Night and Day

December 22, 2008
In bestseller Parker's fluffy eighth Jesse Stone novel (after Stranger in Paradise
), the Paradise, Mass., police chief almost effortlessly performs his laconic magic to restore order and right wrongs. When Betsy Ingersoll, the junior high school principal, decides to conduct a check of girls' undies before an eighth-grade dance, it may or may not have been a crime, but it certainly provokes a firestorm of protests. Then there's a Peeping Tom calling himself the Night Hawk, whose activities escalate from watching to home invasions. In addition, the legal activities of a group of adults calling themselves the Paradise Free Swingers are badly affecting two children. Jesse's ex-wife, Jenn, and his deputies, Molly Crane and “Suit” Simpson, lend support. With a few bold strokes, Parker sketches characters and plot, then uses long stretches of his trademark pithy dialogue to carry the story briskly forward. The result may not provide much of a meal, but it's certainly an enjoyable snack.

January 1, 2009
Police chief Jesse Stone (Stranger in Paradise, 2008, etc.) must have put the fear of God into would-be killers in his little town of Paradise. Now he 's reduced to hunting down a Peeping Tom.

Someone calling himself the Night Hawk has graduated from spying on middle-aged brunettes as they disrobe for the night to confronting them in their homes with a gun and ski mask and forcing them to undress for photography sessions. The home invasions are no laughing matter for the terrified victims, of course, but their most notable feature is that the Night Hawk 's helpless obsession with collecting more and more pictures of women he 's never touched reminds Jesse of his own obsession with his ex-wife Jenn, a TV reporter who uses him to provide sex, affection and reassurance when she 's not off in New York sleeping her way up the broadcast ladder. At length Jesse 's 12-member force links the Night Hawk to the Paradise Free Swingers and to Betsy Ingersoll, a junior-high principal who 's been a person of interest ever since she lifted the skirts of the 13-year-olds at a school dance to make sure their underwear was modest. When Betsy, who 's protected by a husband who manages the biggest law firm in Massachusetts, claims she 's been the Night Hawk 's latest victim, Jesse 's eighth and slightest case heats up, though barely to the point of serial felony.

The usual navel-gazing is fleshed out with sage reflections about the psychology of voyeurs, though no mention is made of readers who love the frisson of second-hand crime.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 15, 2008
Paradise, Massachusetts, has seen its share of crime since Jesse Stone became the police chief, and as officer Molly Crane observes, it seems more like Sodom and Gomorrah every day. This time trouble erupts when middle-school principal Betsy Ingersoll does a panty check of her female students before an after-school danceshe was checking suitability, according to the unrepentant Mrs. Ingersoll. After Jesse andMolly have dispersed the irate parents, the questions of motive and potential charges remain at issue. It doesnt help that Mr. Ingersoll is the managing partner of Bostons most influential legal firm. Theres also the matter of a peeping tomcalling himself the Night Hawk in letters to Stonewho has escalated from just looking to home invasion and photographing his nude victims. The key to the Night Hawks identity may lie somewhere within Paradises wife-swapping, swinging-couples scene. Stone, who continues to struggle with hisdrinking and his obsession with his manipulative ex-wife, is the most engaging of Parkers post-Spenser contemporary protagonistsEverett Hitch and Virgil Cole from the authors two recent westerns are equally appealing. This is a solid, though lightly plotted mystery, but the dialogue is spot on, and the professional chemistry between Stone and his small force is its own reason to read the series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)