Trouble in Paradise

The second book in Parker's Jesse Stone series. There's bad guys with a plot afoot, and we get to watch as they put their plan in motion and Jesse quietly figures out what they're up to. The most fun here is watching Jesse be Jesse--he's an alcoholic, he's taciturn, he could so easily be a character you hate and yet he is not, and his books are almost character studies rather than police procedurals. There's also a bad guy you might just be sort of routing for, and well. I won't spoil how that comes out. A fantastic, fast read that is the height of entertaining while all the while feeling substantive as well. Hard to go wrong with Parker, really.

I only like the Jesse Stone novels. As with all of Robert B. Parker's novels, I enjoy his economy of words, his character detail and interactions, and his literary wit. Only Patterson can write shorter paragraphs. This second installment in the Jesse Stone series is a fine follow-up to the opener, "Night Passage". Stone is not quite as cold as his name, but close. Then again, after what he's been through, who wouldn't be? Parker seems to evolve his characters over time and Jesse Stone is evolving nicely. I also like the made for TV movies that are going to continue since someone is now writing the Jesse Stone books, (since Parker’s death in 2010), so they can be made into movies.

This was a fun read. Good character development and pacing. The ending was not quite what I expected in that the crime resolution was not complete and, altho Jesse Stone was a hero, he was also lucky. I actually found this ending refreshing.

Of all the books I read none of them are as page-turningly propulsive as Parker's. He is a master of snappy dialog AND snappy action. This is the kind of book that makes you want to stay on the tube, call in sick or hide in the loo for hours. Fun, fun, fun.

Robert B. Parker introduced his new hero Jesse Stone in [Night Passage]. Stone leaves Los Angeles, a job as a homicide detective, and his cheating ex-wife for a job as Chief of Police in Paradise, Massachusetts. With [Trouble in Paradise], Stone’s baggage is on display, namely an unhealthy taste for scotch and an obsession for his cheating ex-wife. Is two glasses of Black Label each night a healthy compromise? Can you date your ex-wife if she is sleeping with other men? Can you have sex with other women and date your ex-wife? As Jesse battles his own demons and weakness, a thrill-addicted murderer and his moll arrive with an outlandish plan to steal everything that’s not nailed down on the upscale island at the end of town.

[Trouble show more in Paradise] is every bit as fun as the first Jesse Stone. Jesse’s roguish charm and subtle nobility are present. Parker again may have slightly overcooked the thriller plot. But with the story firmly grounded in Jesse’s character, the plot is not as important.

One of the more interesting departures in the Jesse Stone television series, produced by Tom Selleck, is that Stone’s ex-wife, Jenn, follows him to Boston. Selleck’s television version only features persistent telephone calls from Jenn. I might favor Selleck’s approach to this part of the story because having the ex-wife present in the flesh doesn’t add anything to the story or to Stone’s battle with his obsessions. Selleck’s approach actually makes Stone an even more sad character, as he obsesses over an obviously manipulative and selfish woman across several thousand miles of telephone lines.

4 bones!!!! show less

Although this is the second "Jesse Stone" novel, it was the first one I'd read, and I greatly enjoyed it. The plot is imaginative and excellently rendered. A gang of violent criminals take over an island off the Massachusetts coast (by blowing up the connnecting bridge and cutting phone lines). They plan to strip the wealthy residents of all their valuables and escape by boat. Police Chief Jesse Stone -- divorced and depressed, with an alcohol problem (but certainly not lacking in female companionship of the physical variety) seeks to thwart them. The story is engaging, and sometimes gripping. Further, Parker gives expression to his powers of description much more here than in many of his other novels. On the other hand, the book is show more most likely to be appealing to the male gender.

My chief complaint is that the book didn't go on long enough, and could have been expanded by another 100 pages. (I also wonder why the island residents didn't simply use cell phones to alert police authorities on the mainland at the first sign of trouble). But an enjoyable escape, and good material for a TV movie. show less

This is the 2nd book in the Jesse Stone series, but I haven't read the first one. I've been reading Parker hit and miss for a little while now--maybe I ought to get a list and start reading them in order.

And I really need to get caught up here--I've read 21 books since reading Trouble in Paradise, and, unfortunately, one of those was another Parker, and they're kind of blurring in my head. Whoops. Amazon reviews to the rescue.

One thing that several of the Amazon reviews complained (?!) about was that this was a crime novel, not a mystery novel. Um, okay. I suppose I understand the distinction--there was never any question about whodunit, but geez. I guess if I read a lot of mysteries, I'd be subdividing them too, the way I do with show more romances and to a lesser extent, sf/f.

So, okay. Trouble in Paradise is both a caper story and a police procedural. On the one hand, we have Jesse Stone, a small town police chief with a drinking problem and an ex-wife he can't let go of (hence the aforementioned blurring of this book and Valediction, the other Parker novel I read recently--both Stone and Spenser have the same odd romantic relationship). He's also pretty much a slut, but that's okay, because his ex-wife Jenn, who's just taken a job at the town's TV station, is a slut too. Stone is, however, smarter than he looks.

On the other hand is James Macklin, who's setting up the heist of a century, a la Ocean's 11. He's going to rip off Stiles Island. The whole island--houses, bank, shops, everything. He puts together his team, and we watch him setting it up. He's a bad guy, but he's still pretty appealing--maybe because we get to see him through the eyes of his girlfriend, who understands him very well.

It's a book I could really see as a movie--the race between them to see if Jimmy can pull off the heist before Jesse can untangle his personal life long enough to figure out what's going on and stop him. It had me on the edge of my seat, not wanting to put the book down.

One last comment regarding the Amazon reviews--a lot of them said this was a book only men would like. Which makes me think the reviewers are as sexist as they're complaining Parker is. show less