Robert B. Parker's Fool's Paradise
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- USD 7.99
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- USD 7.99
Publisher Description
When an unknown man is found murdered in Paradise, Jesse Stone will have his hands full finding out who he was--and what he was seeking.
When a body is discovered at the lake in Paradise, Police Chief Jesse Stone is surprised to find he recognizes the murder victim--the man had been at the same AA meeting as Jesse the evening before. But otherwise, Jesse has no clue as to the man's identity. He isn't a local, nor does he have ID on him, nor does any neighboring state have a reported missing person matching his description. Their single lead is from a taxi company that recalls dropping off the mysterious stranger outside the gate at the mansion of one of the wealthiest families in town. . . .
Meanwhile, after Jesse survives a hail of gunfire on his home, he wonders if it could be related to the murder. When both Molly Crane and Suitcase Simpson also become targets, it's clear someone has an ax to grind against the entire Paradise PD.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Edgar finalist Lupica captured the spirit and feel of the late Robert P. Parker's Sunny Randall novels in Blood Feud and Grudge Match, but this novel featuring Parker's Paradise, Mass., police chief Jesse Stone is strictly by-the-numbers. When a man is found in a lake, shot in the back of the head, Stone, a recovering alcoholic, is shocked to recognize him as Paul, whom he met in passing the night before at an AA meeting. As Stone and his number two, Molly Crane, probe who Paul is, they each come under attack: Stone from a shooter; Molly from an assailant from a knife. Lupica pulls his punches, however, as Stone and Molly avoid serious harm purely through chance. The routine investigation into the murder and the assaults fails to engage, and the prose doesn't meet Parker's standard ("She had a heart as big as the ocean, and was tough enough to clean up Afghanistan all by herself"). Lupica does nothing to develop the major continuity change Reed Farrel Coleman introduced to the franchise giving Stone a previously unknown adult son who is pursuing a career in law enforcement. This is a disappointing offering from an author who's capable of better.
