Sea Change (2005)

I disliked this novel a lot! Actually I don't think I like the main character, Jesse, nor his foul-mouthed squeeze and ex-wife. I found the main topic of the novel: pornographic out of control sexual behavior to be very nasty for an author of this repute. ( )

There's something genuinely creepy about this book, and it's not the sexual escapades of the characters -- yes, yes, the underage, incest, and multiple partners parts could get a genuine 'ick' reaction from a lot of people, but I was disturbed more by the judgmental quality to the narrative. There was no sense of moral grey areas, especially regards the multiple partners; in Stone's world, there is no way for someone, anyone, to have needs beyond monogamy. And if you do, you are sick, wrong, and twisted.

I don't think Jesse Stone is my kind of character. I like amoral and fine with it, not moral and constantly struggling to retain that status, characters. ( )

My first Jesse Stone book. Pretty straightforward Parker I thought: lots of dialog and fairly simple writing, but the storyline was interesting, and I thought there was an amusing inversion of the typical "detective/alcoholic reformed by the woman he loves" storyline that you often see in noir fiction.The plot was nicely convoluted, but I'm not sure I really bought in to the personality of the killer - there's not a similar one I can think of in any book I've read, so the combination of personality traits didn't ring true to me. I did like that Stone lives in the same world as Spenser, and Spenser gets an off-camera cameo at one point. A good, fast read like all of Parker's novels. ( )

I think this is the quickest Parker and probably the most boring yet. I think that was a by-product of the storyline that couldn't be helped. While I still can't not visualize Tom Selleck as Stone, I can actually accept it a bit. I do love Jessie's snarky bits, he continues to be quite the quipster, but it's time to move on to not being so neurotic about Jenn. ( )

Yachting Race Week in Paradise, Massachusetts, brings out the rich, the drunk, and the amoral, and Jesse Stone has to deal with them all. After featuring a pair of thrill-kill serial killers in the last installment of the series, Robert B. Parker brings his hero back down to earth to deal with belligerent drunks and condescending yachting snobs. While investigating a floater in the harbor, Jesse stumbles on a traveling sex ring that recruits underage girls and a rich pedophile. And to make things interesting, Jesse is investigating all of this sexual obsession in his first sober year and while trying to live with his ex-wife for the first time since their divorce.

Some reviewers have grown tired of the storyline between Jesse and his ex-wife, Jenn. And at the end of the previous installment of the series, [Stone Cold], Parker throws the two of them back together in a trial reunion. The idea sounded interesting, but it turned out to be more of the same in this book, and the critical reviewers may be on to something. Having said that, the rest of the novel and Jesse’s battle with drinking and obsession is all up to Par-ker. On balance, even with the tiring ex-wife schtick, [Sea Change] marks a return to the quality of the early books in the series.

Bottom Line: Back to the good stuff in the series, with a more down-to-earth story and Jesse battling to overcome his own obsessions.

4 bones!!!! ( )