Book report

Just finished reading Split Image by Robert B. Parker. Regret it’s going to be one of the last of his I will read as Mr. Parker passed on in January. Think there is one more Spenser novel in the pipeline for later this year and there are still 2 or 3 of his early ones I don’t have but it looks like finis for another of my favorite authors. Another sign you are growing old is when the authors you have enjoyed for 30-40 years start disappearing. Going to have to start looking for some new ones to follow.

Split Image was the 9th Jesse Stone novel. For those who don’t follow, Jesse Stone was an L.A. homicide cop whose ex-wife drove him to drink and he wound up as a police chief in a small coast Mass. Town. Lotta crime for such a small town. The book is enjoyable as are all of Parker’s works but it’s not one of his best. It’s not one I would recommend that a newcomer to his works start with.

Parker is not a convoluted plotter such as Agatha Christie or Dick Francis. His strength is in how his stories flow along and especially in his characterizations and in his characters interactions with each other. His most notable creations, Spenser and Hawk have some of the best patter going between them I have read. That being said I think the plot here is a bit weaker than usual. In fact there are two plots here because it seems that Parker was on the path towards combining the characters from two of his series, Stone and Sunny Randall, a Boston P.I. She had her own series of about 6 books but there hasn’t been one lately and while she has appeared in the Jesse Stone books before she takes up a large part of this one. So while the book is about the same length as the others there are two plots running and except for the interaction of the characters, they’re sleeping together, there is no real link to the stories. Basically it’s like two novellas combined to form a novel.

All that being said it’s still a good read if you like Parker and I think almost anyone would like Parker if they start somewhere else. If they start here they may think him a bit weak and just brush him off. Any of the Spenser books would be a good start or if interested in Stone the first one, Night Passage gives the basic back story. Parker reads fairly straightforward, no pausing to try and remember some small thing that happened way back in the first chapter or trying to figure out 6 degrees of relationships. I stumbled across him one day when I was bored and the store had nothing that that tickled my fancy. I took a chance on a Spenser novel of Parker’s called Potshot and I’m glad I did. Started me reading, and then collecting his books. A shame there won’t be many more too enjoy.

On that note I’ll wrap this up and thank you for listening. Keep reading