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Sea ChangeRobert B. ParkerPublished 2006 |
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Reviewed and Researched by Lisa Shea
It is just amazing that the people of Paradise keep chief Jesse Stone around. Things were all quiet before he came around - and suddenly he is not getting just one murder a year, but multiple murders. In this case, there are both murders and a TON of rape issues. It all revolves around "race week" - and Jesse has to figure out who did what and rescue the innocents.
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Lisa's Notes I've read all of Parker's books including all of the Jesse Stone novels, so I am very familiar with the in-story "history" of the people described. On one hand, picking up Sea Change is like going home for the weekend - you know the people, you know their strengths and weaknesses, it's very "comfortable". On the other hand, it means that the things that bug you build up over time until they drive you completely insane. I like, of course, that Jesse wants to be back with Jenn, and that he is conquering his drinking. I like that he realizes he can't "control" Jenn and has to learn to trust her. However, this whole attitude of "I love her but I don't know if I can live with her" has been beaten literally to death in every other Spenser and Jesse story. It was OK in the first one or two. After 30+ books it gets REALLY old. The fact that Jenn was a complete jerk to Jesse in earlier books makes you really wonder why he still lets her be around. In fact she admits to him here that a main reason she's covering Race Week and grasping at fame is that she is related to him, so she's *still* using him. I like that Jesse is so annoyed by sex crimes against innocent young girls. However, Jesse is finding raped teenagers in EVERY SINGLE STORY. He is crafting his law-enforcing career around hanging out with teenage sexually active girls. He never runs into teen boys. It's always sexually active teen girls. What is going on here? It reminds me of the director of Buffy the Vampire Slayer who admitted in the commentary track of "Serenity" that he just loves teen girls in his stories, and that's the way he is. Apparently Parker has some sort of a love-hate relationship here. He feels required to put a raped teen girl into every story he writes. But it gets worse than that. I actually expected we'd run into a teen rape victim given the previous books. I resigned myself to that. However Parker is like an addict that has to keep upping the ante. This time around he has an entire cast-load of rape victims. The dead woman had been raped as a teen. Her two sisters had been raped. The sisters' friend had been raped. Other girls had been raped. Still, that's not enough. Apparently the two main boats in this story were full of "sex fiends" - i.e. people who enjoyed casual sex. This is completely disgusting to Jesse, to Rita and to other main characters. Let's take a step back here!! Jesse is the guy who leaps into bed with just about every female he can - and who has women climbing all over him throughout the series. This is the series that has Spenser, the Good Guy, in his first story sleeping with a mother AND her daughter in only a short period of time! Rita Fiore would sleep with any guy that had a pulse. These people are denouncing casual sex as an "evil"?? In general Parker's books are very gay-friendly. It seems every book has a character that is gay and who is portrayed in a good way. That being said, it was EXTREMELY odd that at least two main characters in this story, when viewing a "homosexual style activity" make comments like "ick" and "gross". These are mature adults making these comments. It really struck me that these characters who supposedly "talked the talk" for gay rights would have such an immature reaction. Also, it's really bizarre that a good portion of the book is told from the point of view of a brand new character - a female police officer down in Miami. Are they going to be a crime fighting duo? I really didn't learn enough about Ms. Cruz to care enough to see her so much. I got the sense that Parker was trying to tax-write-off a lot of time down in Florida. I don't mean to make it sound like this book is really all bad. I love Parker's writing style. I enjoy the main characters, I enjoy the references to areas I know about. I like the witty conversation and little asides. I still laugh out loud at some of the comments made. It's not as truly stellar as some previous books, but it's still enjoyable. There are classic Spenser lines used here - "Readiness is All". On the other hand there are lines that drove me completely insane, like when Jesse meets Cruz and Parker comments, "Jesse was glad that she was good looking". What in the world is that?? In general, it's just not a satisfying story for me. I didn't really care about any of the characters. They were all portrayed as quite unlikeable. There wasn't any connection in me to worry about tracking down the killer or what was going on. I found all of the droning against porn movies as being silly. The continuity problems were pretty glaring. I really wanted to love the story - I'm enjoying the tv movie adaptations of the Stone stories and found myself seeing Jesse as "Magnum PI" because of them :). It just was both so disconnected and so deliberately sordid at the same time. Apparently all sex is evil, teenage sex is evil, watching sex on film is evil, etc. etc. Plus all characters are not to be cared about. It left me finishing the book and not really feeling like the time had been well spent. If anything, the book made me feel sordid - which has to be a first for one of Parker's stories. |
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Traveling in Jesse's Footprints Gray Gull restaurant Police HQ Jesse's balcony Daisy's restaurant Police HQ again Tip of paradise neck / lighthouse point Seaport Hotel with Rita Public Garden near swan beds Ft. Lauderdale airport balcony back at HQ South Shore office of Rita Daisy's again Jesse's hotel |
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Jesse's Menu and Drinks Iced Tea (Jenn has daquiri) lobster salad (mediocre food) pepper + mushroom pizza with coke club soda Coke more Coke more more Coke tongue sandwich on light rye virgin mary Riesling at very end, with meatloaf |
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