Trouble in Paradise

Rating:
Summary: Spenser re-heated...
Review: In the first of this series, Night Passage, the characters seem a little familiar. In this follow-up, Trouble in Paradise, Parker blatantly steals from the Spenser series. The characters in this one are either actual Spenser characters, or the personas of characters with different names. C'mon - a gruff, Native American character of few words named Crow? Talk about a discount version of Hawk! I was so distracted by looking at all of the Spenser similatities that following the plot thin was almost secondary. It's as if Parker is daring his faithful fans to stop reading his work.

Rating:
Summary: The Old Robert B. Parker is almost back.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: You can find my book in the trash
Review: It is a quick and easy read, but I felt dirty and threw the book in the trash after I read it, so that no one I know will read this book. I long for another Spenser novel.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: It's good to see Jesse Stone in the hands of Robert Parker. TROUBLE IN PARADISE has all the staples of a good Parker read, and is the best suspense thriller since Craig Furnas's THE SHAPE. PARDISE is a wonderfully gritty page-turner

Rating:
Summary: Jesse has great wit - but an awful plot
Review: Jesse seems to have a thing about western movies. The first book was themed along a western storyline, new sherrif moves into town, ending with a classic standoff scene. In this one, the bad guy gang forms up slowly and then attacks the town, and only Jesse can save the day.

Problem is, as much as I *love* the Parker wit and dialogue in general, I kept hitting huge problems with this plot line. First, after so many books on the Spenser and Jesse series, I am really getting tired of every single one going over this "we love each other but can't live together" theme. It is beating a dead horse that is decomposing and barely dust any more. Let it go already.

Next, the book has all sorts of unlikely situations moving the plot along in jerks and starts, and then at the end everything miraculously ties up for Jesse without him even doing much of anything.

A typical Spenser device, the good-hero-stands-up-for-abused-minorities situation, isn't even resolved. So we get the traditional "look at those jerk bigots" situation that Parker loves to throw into each book and it doesn't even get handled.

Not only that but there are TWO different situations involving females that really drive me crazy. Both involve women and involve a pretty blatant wrongdoing - but because women are involved it is hushed up. Because Lord only knows that women can't be held accountable for what they do - they're just girrrrrls. The guys end up dead - but the situations with women cause criminals to go free. It bugs me to no end.

I really really had high hopes for this series and still have high hopes for its future. I love Parker's style of writing in general. But the direction of his plots is really getting both repetitive and lacking in coherency. I really worry that Parker trying to write 2 or 3 books a year on different series is starting to mean less attention is paid to each one ...

Rating:
Summary: Engagiong, and nearly as good as the best Spenser books.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Engagiong, and nearly as good as the best Spenser books.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent 2nd book of this new series...
Review: Jesse Stone, NOT the perfect hero.... has plenty of problems in his life. But not with his sense of RIGHT, enough witty reparte to let you know you are reading "Parker". Some lovely romance, a evil villian & a town that's not so sure of their new "protector"... I hope we will see this series go on!

Rating:
Summary: A good read, even for a nice try.
Review: Like "Night Passage" this novel is also a nice try. But it does a lot better job of being a good mystery. This is Parker's best novel in years. The action moves at a steady pace without breaking down. And we see Jesse Stone as the police chief he could be. Try it, you'll like it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Parker comes through. Going back and forth between new hero Jesse Stone and a criminal planning the heist to end all heists, the excitement builds towards a satisfying end. One fly in the ointment, Stone hasn't been able to shake his selfish (...) ex-wife. In stalker like fashion, she has followed him to Paradise and installed herself. . . not wanting him and but not wanting him to be free either., Why is it when a male does this to an ex-wife he is considered evil, but Parker has this creature do this, and some how he actually thinks it's romantic or something. Can't help but wonder about Parker's mentality. But a good read, nonetheless. Hopefully he will see the light, and dump her. She really adds nothing to the story.