Shrink Rap (Sunny Randall Series) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "I ALWAYS LOVED Richie's hands..." (more)
Key Phrases: sunny randall, Melanie Joan, John Melvin, Tony Gault (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Boston PI Sunny Randall is the daughter Robert Parker's series hero Spenser and his inamorata, Susan Silverman, might have had if they weren't so busy parenting Pearl the Wonder Dog. Like Spenser, Sunny is smart, tough, and fearless; like Susan, she's sexy, droll, and vulnerable; and like Pearl, Sunny's pit bull, Rosie, is the only character who's wise enough to hide when trouble comes knocking at the door. In Shrink Rap, Sunny's working as a bodyguard for a famous romance writer who's being stalked by her ex-husband, a psychiatrist engaged in extremely unprofessional conduct with his female patients. To get the goods on Dr. John Melvin, Sunny goes undercover as a vulnerable divorcée, which isn't that far from the truth; simultaneously, she's also seeing another therapist, who's supposed to be coaching her for her undercover role but is also helping her understand her troubled relationships with men. It's a clever device, and Parker makes the most of it in this spare, smart, swiftly paced mystery, one of Parker's best in recent years. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

As if responding to his new status as an MWA Grand Master, Parker turns in his strongest mystery in years with Boston PI Sunny Randall's third outing (after Family Honor and Perish Twice), a particular relief after this spring's flaccid Spenser offering, Widow's Walk. The setup lacks originality Sunny is hired to bodyguard a bestselling author, Melanie Joan Hall, who pens "high-end bodice rippers," just as years ago in Stardust, Spenser was hired to bodyguard a famous TV newscaster but by focusing on an author's plight during her book tour, Parker writes about experiences close to his own, delivering sharp portraits of publishing types and fans. Melanie Joan's former husband, John Melvin, a psychopathic psychiatrist, is stalking her. To learn about and discredit him, Sunny consults another psychiatrist, then enters incognito into therapy with Melvin, which adds tremendous resonance to the narrative as, inadvertently, she must confront her own neuroses during sessions, complexes involving her relationships with her parents and estranged husband. Soon Sunny sniffs out that Melvin has been raping and, occasionally, killing members of his all-female clientele by injecting them with a date rape drug. To nab Melvin, she submits to his using the drug on her, in an intense finale. With layers of psychological revelation, plenty of action, the welcome return of Sunny's supporting crew (most notably Spike, a gay counterpart to Spenser's Hawk) and, as usual, prose as tight as a drumhead, this is grade-A Parker.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Jove Books (September 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0515136204
• ISBN-13: 978-0515136203
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #68,258 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 5 in The Sunny Randall Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a Sunny Day, October 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Shrink Rap (Hardcover)

As her ex-husband says, Sunny Randall, Robert Parker's fresh, new heroine is as cute as Meg Ryan and tougher than a Mafia Don. Unfortunately, she may be losing Robert Parker's interest already, well before she loses ours.

_Shrink Wrap_ does not do justice to her early promise.Sunny's case, where an appealing and likable author of Romance novels is being stalked in some pretty creepy circumstances, is an intriguing and original one. The plot moves along briskly, making it difficult to put the book down. But Sunny is becoming increasingly one-dimensional and thinly drawn.

There is no way not to like her. She is honest, earnest, smart and tough. She is trying to make her life into something honorable. She is sometimes as fast with a comeback as Spenser himself, and almost as funny. So Parker does her an injustice when he has eight people tell her she needs to ask for help, and makes her give each and every one the exact same answer, that she needs to do it herself. Understandable, laudable even, but we get it after the third time. Repeating it is a nuisance, like a one-note song.

There is much about Sunny we would like to know, and while Parker explores a little, the whole character development of the book is built around one insight Sunny has into herself at the end, as a breakthrough, which is --- wait for it -- that her relationship with her father and mother has strongly influenced her relationships with men. Um, okay, good insight. But we could all have used a little more of Parker investing himself here, Sunny most of all.

And then there is the dog. Spenser and Susan's Pearl is a delight, as is the way they feel and talk about her. But this little dog is taking up more emotional space in Parker's minimalistic story than any other supporting character. Which seems to me to be a mistake and again, a waste of potential. Spike, for example, is a magnetic character, not up to Hawk exactly -- who would be? -- but worth a lot more space on the wide-margined, large-typefaced pages.

The books are getting shorter, thinner, more off-hand, as if Parker is writing while he's watching a ballgame. He can grab hold of Sunny and make her someone who will hold our interest for years. If he decides to make the effort.

In _Shrink Wrap_ it rains or snows and is bleak every day, except on the last page, when the sun comes out. Hopefully that lift out of the grayness will carry over to the next Sunny Randall book. She's worth it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fresh, witty, August 29, 2005

By	Cosmic Mojo (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shrink Rap (Hardcover)

Sharp dialogue, fresh witty characters, fast-paced mystery. As some of the hateful reviews here note, yes, there is a stong woman as the protagonist. If you don't like that, get another book and crawl back under your rock--But it is not a valid criticism of the book in and of itself.

Those of us in the 21st Century who think both men and women should be allowed self-determination, find Parker's Sunny Randall to be interesting (if not always perfect--like most of us), strong, intelligent, witty, realistic and curious. The degree of hate in these reviews against independant women is frightening. They obviously have some problems with equality and are using this venue to make a point at the cost of sincere book reviews.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good stuff--sympathetic character damaged but dealing, October 23, 2002

By	booksforabuck "BooksForABuck.com" (Dallas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Shrink Rap (Hardcover)

Romance author Melanie Joan Hall hires Private Investigator Sunny Randall to help guard her against the the author's stalking ex-husband. Sunny wants to do more than guard--but as she begins to investigate the ex-husband, psychiatrist John Melvin, she begins to discover hints that Melvin is doing more than stalking. A psychiatrist whose practice seems to consist solely of beautiful women has plenty of opportunities to do evil. Sunny's investigations soon lead her to trouble--and danger. Sunny's personal problems form a reverse image of Melanie Joan's. Like Melanie Joan, Sunny can't get over her ex-husband and, as she investigates Melvin, she starts to work on her own issues.

Author Robert B. Parker delivers an enjoyable mystery. Fans of Parker will be familiar with the issues of being unable to live with, or without, a particular relationship, but here Sunny's problems and their mirror image problems with Melanie Jone add rather than detract from the story. Parker does a good job showing the positive as well as dangers of psychiatry, avoiding a fall into cliche.

Sunny's dialogue doesn't pack the impact of Parker's more famous Spenser series but this character remains fresh and interesting. Her mix of toughness and vulnerability makes Sunny sympathetic even when she doesn't make the most logical decisions.