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Stone ColdRobert B. ParkerPublished 2004 |
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Reviewed and Researched by Lisa Shea
In this fourth outing of Jesse Stone, somehow his peaceful little town has turned into a horror movie. There are now serial killers in his town. Maybe Jesse is attracting bad eggs to his town somehow? How else can you explain that in four years, his town has gone through so much? In the meantime, he sleeps with every woman that comes along, and it seems that every single one wants to be the "other woman" when he gets back with Jenn. I was upset enough about this in the first 3 books, but it happens repeatedly in the 4th book. In the end, of course, Jesse solves the serial killer situation and helps out a teen rape as well.
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Lisa's Notes This book really had a great deal of issues in it. In general you have to suspend your disbelief with Spenser in Boston, that he runs into so much trouble constantly. But you assume the Boston area is huge and all sorts of things happen there. Now we're up in Paradise, a small suburb (only 20,000 people) - and residents are dropping like flies for 4 years straight. This is an "affluent suburban town" / "affluent North Shore Community" / "pre-revolutionary town". Assumedly things were quiet before this. Nobody notices?? Not only that, but Marcy asks him "Do you get help on major crimes?" after the first murder - despite him having handled several of them in recent history. This wouldn't be a major crime any more for Paradise, it would be standard fare ;) We also get the "I have been divorced 4 yrs x months 11 days" from Jesse. A bit obsessive. Jesse is very bloodthirsty. He goes after Jenn's boyfriend and thinks "What if I shot him?" Every woman that gets near him wants to sleep with him, and he sexually eyes his subordinate. Every woman wants to be an "other woman" with him. In fact nearly every woman is painted either as a sexual beast, a nasty resident who needs a good slapping, a woman without morals who doesn't care about sleeping around, or the 'innocent victim' who must be saved no matter what the cost. There is little middle ground. There were just a great number of things that made me cringe in here. And yes, there is the classic "I love you but I can't sleep with you" that drove me insane in Spenser, being brought up in Every Single Book. We even get a line at the end of this one - "We wouldn't have to even live together. In fact, it might work better if we didn't." This is about as cookie-cutter from the original series as you can get. It was sad that one part that made me happy was when he FINALLY said no to Jenn. It was like "Thank God, Finally!!" I do have to admit that there were classic lines that still made me laugh. "When in doubt, cherchez la ex-wife". There were also lines about "judge your enemy by what he can do, not what he might do" But those could easily have been Spenser lines. There is little to distinguish this at all from the Spenser series. Except the lack of Hawk. This is a story of spitting snow, from Nov - March. |
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Traveling in Jesse's Footprints Causeway at Paradise Neck - public beach Indigo Apple Cafe - etched glass & blue curtains 41 Pleasant Street - big grey w/ white trim Police office with raped girl His condo Prometheus Plus in Woburn Paradise Mall His condo - see lights of Neck and Stiles Island; 1 block from Gray Gull Mall w/girl - out and north on 114 Dunkin Donuts Candace's house on Paradise Neck - weathered, shingeled house. Walks to cornero f Ocean Ave harbor paradise Center Station - commuter train - 100 yrds to Cong Church to Maple her house - North Side Drive Condo - old resort hotel on S side, on open ocea, cobblestone turnaround, shingle-brick-brass "Seascape" Dunkni Donuts on Atlantic Ave past Catholic Church Gray Gull w/Rita Marcy's house - old downtown section Courthouse in Salem Gray Gull - Lunch with Lincolns Bob Valenti house on Pynchon Road off Summer Street on edge of Paradise Vernon St in Louisburg Square in Beachon Hill Indigo Apple Cafe w/Marcy |
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Jesse's Menu and Drinks coffee with cream and sugar pastrami and light rye Dr. Brown's Cream soda Martinis while Jenn cooks bottled water Chiense - Scotch and Soda. "What wine w/Chinese" - Marcy. "Probably a muscular Cabernet" - Jesse. But he only has Black Label Scotch, Abolut Vodka and Budweiser. And of course he's completely off on the wine choice! Poire Williams in condo Sauvignon Blanc at dinner Coffee, cream sugar 12 donuts and coffee Cranberry juice & soda, club sandwich with Rita Ketel One martini for Rita, he has water Coffee, cream 2 sugars at Lincoln's club soda and cranberry jucie at Marcy's Coffee w/Healy Cranberry w/soda, club sandwich at Gray Gull Perrier Jouet flower label at Rita's house Cranberry w/soda with her Orange Cranberry Muffin Coffee & Cinnamon Donuts at office |
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