Night Passage
   Robert B. Parker
  1997 G.P.Putnam's Sons NY USA
   ISBN: 0399143041


This is the introduction of Jesse Stone, a hero cut from difficult cloth. After his marriage busts & he's fired from the LAPD for his drinking, he's driving east to a new job. Trouble is his predecessor's just gotten blown to bits.

Seems like Robert Parker's got his groove back? A new hero with bits of Spencer & Hawk thrown in. Seemed like I was always waiting for Stone to do something. Definitely the strong, silent type, sometimes so silent I found myself muttering the dialogue.

A fine description of a trans-continental car trek & Paradise, Massachusetts is a pleasant little town with an unpleasant city council, whose sphere of influence has tendrils all over.

While Robert Parker's stories have always been a study in frustration, I used to know I'd get some gritty, interesting satisfaction. With the advent of Jesse Stone, I have to say, Mr. Parker has graduated to a lesser character. Although by story's end, even as Stone gets reeled back into a failed relationship, he has succeeded to not only bring justice in an unjust town, he's also managed to stay sober & alive.

For a man making a clean break of it all, Jesse Stone sure has strange ways of coping, however, eventually Stone was able to converse fluently & meaningfully. I had really wanted to like this new venture of Robert B. Parker's & I'm hoping, Paradise, his next Jesse Stone book gets better.

Also by Robert B. Parker: Small Vices; Chance; Thin Air; Walking Shadow; Paper Doll; Double Deuce; Pastime; Perchance to Dream(a Philip Marlowe novel); Stardust; Poodle Springs(With Raymond Chandler); Playmates; Crimson Joy; Pale Kings and Princes; Taming a Sea-Horse; A Catskill Eagle; Valediction; Love and Glory; The Widening Gyre & many more.
(06/06/99)

Rebecca