Stranger in Paradise

By Robert B. Parker

Note: You'll have to forgive any name misspellings I make in this post. I listended to this book, I didn't read it. So most of the names I'll be spelling phoneticly. I give them my best shot.

This is a review of an audiobook I listened to on my commute, another Parker mystery novel. This is probably the last Parker novel the library has, so I hoped it was good. It's another of Parker's Jesse Stone novels.

Of course it's redundant to review Parker's novels by this point. They're always well written and engaging. This one is no different. In this novel, along with the central plot of the novel, we're treated to a glimpse of the evolving relationship of Jesse with his ex-wide, Jenn, who has by now moved out to the East Coast and has a blossoming career as an investigative TV reporter.

A figure from Jesse's past, a felon, Wilson "Crow" Cromartie, is visiting town, and even announces his presense to Jesse when he arrives. The Apache Indian hitman is looking for someone, but won't say who. When he finds them, slowly, all hell breaks loose. Eventually a mob from Florida is involved and Jesse has his hands full trying to keep track of what's going on. And he can't decide whehter to trust Crow who's posing as the "good guy" in this scenario. Can he really trust a known felon who, last time he saw him, was speeding away with a stolen 60 million dollars?

This book introduces several new characters, and a very minimal cameo by a past character, Kelly Cruz, from Sea Change. I suspected Parker would re-use her, since he spent so much time developing her character in the previous book. But his use of her here was minimal. Perhaps he'll feature her more in later novels.

Unfortunately, in this book I lost a lot of respect for one of Jesse's cops, Molly, who normally mans the front desk. You'll have to read the book to find out why.

Similar posts

• High Profile
• Sea Change

External links

• Stranger in Paradise on Parker's website
• Orson Scott Card's review of this novel (just past halfway down)