High Profile (Jesse Stone) | Robert B. Parker | another ho-hum reading experience, for the most part

High Profile (Jesse Stone) | Robert B. Parker | A quick and pleasant read

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High Profile (Jess...

	High Profile (Jesse Stone) Robert B. Parker Berkley, 2008 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 72 reviews view larger image
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Stone investigates a shocking double murder-that of a controversial radio talk-show host and his pregnant mistress.

another ho-hum reading experience, for the most part

I did like the actual mystery in this one, but so many other things made it not a great read.

I've been having a problem for a while with the way Jesse and Jen's "relationship" keeps plugging along. I will admit that I typically have problems with those relationships (real, fictional--it doesn't really matter much to me) where the partners are seemingly getting very little of substance out of the connection they share but somehow manage to elevate that connection in their minds so that it seems. . .I don't know. . ."meant to be" or "inescapable." Bollocks. When someone can't be faithful to his/her partner, even when that person knows how destructive the infidelity is, that's. . .well, crap.

In this book, Jesse keeps the whole Jen thing going pretty much as it has been. She continues to lie to him and treat him disrespectfully, but he can't shake her, and she says she can't shake him. At the same time, he's interested in Sunny, but THAT relationship is fraught with bizarre co-dependency, too. Lovely.

So. What do we get?

We get Jesse and Sunny, et. al., still being extraordinarily capable of seeing their own flaws and insecurities but being relatively unwilling to do a darn thing about them other than keep choosing to remain in relationship limbo, basically.

Since pretty much all of Parker's recent Stone/Randall novels head in this same direction, I find myself pondering whether it's worth picking them up any longer. I still find Spenser moderately interesting (although if I have to read one more description of how Susan sips a quarter-ounce of wine over the space of 10 hours, I will throw the book against the nearest wall), but it's rough to shell out beaucoup bucks for very short AND predictable books.

(Before you say to me that Jesse, Sunny, and Jen are like lots of people I'd meet every day, I'll say this: I wouldn't want to read about THEIR co-dependency issues book after book, either. ;-))

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A quick and pleasant read

High profile opens with the body of a man found, riled with bullet holes and hung from a tree, in the small town of Paradise, Massachusetts. When the body is identified as famous talk-show host Walton Weeks, police chief Jesse Stone and his team work to find the killer. They soon discover his young pregnant lover, murdered in the same fashion and thrown into a dumpster, sending the police into a more complex and wild plot. This high profile crime becomes engrossed with media attention and political pressure leading to a long list of colorful characters and suspects. While the mystery of the crime remains weaved throughout the novel, the focus is more on the relationships between Jesse, his ex-wife Jenn and current girlfriend Sunny. The strong emotional conflicts and drinking scenes seem to drag on and ultimately fill up space on the pages. The quirky dialogue and personality of the characters is interesting and fun often providing some laugh out loud moments. The mystery in itself is intriguing providing some great scenes and twists to the plot along the way; however, the ending is too predictable and lacks the luster it needed. Overall, High Profile simply a quick and pleasant read. Valerie Jones mrsvaljones@netzero.net

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