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Title: Stone Cold by Robert B. Parker, Robert Forster ISBN: 1-59007-432-7 Publisher: New Millennium Audio Pub. Date: September, 2003 Format: Audio CD Volumes: 6 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.82 (17 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Quick and light
Comment: Jesse Stone is police chief of the small town of Paradise. Jesse has a drinking problem, which he says does not interfere with his job, but was enough to get him kicked of the LAPD. He also has romantic dependency problems with his ex-wife Jenn. One moment he is all machismo, often found in Parker's male protagonists, the next minute he's a sad sap mooning over a woman who would rather sleep with other men than stay in their marriage despite saying she still loves him. Not that Jesse has any problem getting other women to sleep with him. They don't even mind when he tells them he is in love with his ex-wife and that he would go back to her in a shot as soon as she crooks her little finger.
In the midst of all this emotional turmoil, dead bodies pile up on Jesse's doorstep. It seems a serial killer is loose in Paradise. No problem, Jesse is on the case and in short order great strides in finding the culprits are made. Jesse has a little cat and mouse game going with the killers, but in the end they are no match for Jesse.There is also a subplot where Jesse rides to the rescue of a teenage gang-rape victim.
This is a pretty quick read due to fairly large margins and a large font. The protagonist comes off as a bit of a superhero and the storyline is a bit too pat to be believable. This is not to say this was a bad book, it was just so unbelievable at times that I had to shake my head. It was a nice, easy, uncomplicated read. You just have to take it for what it is.
Rating: 5
Summary: Big fun.
Comment: "Stone Cold", the fourth Jesse Stone novel by Robert B. Parker is breezy, fun, fast and entertaining.
Parallel plots have small town police chief Jesse Stone attempting to solve a high profile serial killer case as well as a high school gang rape.
The killers are Mensa types---truly diabolical and contemptible. Good solid police work by the overtaxed police force is carefully utilized to uncover the killers. The plot thickens when Jesse is certain of their identity, but lacks the hard proof necessary for arrest.
The rape case is trickier. They know whodunit, however the victim and her parents are reluctant to testify or accuse the preps. So, subtlety, finesse and undercover work are employed to dupe the suspects into turning on each other. Very cleverly done!
The running subplot involves Jesse's ambiguous relationship with his ex-wife enhances the story line, as we learn more about Jesse the individual as well as the cop.
The lean Parker writing style makes the pages disappear. Snappy dialogue, absorbing good guys and bad guys, spare prose create a highly pleasurable read.
Rating: 4
Summary: The magic is showing again.
Comment: I've been a fan of Robert B. Parker for what seems like ages and have been sorely disappointed and verbally assailing in my reviews of some of his more recent offerings. The jazz, the juice, the stuff that makes RBP, well, RBP, seemed to be gone. Where was the drama, the thick plots, the wit? My feeling was RBP was waning into literary obscurity. So, now, STONE COLD comes along. Not a Spenser novel but a Jesse Stone novel. Well, whatever RBP did to inspire himself relative to creating this storyline, he needs to stay with it. STONE COLD returns RBP to his roots, that of vehement distaste for the "bad guys," love for the hero, and some good old fashioned retribution.
For those unfamiliar with Jesse Stone, he is Spenser's career contemporary albeit his personal antithesis. Jesse is the police chief of Paradise (a community on Boston's North Shore), a functional alcholic, and milktoast in the hands of his ex-wife who is blatantly audacious and Jesse's personal nemesis. Suffice it to say that Jesse is quite human, at times, a little too much so.
A man's body has appeared on the beach, two bullet holes in his heart. There is no evidence to speak of and the investigation runs short before it begins. Shortly thereafter, another victim turns up, this time in the parking lot of the Paradise Mall. She was shot twice in the chest as she unloaded her groceries. Jesse has a bad feeling confirmed when he receives the news that the bullets in both murders came from the same gun. A serial killer.
In the meantime, in a parallel story, a local high school girl has been raped and has come to Jesse for help. What Jesse does here is pure Parker. This is what Parker's fans love.
Jesse's incredibly dysfunctional relationship with Jenn, his ex-wife, continues. Still carrying the torch for everything Jenn, Jesse finds solace in many other women "friends." His syrupy need to get Jenn back is old and you really want to slap him around and say, Wake UP!" But, this character flaw makes him human and, at times, the underdog (read: loveable).
Net, net...Parker is back in this one. He introduces the bad guys early and allows the reader to follow their plans as they play cat-and-mouse against Jesse. Consequently, the suspense in this book is evident at two levels, the murder case and whether or not Jesse is going to "make it" to the next day. The thing we love about Jesse is his compassion for the job and desire to see justice.
Recommended.
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Title: Back Story: A Spenser Novel by Robert B. Parker ISBN: 0399149775 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 10 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Lost Light by Michael Connelly ISBN: 0316154601 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Last Car to Elysian Fields by James Lee Burke ISBN: 0743245423 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Split Second by David Baldacci ISBN: 0446530891 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Blow Fly: A Scarpetta Novel by Patricia Cornwell ISBN: 0399150897 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 13 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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