fan of Parker’s work you may very well know one of his characters – Spenser of Spenser For Hire fame brought to life by Robert Urich.  Spenser was subsequently played by Joe Mantegna in several made for TV movies.  Spenser is a wise cracking private detective in the Boston area.

In addition to Spenser, Dr. Parker created recurring characters Jesse Stone (now portrayed in TV movies by Tom Selleck) and Sunny Randall.  Stone is a small town police chief and Randall is a female private detective also in the Boston area.  While Spenser, Jesse and Sunny don’t directly interact, several of the secondary characters are present in all three series.

Robert B. Parker was my favorite author and I’m certainly saddened by his death.  In addition to incredible storytelling, Parker’s control of the English language is second to none.  The dialog in his novels kept me coming back and re-reading his novels multiple times.  From a selfish perspective I hope he had a couple of novels completed before his death.

Rest in peace Dr. Parker – you will be missed.  Thank you for everything.

This is the eighth Jesse Stone novel written by Robert B. Parker.  It was originally published in 2009.

Preceded By: Stranger In Paradise
Followed By: Split Image

PLOT SUMMARY:

Jesse is back at it again being Chief the only way he knows how to.  The high school principal Betsy Ingersoll takes it [...]]]> BOOK DETAILS/INFORMATION:

This is the eighth Jesse Stone novel written by Robert B. Parker.  It was originally published in 2009.

Preceded By: Stranger In Paradise
Followed By: Split Image

PLOT SUMMARY:

Jesse is back at it again being Chief the only way he knows how to.  The high school principal Betsy Ingersoll takes it upon herself to be the “panty police” with her students checking to make sure that her student’s undergarments are “proper”.  The students and their parents are obviously outraged and come to Jesse who proceeds to investigate.  He knows that Ms. Ingersoll is in the wrong and wants to teach her a lesson.  With Parker’s novels however there is always a twist — Betsy Ingersoll happens to be married to the managing partner of the largest law firm in the state.  Naturally he wants the story to go away and tells Jesse the way it’s going to be.  Jesse doesn’t take kindly to being told what to do and the story progresses from there.

While all of this is going on, a new threat has come down upon Paradise – The Night Hawk.  He’s essentially a “peeping tom” who’s watching women of Paradise.  Things escalate when he decides that watching isn’t enough.  While Jesse quickly learns who the Hawk is he’s determined to catch him in the act and put an end to the terror that he’s bringing down on the town.

The story of Jesse & Jenn is always present as Jenn has decided once again to take off for her career.  As always there is a man involved (who’s not Jesse) and Jesse must determine how much longer he’ll tolerate playing second fiddle to Jenn’s career.

COMMENTARY:

I normally try to read all of Parker’s work right when it comes out in hardcover.  For some reason I missed Sea Change so I had just finished that when Night And Day was released.  The only reason I bring that up is that this was the second Stone book in a row that I read that deal with some sort of sexual deviant behavior.  The “swinging” that goes on in this story is not a crucial piece to the story (other than to tell some of the Night Hawk’s back story) but it caught me as odd that Parker would go into such similar territory in two books only year apart.  That said, I might not have even noticed it had I not just read Sea Change just prior.

It’s been a while since I’ve read Stranger In Paradise (at the time of this review) so I don’t quite remember where the relationship between Sunny Randall and Jesse left off but I was very glad to see her here once again (and very sad to hear that her dog Rosie has died as that normally means that Dr. Parker has experienced a similar loss).  I also LOVE the character of Spike so I’m very thrilled to see him set up shop in Paradise.  It does worry me though to think about the long term prospects of BOTH the Stone and Randall novels.  With all three characters in once location I wonder how much longer two distinct series will be necessary.

Also perhaps because it’s been a while since I’ve read a Stone novel, but I noticed that Jesse is back to drinking quite a bit.  I personally like this character flaw as I’ve never seen anyone describe drinking with the gusto that Parker does.

Just with Parker’s Spenser novels, I’ll read every single Stone novel that comes out.  I simply cannot get enough of Parker’s writing style and I think because Jesse is a “newer” character in relation to Spenser we have not yet begun to see some of the patterns with Jesse that we do with Spenser.  That, combined with what happens in the last paragraph of this book really leaves me looking forward to the next Paradise tale.

This is the 5th Jesse Stone novel and was published in 2006.  There was a made for TV version of this story starring Tom Selleck that aired on May 22, 2007.  Selleck was given an Emmy nomination (Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie) for his performance.

PLOT SUMMARY:

In [...]]]> BOOK DETAILS/INFORMATION:

This is the 5th Jesse Stone novel and was published in 2006.  There was a made for TV version of this story starring Tom Selleck that aired on May 22, 2007.  Selleck was given an Emmy nomination (Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie) for his performance.

PLOT SUMMARY:

In Paradise, Massachusetts, the body of serial divorcee Florence Horvarth washes up on the local shore. As Stone investigates her death, he uncovers a shady world of sexual degeneracy involving incest, pedophilia, statutory rape and voyeurism. Stone also finds himself perturbed by the perceived complacency of Florence’s parents, Willis and Betsy Plum, and irritated by the idiocy of her twenty year old twin sisters, Corliss and Claudia. Meanwhile, he worries about what impact the case could be having on his tenuous relationship with ex-wife Jenn, a local weather girl.

COMMENTARY:

I normally try to keep up with Parker’s books as they come out but I somehow managed to miss this one.  I got it for Christmas this year and once I started this one couldn’t put it down.  GREAT story and I love the dialog that Parker continues to give us.  I’m not a huge fan of Jesse & Jenn back together again as I prefer Jesse on his own, but I have to say that it really doesn’t take away from the story.

The father in this story is a complete monster.  How you could do that to his own little girls is beyond me.  The fact that the mother just sat back and allowed it to happen is incredible to me as well.  With the exception of a couple of Spenser novels that deal with prostitution this is the first time I can remember that Parker delves so deeply into the “sex” side of things.

Something that I really enjoy is when Parker crosses his three main characters.  I don’t recall a reference to Sunny in this book but he makes several references to a PI in the Boston area who wouldn’t take the case cause it didn’t suit him.  Sounds like a certain gumshoe that we know rather well