Night Passage

By: Robert B. Parker

Narrated by: Richard Masur

After a busted marriage kicks his drinking problem into overdrive and the LAPD unceremoniously dumps him, 35-year-old Jesse Stone's future looks bleak. So he's shocked when a small Massachusetts town called Paradise recruits him as police chief. He can't help wondering if this job is a genuine chance to start over, the kind of offer he can't refuse.

Once on board, Jesse doesn't have to look for trouble in Paradise: it comes to him. For what is on the surface a quiet New England community quickly proves to be a crucible of political and moral corruption - replete with triple homicide, tight Boston mob ties, flamboyantly errant spouses, maddened militiamen, and a psychopath-about-town who has fixed his violent sights on the new lawman. Against all this, Jesse stands utterly alone, with no one to trust; even he and the woman he's seeing are like ships that pass in the night. He finds he must test his mettle and powers of command to emerge a local hero - or the deadest of dupes.

Critic reviews

Praise for Night Passage

“Parker’s sentences flow with as much wit, grace and assurance as ever, and Stone is a complex and consistently interesting new protagonist.”—Newsday

“Parker has always been a master of razor-sharp and witty dialogue, hard-driving suspense and memorable characterization. His Jesse Stone series promises to match if not excel the Spenser novels. Night Passage is a stunning debut.”—Houston Chronicle

“Vintage Parker.”—The Denver Post

“A page-turner...the protagonist is a believable, full-blooded man of Hemingwayesque dimensions. Full of action, spiced with fast-moving introspection.”—Forbes

“A winner.”—The Boston Globe

“You can always rely on Parker for some great talk and great scenes.”—Kirkus Reviews

More Praise for Robert B. Parker

“If weight is to be given to prolific output as well as to literary excellence, it would be no stretch to claim that America’s greatest mystery writer is Robert B. Parker.”—The New York Sun

Vintage Parker

As always, Robert B. Parker manages to combine self-analysis, social commentary, macho heroics, and sly humor into a great mystery story. I'm not sure what the audio equivalent of a "page turner" is, but I thoroughly enjoyed each chapter and eagerly moved on to the next. Jesse Stone is not quite as funny as Spenser(my all time favorite mystery hero), but he is a complex and interesting character. Night Passage is well worth the listening time.

Good story poor quality audio

Great story. Enjoyed the story line. Similar to the Tom selleck series but with more detail and story lines. Poor quality audio however. Audible please update to a better experience.

Bad Audio

The story was great but the quality of the audio was so bad that it was hard to hear a lot of the words. Also, the narrator didn't have much change of voice between characters. Hope the next book is better.

The characters were so interesting.

I liked the suspense and character
depth. The story kept you on the edge and I wanted Jessie to find his way.

Well written and performed

Liked: the writing was excellent, and without the common foul language that so many authors of this genre seem to think is necessary. I’m not saying there was no bad language, but it was used sparingly, which made it tolerable for me. It was a good story line. I loved that Jesse and ex-wife still loved each other and seemed to want to get back together. I loved that Jesse was a strong man who stood up for moral principles, in spite of his own weaknesses. It made morality seem within reach of many weak humans. Disliked: really the only complaint is that there seemed to be so much sex going on with just about everyone in town. Granted, that is one of the things that drove the story, but sometimes the descriptions got to be a little too much for me.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The narrator, Richard Masur, was great. He is half of what kept me listening. Very very good! I chose this book because I loved the Jesse Stone series played by Tom Selleck. I wish there could have been more of those films.