Night and Day

By: Robert B. Parker

Narrated by: James Naughton

Police chief Jesse Stone has received his share of unusual calls, but none can top the one from the local junior high school. When reports of lewd conduct by the school’s principal, Betsy Ingersoll, filter into the station, Jesse is faced with a particularly delicate situation. Jesse, of course, would like nothing more than to see the prim, peculiar Ingersoll punished. But Betsy Ingersoll is married to the managing partner of the biggest law firm in the state, and Jay Ingersoll wants the matter buried. And he is used to getting what he wants.

At the same time, the women of Paradise are being threatened by a tormented voyeur, dubbed “The Night Hawk,” who’s been scouring suburban neighborhoods as evening falls. Initially he’s content to simply peer through windows, but as pressure builds, he becomes more reckless, entering homes, forcing his victims to strip at gunpoint, then photographing them at their most vulnerable. And according to the notes he’s sending, he’s not satisfied to stop there. It’s up to Jesse to catch the Night Hawk, before it’s too late.©2009 Robert B Parker; (P)2009 Random House

formulaic and reliable

The performance is spectacular. Once again Parker delivers as you would expect he would.
The characters and their interpersonal relationships are the absolute reason I Keepcominback for more

Great characters

What did you love best about Night and Day?

I am a fan of the made for TV movies starring Tom Selleck. I've seen three of them. As I listen to these books I see the characters from the movies.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

No spoiling here

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

He does a little New England accenting of the spoken lines

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, but very enjoyable

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended

SO GOOD! I COULDN'T STOP TIL THE END!

Wow....so good. All the Jesse Stone novels are really good-- the characters are well-developed , the plots hold together and the dialogue is so believable you feel like you are sitting next to them.

Parker’s at the top of his craft!

I’m not gonna review the story... it’s really good. I’m rebutting the previous reviews that object to the “he said-she said” dialogue. I’m an editor & writer, so I recognize a STYLE of writing, which this is. The staccato, machine gun-like delivery is not just punctuation: it adds tension exactly when it’s needed in the narrative. Mickey Spillane’s novels used the same style element and it earned him a pretty big audience, too.

Good story, classic Robert Parker

What did you like best about Night and Day? What did you like least?

Liked the story, liked the reader. For audio format, should consider omitting the "he said", "she said" tags. In the written format, they are indicators of who is talking. In the audio format, this goal could be achieved by voice inflection of the reader, with less distraction from the story.