Rating: 
Summary: Stick To Spenser!
Review: Stone Cold is another example of Parker offering junk in an effort to capitalize on his successful Spenser novels. Character development is poor and the suspense is totally missing. You know who the killers are in the middle of the book and couldn't care less about them or the victims for that matter. It's a shame they didn't succeed in killing Jesse Stone because then Parker couldn't write crap like this again. Don't waste your time and money, even when the book comes out in paperback.
Rating: 
Summary: Caring, Detection, Introspection and Action in Paradise
Review: Stone Cold is clearly the best of the Jesse Stone series, and one of the finest Robert Parker books in many years. If I leave my emotional attachment to Spenser behind, Jesse Stone now surpasses Spenser as an interesting character. Mr. Parker's dialogue was never better than in this superb book.The novel has several, nicely intertwined story lines. If you like all of the story lines, you'll think this is a great book. If you dislike any of them, you will grade Stone Cold down one star for each one that you don't care for. If you are new to the series, I suggest that you start with Death in Paradise and work your way forward to this one. I must admit that I love the constant allusions to Paradise Lost and other books about those who are out of touch with God's grace. In this novel, we have two villains who are very much like Milton's residents of the nether regions who have fallen from grace because of their fascination with themselves. There are also three young men who are like those whom Dante describes as being overcome by lust in the Inferno. Lastly, there are Jesse and his ex-wife Jenn who seem to be looking for something that they cannot even define, like the lost souls of those who have never known God's grace such as the barbarians in the Inferno. The major plot line features a pair of serial killers who enjoy the feeling of power and superiority that their type of murder provides. In the process of gratifying themselves, they terrorize Paradise, and leave Jesse without two of his closest friends and colleagues. He also finds himself staring down their gun sights. The story is developed as a simple police procedural (without much progress for some time) which makes the book more complex and interesting. The most touching plot line though is about a young woman who is raped and threatened by three insensitive bullies. Jesse tries to do the right thing, and discovers the limits of how much one person can do for another under dire circumstances. The continuing plot line involves Jesse's troubled relationships with women, and shows him at his most confused. At the same time, his problems are better developed here than in earlier books by showing how he relates to different women in different ways and what he says to his psychiatrist about them. For those who don't enjoy psychiatry, it may get a little deep when Jenn and Jesse are sharing what their psychiatrists have had to say about their relationship. Of primary interest for the future is that Jesse seems to start to come to grip with some of his failings, weaknesses and attitudes. He begins to show the potential to use his pain to learn and make progress. I came away looking forward to the next book in the series. Because the dialogue is so smooth and delicious, you'll find yourself finishing the book very rapidly. Stone Cold will hit you just like a perfect martini . . . great going down and warming afterward.
Rating:
Summary: Parker goes all Rodney King in his latest book
Review: Stone Cold takes Parker's usual, "If the bad guy annoys you beat the crap out of him" to a whole new level. Usually Stone, or Spenser, confronts the bad guy who has eluded justice in an alley, or behind the woodshed, goads him into taking the first swing and then beats the crap out of him. Very Mickey Spillane. In Stone Cold four people are beat up in police stations while in police custody. Our hero, Police Chief Jesse Stone, administers two of the beatings himself while another cop watches. The recipients of the beatings are already under arrest and the evidence is airtight. Stone initiates the beatings by walking into the room where the prisoners are being held, waves them over to him and knees the guy in the groin as he approaches. Two other beatings are conducted in a police interrogation room while Stone stands by and watches. One of the vics isn't even a suspect. But he is a jerk, which in Parker's book is enough to warrant a beating. Rodney King and Abner Louima watch out. Jesse Stone makes house calls!
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Works of Parker's Career
Review: STONE COLD, the fourth of Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone novels, is not a mystery. We're introduced to the villains of the piece right on page one. We don't know their names and we don't know much about them, but we know what they're doing. They are a man and woman, passionate lovers whose idea of foreplay is to commit a carefully plotted murder. The victim is randomly selected by wind and whimsy, scouted and dispatched with two simultaneously administered gunshot wounds to the chest. Either shot could be the fatal one. That's part of the thrill for them. Stone is the police chief of the village of Paradise, an affluent Boston suburb where murders of this type are simply not supposed to happen. They are a policeman's nightmare: unpredictable and apparently related only by the methodology of the acts and the perpetrators. Stone determines the identities of the murderers soon enough, but not because he is Supercop. It's a combination of dogged police work and luck, pure and simple. The murderers are Anthony and Brianna Lincoln, independently wealthy, confident and twisted. Knowing who the murderers are and proving it are two different things, however. Stone and the murderers play an engaging, if chilling, game of cat and mouse, with Stone having only two advantages. One is that his adversaries underestimate him. The other is that, unbeknownst to the Lincolns, Stone is aware that they have marked him as their next victim. In the meantime, Stone grapples with another matter of no small import. A local high school girl has been gang-raped by three of her fellow students who have photographed the act and threaten to distribute the pictures if she tells anyone. Stone wants to help, and does. But he finds that all he can do is not quite enough. Stone, as with many alcoholics, labors under a Messiah complex, believing that he can ultimately resolve all of the evils in the world through force of will. He cannot, though he does make a difference. It is learning to live with the distance between what is and what would have been ideal that makes STONE COLD an arresting work. And then there is Stone's personal life. He is slowly coming to grips with his alcoholism while attempting to deal with his unresolved feelings and passions for his ex-wife. Stone has heretofore been relegated to the position of being one of Parker's "other" creations, relative to Spenser, who has been with us now for well over a quarter-century and has crossed over from books into film. Parker has been slowly developing Stone, carefully hewing him into something other than Spenser with a badge. And he has largely succeeded. Stone is confident but lacks Spenser's self-assuredness, which in some ways makes him a bit more vulnerable and perhaps more endearing than Spenser. What is most remarkable, however, is Parker's ability to not only sustain the quality of his writing but also to continue to develop his characters. STONE COLD and Parker's 2003 Spenser novel BACK STORY are among the best works of his career. Certainly they are among the top ten, if not the top five. That Parker at this late date can continue to keep older characters fresh and interesting while developing new and different ongoing projects successfully demonstrates that it may well be impossible to overestimate Parker's place in the hierarchy of detective fiction. If you haven't been reading the Jesse Stone novels because of what they are not, STONE COLD is the perfect place to jump on. Parker, no matter where he turns his hand, is capable of producing work that is nothing less than an absolute delight. Highly recommended. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Rating: 
Summary: A Stone's Throw from Normal
Review: The new Jesse Stone book by Robert Parker seems to be the best of this series, with the Paradise chief of police becoming a deeper, if darker, figure for readers to understand. As usual, about 90 percent of what we know from reading the new book comes from tight dialogue and spare description. Writing this tight and lean requires an enormous amount of skill, which Parker has in abundance. This time around, Jesse must cope with serial killers who get sexual pleasure from staging and anticipating their killings. In short order, they select Jesse himself as their next victim, and he moves ever closer to a brutal showdown for someone. Meanwhile, Jesse is trying to come to grips with his ex-wife, Jenn, still tugging at his heart, if not his brain. Razor-sharp dialogue as usual, with Jesse Stone more and more becoming a strong figure we care very much about. A good read.
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: Overpriced
Review: This plot was really not very complex or complicated and definitely not worth paying $24.95 for. It's not as if there is any character development in the book. I would have paid $9.50 for it but with the current pricing it is vastly overpriced.
Rating:
Summary: Stone-Cold Turns Lukewarm
Review: This was somewhat of a disappointment. In the past Robert B Parker novels was suspenseful and intriguing. Only half way through the novels you pretty much got who the criminals were. But in Stone Cold there really were no surprises the plot was given away half way through the story. Which was surprising since there were two stories being told. There really was no climax. Everything was pretty predictable.
Rating:
Summary: Mystery=Good. Ex-wife=Bad
Review: When a dead body turns up with two bullets, fired from different guns, police chief Jesse Stone knows he has a problem. When a second body has the same wounds, he knows he has a pair of serial killers on his beat. But knowing about serial killers and finding them are two different things. Especially when the killers seem to plan their strikes carefully and their escapes even more carefully. Jesse's small-town police department becomes even busier when a high school girl is gang-raped by three schoolmates. Jesse has no evidence and the rapists threaten to ruin the girl's life if she tells, but Jesse intends to bring whatever justice is possible. Jesse's professional life is busy, but his social life is packed. He can't get over his ex-wife and she certainly won't let him. And every other woman he meets, with the possible exception of one of his fellow cops, is ready to fall directly into bed with him. Jesse is willing to do the bed thing, but he makes it clear that he's waiting to resolve things with the ex-wife--and the resolution he wants is a return to their marriage. Since their relationship seems completely sick (as confirmed by their psychologists), that isn't an especially desirable thing for the reader but it is what Jesse wants. Robert B. Parker is an excellent writer. His characterization of Jesse Stone is strong and rings true. Jesse tries to live his life by a sharply defined set of rules--love is forever, justice is important, revenge is worth having, physical violence can solve problems or at least make things feel better, and talking too much is a big mistake. Jesse's treatment of the young rape victim is sympathetic and nicely handled. Fans of Robert B. Parker won't be surprised by the difficult relationship Jesse maintains with his ex-wife--this is a recurring theme in Parker's fiction. Jesse knows he would be better off if he could just get over Jenn but he can't. From a reader's perspective, I certainly wish he would. The woman simply isn't good for him. Rules and ethics or not, I find Jesse less sympathetic and more pathetic because of his hopeless love affair. STONE COLD is a short novel with plenty of white space. I wish that more had been devoted to the mystery and less to Jesse's miserable love life--especially since all sorts of attractive, friendly, and relatively healthy women are lining up to spend time with him.
Rating:
Summary: Stark prose and plenty of action is what this novel is about
Review: When his marriage to Jenn broke up, Jesse Stone left California and accepted a job as chief of police in Paradise, Massachusetts. Jenn followed soon after and although they see each other on occasion, they also date other people. Jesse tells every woman he's involved with that he's still in love with Jenn and until she tells him it's over, he won't commit to anyone else. Usually Paradise is a quiet little town but now Jesse is working on two cases that are particularly ugly. Three young men rape a teenage girl in her school and they threaten to show pictures of her during the sexual assault if she reports it to the police. Jesse wants to find a way to charge the young men while keeping the girl's name out of it. The second case is even more horrifying. A husband and wife team picks out a victim at random, stalks him, and they both simultaneously kill him with identical weapons. Jesse, who knows he's their next target, sets up a trap using himself as bait but they evade it and ride off into the sunset. Comparisons between Spenser and Jesse are inevitable. Spenser is self assured and confident of Susan's love while Jesse is vulnerable and has no idea if he and Jenn will ever get together. Spenser, as a PI, sometimes bends or breaks the rules while Jesse adheres to them. STONE CUTS' protagonist is more interesting because readers don't know what Robert B. Parker will do next with his character. Stark prose and plenty of action is what this novel is all about. Harriet Klausner
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