ROBERT B. PARKER'S PAYBACK

5 stars out of 5

I've said this before more than once, but of the late Robert B. Parker's three primary characters - Spenser, Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall - my least favorite was Sunny. But then Mike Lupica happened - and the Sun has risen a notch. By the time I was a quarter of the way through this one, my instinct told me it was destined for a 5-star rating.

And my instinct was spot-on. This is one of Sunny/Mike's best yet, despite my dislike that the private detective still has her eye on the aforementioned Jesse, chief of police in Paradise, Massachusetts. In fact, the on-again, off-again relationship is pretty much full-on here (grump, grump), but that means I get to read about him as well so guess I can't complain much. Many of the other usual suspects are here as well - including Sunny's ex-husband Richie, Dr. Susan Silverman (Sunny's therapist and, I believe unbeknownst to Sunny, Spenser's main squeeze), and some of the cops and robbers who tend to cross over in all of Parker's series.

But clearly, Sunny is the star of the show here. Her office in Boston is brand new, and the COVID-19 pandemic is history (as an aside, I've noticed a couple of other authors bypassing the pandemic with story settings before and after. A way to allow greater freedom for character interaction, perhaps? Inquiring minds would love to know). Anyway, Sunny's good friend, Spike, is upset because he lost his bar in a loan shark scam - and Sunny vows to help Spike get even (well, at least get the bar back). Problem is, the guy she wants to take down is powerful, rich, and just may have a legally ironclad "deal" for the bar. Meantime, Sunny's cop friend Lee Farrell tells her his niece Emily, a college student, has been assaulted. But the young woman is less than forthcoming, shall we say, making Sunny wonder what the kid's really up to. 

As the chapters move farther from the beginning, the two cases move closer together. Sunny knows there's a connection of some kind, but determining exactly what that is becomes a real challenge as some rather nasty people start challenging her right to stick her nose into their business. In the end, with a little help from a couple of friends including Jesse, everything begins to fall into place. The trick, though, may be for Sunny to keep from falling dead before everything comes together.

In short, this is another super series entry for sure - many thanks once again to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with a pre-release copy to read and review.

Robert B. Parker's Payback by Mike Lupica (G. P. Putnam's Sons, May 2021); 352 pp.