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It will come as no surprise to longtime fans of Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels to learn that Parker just keeps getting better with each new book. In addition to the classic Spenser series, the prolific Parker now has two active mystery series: one involving Paradise, Massachusetts police chief Jesse Stone and the other featuring female Boston detective Sunny Randall.
Great writers --- and Parker long ago assured his place among America's greatest mystery writers of all time --- are not afraid of breaking the rules. Parker did that last fall when he had Jesse Stone appear in one of his Sunny Randall books, BLUE SCREEN. And Sunny returns the favor in Parker's latest novel, HIGH PROFILE.
HIGH PROFILE is a Jesse Stone story. It begins when a controversial radio talk show host, Walton Weeks, is found dead, hanging from a tree in Jesse's town of Paradise, Massachusetts. The victim was shot three times, but it turns out that he was dead for two days before being hung. The case becomes complicated when the body of a young woman, who turns out to be Weeks's assistant, is discovered in a dumpster behind a restaurant in Paradise a few days later.
Jesse is stuck with a high-profile case as the national press descends upon the town along with representatives of the governor. It turns out that the dead talker was a supporter of the governor's.
As if this was not pressure enough, Jesse's personal life is on the brink of unraveling. He is trying to limit his drinking to two drinks a day while dealing with his inability to stop loving Jenn, his mercurial ex-wife still in his life, and make sense of his emerging relationship with Sunny, who he calls "his new perfect woman." But Sunny has problems of her own, namely her inability to stop loving her ex-husband, Richie.
When Jenn arrives at his door in danger, Jesse has to protect her around the clock somehow while still doing his job as police chief. His not-too-perfect solution is to use Sunny, his new love, to guard Jenn, his true love. As he says more than once, the situation is "a f------ mess."
This also describes his homicide investigation. Despite the fact that Weeks was famous and married three times, nobody shows up to claim his body. And his associates are strangely calm about the tragedy. Nor is anybody especially interested in or upset about the death of Carey Longley, the assistant. Even the young girl's parents profess not to care.
So Jesse starts doing what he does best: pulling at loose ends. Despite the fact that the series is not even a decade old, we are already delighted to hear Jesse bantering with the other colorful members of his police department, including his right-hand assistant and dispatcher, Molly, and the ever-eager-to-please young cop, "Suitcase" Simpson.
But the more Jesse digs into the mystery of Weeks's life and death, the more he is reminded of what is happening in his own life with Jenn and Sunny. He thinks: "This is too close. Jesse could hear himself breathing. This is too close."
HIGH PROFILE is a masterful novel in that it is not just a murder mystery; it is the story of Jesse's internal struggle. He is tortured by the knowledge that his feelings for his ex-wife will always threaten his chances for happiness and peace. At another point Jesse thinks: "Obsessions are fearsome."
Jesse knows that the line between good and evil, madness and sanity, is sometimes perilously slim. "But if you weren't agnostic about it, you could probably say that we love who we love whether we should or not, even though there are more suitable people to love," Jesse tells Weeks's doctor before admitting that he is not talking about the murder victim.
HIGH PROFILE is Robert B. Parker writing at the height of his powers. There is the usual brisk, witty dialogue, the prose cut lean to the bone and the short chapters we have come to associate with a Parker novel. If anything, the chapters and scenes seem even shorter in this book. Parker is the master of writing concisely and tightly; each of his books is a graduate course for fiction writers.
But it is in creating these characters that Parker excels. Unlike the always-in-control and heroic Spenser, Jesse and Sunny are both highly damaged individuals courageous enough to face their damage head on. You can't help but root for them. However, Parker is too smart to go in for easy endings; real life is never that easy.
At one point, Jesse, in typical male fashion, delights in reminiscing to Sunny on the phone about their sexual liaison in Sunny's book, BLUE SCREEN, last fall. "'Yes. Things change,' Sunny said." And that is such a perfect line that you can almost hear the bomb explode in Jesse's heart. Parker writes the way people speak.
Great fiction mirrors reality. And Robert B. Parker will delight even those who are not fans of the mystery genre. For those unfamiliar with Parker's work, HIGH PROFILE is an excellent place to start. You are in for a real treat and a wonderful journey through his extensive collection of terrific work.
--- Reviewed by Tom Callahan
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