Sea Change

by Robert B. Parker

Other authorsScott Sowers (Reader)

2006

Status

Available

Publication

Random House Audio (2006), Edition: Unabridged

Description

Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. A battered body washes ashore in Paradise, Massachusetts, during the town's biggest event - Race Week. Jesse's investigation takes him to Florida, and back, while his private life takes him back to his ex-wife.

User reviews

LibraryThing member nbmars

Robert B. Parker’s second most famous hero (Spenser being the first) is Jesse Stone, the police chief of Paradise, Massachusetts, who in this book (fifth in this series) tries to find the murderer of a woman whose decomposed body washes up on the shore . His search takes him into the sleazy world

of very rich yacht owners who delight in videotaping kinky sex. Along the way he has numerous conversations not only with various members of his staff but also with his ex-wife, Jenn, with whom he is currently living, on the meaning of love and the virtues of sexual fidelity. Stone also spends a lot of time avoiding alcohol, although Parker gives numerous brands of scotch, Irish whiskey, beer, and sparkling wine many advertising plugs. As in all Parker novels, this one contains some witty, snarky dialogue, but not as much as I have come to expect.

Stone is not as tough as Spenser (and certainly not as tough as Lee Child’s Jack Reacher), but he handles himself quite well in the one short fight scene. Stone’s forte is wisdom, which we see in his handling of drunks, kids, and first time offenders. He is willing to bend the rules, like engaging in warrantless searches, but his heart is pure, and he seeks justice relentlessly. This was a pleasant read, but not an exceptional one.

(JAB)

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LibraryThing member Kathy89

This is a Jesse Stone novel about the murder of a wealthy party girl. The beautiful rich leading decadent lives with lots of sex, booze and drugs. I really enjoy the character of Jesse and pictured Tom Selleck while I was reading this book

LibraryThing member MarthaHuntley

This is the last of the Robert Parker books I hadn't read, and it's a case of worst for last. The book's plot and characters are so gross, one character or another was saying "Ick" every other page, and so was the reader!

LibraryThing member whimsicalkitten

I've always enjoyed the Spenser novels, even as they became formulaic, and have really enjoyed Parker's new Jesse Stone character. I found Sea Change to be a bit of a disappointment though. Still enjoyable to listen to (audiobook) with some interesting if rather 2 dimensional characters, but

without the close up look into Jesse's own psyche that I've enjoyed in others in the series.

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LibraryThing member caro488

Parker, Robert B., Sea Change, the fifth in his acclaimed Jesse Stone crime novel series. In Paradise, MA, the body of serial divorcee Florence Horvarth washes up on the local shore. As Stone investigates, he uncovers a shady world of sexual degeneracy involving incest, paedophilia, statutory rape

and voyeurism. Stone also finds himself perturbed by the perceived complacency of Florence's parents, Willis and Betsy Plum, and irritated by the idiocy of her twenty year old twin sisters, Corliss and Claudia. Meanwhile, he worries about what impact the case could be having on his tenous relationship with ex-wife Jenn, a local weather girl.

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LibraryThing member Golding

I listened to the talking book. My second Jesse Stone book after listening to many Spenser Robert Parker stories. I'm getting to know more about Chief Stone. Some of the characters cross between the the Spenser novels and Stone's. I still prefer Spenser's humour more.

LibraryThing member JillianMcD

I particularly enjoyed the way the story was told , the scene was set, almost entirely by conversation.

LibraryThing member debavp

I think this is the quickest Parker and probably the most boring yet. I think that was a by-product of the storyline that couldn't be helped. While I still can't not visualize Tom Selleck as Stone, I can actually accept it a bit. I do love Jessie's snarky bits, he continues to be quite the

quipster, but it's time to move on to not being so neurotic about Jenn.

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LibraryThing member benfulton

My first Jesse Stone book. Pretty straightforward Parker I thought: lots of dialog and fairly simple writing, but the storyline was interesting, and I thought there was an amusing inversion of the typical "detective/alcoholic reformed by the woman he loves" storyline that you often see in noir

fiction.The plot was nicely convoluted, but I'm not sure I really bought in to the personality of the killer - there's not a similar one I can think of in any book I've read, so the combination of personality traits didn't ring true to me. I did like that Stone lives in the same world as Spenser, and Spenser gets an off-camera cameo at one point. A good, fast read like all of Parker's novels.

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LibraryThing member repb

I disliked this novel a lot! Actually I don't think I like the main character, Jesse, nor his foul-mouthed squeeze and ex-wife. I found the main topic of the novel: pornographic out of control sexual behavior to be very nasty for an author of this repute.

LibraryThing member ecw0647

What I really enjoy about the Jesse Stone series especially, is the way Stone interviews potential perps. He weaves this nifty little web for them into which they inevitably fall. I like the relationship he has with Molly and Suit, although the on-again off-again “affair” with his ex-wife, Jen,

I find totally unsatisfactory. I also think Parker has never quite resolved how he feels about women, and it shows in his relationship with Susan in the Spenser novels. There’s something artificial about it, almost as if he’s trying to be sensitive and modern, but can’t quite pull it off.

The investigation is interesting, the plot believable, the villains suitably despicable. One of the best Stone novels.

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LibraryThing member Carol420

For some reason I only like Robert Parker's Jesse Stone books. When the Stone movies started showing on T.V. and I saw Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone, I thought "Okay, they got this one right." Jesse is a good man and a good cop who struggles with his recent divorce, a drinking problem while trying to

do his best as the Chief of the Paradise Police Department. To make matters worse, the town council only hired him because they thought that because of his problems he would be easy to control - wrong! The Stone books hold the readers attention from cover to cover.

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LibraryThing member asxz

Rattling good fun. Jesse's on the wagon for most of this and, frankly, he's the better man for it. Still not sure if Jen is right for him. I think the last few books in the series cross over with Sunny Randall so that will be nice.

LibraryThing member JBreedlove

First Parker and Jesse Stone Read. Fan of T. Selleck's J. Stone books filmed in Nova Scotia so that is in my minds eye when I read. Not a lot of back ground and short on scenic descriptions. It was like after a page of dialogue he decided to insert the pattern on the dog's water bowl. Characters

are revealed through short sarcastic dialogue with meaning embedded between words. Still, I enjoyed the coastal town imagery, Jesse Stone's doggedness and the Kelly Cruz "broad".

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