Customer Reviews

Trouble in Paradise (Jesse Stone Novels)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Jesse Stone got off to a shaky start in "Night Passage." In this second outing for the character, Parker has come quickly up to speed and I'm glad. I've read ever book this author has written and suffered through the occasional doldrums. This novel was like returning home.As a cop, I read crime fiction with a sharp - and somewhat jaundiced - eye. I can find fault with minor details in this book, but not enough to get in the way of enjoying it. The plot moves along at a good pace, switching points of view with alternating chapters. It is somewhat cinematic in this respect, telling the story from both places and allowing the reader to more fully understand the story. The characters are solid and well written. A hero like Stone or Spenser needs quality villains to oppose and there are two in this one, if you don't count the townswoman of whom Stone makes an enemy in the course of doing his job.If there are more Jesse Stone novels to come, bring them on! I'll enjoy learning more about his world, just as I did learning about Spenser's.

Is it me, or are the Spenser novels getting a little stale? Parker seems to have started telling the same story over and over again, from Crimson Joy on up to the present. Spenser always knows what to do to make things come out perfectly. Does anyone remember the early Spenser, who didn't always know what to do? The Spenser of "Mortal Stakes" (a brilliant detective novel) who ambushed and murdered the villian and his cohort so that his clients could get out from beneath their shadow? I miss the Spenser who who committed morally suspect acts in order to fulfull his own personal code. And then came Jesse Stone, Parker's alternate protagonist. He's troubled, he's flawed, he's an incomplete human being trying to find a new place for himself. He doesn't always know what to do, and he has potential to mess up. Parker was on the verge of rediscovering depth of character in "Night Passage" and he's found it with "Trouble In Paradise." In the villain Macklin (among others...all the criminals in this book are amazing) we see a character who makes sense because his motivations are in place: he's greedy, he wants money, and he downright enjoys being a criminal. Further, Parker shows his incredible understanding of small town Massachusetts dynamics, politics, and corruption in the Jesse Stone books. He truly is on the verge of becoming great again as author. Give him a chance.

When reading any of Robert Parker's novels it's difficult not to compare his protagonist with Spenser, Parker's most famous character. However, Jesse Stone, police chief of Paradise, Mass. is not Spenser. He is Spenser-like in that he's self assured, competent, and has a dry sense of humor.

The story revolves around an attempted heist of all the valuables on ritzy Stiles Island. Career criminal James Macklin assembles a crew of specialists who plan to isolate the island from the nearby mainland and at their leisure pluck all of the residents clean of anything valuable. Of course, they don't realize they'll have to deal with Jesse Stone.

I didn't like the book as much as I like the Spenser novels. This is probably not fair to Parker because when this book is compared to other authors in writing in the same genre it is very good indeed. The sharp Parker dialogue is there along with the rapidly moving pace of the whole novel. A real Chief of Police wouldn't be able to get away with some of the things that Jesse Stone does, but hey, this IS fiction after all. All-in-all a good book for mystery lovers.

...I like the fact that with a little wilfull suspension of disbelief, I can resume my love of Spenser through a new character. I can't help but think that each time I read a new Spenser that he's getting too old to do the stuff that he does. I also like Stone's ability to be "human" without resenting Susan (who can't make up her mind about her relationship with Spenser after 20-some-odd years). Jesse Stone is battling alcoholism, failed relationships and cuckoldery. But, best of all, he's tough, smart and allows me to be a tough guy by proxy. I am continually amazed at the efficiency in Parker's writing. In very few words, I am able to identify with characters and understand what motivates them and what keeps them realistic. I hope that Mr. Parker will continue with this series, but I hope Spenser lives, too!

While I've been an avid, but increasingly less enthusiastic, reader of Parker's "Spenser" novels since I first plucked Mortal Stakes from a mail-order remainder house almost 30 years ago, I'm rather late to the Jesse Stone series, now counting five.

There's a lot to be said for the character of Stone... he's flawed in ways that Spenser could never be, and while he's as "involved" with his ex-wife Jenn as the Boston-based private detective is with his paramour Susan Silverman, there is nothing idealized about their relationship, or "connection" as Jesse and Jenn, through considerable analyst sessions, have come to term it.

Aside from the "can't-live-with-her, can't-stop-obsessing-about-her" problem that occupies much of Stone's waking hours, he also fights the battle of the bottle the way Spenser fights the bad guys. It's not a perfect world for the former major league baseball prospect and LA homicide detective who drank himself off that job only to find himself for a rather convoluted reason on the other side of the country as police chief in a modest Eastern Massachusetts community yclept "Paradise," given a fresh start as a law enforcement professional, all described in the pleasing preceding Parker/Stone novel, Night Passage.

The next in the newer series should have been organic, a natural, but it seems to suffer the sophomore jinx. Parker was early on burdened with the heir-apparent to the Chandler/Ross Macdonald (Kenneth Millar) detective-as-knight-errant mantle (and even went so far in 1989 as to complete Chandler's unfinished Poodle Springs and then unwisely follow up with a Philip Marlowe pastiche, Perchance to Dream). In Trouble in Paradise, Parker takes Dashiell Hammett's 1925 classic, and much reprinted, Continental Op short story, "The Gutting of Couffignal," and sets it on the affluent gated island of Stiles across the bay from Paradise.

Just to make sure the crime fiction aficionado "gets" it, Parker has the brains heavy of Trouble in Paradise, Macklin, in dialogue with his devoted gal pal Faye, refer to the high risk criminal enterprise he's planning as "the big knockover," the title of another celebrated Hammett/Op story... c'mon, no one in the late 1990s still uses that sort of slang!

Yes, there are elements in the book to recommend it... five, count'em five major female characters and that's unusual in this genre, and the continuing saga of Jesse and Jenn, and Jesse and the bottle. Parker, having created a fully realized Boston-centric milieu for Spenser with numerous recurring characters, correctly assesses that many of those supporting players can also occupy Jesse Stone's universe as well rather than create new ones, or at least give them new names. So just as we recognized Gino Fish and Vinny Morris and State Police Captain Healy in Night Passage, so too are the characters of crime boss Tony Marcus, Boston Homicide Detective Frank Belson and former ADA Rita Fiore peripheral in Trouble in Paradise.

On the not-so-hot side, the hatchet heavy, a putative Native American (Apache), Wilson "Crow" Cromartie seems to have wandered in from any one of a number of Elmore Leonard novels, and after the somewhat rushed dénouement, it's an open question as to whether he's rejoined the other author's stable.

Trouble in Paradise will be an important entry in the Jesse Stone series because of the evolving process of the protagonist's coming to grips with his and Jenn's "connection," and his attempts to disengage from the bottle. It's regrettable that the framing narrative isn't at the level of the other books.

As with all of Robert B. Parker's novels, I enjoyed his economy of words, his character detail and interactions, and his literary wit. This second installment in the Jesse Stone series is a fine follow-up to the opener, "Night Passage". Stone is not quite as cold as his name, but close. Then again, after what he's been through, who wouldn't be? For those new to Parker's books, keep in mind that this is a new series, and that Spenser will return, as he does every Spring, in a new book. Doubtless Hawk, Susan, Belson, Quirk, Pearl The Wonder Dog and perhaps even Paul Giacomin, Rita Fiore, Ed Healy, Vinnie Morris, Joe Broz, etc. will appear. Also note that if you have read Spenser recently, and are concerned about Jesse Stone being boring, fallible or impetuous, pick up "The Godwulf Manuscript", Parker's first novel and the first of the Spenser series, and you will see a central character who is also rough around the edges, waiting for a few more passes from the sculptor's mallet. Parker seems to evolve his characters over time, and frankly I enjoy the ride.

I like the fact that Jesse Stone has real problems, not unlike most of us, and he is not always sure what is the best way to deal with them. Also like many of us, he is better at his job than he is in dealing with his personal life, and watching him struggle with these issues is something Spenser has done long ago, and so with Stone we get a fresh chance to see a character mature, Parker-style. A shipwrecked marriage brings much distress into anyone's life, and if drinking and casual sex is Stone's ways of dealing with it, then so be it. You know Jesse's a great cop, and that he can handle the bad guys, but you are not so sure he can emerge victorious in his life outside of his Paradise, Massachusetts Police duites. Watching Jesse deal with himself and with ever-present evil will keep me reading the series as long as Parker continues to write them.

I didn't care for the fact that some good guys, even on Stone's own force, were dispatched and no follow-ups were given to those deaths. It reminds me of the way television and movies today will add up a body count that is reminiscent of some Civil War battles, yet the heroes are all smiles and hugs in the end. Sure, it's great to be alive, but when death is treated with as much emotion as changing one's 401K plan investment distributions, then it's time to re-evaluate. But other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this second Jesse Stone involvement, and look forward to another next fall, as well as anticipating the next Spenser novel in the Spring.

This is the second of Parker's new series, and Jesse Stone is being well developed. He definitely isn't a Spenser clone. He's more serious and more fallible. Actually, he's more human and easier to identify with.

This particular book pits him against a gang of five, two of which are indeed formidable, along with a woman who's formidable because of her love for one of the bad guys. The 3rd person narrative allows us to get a better picture of the bad guys and exactly what they're doing than we get in Spenser's 1st person narratives.

Jesse Stone isn't as fast with the wise cracks and snappy dialogue as Spenser is, but the two main crooks give us a lot of snappy dialogue. In fact, one restaurant conversation between Macklin and Crow could've easily been between Spenser and Hawk.

Lots to notice in the book. Jenn is going to a Cambridge shrink. Could that shrink be somebody we Spenser fans know well? A base of characters is being built up here, and I'm sure we'll see some of them in future books. Tony Marcus shows up, but notice that Stone doesn't meet him, so they're unaware of each other. A lot of readers are concerned about Sloan's drinking and his sex habits. It seems to me that he's not truly an alcoholic and is keeping his drinking under control. As far as whether he's practicing safe sex or not...well, Parker doesn't really tell us whether he's taking precautions or not.

Important thing is that this is a fun read. The short chapters are hooks though...like salted peanuts, one always needs one more. And I disagree with anyone who implies these books are quickly forgotten. I'm surprised when I come across references to the previous book as to how much I do remember.

If Parker is indeed easing Spenser out the door, Sloan may well be the more interesting of Parker's new series heroes.

But most of all I love Jesse Stone; a man of few words who is soooo deep. I admire Mr. Parker's ability to describe his characters so that they are actually in your mind as if you were watching a TV movie. And, as a female mystery freak, I can also understand Jesse's relationships with all the woman in his life and his respect for woman. Mr. Parker gets to the true inner feelings of women - all kinds of women. Jesse also brings out the best in people. I do hope there is more written about "Crow" -- what a character.

Mr. Parker - I like your style.

I was really looking forward to the continuing adventures of Jesse Stone. My complaint about this story is that the ending failed to live up to the drama created as the story moved on. It ended too abruptly.

I would like to see future novels with Jesse Stone to be longer so it will fel more like a novel and less like a TV episode.

The end of "Night Passage," the first Robert B. Parker novel featuring his new hero Jesse Stone, came across as an epic old West confrontation between the new sheriff in town and a mob. Well, at the beginning of "Trouble in Paradise" Parker pretty much makes the western metaphor explicit and within that context this second novel has an outlaw gang ride into town to rob the bank (and a whole lot more). In the Massachusetts coastal town of Paradise where we lay our scene, Stiles Island is a wealthy and exclusive enclave whose only link to the mainland is a bridge. James Macklin sees this as the heist of this career and has brought a group of ex-cons who plan on making a million each off of this big score. Meanwhile Stone's job is in jeopardy because he had the audacity to arrest some rich kids for burning down the house of two gays. His romantic entanglements with his ex-wife Jenn and local attorney Abby Taylor are further complicated by his attraction to realtor Marcy Campbell. When the bridge to Stiles Island blows up, two of those women will be at risk in what happens next.

Stone continues to be the anti-Spenser, a police chief rather than a private detective, trying to salvage a workable relationship with his ex-wife rather than enjoying the love of a very good woman, dealing with the rich and powerful who are out to get him rather than doing whatever he wants and answering only to himself. The main problem with "Trouble in Paradise" is that the payoff is not worth the set up. The criminals are more interesting than the hero for most of the novel (especially "Crow") and they contribute more to the failure of the grand scheme than does Stone. What I most appreciated about the novel is that the growing supporting cast of women have more active roles in the action this time around; they are much more than romantic interests for our hero. Parker is still establishing characters and relationships, but you certainly get the feeling he is in for the long haul. He is not there yet, but he certainly has stuff to work with here. Final Note: Pay attention and I think you will find a veiled reference to Susan Silverman.