Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsFleshing out Parker's characters
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2015
In "Robert B. Parker's Blind Spot", Reed Coleman put a soul into Jesse Stone. In Coleman's "Robert B. Parker's, the Devil Wins", he puts souls to Molly and Suit. He uncovers and reveals a Paradise, Ma a a real place that until now was barely more than a town with a waterfront until now. The books are no longer Michael Brandman's version that depend on Tom Selleck to characterize, but are rich in good, bad, and ugly characters. My opinion is that Brandman, who seems to do little more than write a screenplay and turn it into narrative form. It's not a bad way to write a book, but Brandman is more spare than Parker was, and I never quite "feel" the Jesse until Tom Selleck puts a face on him.. In this one, by Coleman, Paradise, Ma is a real place.. Jesse is a real hero, and Suit and Molly are true, but nonviolent, sidekicks each with something to bring to the delicious plate of crime fiction. Some want a parody of Robert B. Parker's style. I prefer the full characterization that Reed Farrel Coleman brings to it.
