Robert B. Parker's many fans immediately perk up when the writer offers a new entry in one of his various crime thriller series, and this time we get to enjoy the newest adventures of the author's "Jesse Stone" character. Jesse is the police chief in the fictional seaside town of Paradise, Massachusetts, where he spends his days fearlessly fighting crime and imparting lessons to the citizenry. Sadly, however, Jesse still spends his after-hours free time torturing himself with thoughts of his ex-wife Jenn, who periodically flits into Jesse's life when she needs support, guidance, and affection, but then inevitably flits away because she can't make any true and lasting commitment to him. This fascinating formula- strong crimefighter by day, weak-kneed, trod-upon lover by night, is once again firmly in place in Night and Day, the ninth entry in the series.
Incidentally, if you've seen any of the nicely done "Jesse Stone" television movies starring Tom Selleck as Jesse, you have a good idea of what the book series is all about, though Jesse is about 20 years younger on the printed page. However, both book and television versions of the character struggle with alcohol in the same way, often drinking too much but so far resisting full-blown alcoholism.
Parker's addictive novels almost always feature strong sexual subplots and/or subtexts in addition to the main plotlines. Here, though, the sex is front and center with three — count 'em, three — main sex plotines: 1) Paradise is in an uproar after a school principal insists on inspecting her female students' undergarments to make sure the little darlings aren't wearing anything too provocative; 2) a Peeping Tom is terrorizing the town's quiet streets, trying to catch women getting undressed or getting out of the shower as he peers through their windows; and 3) a young girl comes to Chief Stone (after meeting him during the case of the skimpy underwear) because she's disturbed by her parents' swinging/partner-swapping lifestyle. Jesse hops among the three cases, each heavy with obsessive behavior in some way, which in turn makes him think of his own near-obsession with his ex-wife Jenn. Clever, no?
With the story advancing mostly via short, rapid-fire dialogue sequences, Night and Day is an especially fast read, even by Mr. Parker's own well-established standard for lightning pacing. This didn't bother me, as Mr. Parker has never been about dense prose. He's always said a lot with a little. But if you're one of those readers who regularly complain that Mr. Parker's publishers disguise his essentially short novels as longer ones via thick paper and double-spacing, you'll probably complain again here.
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