I will file this under "What were they thinking"? This is the latest of the ghost written books in the Jesse Stone series by the estate of Robert Parker. I think people who love Parker love him for his writing style as much as his characters. The previous books that were written by Michael Brandman were true to Parker's writing style. This book by Reed Farrel Coleman is not.
Except for the name of the main character, everything about this book is different from the ones by Parker and Brandman. Coleman has deviated from Parker's gritty, simple style. He has used the third person to get into Jesse's brain and spends paragraph after paragraph telling us what Jesse was thinking and feeling. He also spends a lot of ink telling us about Jesse's sex life. In addition, he turned Jesse into a heavy drinker. We all know he was a recovering alcoholic but we also know he limited his drinks. Coleman takes him way out of sobriety. And finally, he overuses baseball analogies and the fact that Jesse is an ex player.
As for the other characters, Suitcase Simpson is now a blundering idiot and Molly is an over sexed cougar who trades double entendres with Jesse. It was also disturbing to me that Coleman set up the ending for a sequel, almost as if he was looking for job security.
The story line is good and there is enough action to keep up your interest, but, other than the name of the characters, it bears little resemblance to the Jesse Stone novels Robert Parker fans know and love. Read it if you want, but don't look for anything resembling Robert Parker.
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