Book #36 - Night Passage

I have loved Robert Parker's work since I was in college. I have looked forward to each new book, often grabbing them from the library as soon as a new one came out. When I moved to Colorado, I made it a point at one point to go back and re-read all the Spenser novels. As I was getting close to the end, I ran across the newly released Night Passage, the start of a new series.

It's a strange one, with Jesse Stone leaving California, driving to Paradise, MA, a town that has a secret and problems. They've hired Stone to be the new police chief because they think they can control him, a drunk that was fired from the LAPD. They find out that Jesse is touch, and prone to doing things his way.

The book is almost like a soap opera, with the characters' lives intertwined in many ways. There is sex and affairs mixed in with criminal actions. As the book moves between the characters, we see the complexity develop in Stone's character along with the tangled web of the town.

Worth the read, not as good as a few of the other Stone novels, but once again Parker has created a memorable character in this series.