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Overview
Paradise, Massachusetts, police chief Jesse Stone faces the case of his career in the newest novel in the bestselling series.When a woman's partially decomposed body washes ashore in Paradise, Massachusetts, police chief Jesse Stone is forced into a case far more difficult than it initially appears. Identifying the woman is just the first step in what proves to be an emotionally charged investigation. Florence Horvath was an attractive, recently divorced heiress from Florida; she also had a penchant for steamy sex and was an enthusiastic participant in a video depicting the same. Somehow the combination of her past and present got her killed, but no one is talking-not the crew of the Lady Jane, the Fort Lauderdale yacht moored in Paradise Harbor; not her very blond, very tan twin sisters, Corliss and Claudia; and not her curiously affectless parents, living out a sterile retirement in a Miami high rise. But someone-Jesse-has to speak for the dead, even if it puts him in harm's way.
Synopsis
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.
Publishers Weekly
Former LAPD cop and recovering alcoholic Jesse Stone is now the police chief of Paradise, Mass., a small suburb of Boston. It's quiet most of the time, except for the annual Race Week yachting event, and when murdered bodies wash up on shore. Stone's latest high-profile investigation-of the death of aging party girl Florence Horvath-takes him into a seedy underworld of sex, drugs and pornography that will leave listeners both titillated and disturbed. Sowers narrates in a strong, pleasant tenor and adeptly gives voice to Parker's witty, noir dialogue. Parker's stylistic quirk of using a "said" tag after almost every piece of dialogue stands out much more on audio than in print. Because Sowers alters his voice to distinguish between characters, a minor abridgment to remove some of these tags would have been less disruptive to the narrative flow. Sowers's performance overall is excellent and should leave listeners eager for another visit to Paradise. Simultaneous release with the Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 21, 2005). (Mar.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewFans of Robert B. Parker should buckle themselves into their favorite recliner and prepare for the aptly dubbed Dean of American Crime Fiction's wildest Jesse Stone novel yet, a pedal-to-the-metal mystery in which the intrepid Paradise, Massachusetts, police chief must solve a murder involving enough drunken debauchery and kinky sex to sink a ship -- or at least a corpse.
When the partially decomposed body (a "floater," in cop talk) of a woman washes up on the shores of Paradise during the raucous Race Week -- an almost monthlong celebration where thousands of tourists "drink and eat and fornicate" -- police chief Stone is faced with a laundry list of hedonistic suspects. The woman turns out to be Florence Horvath, a blonde divorcée from Fort Lauderdale with a penchant for rich yacht owners and no-holds-barred sexual aerobics. At first, Stone's primary "person of interest" is Harrison Darnell, a sleazy yacht owner from Florida who happens to be in Paradise for Race Week; but as he finds out more about the dead woman's background -- especially insights garnered from her younger twin sisters, Corliss and Claudia, giggling sybarites with the combined intelligence of "a mud puddle" -- Stone begins to piece together an incredible and extremely disturbing scenario…
This fifth installment of Parker's Jesse Stone saga (Night Passage, Trouble in Paradise, et al.) is one of his most breakneck novels to date; the nitromethane-fueled pacing of Sea Change will leave readers breathless -- as will the book's unanticipated ending. Paul Goat Allen
Publishers Weekly
Former LAPD cop and recovering alcoholic Jesse Stone is now the police chief of Paradise, Mass., a small suburb of Boston. It's quiet most of the time, except for the annual Race Week yachting event, and when murdered bodies wash up on shore. Stone's latest high-profile investigation-of the death of aging party girl Florence Horvath-takes him into a seedy underworld of sex, drugs and pornography that will leave listeners both titillated and disturbed. Sowers narrates in a strong, pleasant tenor and adeptly gives voice to Parker's witty, noir dialogue. Parker's stylistic quirk of using a "said" tag after almost every piece of dialogue stands out much more on audio than in print. Because Sowers alters his voice to distinguish between characters, a minor abridgment to remove some of these tags would have been less disruptive to the narrative flow. Sowers's performance overall is excellent and should leave listeners eager for another visit to Paradise. Simultaneous release with the Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 21, 2005). (Mar.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.Forbes Magazine
America's mystery maestro has created a cast of villains and victims from the flotsam of humanity. Jesse Stone, police chief of a small seaside Massachusetts town, suddenly finds himself grappling with an unsavory case when a woman's body washes up on shore. The "floater" was in her mid-30s, the ne'er-do-well daughter of rich parents. Stone finds himself dealing with creepy characters obsessed with manic sex, drugs and alcohol. Stone, a refugee from the Los Angeles Police Department and a recovering alcoholic, has his own demons to face. He's also trying to reconcile with his former wife, who is not without her own shortcomings. (10 Apr 2006)—Steve Forbes