Robert B. Parker's 6th Jesse Stone Novel

High Profile by Robert B. Parker

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


High Profile is the 6th novel in Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series. As in all the previous books, Jesse deals with crimes, attempts to find the murderer, while dealing with love, infidelity and his twin obsessions: Booze and Jenn (his ex-wife). The ending is bittersweet. On the one hand, Jesse shoots the killer but is unable to indict the mastermind behind it all. On the other, he lets go of his girlfriend Sunny Randall while keeping his unfaithful, lying ex-wife.
The mystery plot is about finding who killed a wealthy radio celebrity and his pregnant assistant. Parallel to the case, his ex-wife Jenn asks his help claiming she had been raped. Jesse then asks his current girlfriend, a private detective, Sunny Randall to protect Jenn. It really sounds complicated, but Parker uses these twists to score points about manhood and marital relationships. Jesse is very similar to young Spenser: Drinkers and lovers. Their reasoning and quick wit are similar, except Spenser is a talker and extrovert, while Jesse is quiet and introverted.
I certainly enjoyed reading the book, and definitely recommend it to all Parker's fans, but I lost some respect for Jesse. There are very few hard but good people in the world that would constantly forgive infidelity and lying from a loved one. There is always: No more! Jesse takes it all from his ex-wife, unwilling to let go, showing the kind of weakness an intelligent, tough but sensible person, would not show all of the time, some of the time perhaps, but not all of the time.



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