Michelle O. (michi) reviewed on 12/29/2006 + 80 more book reviews

Fans 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

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details