Book Review by Patrick H. Moore
March 1, 2022
I just finished Colorblind by Reed Farrel Coleman. It is the fifth entry in Mr. Coleman’s Robert C. Parker Jesse Stone series and I enjoyed it considerably. I had never read Mr. Coleman before and had no idea what to expect.
As the story begins, Jesse Stone is Chief of Police in the Boston bedroom community of Paradise. Jesse is in some ways a typical white male mystery/thriller protagonist. He keeps his emotions to himself and has never been in a successful long-term relationship with a female. He was apparently engaged to the woman of his dreams, Diana, shortly before Colorblind begins, but she was murdered. Jesse has had chronic problems “with the bottle” and as the story begins, he has just returned to work after spending two months in an alcohol rehab program.
The plot of Colorblind is not overly complex. A group of white supremacists called The Saviours of Society, led by a religious nutjob named Vandercamp, has infiltrated Paradise and has begun to systematically assault and/or terrify the black and brown-skinned female residents of the community. This is where we discover a most appealing side to Chief Jesse Stone’s nature. Despite his checkered past and tendency to suppress his own emotions, Chief Stone appears to be very comfortable with the changing demographics of America and is more than willing to not only accept black and brown people into Paradise; he has even added a black female police officer named Alisha to his small roster of dedicated officers. Although it is never fully explained, Jesse had to apparently overcome considerable resistance from City Hall in order to hire Alisha.
Another interesting and appealing side to Jesse’s nature is the fact that while serving as Chief of Police in Paradise, he has carefully trained his officers to NEVER brandish or fire their guns unless it is absolutely necessary. Jesse simply does not allow his officers to deviate from this policy. One can only imagine what a huge difference it would make for police work in general here in the United States if ALL police officers and deputy sheriffs in ALL communities were trained to NEVER brandish or fire their sidearms unless absolutely necessary. A sea-change of this magnitude could not fail to greatly improve police relations within their respective communities all across this nation.
Reading this story, I found myself wondering if the author, Reed Farrel Coleman, was sending a subtle, or perhaps not so subtle message, that police work in America, particularly with respect to gun policy, needs a thorough overhaul.
We do learn that Jesse Stone, despite all his good qualities, still possesses a dark side that could easily place him in danger of losing his badge and/or even going to prison. Being fresh out of rehab, Jesse begins attending AA meetings in Boston. There, he is attracted to a woman named Anya. After an AA meeting one night, he interrupts a rape in progress. It seems that an AA member is in the process of forcing himself on Anya in a parked car outside of the AA meeting. Jesse naturally breaks up the attempted rape and liberates Anya from the clutches of the would-be rapist. For her part, Anya makes it very clear that she does not want to press charges.
In response, Jesse takes the law into his own hands. He basically kicks the shit out of the wannabe rapist and, if memory serves, knees him twice in the balls. I found this to be disturbing. To me it suggests that Chief Jesse Stone’s suppressed demons are very dangerous indeed. By rights, based on him assaulting and injuring the rapist, Jesse should serve at least a year in jail and possibly more.
Oddly, the narrative flow of this story completely passes over this incident, almost like it didn’t happen. ‘Passing strange, if you ask me.
There is a subplot to the story that serves to undercut this image of violent, uncontrollable Jesse Stone taking the law into his own hands. Early on in the story, Jesse rubs elbows with a young, sullen vagrant who has just arrived in town. The young man is not without a certain charisma. Rather than locking the kid up or running him out of town, big-hearted Jesse finds him a job and a place to live.
At this juncture, rather than including any “spoilers”, I wish merely to provide my overall impression of this book. It is a fast-paced (in a relaxed sort of way) well-written, crime story in which the good guys (led by Chief Stone) lock horns with the bad guys (the white supremacists). The writing is solid but unspectacular and I did not find the other police officers, with the exception of Chief Jesse, to be terribly interesting. The leader of the bad guys, a portly religious nutjob named Vandercamp is quite an intriguing character who does not hesitate to sacrifice his own sons for the “good” of his execrable cause (suppressing people of color). One of the best parts of the story is the manner in which Jesse attempts to help Old Man Vandercamp’s alcoholic son James Earl escape from his father’s grisly clutches. It dawns on me that an entire novel could be written centered on the Vandercamp clan. As is so often the case in literature and, alas, our world in general, the bad guys are perhaps more interesting and entertaining than the good guys.
All in all, I heartily recommend Colorblind to any reader of crime fiction who enjoys a good uplifting story with some social relevance. It is a fast smooth read that left me wanting to read more of Reed Farrel Coleman’s Jesse Stone series.
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Reed Farrel Coleman’s COLORBLIND Is an Uplifting Crime Novel
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