DWD's Reviews

Jesse Stone returns to form After the rather awful Stranger in Paradise I was afraid the whole series was going to just fizzle. I was pleasantly surprised with Night and Day . It is a return to higher standard of reading to which I had grown accustomed. The plot moves along nicely, the witty banter is plentiful. The case is distressing but not super-hero level. I will not go into all of the plot details. Those are outlined by others on the page. All in all, this is a pleasant and quick read. Everything I look for in a Parker novel - detecting, banter, psychobabble and a bit of romance (in a macho sort of way, of course). I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. Reviewed on May 30, 2009. Also mentioned in this review:

Reading a Spenser novel is better than not reading one but.. ...this one doesn't make me want to run out and get another one, either. I've read every Spenser novel and just about everything else Parker has produced and Cold Service just felt tired. This book started out so well - the action was moving, the lines were crisp. I laughed out loud and I couldn't wait to open the book back up.  Robert B. Parker (1932-2010) Then, the psychobabble began. There was way, way, way too much relationship study between Spenser and Susan about Spenser and Hawk. Enough already! We know that they'd do anything for each other - not out of debt but out of male-bonded love! We got that during the last book and the other 15 or so that have had this exact same conversation (except in shorter form!)!! Too bad, because Parker's last Jesse Stone novel was the best of the series and his Jackie Robinson book Double Play was very, very good. This one was not up to those hi

Check out the audiobook - it is worth it Burt Reynolds Published by Phoenix Books Read by Burt Reynolds Duration: 6 hours, 52 minutes Unabridged I avoided this audiobook because its read by Burt Reynolds and I figured that if anybody has a chance to ruin a Spenser novel it would be Burt Reynolds. Not that Burt is a bad actor, but he tends to do what he wants to do rather than what he's told to do. Boy, was I wrong. Despite his talent for finding bad movies, Reynolds is, underneath it all, a real actor. He finds the voice for the wise-cracking Spenser and hits it dead on. Spenser's observations and one-liners are read perfectly. Not only that, but he covers the voices of all of the mob leaders and his characterization of Shirley Meeker/Ventura gives the reader a great deal of sympathy for how truly pathetic and harmless she was as she got herself caught up in events beyond her control. Reynold's portrayal of Hawke was different (more southern, but just a

Sunny and Spenser's worlds come ever so closer together... Melancholy Baby  is probably my 40th plus Parker book. While the Jesse Stone series was much improved by its last offering, I think this was the weakest of the Sunny Randall series. The mystery part of  Melancholy Baby  was excellent, but Sunny spends forever in a day seeing Susan Silverman, expert psycholgist and also Spenser's girlfriend. The book gets bogged down with too much detail about feelings, Oedipal complexes and the like. Robert B. Parker Don't get me wrong, I like Sunny and I'll read the next Sunny Randall book. I'm just hoping that this book was a bridge to Sunny going on to bigger and better things and moving away from this self-pitying/loathing over her strange relationship with her ex-husband. One has to wonder, will Spenser and Randall bump into one another? Randall knows cops that Spenser knows, she's been to his girlfriend's house... Do I want to see that? yes and no

Painted Ladies is Robert B. Parker's latest offering in the long-running Spenser series. Parker died in January 2010 and this book was already in the pipeline waiting to be published (he has one more coming out called Sixkill ) . According to my count, this is number 37 in the Spenser series. Painted Ladies  is a solid novel. It is nowhere near as good as the best of the series (in my opinion, that would be Looking for Rachel Wallace and the ones created at about the same time in the late 1970s and early 1980s) but it is not an embarassment like Potshot , either. The plot revolves around the theft of a piece of art called Lady with a Finch . Someone has called with an offer to return the painting for a ransom and Spenser is hired to protect Ashton Prince, the art expert who will deliver the ransom to the kidnappers during the exchange. Spenser ultimately fails as a bodyguard as the painting is booby-trapped with a bomb and Ashton Prince is vaporized right in front of Spense

A pivotal moment in the history of the series and an artifact of the 1970s Published by Random House Audio. Read by Michael Prichard. Duration: 5 hours, 27 minutes. Unabridged. Over the years I've read all of the Spenser novels, but since I do not have a photographic memory I'm going back and listening to them as audiobooks during my commute. Promised Land is a pivotal moment in the series because this is the moment in which we meet Hawk - Spenser's erstwhile partner in anti-crime in so many books in the series. Hawk is in his full glory here - a bad man who kills, roughs people up and intimidates, but still lives by his own code that Spenser somehow senses and respects. It is also a pivotal moment because there is an incredible amount of conversational psychoanalysis throughout the book, a trait that most Spenser books feature (often to their detriment, in my opinion). Spenser's personality is discussed, male/female relationships, what it means to be a man o

This is a typical Spenser book... ..which I happen to like. I think I've read them all and usually I am pleased. Bad Business was a keeper. Robert B. Parker Oh, to be sure, there's the required comments about Spenser and Susan's relationship and why they don't want to get married. There's the required comments about Spenser and Hawk's relationship and how they'd die for each other, etc. There's the required comments about Spenser's checkered career in law enforcement. It's a formula to be sure, but I like the formula. Spenser's comments and observations are pure gold and the case was interesting because it (sort of) explains what happened to Enron. I guess I'm over the fact that Spenser never ages (Parker must have been hearing comments because he includes a NY Times review that excuses this fact inside the dust cover at the beginning of the synopsis) - it doesn't bother me with James Bond, why should it bother me wi

I enjoyed it but would a young adult who has never heard of the Spenser books? I've read just about everything Robert B. Parker has written. I'm a huge fan of the Spenser series and I really did enjoy Chasing the Bear: A Young Spenser Novel , a look at the frequently alluded to but never before fleshed out childhood of Spenser in "West Flub-dub", somewhere out west. Fans of the series will enjoy it. It consists of Spenser and Susan talking about Spenser's childhood (with plenty of psycho-analysis thrown in) interspersed with flashbacks to Spenser as a young man in a series of "coming-of-age" stories). Robert B. Parker Will Young Adult (YA) readers care? The weakness of the book for YA's is the modern talk between Spenser and Susan. New readers will wonder who they are and not get the references to Spenser's hyper-developed sense of self - Parker spent years developing these characters. The regular reader will have no problem with the

A different kind of Spenser book Spenser is back with a different type of mystery, and not necessarily for the better. I'm a big fan of a younger, tougher Spenser. A Spenser that was hassled by the cops, fought with the bad guys and generally spent his time wisecracking himself into and out of tough scrapes. Sadly, The Professional is not that. This one is filled full of relationship discussions (I think Oprah actually moderated some of the scenes!), including more of the endless talk between Spenser and Susan about the nature of their relationship. Lots of talk about sex, the role of sex in a love relationship and, of course, Susan and Spenser have sex about 47 times. Robert B. Parker The mystery is a simple blackmailing case that gets out of control. All of Spenser's "friends" make an appearance and most help him for no reason that I can ascertain except for shared history, including Vinnie, Ty-Bop, Tony Marcus and an oversexed Hawk. The ending is obvi

A western for grown-ups. It's not about the guns, horses or bullets. It's about friendship, sex and, ultimately, love. Movie released in theaters in 2008. Be warned right now - this movie review is mostly one giant spoiler. Here's the non-spoiler parts right up front. This is a movie that strives to look authentic. The two main characters have known each other for years and have no need for a lot of dialogue - they know each other well, they know each other's habits and their conversations are spare. Many reviewers have missed the whole point of Appaloosa . It was not about two buddies/lawmen bringing peace to a town, although that does happen (mostly) and the gun fights are quick, brutal and ugly. The movie is about what happens when such a partnership is disrupted by a woman. Look at the DVD cover art and you can see it symbolically represented - there is Renee Zellweger standing between Mortensen and Harris. ****Spoiler alert****The rest of the review is jus

A good ending to both series. Jesse Stone #9 Sunny Randall #7 Robert B. Parker couldn't have scripted a better ending to the Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall series if he had tried. Sadly, there will be no more of this series due to the death of Robert B. Parker but, happily, both end on a strong note. "Split Image" is really two books wrapped up in one. There is a small Sunny Randall mystery that is semi-independent of the main investigative line of Paradise Police Chief Jesse Stone. Both are good and throw in the interactions between Randall and Stone you have the makings of a strong addition to both series. I won't go into plot details here, but I can say that I do recommend this one for followers of either series. I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Split Image . Reviwed on April 26, 2010.