Family Honor

Rating:
Summary: Audio Reading by Andrea Thompson
Review: Andrea Thompson, the pretty actress who was on NYPD BLUE for a season or two, does a worthwhile read.

I just finished it--the abridged audio version--and wanted to send her a compliment.

So this obscure review place will immortally do it.

Her urban voice is pure sexiness, and complements Mr. Parker's intriguing composition.

**The plot is interesting private "pussy" fodder, rather than private "dick" shtick, and Andrea makes this P.I. Sonja Randall voice acting opportunity maximally entertaining.

The novel contains an interesting take on "what is manliness?" and "what is womanliness?"

I would say the uncensored work is appropriate reading for both teenagers and adults

THANKS for the fun fantasy.

**Don't dis me for originating the above un-witticism: I recently heard it in an audio version of a detective novel entitled "Family Honor."

Rating:
Summary: A Not Bad First Outing for PI Sunny Randall
Review: As a long time fan of Parker's Spenser novels I was curious to see how he would handle writing with the voice of a female protagonist. I found this book to be quite entertaining with the trademark Parker dialogue which always make his books such an easy read. Let's face it, Parker's books are wonderful brain candy not The Name of the Rose or The Celestine Prophecy and I'm about to commit heresy on Amazon by saying I was hesitant to buy this book in hardcover so I got it out of the library. I think Parker books are always best savored in paper back because you're talking about a mere 2-3 day commitment. I think we're in the Getting to Know Sunny Randall stage of the game in terms of this character as well as her sidekicks. I'm hoping that Parker has plans to flesh out these characters in subsequent outings. I thought Parker scored with Sunny's dilemmas over whether or not to ask for male assistance in some of her confrontations. I thought that a very realistic touch but are we going to be treated to Felicity-like agonizing over Richie vs. Brian vs. God Knows Who in the next book? With a so-so movie you wait for the video, with a so-so book you wait for the paperback. Wait for the paperback or visit your library on this one but once you get it in your hands sit back and escape, you'll enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Yes, Sunny's saga does sound a lot like Spenser
Review: But, to borrow from the Beatles, "you know that can't be bad." Sure, Sunny is a wiseacre like Spenser and, like Spenser, she lives in Boston and loves both Charlie Parker and the bar at the Ritz. And Julie the shrink bears a passing resemblance to Susan the shrink. Rosie eats off chopsticks, just like Pearl. Sunny's ex-husband provides extra muscle, underworld connections, and makes people uncomfortable by remaining menacingly still, just like Hawk. And Millicent is a mix between April Kyle and Paul Giacommin. So I guess if you wanted to brand this work as derivative, I wouldn't be able to convincingly defend it. BUT I adore the Spenser books and have feared that as Parker's original PI grows older (he's in his 60s now) and retires, there would be no new Parker character to take his place. Now there's Sunny. I enjoyed this tale of sex, mystery, love and redemption. The plot was interesting, the characters comfortable and compelling, and the performance by Andrea Thompson was exceptional. (OK, she said "Betty Hutton" instead of "Betty Patton" once, but I thought that was funny.) I've heard that Sunny was created for Helen Hunt, but Parker has hit the jackpot with Thompson. If there's ever a Sunny film, she certainly deserves a crack at the title role.

Rating:
Summary: Spenser, Jesse, now SUNNY???
Review: I was a bit reluctant at first to pick this one up, but in the end I am glad I did. It's a quick read, some humorous moments and references to a 200lb boxer with a broken nose. The only thing wrong with the book is the lack of an original plot. If you're a fan of Robert Parker, by all means you must have this one in your library. If you're a first time Parker reader, after reading this book, pick up either "Night Passage" or if you want the same plot different main character, try "Thin Air". All in all, I look forward to see how Mr. Parker will develop Sunny Randall further.

Rating:
Summary: Been there, read that.
Review: Let's face it, folks, Sunny Randall is just a female Spenser, and this book is just another Spenser book with the names changed.

Same characters, same dialogue, same PLOT, for God's sake! If I didn't know better, I'd swear that this was a cynical attempt on Robert B. Parker's part to cash in on the current popularity of female sleuth novels.

Hey, and just so you know where I'm coming from, I've read and enjoyed every Spenser novel from The Godwulf Manuscript on. AND I think that Parker has shown that he CAN write something other than Spenser books by creating the Jesse Stone series, which is markedly different, although just as satisfying, as the Spenser series.

Just my two cents.

Rating:
Summary: Family secrets
Review: Sunny and Richie were married for nine years. They had had a house in Marblehead. Richie refused the house. Sunny wrapped her paintings in order to move her things. Her mother said she was disappointed. Her father offered to help with a divorce or with whatever she needed. Families offer protection to their members. Protection is the theme of Parker's story.

Sunny was a cop, her father was a cop. Richie resembled her father although he came from a crime family. Sunny moved to investigation and then to private investigation. She is hired to find a teenage runaway. The mother seems too perfect. Sunny is pursuing an MFA nights. She still paints and lives in a loft. The missing girl, Millicent, attended a girls school. The school provided a classical education. Millicent had been missing for ten days. At the school she had no friends, no interests, no achievements.

Sunny discovered that Millicent had been to a youth shelter. The person running the shelter said that the kids seemed to have equal measures of defiance and guilt. Sunny needs her ex-husband's help to get her into areas of activity to find Millicent, (Milly). Sunny finds the girl through the connections that Richie Burke makes available to her. Since Milly isn't talking convincingly, Sunny has the the girl move in with her.

It develops that others are looking for the girl. They have to go to the mattresses and move to a friend's apartment in the South End. An interesting subtext in the story is that families teach its members how to function, and that no one seems to have taken any time to teach Milly how to function.

Parker writes that in Boston organized crime is an oxymoron. There are loose groups. When Sunny returns to her loft, she finds that it had been tossed. The insurance company sends a clean up team to the loft. Sunny is able to identify her primary interest as keeping the girl safe. Through the intervention of Richie Sunny could return to her loft and begin to solve the mystery. This is a strong and enjoyable effort by Robert Parker, writing from his strengths such as knowledge of the Boston environs and police networking.

Rating:
Summary: Utterly delightful!
Review: This is not Spenser having a gender identity crisis. What this is, is what I hope is only the first book of a whole new series.

Meet Sunny Randall, a tough but feminine Boston PI with an artistic soul and a Mob-connected ex-husband who she still loves but can't live with. Sunny has a great loft, a charming dog-child named Rosie with whom I am completely infatuated, and a fearless gay pal named Spike who not only cooks but rides shotgun when necessary. When Sunny is hired by wealthy, jaded, ultra-snobbish Brock and Betty Patton to find their 15-year-old runaway daughter Millicent, it doesn't take her long to locate the child on the mean streets of Boston and liberate her from her pimp. But until the question of why Millicent chose to flee the known, i.e., a mansion with staff and all the amenities, for the harsh and ugly unknown is answered, Sunny has no intention of relinquishing the girl to her parents. Millicent isn't talking aside from refusing to set foot back in her parents' home. Sunny takes the girl home with her to think things through, but it isn't long before two armed thugs show up at her door, compelling Sunny to dispatch one of them with a shotgun. Sunny is forced to move in temporarily with Spike to ensure Millicent's safety while she tries to figure out who wants the girl dead and why.

This book is not only a first-rate detective story, but is replete with themes of the effects of love, betrayal, loss, friendship, and forgiveness on the human (and canine) heart.

Sunny Randall is as earnest and hardworking as Anna Pigeon and Kinsey Milhone, though she dresses better; as tough and straightforward as Kat Colorado and V. I. Warshawski; and as funny as Stephanie Plum and Carlotta Carlyle. She's a bright and welcome new star in the female detective arena. Please, Mr. Parker -- give us more!