- Title: Night Passage
- wiki: link
Stone Sunday takes us north to the sleepy town of Paradise, Massachusetts and the introduction of Jesse Stone. More stoic, and far less of a smart-ass, than Spenser, talented but also deeply flawed, Stone offered Parker a new character to develop. It’s notable that we meet Jesse while drunk, attempting to sober up before beginning the drive from Los Angeles (where he was fired for drinking on the job) to the small northeastern city of Paradise. Drunk when he applied for the job, the first 50 pages or so of Night Passage involve Jesse’s drive across country thinking over his life, leaving his former job as a Homicide Detective, and his ex-wife, on one coast and begin a new life on the other.
Mixed in to these early chapters are glimpses of some of important characters in Paradise who Jesse will interact with including professional thug Jo Jo Genest (who Jesse promptly kicks in the crotch), town head honcho and leader of the local militia Hasty Hathaway (who hired Jesse wanting a drunk who could be manipulated), and the members of the local police department (including a cop responsible for the murder of the last police chief).
Choosing to begin the new series by including Gino Fish and Vinnie Morris, over the nine original novels (and those written by other authors after Parker’s death) allowed for a shared universe which eventually would even bring Spenser and Stone face-to-face. It’s notable that the recurring character of Healy makes his first appearance in Paradise as well, and we see the beginnings of their friendship.
Much of the novel is focused on Jesse, his conflicted feelings about his ex-wife Jenn (who he still loves despite her betrayals), and struggling to figure out why anyone would have hired him for the job. While attempting romance with a local attorney, Jesse’s heart is obviously thousands of miles away, and in another man’s bed, leading, in part, to his heavy drinking. He’s also got to deal with various taunts towards the department which he knows, but can’t prove, came from Genest.
Eventually the various pieces of the novel coalesce with Jesse getting the upper hand thanks in no small part to the idiocy of JoJo (who also loses Hasty’s money in a gun deal gone bad with Gino and exposes his affair with Hasty’s wife) allowing Jesse to expose the truth, deescalate a dangerous situation involving the bigoted militia, solve three murders, and prove to himself and his doubters wrong. There is definitely a new sheriff in town. Nine Jesse Stone TV movies starring Tom Selleck were created as well including Jesse Stone: Night Passage.