Customer Reviews

Death In Paradise (Jesse Stone Novels)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Robert B. Parker is one of my guilty pleasures. Whether it is his long running Spenser series, or the two new series he has started featuring Sunny Randall or Jessie Stone, the books are all pretty much the same. Mr. Parker can be counted on to tell an interesting, relatively simplistic story where evil walks among us and will be struck down as fast as possible. Much like a great Steven Segal movie, the hero will do this almost single handily without a hair out of place and our hero is always a sure hit among the many ladies. When you don't want to have to think to follow along as a reader and you want a guaranteed escape from current reality, Mr. Parker is sure to come up with some enjoyable mind candy. This offering serves as yet another case in point.

Mr. Parker returns to the mean streets of small town life in Paradise, Massachusetts in his recent novel featuring Jesse Stone. Jesse is still the chief of Police and still torn by his love of drink as well as his love for his ex-wife, Jenn. Following up on his theme in Trouble In Paradise, the previous novel of the series, Jesse is still fighting the good fight. He wants Jenn back in the worst way, but is trying to stay strong in his resolve to allow her to find her own life and then decide if he still belongs. Their Wednesday night dates are still on and they remain open to seeing other partners. At the same time, he is still battling the idea that he is an alcoholic and that he will have to deal with it.

Both issues get pushed slightly backward as a body is discovered floating in the lake after a softball game. Jesse thinks he knows who it is and suspects that it is the body of a young teenage runaway. But her family won't acknowledge that she ever existed and due to the condition of the body, identification will take time.

As he and his small force of ten officers begin to work the case, a side story of domestic violence comes to his attention. Splitting his time between both cases becomes a full time effort as he tries to find one killer as well as preventing death in the other case. Jesse has his hands full and hardly breaks a sweat as he goes about his business working both cases.

Mr. Parker keeps up his long tradition of shallow characters, plenty of apparent action and almost continuous dialogue in this novel. At 294 pages in length, one would expect that this novel would not read as fast as it does. However, with so little narration and almost continuous dialogue consisting of very short sentences, it becomes an amazingly fast read. Mr. Parker won't change the world through his novels or how you look at it, but he can make you forget about it for a bit. Reminds one of a really good chocolate candy bar-great going down, but plenty of empty calories. Enjoy the break!

This is the first Jesse Stone novel I've read, but it certainly will not be the last. To call it a mystery would be inaccurate, for it more closely resembles a police procedural and character study than anything else. Parker's dialog is perhaps his strongest ability as a writer, but there is plenty of interesting plot and character development to keep the all but the most petulant reader satisfied. Death in Paradise is, in a word, FUN!

Parker has created believable worlds in all of his books with characters and places that ring true and the same is true in Death in Paradise. I get the sense that Parker has or is walking in Jesse Stone's shoes now and again. Stone's realizations about love, addiction, need and purpose are right on the money to the point of appearing to be autobiographical.

His familiar, quick style moves the story along very well and his dialog is always a treat. When a Parkeresque-recognizable Boston crime lord appears, I almost expected Hawk or Susan to walk around the corner and say "Hello!" Parker fans will be pleased, newcomers will be intrigued to read more.

Robert B. Parker once again scores a winning run with his third novel in the Jesse Stone series. Former L.A. homicide detective Jesse Stone is now Chief of Police in Paradise, Massachusetts after alcohol ruined both his detective job and his marriage. When the body of a young girl is found in a lake during one of Jesse's softball games, Chief Stone must use his well-honed investigative skills to find the killer.

Just as Jesse feels the need to lead his softball team (he once played in the minors), he must lead his police force in his quest to find the killer of the unidentified girl. Just to name a few on the force, there is Molly, with her Irish-Catholic sense of humor, a perfect combination with Jesse's dry wit. And Suitcase Simpson is only too eager to please his Chief though his experience with surveillance is nil.

As Jesse follows the trail of clues to discover the murderer's identity, his personal life is carefully revealed. His dependent relationship with his ex-wife, Jenn, is inextricably intertwined with his alcohol problem. And there is Lilly, the high school principal he is seeing seemingly to avoid loneliness.

Mr. Parker has penned another sure success, one of his best yet. The mystery is nothing short of excellent, as previously unrelated characters become suspects caught in a web that begins to unravel as their connection to each other is exposed. And Jesse is portrayed as a very real hero, a man who seems rather sure of himself to his peers and to women, but a man who battles quite a few demons in private.

Death in Paradise by Robert Parker is a very entertaining, but very light mystery. We follow the exploits of Paradise chief of police, Jesse Stone, as he tries to solve a murder mystery, get his drinking under control and get his love life on track. While Parker's dialogue is first rate, it seems to read more like a screenplay than a novel. Also, the plot seems to resolve itself just a little too quickly. My biggest complaint, however, is all the wasted paper. With 1 to 1-1/2 blank pages between each chapter--and we're talking 66 chapters and almost 300 pages here, it's almost as if Parker tried to make a novella into something larger. So for Parker fans, you'll enjoy this book but don't expect a deep, complicated or dramatic mystery.

Jesse Stone is the police chief of Paradise, a small suburban town on the North Shore of Massachusetts. He's still in love with his ex-wife who he sees every Wednesday night even thought their marriage broke up years ago because of her adultery and his boozing. Jesse knows that this is his last chance at the job and with the only woman he ever loved. He was fired in Los Angeles because of his drinking during business hours and was not dependable.

Usually Paradise is a quiet place but not today. After the weekly softball game, Jesse is called over to the nearby river where he seas a floater. By process of elimination, he identifies the body and Jesse puts in a lot of man-hours following the meager trail that will lead to Billie's killer.

In DEATH IN PARADISE, Jessie struggles to come to terms with his alcoholism even as he struggles with one of the trickiest cases of his careers. One has to like Jessie, a man who has known much heartache, but still keeps on hoping things will improve. Robert B. Parker has written an exciting police procedural that piques reader interest from first page to last.

Harriet Klausner

Robert B. Parker has been writing for a long time, and there are critics everywhere. As he's progressed, his writing has gotten more and more spare, and careful. It's to the point now where he almost doesn't write the book, and you almost don't read it. It sort of flows past you, and only the characters and the action are important. Interesting phenomenon.

This time around, Jesse Stone's weekly softball game is interrupted by the discovery of a dead girl floating in a nearby lake. Stone investigates, and eventually discovers who she is and why she's there. Meanwhile there's a domestic disturbance call (a wife being beaten) that slowly escalates to something worse. The problem with the book, as much as there is one, is that neither of these plots is that interesting, so you have to pay attention to the characters. They at least are diverting, and I did have some fun watching Jesse do his thing. Neither bad guy is that smart, though. I suppose much of the time that's the way it is in real life.

All in all, a decent entry into Parker's library, but not his best book.

Once you resign yourself to the fact that every Robert Parker detective thriller will throw bouquets of roses at the psychiatric industry (Mr. Parker appararently believing that, along with a good dry cleaner and reliable auto mechanic, we should all have a handy therapist or shrink within easy reach), you can relax and enjoy the snappier aspects of this reliable author's craft. These always include razor-sharp banter; sophisticated humor; involving detective plots that are sufficiently complex but never incomprehensible; and some qenuine depth on the part of the good AND bad guys. All of this good stuff is strongly in evidence in "Death in Paradise", the third Jesse Stone thriller, which is a fast, enjoyable read. Alas, you also get the afformentioned sales pitch about the importance of signing up with a good shrink (it must have really killed Mr. Parker not to be able to harp on that theme in his recent Wyatt Earp novel), but hey, those passages kind of just roll off the back now. And to be fair, though the shrink/therapist scenes and discussions get tiresome fast, I do enjoy the fact that Jesse isn't perfect and is a long way from getting his life completely together. It makes him more interesting to read about.

Robert Parker is one of my very favorite authors. He's a fun read and great storyteller. And, while I'm partial to Spenser and Hawk, Jesse Stone (the hero of "Death in Paradise" and the other "Paradise" novels) is a hero you can love. On to the story....

In typical Parker fashion, the story begins with a dead body. A young teenage girl has turned up in a lake in Paradise. She's been shot and Jesse smells a skunk. Jesse begins his investigation which actually takes many twists and turns. This was quite enjoyable and worthy of Parker's storytelling lore. (Parker does however continue the yarn regarding Jesse's dysfunctional relationship with Jenn. This is old but certainly makes Jesse seem human (as opposed to superhuman).) However, Jesse does strike up an interesting relationship with a high school principal after meeting her during his investigation.

The story is fluid and vintage Parker....right up to the last 50 pages. Had this book been longer by 100 - 125 pages, I think it would have had the ending it deserved. In its current form, it appears that Parker got tired of the story and cut it short. It was anything but fluid. A disappointment for a true Parker fan.

Long story short....Parker has seen much better efforts.

"Death in Paradise" is the third novel in the Jesse Stone series by Robert B. Parker, who is better known for his Spenser novels. The remains of a teenage girl are found in a Paradise lake. The girl had been shot and dumped in the lake. Paradise police chief Jesse Stone discovers that the girl is Billie Bishop, and learns that she and other runaway girls seem to have ties with a Boston mob boss. Quite a bit of time is also devoted to Jesse's relationship with his ex-wife, Jenn, who is a weatherperson for a Boston TV station. "Death in Paradise" is more of a straight mystery than either of the first two Jesse Stone novels. I enjoyed reading "Death in Paradise", and look forward to more Jesse Stone novels in the future.

The Paradise Men's Softball League has just finished their game, and Jessie Stone is hanging around the parking lot with his teammates, drinking beers, and talking about women when a voice from a nearby lake calls out in terror. Crouching by the water's edge are two men, and floating in front of them is the body of a young girl.

The girl didn't commit suicide, and she didn't drown: she was shot, and dumped in the lake. The local police haven't seen anything like this, but because of his L.A. past, Jessie has, and even though he doesn't have much to go on, he leaves no stone unturned in his investigation, even if it means entering the darkest corners of the peaceful town of Paradise.

The only clue Jessie has is a class ring worn around the victim's neck, and while the ring links him to his first suspect, it brings up more unanswered questions as he finds the young girl was a promiscuous, and her parents wanted nothing to do with her.

As his investigation heats up, Jessie sees his list of suspects grow, and lurking in the shadows is someone willing to kill again to keep their secrets from being found out.

`Death In Paradise' is the third novel featuring Chief of Police Jessie Stone, and what an enjoyable novel it is: packed with all the suspense, humor, strong characters, and tough writing that have become Parker staples, readers are treated to a fast-paced mystery that can't be put down once it's started.

Robert B. Parker has created a great series with his Jessie Stone novels, and `Death In Paradise' is his best yet. Fans will devour this novel in one sitting, and be left anxious for the next book in the series.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella