Read Online Melancholy Baby Sunny Randall Robert B Parker 9780425204214 Books

Product details Series Sunny Randall (Book 4) Mass Market Paperback 304 pages Publisher G.P. Putnam's Sons (October 4, 2005) Language English ISBN-10 0425204219

Melancholy Baby Sunny Randall Robert B Parker 9780425204214 Books Reviews

• Since he had found a good thing, Parker could have gone on writing just Spenser books. However, he produced three more series the Sunny Randalls, the Jesse Stones, and the Virgil Cole/Everett Hitch westerns. Each one of these creates a slightly different narrator. Spenser is an heir of Archie Goodwin's sarcastic wit. Jesse Stone is less outgoing and viewed by an impersonal narrator. Everett Hitch views the Parker hero from the outside, allowing Parker to blur the line between macho hero and psychopath. Sunny Randall is Parker's stab at a strong female narrator. Randall is capable, intelligent, fun, but less macho (thankfully) than any of Parker's other heroes. She's not afraid to ask for help when she needs it (as does Spenser, but he never fully admits he needs help; he would press on with or without). Melancholy Baby is an interesting twist on the dysfunctional family at the heart of so many Parker stories. Sunny Randall's client is convinced that the people claiming to be her birth parents are lying. The client is, to say the least, an unreliable witness, but Sunny is convinced that something is wrong in that family. At least three people die before the truth comes out. The conclusion actually solves very little, in the sense that all is blue skies ahead. One finds the truth but takes no satisfaction in it. In the meantime, Sunny is forced to confront her own family issues.
• Robert B. Parker's 'middle' books should be required reading in high school. The novels he wrote in his early years are a little simplistic. The later year novels are somewhat repetitive and simple. The philosophy which Parker professed in his 'middle' twenty years of writing is a guide to how to live a strong, good and happy life. Parker does not preach; he tells fables with guidelines for real life. There are 'good' bad guys and 'bad' good guys and the tell between the two is an honest moral value. If people around the world adopted Parker's books as their bible the world would be a better place to live.
  Also, this book has a unique plot, outstanding characters, fast-paced story and thoughts to live by.
• I like the book for its pace . It moves from one scene to another with just enough detail and plot development. Its character development is tortuously stunned. Sunny seems to never move beyond her "I love him but I can't commit to him, so I will settle for those lovers that are easy to find." I have read four books in this series. She is the female version of Jessie Stone, who moves from one "sex pal" after another always he his hope in Jen's return. Is the book about Sunny's development as a detective, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a lover or a wife.? The progress in each of the aspects of her character's life is two steps forward and one back
• Robert Parker's Sunny Randall novels are all pretty similar, but I love 'em. I don't know if it's the Boston settings, or the feisty nature of the PI detective, but she always shows a human side, and the bad guys, or gals, get their just deserts. It's all about settling down for an evening of pleasant entertainment and a certain predictability that I am comfortable with. Sometimes she gets a little too wrapped up in the "shrink" aspects of the story, but then, who's perfect. I read them all, and will probably go back and revisit them when I need some comfortable story-telling to ease my mind.
• I have to admit I have not cared too much for Robert Parker's Sunny Randall novels because she seemed like a female version of Spenser. This offering is an exception and is the first of this series that I have enjoyed. Here Parker finally gives Sunny a personality and character of her own. I read a comment in a Washington Post Book Review of this novel that said Parker can tell you more about a character in a few sentences of dialogue than any other author. And that is certainly true here. This fast paced novel built on the clipped dialogue Parker is known for is masterful in characterization and storytelling.
  
  Two stories run through this novel. Sunny's ex-husband Richie gets married which throws her into a pique of melancholy (thus the title) because she loves her ex-husband, but she finds she can't be married to him or live with him. As a result she sees a shrink - none other than our own Susan Silverman of Spenser fame. At the same time Sunny is on a very odd case. An obviously dysfunctional 19 year old, Sarah Markham, hires Sunny to find out who her real parents are. The catch is - her current parents insist she is their natural child. As Sunny starts digging into the matter nefarious characters assault Sarah and threaten Sunny so she'll drop the case.
  
  Both story lines play themselves out side by side as we learn what really make Sunny tick. This is an excellent mystery novel as well as excellent in establishing Sunny as a character in her own right apart from the Spenser cannon that so many Parker fans will inevitably compare it to.
  
  Parker fans should certainly enjoy this novel.
• Sunny Randall goes for the underdog again. Not a bad thing but she doesn't get paid enough for this crap. Anyway Sunny is hired to learn the real past of a very troubled young woman. Her parents are not forth coming in the most simple information. After she hires Sunny she's attacked and told to let it drop. Sunny is also confronted about letting the matter drop, with a much different outcome. Now Sunny is going to uncover what's going on, no matter what. A few twists and turns but you figure out who the bad guys are pretty quick. They should make a movie about Sunny Randall the way they did about Jessie Stone.