Michael Brandman (Author)
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult (September 13, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399157840
ISBN-13: 978-0399157844
Description
Paradise,
Massachusetts, police chief Jesse Stone returns in a brilliant new addition to
the New York Times-bestselling series.
Paradise,
Massachusetts, is preparing for the summer tourist season when a string of car
thefts disturbs what is usually a quiet time in town. In a sudden escalation of
violence, the thefts become murder, and chief of police Jesse Stone finds
himself facing one of the toughest cases of his career. Pressure from the town
politicians only increases when another crime wave puts residents on edge.
Jesse confronts a personal dilemma as well: a burgeoning relationship with a
young PR executive, whose plans to turn Paradise into a summertime concert
destination may have her running afoul of the law.
When a mysterious
figure from Jesse's past arrives in town, memories of his last troubled days as
a cop in L.A. threaten his ability to keep order in Paradise-especially when it
appears that the stranger is out for revenge.
About
the Author
Robert B. Parker was
the author of more than fifty books. He died in January 2010.
Michael Brandman is
uniquely qualified to carry the Jesse Stone series into the future. An
award-winning producer of more than thirty motion pictures, he collaborated
with Robert B. Parker on more than a dozen of them. Together they wrote the
screenplay for Tom Selleck's TNT movie Monte
Walsh. Brandman produced and Parker wrote three Spenser films for
A&E, and their collaboration continued with the Jesse Stone TV movies
currently broadcast on CBS. Brandman lives in California.
Review
The practice of
having relatively unknown authors write novels under a popular author's name,
dead or alive, is awful, as far as I'm concerned. Look at James Patterson, for
example. How long has it been since he wrote a book on his own? Ian Fleming,
for another. Long dead, the James Bond novels just keep coming.
Robert B. Parker was
a wonderful writer when he started out. His early Spencer novels were very
satisfying, with fully fleshed out characters and intelligent plots. By the
90s, they read like TV scenarios, very short novels fattened up by double
spacing and printing on thick paper. His writing style had evolved as well. I
read a full page in arecent Parker novel which consisted of short statements or
questions by two characters in which every quote was followed by "he
said". "Sit down," he said. "I'm fine," he said,
"Why are you here?" he said, etc., etc., for a full page. Talk about
choppy! It sounded even worse on a book on tape.
Also,the idea of a
hard-bitten detective who fought in Korea has become ridiculous. Spencer must
be 85 by now! Please, let the man be
gone.
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