[Saturday: 5 miles; today: 3.5 miles]
We were in Books A Million the other day and I picked up a book to read. I’ve enjoyed watching the Jesse Stone series on Netflix and I decided to see if they had any books in that series. And sure enough they did.
So I bought this one and brought it home. It didn’t take me very long to see that this wasn’t written by Robert B. Parker. In fact, I googled it and found out that Parker has actually been dead for quite a few years. I felt a bit bad for this author since he doesn’t even get full billing on his own effort, or so it seems to me. I actually think the cover borders on a bait-and-switch.
I read the thing. It’s not a bad book. It had some sizeable plot holes. The thing I didn’t like was that it seemed to be a mixed salad of every device I had seen in my previous exposure to Jesse Stone movies and books:
- They had not one but two(!) evil people make a turn toward the “light side” at the end in addition to the gangster who helps Jesse with a needed underworld connection.
- Jesse beats up a bad guy who is needs it because he abuses women. The bad guy is big but he is really a bully and Jesse instinctively knows that.
- Jesse meets a girl and has wild sexual adventures but feels conflicted the whole time but not enough to divert his attention.
- Jesse suffers through the shame of a misused past and bad friends and the pain of regrets that he can’t control but he grits his teeth and carries on in the face of further inevitable disappointments.
- Not one but two (!) of Jesse’s deputies go above and beyond the call of duty and get injured for it.
It had almost all of the regular characters, and for those left out it had replacements in addition to multiple mentions and allusions!
The ending is an ominous warning from the remaining unrepentant bad guy.