Since the closing pages of Blind Spot, I've been waiting for the other shoe to fall victim to gravity. Jesse Stone has been, too. Well, after a more typical Stone novel, the wait is over -- Mr. Peepers, the sadistic hitman that almost killed Suitcase Simpson and evaded Jesse, is back.

Just in time for just in time for Jesse's ex, Jen's wedding.

Before I forget, isn't that a great move? Build suspense by ignoring the cliffhanger-esque ending for a whole book? In the wrong hands, that'd be annoying, but done right? Very effective.

Jesse and his lady-love, Diana (the FBI agent turned private security consultant) are off to Texas to meet Jen's fiance, maybe get a little closure, and covertly protect Jen from the special mix of psychological and physical torture that Peepers subjects his victims to before killing them. While Jesse seems to be several steps behind, Peepers seems to be calling all the shots -- he's got all the power and is making Jesse jump through whatever hoops he wants him to.

Meanwhile, changes are afoot with the Paradise Police Department, State Homicide and Suit's life (and a few other places) -- just so we don't all get too wrapped up in Pepper's quest for vengeance.

As he has in the previous two novels in this series, Coleman keeps things moving at a great pace, the suspense keeps getting ratcheted up -- interspersed by heartwarming, amusing, and troubling moments, so it's not suspense overkill. There are some great character moments -- especially with Diana and Jesse, Suit and a few people, Jesse and a bottle. There's no mystery here -- we all know who the villain of the piece is, the only question is how Peppers will attack and who will remain standing at the end of the book.

In his other major series, Parker introduced a paid assassin, The Gray Man, who almost killed Spenser and plagued him for a while afterwards. Mr. Peepers is far creepier, deadlier, and interesting than the Gray Man ever was. I really didn't like being in that dude's head as much as we were -- which means that Coleman succeeded in making him a terrible person -- I felt like washing my brain out with soap to get over some of the Peepers chapters.

Ace Atkins has returned Spenser to his roots (moved things forward, don't get me wrong, it's not just a nostalgia trip), but Coleman has taken Jesse and the rest and shaken things up -- he's stayed true to the characters, the series, the feel -- but he's pushed things ahead and has probably made more real changes to the series than Parker did since book 2 (but making things feel risky and inventive feels like the roots of this series). Actually, he's not just changed this series -- he's done things that affect the whole of the Parker-verse. Just look at Suit -- everything we need to know about what Coleman's doing to the series is embodied there. I know Coleman's take is not that popular with some long-time fans, but I couldn't be happier -- either with the series as it is right now, or with this book.

This was riveting, literally never a dull moment -- not relentless, you can relax occasionally, even grin. But I had to force myself to put it down to do the responsible adult thing a couple of times. I expect most fans of Jesse and the PPD folks will have similar experiences with Debt to Pay.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from G.P. Putnam's Sons via NetGalley in exchange for this post -- thanks to both for this.

I SPY A THRILLER

What? Just one? **looks at bookshelf** Hmm, we could be here a while.

I love a good espionage thriller, and had a couple (more like 20 - Ed.) of ideas for this category. So to try and narrow down my choices l did a trawl of the Internet to see if I could find a definitive list of the best spy novels.

This excellent list comes from Matthew Dunn, a former MI6 officer, and author of the espionage novel Spycatcher. And I have to say it's nearly a perfect match with the novels I had chosen. (I had The Ipcress File rather than Berlin Game, and Casino Royale over From Russia with Love, and I haven't read Night Heron).

And while a definitive list is probably impossible, I think Mr Dunn's choices are all fine examples of the genre. 

THE SECRET AGENT – Joseph Conrad 

Mr. Verloc is an anarchist, British police snitch, and spy whose Russian masters order him to bomb London. Is he the novel’s protagonist, antagonist, or something in between? Though the book was published in 1907 and set in 1886, it mines a key issue that plagues us today: how the insanity of terrorism cannot only destroy innocents but also destruct the perpetrators.

THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS – John Buchan
World War I is looming. Richard Hannay flees across the UK while being pursued by German spies who are related to something called The Thirty-Nine Steps. To clear his name and avert war, he must understand what that means. Decades later, CIA agent Jason Bourne might not have been inspired to go on the run and uncover the mystery of Treadstone were it not for Buchan’s exhilarating novel.

DARK STAR – Alan Furst
With World War II inevitable, journalist André Szara is hired by Russia’s spy service. Szara recruits a Berlin-based agent and also begins to fear that his star is rising at the cost of his humanity. Part of American author Furst’s Night Soldiers series, Dark Star can be read as a standalone novel. The best WWII wartime espionage novel ever written.

THE QUIET AMERICAN – Graham Greene
Set in 1950s Southeast Asia, Alden Pyle is the “quiet American” of the title. The revelation that he is a CIA agent is only the beginning of a descent into a sweaty Byzantine landscape of betrayals and ethical ambivalence. In Greene’s eyes, the CIA is not the swaggering, omnipotent beast seen in today’s literature. Instead, in its early years, it was frail, nervous, and out of its depth.

TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY – John le Carré
MI6 has a Russian mole, and retired MI6 controller George Smiley is asked to investigate. Having identified four MI6 suspects, Smiley moves through a labyrinth of secrecy, lies, and false impressions. With every step the wise spy takes, increasing sadness consumes him as he draws closer to a rot within the state he once served. A masterclass in espionage writing.

BERLIN GAME – Len Deighton
Bernard Sampson is an MI6 officer whose best East German agent wants to defect. But the agent is being sold out by an MI6 traitor. Though a similar premise to le Carré’s masterpiece, the two novels have different strengths. Le Carré’s book has a master spy protagonist who’s no longer an insider. Sampson is an insider but he’s jaded. The story is as much about him overcoming his weaknesses as it is about uncovering the truth.

THE BOURNE IDENTITY – Robert Ludlum
Found drifting in the Mediterranean Sea, Jason Bourne is suffering amnesia. To get answers, he heads to Switzerland and is attacked by men who work for a terrorist called Carlos. Bourne must find out the truth by hunting Carlos down himself. Along the way, Bourne remembers that he is a highly trained CIA assassin. Gripping and clever, this is American espionage with a visceral punch.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE – Ian Fleming
Bond is being targeted for assassination by SMERSH, a Soviet death squad. To entrap Bond, SMERSH deploys a beautiful Soviet clerk and a psychopathic executioner. For some spy writers, the Cold War was a slow-burning chess game. But for master storyteller Fleming, it was a bombastic cacophony of thrills.

THE DAY OF THE JACKAL – Frederick Forsyth
An English assassin called “The Jackal” is engaged by rebels to kill France’s President de Gaulle. In the 1960s, no premier had greater protection than de Gaulle, but The Jackal devises an audacious plan that culminates in his ability to put the premier in sniper-rifle sights. Forsyth was the first author to show how European spy agencies could cooperate when confronted with the knowledge that a deadly gunman was loose on their patch.

NIGHT HERON – Adam Brooke
A Chinese intellectual called Peanut was a former spy for the British. After twenty years in a harsh prison camp in western China, Peanut escapes and heads to Beijing in search of revenge against those who incarcerated him. What follows is a fraught game of cat and mouse with the Chinese and British spy agencies. Brooke’s outstanding debut is a brilliant example of contemporary espionage writing.

'The Quiet American' is dark, thoughtful, meticulously crafted, and full of suspense.

Thomas Fowler is a British war correspondent who has been in Vietnam for two years. Not being French or Vietnamese, he sees himself as disinterested and apart from the conflict. The novel begins with him waiting for Alden Pyle, an American aid worker who he arranged to meet. While waiting his former lover, Phuong, now with Pyle, arrives and has been waiting for Pyle as well.

With that opening Greene reveals a love triangle and much of the novel concerns itself with how it came to be and in explaining the complicated relationship between Fowler and Pyle. This novel isn't just about the love of a woman - or is it?

Fowler is a weary man, growing older and in retreat from the world and his wife back in Britain. He represses feeling of guilt and sadness and wishes to simply go through the motions his work covering a misguided and interminable war and let Vietnam do what Vietnam will do. Pyle, on the other hand, is vigorous and idealistic. He has ideas about the war and underlying motives for being involved. Fowler and Pyle would have had little to say to one another if they both didn't happen to want the same thing - Phuong.

Phuong has little to say on her own behalf. She's content with Fowler, but leaves without regret at the urging of her family when offered greater security from Pyle. She may represent Vietnam itself, or not. Fowler debates becoming involved with the conflict as he begins to understand what Pyle's real purpose in the country. How much is his decision affected by their relationship? The book works for me without the political meaning and the critical hindsight applied to the book in light of what happened in that country in the decades following 'The Quiet American's publication.

I will be reading more Greene.

Another excellent Jesse Stone written by Michael Brandman. Paradise is being overrun by a Los Angeles film company and Jesse witnesses an accident caused by a rich teenager who was texting and ran a stop sign. Leading off with the classic, "Do you know who I am?" arrogance, she's the daughter of a wealthy contributor to the DA's election campaign so the charges Jesse files don't stick very well, and he makes it his mission to make her life a bit miserable. (All in the guise of doing what’s best for the poor little troubled girl so misunderstood by her parents -- a theme I found beyond fanciful.)

A concurrent plot involves threats on the life of the film star by her estranged husband.  The plots are hardly novel; it’s the characters and their relationships that make them enjoyable.

I’ve listened to all of these post-Parker Jesse Stone novels and the reader is very good. They’re all pure fantasy, however, not to be confused in any way with real life.  But that’s OK.