Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Putnam Pub Group
Release Date: September 29, 2003
ISBN: 0399150870
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: Hardcover
Amazon
Genre: Suspense
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Lane Cohen
Copyright MyShelf.com

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.