I read an ARC of Robert B. Parker’s RESOLUTION and I really
enjoyed it….but less so than APPALOOSA, which is the best Parker book since DOUBLE PLAY. Parker’s books are so short
and so similar, and feel so much like contemporary westerns anyway (particularly the Spenser novel POTSHOT and all the Jesse Stones), that I felt like I’d read it before. Actually, RESOLUTION feels more like a sequel to STRANGER IN PARADISE, the latest Jesse Stone, than it does to APPALOOSA. Lawman-for-hire Virgil
Cole is essentially Jesse Stone, right down to the philandering
wife/girlfriend he can’t let go of, but somehow it plays a lot better in the wild west than it does in present-day Massachusetts. The book, which comes out in June, left the door wide open for a sequel and I’m looking forward to it.
I’m glad you recommend RESOLUTION. I wasn’t sure APPALOOSA needed a sequel. With Parker’s current output of three books a year, I tend to think he only puts his heart into one of the three. The trick is identifying which one.