Robert B. Parker is back in Paradise, where Detective Jesse Stone is looking for two things: the killer of a teenage girl—and someone, anyone, who is willing to claim the body… Amazon.com Review With assured confidence and a master's economy of means, Robert B. Parker, who is best known for his Spenser series, delivers one of his finest, most absorbing works yet. This third entry in the Jesse Stone series finds Stone--a former LAPD cop fired for drinking on the job--serving as chief of police in the town of Paradise, Massachusetts, and investigating the murder of a teenaged girl whose decomposed body turns up in the local lake. As he follows slender threads of evidence into an ugly world of exploited teens, several subplots crisscross, keeping things lively. But Jesse's struggle with alcohol and his loving, troubled relationship with his ex-wife are at least as compelling as the external plot events. Parker doesn't usually give his characters much of an inner life, but here--in deftly compressed prose, much of it dialog--he paints an understated, believable portrait of a tough guy grappling with tough issues. This smooth-reading book goes down easy but packs a surprising wallop. --Nicholas H. Allison From Publishers Weekly Melancholy shadows this third, beautifully wrought Jesse Stone mystery; rarely if ever has Parker's fiction conveyed with such solemn intensity the challenge of living a good life in a world of sin. Jesse, erstwhile drunk and now sheriff of small-town Paradise, Mass., tackles two criminal and two personal mysteries here: the murder of a teenage girl found shot dead in a local lake, and the chronic beating of a local wife by her husband; the conundrum of Jesse's attraction to alcohol, and the mess of his love life, shaped by his dependence upon his estranged wife but encompassing a highly sexed affair with a school principal. The search for the identity and the killer of the girl brings Jesse, as such investigations traditionally do, into the realm of high society the prime suspect is a bestselling writer but also to the mean streets of Boston, where the sheriff parries with Gino Fish and Vinnie Morris (outlaws borrowed from the Spenser series). Dogged police work, a hot-to-trot wife, child prostitutes, the solace of baseball, hard-guy banter these and more classic elements inform and bolster this immensely satisfying tale. As usual with Parker these days, though, the book's ultimate pleasure lies in the words, suffused with a tough compassion won only through years of living, presented in prose whose impeccability speaks of decades of careful writing. (Oct.)Forecast: This is Parker's third outstanding novel of the year, after Potshot and Gunman's Rhapsody. To promote it, he plans a vigorous author tour. Expect high interest and sales. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Ah, the library discard box. Such a treasure trove at times. I've found for myself, and others, some really good books, and some of course pretty bad. Parker's Jesse Stone tale falls into the former, and was enjoyable enough for me to consider renting some of the others from the library.Many might be familiar with Jesse from the Tom Selleck movies. The major difference between the movies and the book is Jesse in the book is not as old as Jesse in the movies. The rest is there though. Failed minor baseball player Jesse ends up in Paradise, MA after being terminated as a L.A. Homicide inspector for drinking on the job. Along with a failed marriage, this make Jesse's story, and that of his finding the murderer of a teen aged girl, a redemption tale.Arguably the murder falls well into the background. Much of the story is about Jesse dealing with drinking, or his wanting to drink, and his relationship with ex-wife Jenn the weather reporter for the local television station. So far they seem a classic can't live with each other, can't live without each other couple. At the same time they're both dating and sleeping with others.Jesse may not be a smart cop, but he is determined, and a cross between likeable and wanting to kick him the ass for how he treats women (except for Jenn). He is frankly, pretty messed up, knows it, but appears determined not to make the same mistakes again.This is my first Parker book, and I really did like his dialogue. The extremely short chapters, for me from a style view, felt unnecessary.His encounters with his new therapist about his drinking seem real to me. While not the drinker Jesse was/is, I'm divorced and the feelings Jesse are dealing with are nowt that far from reality for some of us.
What do You think about Death In Paradise (2002)?
Another perfectly serviceable Parker. I'm struggling a little to find the spark in Jesse and Jenn's relationship and I get the sense that it's more about Parker playing out his feelings on monogamy than a working character description, but the rest of the action rattles along at a reasonable pace. One of the subplots went a bit squiffy when Jesse Stone tells an abusive husband that if he hurts his wife again he will kill him. This leads to a hostage situation that Stone has essentially caused with his interference and in which he is "forced" to publicly execute the man in front of his wife and many others. Odd.
—Daniel Sevitt
This is an early Jesse Stone (I can't give the publication date since I read it in large print and they only give the date it was first printed in large type). So how can I tell it's an early one? Well, first of all Jesse really does have a drinking problem. Second of all he begins therapy with the bald, enigmatic Dix, and third he and Jen are just beginning to circle around each other in their ex-marriage love affair. As far as the mystery goes, Jesse is looking for someone who killed a teenage run-away called Billie, a girl whose parents deny they have a daughter. Although Jesse finds the murderer, he doesn't delve into the dysfunctionality of a family that would deny their own daughter. I kind of like the fact that Parker hasn't dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's in this one.
—Beth
Good for a detective series with some reality in the screwed up main character who drinks, has messed up relationships including with a two dimensional ex. Our hero finds a teen in the lake and pursues a whodunit tale that leads to one of the least likely perpetrators just the way we'd expect.
—Mom
