Publication
Quercus, c2010.
Collection
Series
Status
Available
Description
What initially appears to be a low-level mob hit takes on new meaning when a high-ranking crime figure is found dead on Paradise Beach. Jesse Stone and private investigator Sunny Randall team up to solve two cases involving the gunshot murder of Petrov Ognowski and a religious cult holding an 18-year-old girl against her will.
Media reviews
Love runs rampant in this story — young love, parental love, marital love, friendly love, lovey-dovey love, even noxious perversions of love that are downright criminal. Hotbed of passion that it’s turned out to be, Paradise seems a very good place to take our leave of Jesse.
This is not Bob Parker's best Jesse Stone novel. But it's Chief Stone's last case and it's readable. Funny and suspenseful, as all of Parker's work is, but perhaps just a shade less bright than his best. It features the competent and sharp-witted Stone fighting crime and his own overfondness for
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the bottle alongside his attractive ensemble cast, including officers Molly Crane and Luther "Suitcase" Simpson (extra enjoyment points for those who remember the 1950s baseball player of the same name). Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member jsharpmd
Classic Parker. Will miss his books. This one has Jesse Stone, Sunny Randall and Susan Silverman. Great dialogue.
LibraryThing member wmorton38
I always feel very conflicted when I read Robert Parker. On the one hand I like the characters very much, the dialogue is good and I usually enjoy the mystery. I just never feel that I am really reading a novel. It is like reading a play with a little bit of stage direction. And don’t get me on
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those mind numbing “he said”s and “she said”s. This one is no different. It is really two pretty much unrelated stories except for the interactions of the two main characters: Jesse Stone & Sunny Randall. Jesse is investigating murder involving some mobsters and their wives and Sunny is looking into perhaps rescuing a girl from a maybe cultist group. Despite my complaints I did enjoy the book although I did like it better when detectives & private eyes didn’t go to psychiatrists. Show Less
LibraryThing member SunnySD
His relationship with his ex-wife on the rocks, Jesse's still contemplating his life through a drink or two, and something about his latest case has him knocking back more than is good for him. It isn't the death the the semi-retired mobster so much as the grieving widow and her sister that have
Jesse's relationship with Sunny Randall figures in - as well as his with psychologist Dix and hers with her own shrink Susan Silverman.
Not Parker's best, and unfortunately, likely one of, if not the, last we'll see of his, the ending is at least not a cliffhanger.
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Jesse tied in knots.Jesse's relationship with Sunny Randall figures in - as well as his with psychologist Dix and hers with her own shrink Susan Silverman.
Not Parker's best, and unfortunately, likely one of, if not the, last we'll see of his, the ending is at least not a cliffhanger.
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LibraryThing member repb
First non-Western I have read from Parker. I found I still enjoyed his familiar abbreviated dialogue and 'interesting' characters. HOWEVER, I must also say, like several other of my favored authors, I continue to detect an ever increasing amount of unnecessary smut and pandering to a gay
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readership. I wonder if this is the authors' natural doings ... or the prodding of intense publishers to make these novels more attractive to today's society. Sad. Show Less
LibraryThing member bjmitch
I'm saving some of Robert B. Parker's books to slowly savor since he is gone. This week was perfect though for this Jesse Stone novel in which he and Sunny Randall combine forces to solve cases, and their budding relationship progresses. One case involves two Boston mobsters married to twin sisters
Sunny's case is more touching. She is seeking a girl who has joined a cult in Paradise, and her snob parents want her back, without dirtying their hands by actually going after her of course.
This is a good light beach read. Parker's witty dialogue keeps you laughing throughout.
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who have quite a reputation. Several bodies turn up, murders which seem to be connected to these mobsters. I love the way Parker portrayed mobsters and this case is really funny.Sunny's case is more touching. She is seeking a girl who has joined a cult in Paradise, and her snob parents want her back, without dirtying their hands by actually going after her of course.
This is a good light beach read. Parker's witty dialogue keeps you laughing throughout.
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LibraryThing member bitsy08
Thoroughly enjoyed this book and worried that whomever takes over for Parker will not be able to develop the characters as well as he has done. Felt so much better for the characters when the end of this book came. Both Jesse and Sunny are on the right track, now, and I do so hope they get
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together. Jen was never worthy of Jesse or perhaps in the words of Dix (if I may be so bold as to write words for him) she was never "right" for him. On Parker passing - in the words of Jesse Stone - where do I go from here? Show Less
LibraryThing member bookczuk
I love Robert B Parker books. I know that some folks hate his "he said. She said" style of conversation, but I like it. I like the mysteries and the ongoing development of the characters. The reason this book made me sad, was because I realized I'm coming in the homestretch of RBP books because of
One of the things about RBP is that the endings of the cases involved, both for the Paradise series and the Spencer series are not necessarily neat and tidy. But there's a hint of how paybacks and justice might occur. This particular book, about twin sisters and the world around them, has some bits and pieces of unspoken justice as well as actual crime solving. I listened to the audio version, and while it wasn't my favorite reader (I think my favorite one only does the Spencer series, not the Paradise series or Sunny Randall series) it was good.
RIP Mr Parker. You are missed. I have the comforting thought that 3 of my brother's favorite authors also died within the year of his death. I imagine them together, enjoying each other's company, smoking cigars, drinking whiskey and having a grand time telling tales.
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his death last year. But at least I now feel that Sunny and Jesse aren't left out in limbo as I did with the last book I'd read. They each have found some solid footing to plant their lives on and it appears to be common ground.One of the things about RBP is that the endings of the cases involved, both for the Paradise series and the Spencer series are not necessarily neat and tidy. But there's a hint of how paybacks and justice might occur. This particular book, about twin sisters and the world around them, has some bits and pieces of unspoken justice as well as actual crime solving. I listened to the audio version, and while it wasn't my favorite reader (I think my favorite one only does the Spencer series, not the Paradise series or Sunny Randall series) it was good.
RIP Mr Parker. You are missed. I have the comforting thought that 3 of my brother's favorite authors also died within the year of his death. I imagine them together, enjoying each other's company, smoking cigars, drinking whiskey and having a grand time telling tales.
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LibraryThing member RRedman
I love Robert B. Parker's work, particularly the Jesse Stone and Spencer novels. Reading this one was bittersweet for me, because Mr. Parker passed away earlier this year, and I know how Jesse Stone's career in Paradise ends.That said, it was a terrific read as expected.
LibraryThing member Saisquoi
Not Parker's best, but readable and enjoyable. As usual, there's trouble in Paradise, and who but Chief Jesse Stone to set wrong to right? This book gives us bodies in trunks, mobsters married to identical twin sisters living next door to one another, a spiritual community or cult, and a cast of
Snappy dialogue, lots of head shrinking involving Stone and Randall, and lots of sex. A good summer read.
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characters including Boston PI Sunny Randall, and Paradise police officers Molly Crane and Luther "Suitcase" Simpson.Snappy dialogue, lots of head shrinking involving Stone and Randall, and lots of sex. A good summer read.
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LibraryThing member SharronA
Sad that this series has to end, but there's a hint of a "happy ending" in this book.
LibraryThing member psghook
fun read,i will miss jesse stone
LibraryThing member WhitmelB
Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall combine in this mystery as each solve a separate crime and begin to find themselves releasing from their ex's thrall.
LibraryThing member Carol420
Although Split Image is referenced as a Jesse Stone novel, it prominently features private detective Sunny Randall equally. And the two cases are entirely split, as the title suggests, as well as the characters themselves. Police Chief Jesse Stone focuses on the murder of a local mob guy, while
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Sunny Randall tries to investigate a young woman that has joined a local religious group in Paradise. The stories both predominantly take place in Jesse's territory, but Sunny's story veers in its own direction and stays there. Maybe Robert Parker knew that I only read his Jesse Stone novels and threw in Sunny Randall as a surprise. Show Less
LibraryThing member dasam
A nice place for Sunny Randall's and Jesse Stone's stories to end, together.
LibraryThing member ecw0647
I've been listening to several of the newer Jesse Stone novels written by Michael Brandman following the demise of Robert Parker, originator of the series. I like them. Brandman has captured the spirit of Stone, but a major difference is stylistic. Parker had a clipped staccato style that some
This is one of Parker's early Jesse Stone (#9) books that weaves in a parallel investigation with another of his characters, Sunny Randall. That plot line involves a quasi-spiritual organization that pimped out girls it had supposedly helped off the street. The other is Jesse's investigation into the death of a gangster involving nymphomaniac twins.
As with all the Jesse Stone series it's solid entertainment, well-read by James Naughton. Stone is a good character. Parker has more difficulty fleshing out female roles and the psycho-babble from Silverman and Dicks (everyone has a therapist) is the least interesting. One is always hesitant to ascribe action of a novel's character to the author, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say Parker had a drinking problem, saw a shrink, and had difficulty relating to women.
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people found annoying. I didn't, disliking his Spenser character, instead.This is one of Parker's early Jesse Stone (#9) books that weaves in a parallel investigation with another of his characters, Sunny Randall. That plot line involves a quasi-spiritual organization that pimped out girls it had supposedly helped off the street. The other is Jesse's investigation into the death of a gangster involving nymphomaniac twins.
As with all the Jesse Stone series it's solid entertainment, well-read by James Naughton. Stone is a good character. Parker has more difficulty fleshing out female roles and the psycho-babble from Silverman and Dicks (everyone has a therapist) is the least interesting. One is always hesitant to ascribe action of a novel's character to the author, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say Parker had a drinking problem, saw a shrink, and had difficulty relating to women.
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LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
The last Jesse Stone novel, although presumably Parker did not intend it to be. I've been saving it, knowing there wouldn't be anymore since Parker is no longer with us. But I've been dipping into things that don't grab me lately, and I knew this one wouldn't be a disappointment. Jesse needs to
Review written in 2010, before Michael Brandon and Reed Farrel Coleman took over the character and I gave up reading about him.
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solve the murder of mobster who has "retired" to Paradise to live alongside his brother-in-law; their wives are identical twins with some odd recreational habits. Sunny Randall is in this one, too, hired to retrieve a rich couple's 18-year-old daughter from a spiritual colony they think is a cult, but which seems innocent enough to Sunny. The plot moves right along, as does Jesse's self-exploration. Without spoiling anything, I will say that Parker left our friends in a place I can live with.Review written in 2010, before Michael Brandon and Reed Farrel Coleman took over the character and I gave up reading about him.
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Language
Original language
English
ISBN
9781849160759
Original publication date
2010-02-23