Stone Cold

Rating:
Summary: A must read!
Review: I think this is definately one of the best books in Jesse Stone series. Jesse Stone encounters two very smart murderers who kill randomly and seemingly without a motive. I always liked Jesse's character but his confused ex-wife gets on my nerves. It seems to be a pattern in Robert Parker's books-in his Spencer series there is Susan who just can't work through her problems and have been confused about who she is for a long time. Same here. Its my only complaint about his books which are always excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Read about the highly appealing Jesse Stone
Review: Jesse Stone is the beleaguered chief of police in tiny Paradise, Mass. He has ended up there after his job as a cop in Los Angeles, alcohol, and his ex-wife have forced him to redirect his life. Parker's Stone is an appealing character. He takes it one day at time, is a man of principle, and takes his new job seriously.

It is Stone's calmness and instincts as a cop that serve him well in investigating a series of seemingly linked killings in Paradise - something new in this small town. Though the strong, silent type, his sensitivity is evident in his handling of a sexual assault case in the local high school.

Stone has managed to get his alcohol abuse under control, but his ex-wife Jenn, a local TV personality, continues to bedevil him. He simply cannot move on without her, and this is despite his obvious appeal to other attractive and smart women.

The character of Jesse Stone is the reason to read this book, though it is mildly disappointing that the author really gives us little of his background. In addition the perpetrators of the murdering spree remain mostly a puzzle. How did they get to this point? Basically the book is a quick and enjoyable read.


Rating:
Summary: Jesse Stone fights two different categories of demons
Review: A husband and wife team of serial killers begins operating in Paradise, Massachusetts. They choose a victim and then methodically track their movements until they identify the perfect time to kill them, which is done by two simultaneous shots, one from each of them. After committing the crime, they go back to their apartment and make love while watching videos of their victim. Jesse Stone, the police chief in Paradise, is placed under great pressure to solve the murders. There is no apparent connection between the victims and the last one is a woman that Jesse was dating.
There is also another major case that Jesse is working on. A sixteen-year old girl was gang-raped by three guys who held her down and photographed her. Since the girl had immediately taken a bath after the rapes, there is no physical evidence. They have terrorized her so that she is afraid to accuse them. Jesse is furious and baits a trap for them by supposedly launching an undercover drug investigation at the high school. Since he sends officers that everyone knows, it is generally laughed off. However, one of his officers is female and while driving the bus, she spots one of the rapists smoking a joint. He is arrested and they find one of the photos in his backpack. This starts a process whereby they manage to identify and capture all three boys. However, since they are underage, a plea agreement is reached and they receive relatively light punishment. Jesse does what he can to help the girl, but eventually her family moves out of town.
While Jesse is chasing the demons that are killing people, he must also face some internal demons, his addiction to alcohol and his attachment to Jen, his ex-wife. She is a very selfish woman; she works for a local news station and tries to use Jesse's love for her to get inside information concerning the investigation. Jesse is able to stay away from the alcohol, but despite his relationships with other women, he cannot break away from Jen. When the other women ask him to explain it to them, all he can say is, "I love Jen (more)."
Jesse gets a break in the case when the serial killers target him as their next and last victim in Paradise. He understands that and positions several officers around the site they have chosen to commit the hit. Jesse wears a vest, counting on their pattern of shooting their victims in the chest. He is shot in the chest, but the killers have planned it so well, they manage to escape after killing another officer. However, their arrogance proves to be their undoing, Jesse manages to track them to Canada where they are arrested.
While the story line is a good mystery, what makes this story work so well is the quality of the dialog. The conversations between Jesse and his fellow officers, especially with Molly and Suitcase Simpson, are occasionally hilarious and always entertaining. Even though the dialog is nearly always deadpan and occasionally requires a bit of thought, it is as funny as other stories that are meant to be humorous. Robert Forster's narration also adds a bit of additional intensity, as he deadpans the jokes with just the right lack of extra inflection.

Rating:
Summary: The best Jessie Stone book by far!
Review: If, like me, you have been disappointed by the Jessie Stone series, this book will be a pleasant surprise. Up to this point, Jessie has been an underdeveloped character - his books have seem to have been back-burner material and second-rate effort by Parker.

This one is different - and it is not a Spenser clone (like Sunny Randall)! Stone is working on two crimes at the same time and Parker paces them well so that the first crime (a rape at a local high school) comes to a resolution just as the second crime (a set of serial murders) finally starts to get interesting. No giant car chases or dramatic speeches as this book winds down, but it is satisfying nonetheless.

The only complaint I have is Parker's insistence on having dysfunctional romantic relationships dominate Stone's personal life (we love each other but we just can't marry each other because that would stifle us, but we are faithful to one another just like we were married, blah, blah, blah...). This is just like he has done with Spenser, Sunny Randall and Phillip Marlowe. Geez, give it a rest!

Rating:
Summary: Why do we care?
Review: Our hero,amoral in his love life, refusing to kick his unfaithful ex-wife to the curb, and making mystery solving boring, why continue? Parker can write like no one else, but his recent plots suggest the well may be dry.

Rating:
Summary: Getting Better
Review: This new character created by Parker is getting better with each new novel. This story defines even more about his personality and what drives him as an individual and an the police chief. One drawback, he is still be oppressed by his horrid ex-wife. Why he can't get a hold of himself and rid himself of such a life-wasting creature is beyond me. Between her and Susan Silverman, you gotta wonder about Parker.

Rating:
Summary: Vintage Parker
Review: Jesse Stone is sort of Spenser's alter ego. He's younger, and Spenser's never had a drinking problem, but other than that, they're pretty much the same character, except Stone's about thirty years younger. Robert B. Parker has been writing detective novels for a very long time now: this is the fourth Stone novel, there are 31 Spenser novels, three featuring his third character, Sunny Randall, and nine books that aren't part of a series, some of them non-fiction. That's 47 books, for those who aren't keeping up with the math. Obviously, by now Parker knows what he's doing. He seems able to write one of these every six months or so: he alternates between Randall, Spenser, and Stone with ease, and just floats along.

In this outing, Stone's faced with a real problem. Paradise (the town he's Chief of Police in) has been hit by a rash of killings, and it's soon apparent that they're the work of a serial killer, or killers. Stone has no way of tracking the killer at first, and the killers seem able to strike with impunity and kill whoever they wish.

Meanwhile, there's also a scared girl at the local high school, the victim of a gang rape and some threats afterwards. Stone has to resolve things, and control the situation so that the girl doesn't get hurt.

And of course there's his personal life, which has been a problem for him since the series started with Night Passage. His ex-wife is a manipulative sociopath, interested in only herself and how she can control him, near as I can tell. In this installment, she attempts to manipulate him more than she should, and things take some interesting turns.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for some light reading.

Rating:
Summary: Trouble in Paradise
Review: Jesse Stone, the police chief in Paradise MA, is fighting the urge to booze even as a serial killer or killers stalk his small beach community. Jesse's job is on the line as the national press arrives to set up camp. Never losing his cool or his focus Stone is proves the equal of the killers and the bottle.

Evenly paced and dramatic, Parker shows why he is a national treasure.



Rating:
Summary: Stone Cold Disgusted
Review: I hate to ruin a book for someone before they've even read it but this is the worst Robert B Parker book I've ever read.There is a serial killer(s) on the loose in Paradise. That should tell you something right there. Okay and they kill someone Jesse has had a relationship with. Good idea? Yes, but they don't kill the self-centered, ladder climbing, sorry, the very lovely Jenn. Parker really missed his chance to give Jesse a life. I won't be reading Jesse Stone novels until Jenn is gone!

Rating:
Summary: A must read!
Review: I think this is definately one of the best books in Jesse Stone series. Jesse Stone encounters two very smart murderers who kill randomly and seemingly without a motive. I always liked Jesse's character but his confused ex-wife gets on my nerves. It seems to be a pattern in Robert Parker's books-in his Spencer series there is Susan who just can't work through her problems and have been confused about who she is for a long time. Same here. Its my only complaint about his books which are always excellent.