Family Honor

A Sunny Randall Novel

By: Robert B. Parker

Narrated by: Andrea Thompson

Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

With both the classic Spenser series and the more recent Jesse Stone novels, Robert B. Parker's spare prose and tight storytelling have earned him critical praise and popular success. In Family Honor, he creates an entirely new character - young, smart, and for the first time, female. Her name is Sunny Randall, a former cop turned Boston P.I.

Hired by a wealthy family to locate their teenage daughter, Sunny soon finds herself the bodyguard for a difficult teenager who refuses to return to her family. But before long, Sunny is facing greater problems than she ever imagined - including a criminal conspiracy that reaches to the top of the state government.

©2000 Robert B. Parker (P)2009 Phoenix

Critic Reviews

"A bravura performance, this novel launches what promises to be a series for the ages." ( Publishers Weekly)

Good detective yarn

Would you consider the audio edition of Family Honor to be better than the print version?

What a silly question.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Family Honor?

The thing that makes the story interesting is the relationship between the protagonist, Sunny, and her charge, the young Millicent. They form an interesting pair.

What does Andrea Thompson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She has a wonderful, adaptable voice, with enough bass to bring life to male characters, as well as female. She was able to create several distinct vocal choices for her characters. Her reading was insightful in most parts. There were only a few moments where I felt she missed the proper emphasis in delivering a line, and there were plenty where I smiled at the choice she made in emphasizing the dialogue between characters. It is, after all, the dialogue where this story shines, and the reader, Ms. Thompson, does a good job of bringing that to life. Thompson gets better as she warms up to the story. The last two thirds of the book is where she really shines.

The beginning of the novel must have had some sort of prologue because there is a male reader who I really did not like and have no idea what or why he was involved in the project. He sounded like he was trying to narrate a porno. The musical introduction was really annoying, too, and obscured the first few lines of the reading. Thank goodness it only appears twice!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Underestimate her...at your peril.

Any additional comments?

The whole experience was great, and I was very sorry to see that book 2 in the Sunny Randall series is not offered on Audible!

Good story

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The story is gripping and is well narated.

Horrible Narrator

I read this book several years ago and vaguely remember the plot and the outcome. To me this has always been the Parker series that I liked the least. Once again in a Parker novel the word 'love' is beaten to death; I have never cared for the theme of "When a Man Loves a Woman" that is evidently something of an obsession with Parker. Then there is all the Freudian imagery that always accompanies the works of the author; themes that have for the most part been dismissed by the mental health profession. I've long since gotten past these factors and have read or listened to almost all of the author's works. I could not however, get past the narrator. I've enjoyed the audio books narrated by Kate Burton but Andrea Thompson the reader that did this selection was distasteful enough to listen that I gave up very quickly; maybe it's only me, and that I've become used to hearing Burton do the books in the Sunny Randall series but this one is a definite return for me. Listen to the sample before you purchase this one.

If this book was a meal...

It would be a peanut butter sandwich.

Nothing wrong with a peanut butter sanwich, unless you were hoping for a steak.

Couldn't finish it

The foul language was unnecessary. I could not finish the book. The story was good but...

Family Honor

This is my first Sonny Randall story. Her character is well developed. As the story unfolds. The narrator helps the story as does the character development of other players. The story is a good one that maintains the reader’s engagement. I’ll read another Sonny Randall tale.

Poor writing skills

Foul language ruined the story. I see no reason forth excessive use of vulgar language.

I wish she had continued to narrate

This was a typically great Parker book. However, I wish he had kept this narrator

I. Enjoyed the reading of the book

The person reading this book has a beautiful voice and is very expressive the story was interesting but the way she read it was what really sold it for me I enjoyed this book I like some of Robert B Parker’s but this one I enjoyed more

Audiobook

The reader moved at just the right pace , it was easy to keep the characters apart. Hi