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Publisher:
Putnam Pub Group |
Release
Date: September 29, 2003 |
ISBN:
0399150870 |
Awards:
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Format
Reviewed: Hardcover |
Amazon |
Genre:
Suspense |
Reviewed:
2004 |
Reviewer:
Lane Cohen |
Copyright
MyShelf.com |
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Stone
Cold
Jesse
Stone #4
By Robert B. Parker
Robert
B. Parker has the enviable talent of saying a great deal with a
minimum of words. He utilizes an extreme economy of language; no
current author says so much while writing so little. His characters
speak in ultra-short snippets and phrases. If a "Yes"
will do, then Mr. Parker stops there and does not add any surplus
space-fillers. And never does an adverb modify dialogue at the end
of a sentence; no one speaks "angrily", or "hesitantly"...they
just speak.
"Hello," she said.
"Ms. Aarons?"
"Yes."
Jesse was wearing jeans and his softball jacket. He held up his
badge.
"Jesse Stone," he said.
"Could I see that badge again?" she said.
"Sure."
She studied it for a moment.
"You're the chief," she said.
"I am."
"How come you're not wearing a chief suit," she said.
"Casual Tuesday," Jesse said.
But
this is the way Mr. Parker always writes, and not just with his
Jesse Stone character who comes to vivid life for a fourth appearance
in "Stone Cold". This time, Jesse leads the small police
department of upscale Paradise, Massachusetts on a hunt for a husband-and-wife
team of serial killers. But here, as in the previous three Jesse
Stone novels, "Night Passage", "Trouble in Paradise",
and "Death in Paradise", the primary focus is not the
search for the killers, or the solution to the mystery, but rather
Jesse's internal search for exactly what makes him tick.
Jesse Stone,
as capable as he is painted, has two demons eternally troubling
him. First, he is still in love with Jenn, his ex-wife and constant
obsession. No matter which women he sees, and he sees plenty, Jenn
is always on his mind and always a distraction from forming any
new meaningful relationships. Jesse and Jenn still talk and still
see each other, and the scenes between the two of them are absorbing.
Second, years
before, Jesse was asked to leave the homicide division of the Los
Angeles Police Department because of an uncontrolled drinking problem.
While at his new job in Paradise, Jesse has managed to keep that
internal devil from resurfacing, but he fights with it constantly,
and in "Stone Cold", Jesse does briefly succumb to weakness,
after the pressures of his life and job push him too far.
Yes, the
driving plot focus in "Stone Cold" is interesting, and
yes, the reader wants the killers found and brought to justice.
But it is Jesse Stone who the reader is rooting for. Jesse is not
an invulnerable superhero detective, but a real man, driven by real
troubles, who only wants to see that criminals are punished and
that bullies have no place in a civilized world. Oh, and one more
thing; Jesse wants his true love back. And it is easy to identify
with a man who puts love at the front of his priorities.
Robert B.
Parker is one terrific writer, and we should eagerly await a fifth
adventure featuring Jesse Stone.
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