Shrink Rap

Sunny Randall #3

by Robert B. Parker

Melanie Joan Hall is a bestselling author in a bind. Her publisher needs her to tour on behalf of her newest blockbuster, and Melanie Joan needs a bodyguard-cum-escort to protect her from an overbearing ex-husband whose presence unnerves her to the point of hysteria. Sunny's cool demeanor, cop background, and P.I. smarts are an instant balm for the older woman. She begins to sense that Melanie Joan's ex—a psychotherapist—is not your basic stalker, and when an incident at a book signing leaves the ex bloodied and the author unconscious, it's clear the stakes are high. Deciding that the only way to crack the case is from the inside, Sunny enters therapy herself, only to discover some disturbing truths about herself...while putting her life on the line.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Detective, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Audiobook

289 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database named Robert B. Parker.
Robert Brown Parker was an American writer, primarily of fiction within the mystery/detective genre. His most famous works were the 40 novels written about the fictional private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the mid-1980s; a series of TV movies was also produced based on the character. His works incorporate encyclopedic knowledge of the Boston metropolitan area. The Spenser novels have been cited as reviving and changing the detective genre by critics and bestselling authors including Robert Crais, Harlan Coben, and Dennis Lehane.
Parker also wrote nine novels featuring the fictional character Jesse Stone, a Los Angeles police officer who moves to a small New England town; six novels with the fictional character Sunny Randall, a female private investigator; and four Westerns starring the duo Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. The first was Appaloosa, made into a film starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen.

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

A 330 page mystery that does not contain any real action until page 240 fails to meet even my lowest expectations. My love of Parker's style, wit, and creative intellect remains unblemished; however, 'Shrink Rap' became tiresome. Sunny Randall's character falls short of Spenser - obviously - and certainly Jesse Stone. Perhaps the problem revolves around a male author attempting to provide the insight and emotions of a female character. The slow plot, cliche psychiatric dialogue, and confusing character development shot this one down to a '2.' Admittedly, the final 50 pages kept my interest. If your reading addictions lend themselves to Parker novels, you will get through 'Shrink Rap' unscathed. Otherwise, avoid it!

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Spenser. I love Jesse Stone. I want, so badly, to love Sunny Randall. And yet, I can't help seeing her as Spenser and Jesse's spunky, cute, but still basically inferior little sister.

Parker is a genius at the spare language and vital silences of men's dialog, be it a Western-style showdown or noir naval-gazing. But Sunny seems to fall flat.

I re-read this one in anticipation of getting the new Jesse Stone out of the library and thought, yup, I still don't like Sunny. So I went and re-read Cold Service and wow, it's miles better.

[Scott A. Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best of the three Randall books so far. Interesting mystery and resolution. Sunny and her ex are screwed up, but not as bad as Stone and his ex. Also, gotta love someone who feels about her dog the way Sunny does. This series really makes you think about psychiatry. Not necessarily in a good way.

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my opinion, the Sunny Randall stories were something of a stretch for Robert B. Parker. The detective, former police officer and daughter of a police officer, can be both formidable and vulnerable, logical and confused, or careful and careless, depending on the beat in a given novel. She is both in love with her ex-husband and willing to seek physical comfort and excitement elsewhere. She is promiscuous (perhaps, Parker’s fantasy vision of a woman to match his male protagonists) but devoted to her dog and, believe it or not, her “Ex.”

Sunny seems conflicted between her inability to commit (in addition to her “ex-husband,” she has grief concerning another “ex-,” a lover, who has moved on after she left him. It seems like she cannot hang on or let go in any relationship. Indeed, it sounds like she needs therapy. And that’s the interesting portion of Shrink Rap. Sunny is hired by a best-selling author to guard her from her stalking, “therapist,” ex-husband. The stalker is a psychiatrist and his patient list is predominantly formed from well-off women.

To get to the bottom of the story, which today might be considered almost “me, too” in the light of the #metoo” revelations, Sunny adopts her real first name along with her former married name and visits the psychiatrist as a brunette instead of her usual blonde coiffure. As suspected, something untoward and unethical is going on, but she can’t figure out a way to prove it—even after two patients of the doctor die of mysterious drug overdoses. Sunny believes these are murders, but finds it difficult to get law enforcement interested. Hence, the build-up to the climax where Sunny plays a female Isaac to the shrink’s cold, uncaring Abraham on his couch, as opposed to an altar.

Shrink Rap was interesting enough for me to read it in one day, but I found myself profoundly dissatisfied with Sunny’s inability to make up her mind as to what she really wants. At the end of the day, one feels she has made a couple steps forward, but she never does so without taking at least one step back.

[Marty · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read and better story than "Perish Twice". Sunny needs some new and different conflicts in her life. For three books now she's been unresolved about her ex-husband, shacking up with an attractive man she meets during the story and calling on her husband and/or his gangster family to help her resolve the case at the end. As she repeats a lot, she needs to do it herself.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good plot a good set of characters. I enjoyed this audiobook over the past week. It made the time pass while I was working in the garden and mowing the yard. Sunny Randall is a smooth character and enjoyable to follow along in her job as PI. The bond between Richie and Sunny is strong and provides tension and I was constantly wondering "will they get back together"? I guess that's the point. I am not a big fan of "shrinks" but this book shows the good and bad sides of the profession.

[Karen ReadsALot · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quickie

[Carole Hardinge · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very negative subject matter and the resolution didn’t satisfy me. Also there was none of the amusing banter between characters that I’ve come to expect from Parker.

[Rajesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than the two previous books with Sunny finally doing it all on her own (well almost) without calling for help. But this sort of help is justifiable. Even Spenser has Hawk!

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still trying to prove her worth as a private investigator, Sunny is hired by Melanie Joan Hall, an author of “bodice rippers” to provide protection during her most recent book tour. Melanie Joan is being stalked by her ex-husband and she’s not willing to involve the police. She does have a restraining order on John Melville, but he’s smart, running a psychological game on her and staying just out of the chargeable area. Said ex is a psychiatrist by trade, in fact that’s how Melanie Joan met him and married him. The damage done to her psyche during the marriage seems irreparable but he’s not figured in the irrepressible Sunny.

The very real presence of Sunny threatens John who follows up with death threats, frightening letters and a pretty creepy confrontation. Of course you know that Sunny is not without resources, namely her ex, Ritchie and her best friend Spike. John’s behavior is escalating into drugging, raping and murdering.

Using another psychiatrist as a resource, Sunny goes undercover as a patient of this disgusting therapist. She needs to keep it real in order not to get caught so in the process ends up confronting her own demons. As the bodies start to add up and the police continue not to connect the dots, Sunny is even more determined to catch John with his pants down, so to speak. In order to do that, she needs to put herself in serious danger.

Entertaining, dark, interesting book. I really enjoyed the personal interactions between the characters and thought it was realistic and informative.

[Chase Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a day of a two-hour flight, followed by a two-hour layover and then another hour long flight, I decided to finally do some reading again. I first discovered Robert B. Parker after becoming a fan of the Spenser for Hire TV show. I was quite saddened to learn of Parker's passing this past year. However, I continue to read his books and have never been disappointed by any of them. Parker has a unique style that is very hard to describe. He is a detective author at the core, but his writing style and pacing can not be so easily pigeon holed.

Shrink Rap is actually a Sunny Randall novel - one of the new characters he created in recent years as he expanded the Spenser world. Sunny is smart, tough, conflicted, in need of mental help at times, and utterly a delight to read. Like reading Spenser, reading a Sunny novel means becoming a bit more intimate with Boston, food and clothing while exploring the nasty side of humanity. The action starts slow as Parker paints a picture of the world and characters involved - not a complaint in the least - and yet the novel feels like it comes to a very rapid conclusion - also a trademark of Parker's writing style. I honestly can't rate one Parker novel over another. He consistently weaves an intricate and engaging tale. With Shrink Rap he does not disappoint.

[Marina Kahn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shrink Rap is a Sunny Randall novel not a Spencer novel, but somehow I could not really get into it. It seemed repetitive and tiresome, with a slow plot and it was hard to believe some of the story lines such as Sunny going undercover to investigate the stalking psychiatrist/husband whom she had previously met by putting on a wig when she goes to her first patient visit. Interesting take on the date rape drugs which are currently in the news and I certainly liked the dog Rosie. I will have to rate this a 2.5. Easy read.

[Richard Brand · Rating 1 out of 5]

I may have read one Sunny Randall and enjoyed it, but it got old very quickly. I got tired of the dog. I got tired of all the drama that was supposed to be between Sunny and Richie. I got tired of the shrink stuff. And I got very tired of all the sexual innuendoes and the frequency that she engaged in sex with such an easy approach.

This story was a real stretch, and I think it shows that Parker is working on too many novels.

[Daniel Humm · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm left wondering how many well-written paragraphs were in the word processor used as call-in for the series. Rosie chases tail, acts happy, looks like possum. Spike resembles quick bear. Character dressed in pressed jeans and loafers without socks, etc.

[Michael McCue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Private detective Sunny Randall is hired to protect an author on a book tour. The author has a stalker who is her ex-husband and a well regarded psychiatrist. Can Sunny keep the stalker away from the author, or better yet find a more permanent solution?

[Mommalibrarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mutually UNACCEPTABLE audio book heard on vacation trip with my husband.

[Marleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

If, like me, you enjoy the Sunny Randall character, you are in for another enjoyable and quick read.

[Steven Belanger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never been a huge fan of the Sunny Randall books, and I guess I kept buying Parker’s books, but not reading a few of these. I thought I would, maybe, but I dimly remember not liking these, and other things happened in life, and I’ve got a huge library here and the space to maybe have a lot of books by authors I like (I met Parker a few times and got a few Spensers autographed) that I might not read. I did that with Jonathon Kellerman hardcovers for a short time before giving up on him. His books got a little nasty and moralizing. So, anyway, I donated a lot of Parker’s books to Savers last week, but this one and Love and Glory (which was predictable and bad) fell out, and I needed something to read while I waited in the waiting room for my better half, so I started reading this one, thinking I already had, but it was better than nothing, because I’d forgotten the book I was reading at home.

And I started this one and didn’t remember reading it. And then I opened up Goodreads, thinking I’d seen I’d read it and reviewed it, but I hadn’t. So that’s a very long-winded way of saying not much.

Anyway, it’s compulsively readable, as I’ve said about Stephen King’s stuff (who Parker also name-drops here, as Steve King, as Parker himself would’ve, since they were friends. King once said Parker had no neck at all to speak of, which seems to’ve been true), which doesn’t make it a classic, but comfortable, like the old pair of slippers I’m wearing right now. That’s a good way to describe this book: comfortable and agreeable, if not exceptional.

The dialogue is as good as Parker’s usually is, including one of his faves: “We’d be fools not to,” which he used in practically every book he wrote, from Spenser to Sunny. Her sidekicks are all here, and they’re not going anywhere. That’s comfortable and annoying at the same time. You wonder what Sunny has done to’ve earned such intense loyalty, and you might be annoyed with her at the end, as she agreeably thinks she’ll sleep with someone who just used her, thereby toying with her own life that she’s just received a lot of therapy for, and with her ex’s life, although he’d just put his life on the line for her, and she agreed that she loved him and that he loved her. She’s so smart, but was she listening?

There’s no mystery here, and you ought to be wondering how the bad guy thought he could do what he was doing for too long without getting caught, and how in fact he could have done what he did to so many women, and none of them ever mentioned any of it to anyone. That’s dark narcissism, sure, but this could’ve gone in a more original direction. In the end, everything happens pretty much as you’d figured it would.

But that’s almost always been Parker’s appeal, right? Create a likable batch of characters who speak very good dialogue, and the crimes just kind of happen as they do, and the detection happens as it does, and there’s a theme of individualism and honor and some such, and that gets repeated in every book, and everyone has a healthy libido, and there’s lots of pleasant cynicism, and it’s all very comfortable. The early Spensers stood out, before Susan Silverman, because Parker hadn’t created and repeated this mold. His best ones—Crimson Joy, the second April Kyle book, and maybe the first one, and maybe the first and second Virgil Cole books—break this mold, or were written beforehand. Outside of the three I mentioned, once Susan Silverman became the one and only main squeeze, everything became comfortable slippers. And Spenser was of course always Parker’s best books.

And how much does that bother me? Well, I read this comfortable pair of slippers—all 350 pages—in one day, with driving and dinner and a few other things thrown in, so, not all that much, I guess.

[Bob Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first Sonny Randall book. She's a PI, the daughter of a policeman. The story concerns a therapist who is suspected of sexually abusing his female patients. There's a collection of supporting characters, including an ex-husband who is connected to organized crime, unusual for the daughter of a policeman, but useful as a plot device. The story takes a while to get started, there's a lot of window dressing as Parker sets the stage for the various characters, with particular attention to their appearances and life styles. There's particular attention paid to a dog, Sonny and her ex share custody of the dog, although why a gangster has any need for a small dog is unexplained. There's little action until the end, Sonny's investigating expertise seems to be waiting in a car watching one suspect until she can get enough leads to take to her friends at the police department. Overall, the story and the plot are good enough, there's an absence of any turns or twists you would find in most mystery stories.
I'm a fan of the Jesse Stone character and hoped to find an equivalent in Sonny Randall. There are some similarities in the characters, both are divorced with issues. Jesse has a dog, but doesn't share it. The story has a character named Melanie Joan. That name is repeated so many times, usually in the course of a conversations with other characters, it became irritating. I've listened to the audio book, I can still hear that name 24 hours later.
I've read enough of these stories to understand the formula: characters, plot and enough embelished information to create something unique. I think of it as cake and icing. You've got to have both, in the right proportions to create that special product. Parker certainly knows how it works, the Spenser and Stone characters are evidence of that. Sonny has a bit too much icing and not enough cake. This is only the third in the series, I'm hopeful following books in the series get better. One thing I did like was the absence of chapter announcements in the reading. Nothing breaks the story as someone saying "Chapter Ten" in the middle of a suspense moment of a story.
I'll read another one to see if they improve before I give up on the series, Parker is too good to quit after only one book.

[Leew49 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert B Parker's other Boston detective is Sunny Randall, a divorcee who shares a miniature bull terrier named Rosie and a strong emotional connection with her ex-husband Richie. Sunny doesn't understand their breakup, knows she hates losing him but can't live with him happily either. Part of the back story in the Randall novels is her gradual understanding of the relationship and how it stems from her early life, especially her relationship with her father.

In SHRINK RAP Sunny is hired to escort a female writer on a book tour. But the writer is being stalked by her ex-husband, a psychiatrist named John Melvin. And Sunny soon discovers that there is something even more dark and sinister than stalking involved. Her solution to the problem is both daring and risky, and she must compromise between her need to handle things herself and the possibility of being overmatched and outnumbered.

Parker dabbles in pharmacology in this novel, creating a fictitious drug called Xactil, which sounds very much like a benzodiazepine. The final showdown involves Sunny allowing herself to be injected with what is intended to be a date rape drug, but taking the precaution of swallowing an antidote shortly beforehand. The similarities to Versed (the Xactil) and flumazenil (the reversing agent) are pretty thinly disguised, and I'm not sure why Parker didn't simply use the real names. Legal issues? Or more likely some doubt about the effectiveness of pre-treating with a reversing agent...

Anyway, it was another entertaining entry in the series, with good dialogue and believable characters.

[Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should take care when going to a therapist, psychiatrist, psychotherapists or whatever they call themselves. Some believe they can get away with rap, murder and include their friends.

Page 206 . . . Richie drank some coffee.
"And the good shrink asked me about us, and I said we were a democracy, not a kingdom. And he asked me how that made me feel and I cried."
Richie looked at me over the half-raised coffee cup.
"That sounds suspiciously like therapy," Richie said.
"I know. He keeps doing that to me."
"Why did you cry?"
"I don't know." . . .

Page 207 . . ."What did you mean about it not being a kingdom," Richie said.
"I meant you weren't in charge," I said. "that we shared responsibility equally."
"And then you cried?"
"Yes."
"I assume you were crying because I wasn't in charge and we shared responsibility equally."
"That's ridiculoous. Why would I cry about that?" . . .

Page 266 . . . Then I said, "It's ten minutes to one in the afternoon, lady. Get fucking dressed," and closed the door and took Rosie to the car. By the time I got there the small part of me that wasn't enraged and jealous was embarrassed. . . .

Page 276 . . "There are no facts," I said, "that will help you."
"Impressions help," he said. "Suppositions help. Suspicions help. Sometimes when we have those we find the facts." . . .

[John Reis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sunny is hired by Melanie Joan Hall, a best-selling author, to act as her bodyguard as she goes on a book tour. She is terribly afraid of her ex-husband, John Melvin.

He follows them around from city to city and at one point cuts his wrists and smears blood on the window of a bookstore where Melanie is signing copies of her book.

Melanie goes to Hollywood to talk to some producers and Sunny tags along. They again run into her ex-husband. While there Sunny meets Melanie’s agent, Tony Gault, and sleeps with him.

Melvin is a psychotherapist and most of his clients are women.

Sunny talks to one of the patient’s clients who must’ve then reported it back to Melvin. The next morning she gets a visit from Melvin‘s attorney who threatens her life.

Sonny goes to talk to another woman who has been seeing Dr. Melvin and discovers that she died very recently, apparently from an overdose. Then one night, while she was walking Rosie, three hooded men attack her. She kicks one and bites the hand of another and falls to the ground. She is able to get her gun out and shoots wildly at them as the drug she was injected with begins to take affect.

She gets more details from Melanie Joan about what goes on in his special therapy sessions and plans a trap with the aid of Richie.

This was a good quick entertaining read.

[Judy Hankom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sunny Randall is a private investigator and lives in Boston. She has an ex-husband, Richie, whom she still loves. She has a gay friend, Spike, and she has her dog, Rosie.

In this episode, Sunny is asked to go on tour with a best-selling author, Melanie Joan Hall. The author has a block-buster book and the publisher wants to take advantage of all the success. She needs the escort service from Sunny as Melanie has an ex-husband who keeps stalking her.

Sunny finds out the ex-husband is a psychotherapist and knows all the ropes of stalking. Sunny decides to fight fire with fire. She consults with a psychiatrist herself to see if she can view the case in another way. The only thing is that she discovers some disturbing things about herself.

She puts herself on the line to protect the author. Rosie continues to charm her way through the story. And we continue to hear more about Richie and Spike.

Liked it!

[R.E. E. Derouin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shrink Rap by Robert B. Parker 1/14/2025 Paper

It’s been years since I’ve picked up a book by this author. I enjoyed scores of his earlier works, especially the Spencer series. In this story we are introduced to Sunny Randall, private Boston detective, who is hired to protect a successful woman author from her stalking psychiatrist ex-husband. Sunny soon encounters him and begins to monitor his activities and his patients. When she goes undercover to become a patient herself, logic took a back seat.

Other associates of Sunny are introduced briefly, but none are particularly interesting or well developed.

This was a short and quick read. While it was light on plot and common sense, it was reasonably entertaining. I doubt however, I’ll read more of this new character, nor recommend it to others.

[Bob Deysach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first of the Sunny Randall series that I have read. I appreciated the fact that Parker was able to alter the nature of the character of his protagonist and her relationships with those around her (vs. Spenser). The plot was a tad far-fetched which led to a lot of head-scratching on my part. Could I imagine Sunny putting on a wig and sunglasses and, in so doing, disguising herself and pulling off a sting of her therapist (who was described as a rather insightful clinician)? The ending was a little silly as well. But I have to accept the accuracy of my reputation of making 8 to 10 my actual range in rating everything (i.e., when trying to use a 1 to 10 scale of "like"). So I feel I'd rate the mystery to be definitely "half full."

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m rereading this series prior to giving the books to the library book sale. I couldn’t remember anything from this plot even though I know I read it years ago. I realized when I finished it’s because I really didn’t care for the book and especially how Parker portrayed the main character.

I love Parker’s writing and his Spenser series. But he isn’t that great at writing in a woman’s voice. In this particular series he turns Sunny into a mess of insecurities just so he can have her interact with therapists (a very familiar theme in this books). He didn’t need to do that and doesn’t with his male characters.

I found the plot interesting but the book itself was repetitive and irritating.

[Tony Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so well written.
I know, lame review. But it's true.
This book seemed to have more "romance" elements than the previous two Sunny Randall books, and I don't think the case in this one was as "thrilling" as the others. But I was in it. I was hooked.
I think it might be my favorite of the 3 I've read so far.
A short, not very detailed, "review". But an honest one. I really think this is worth a read. I'd say even if you haven't read the previous 2, give this a try. But you might as well go ahead and read the other 2 also. They're good. And some of the relationships will make more sense.

[Mark Edlund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mystery series - Sunny is asked to act as a bodyguard for an author who writes bodice rippers. It turns out her ex-husband is a real slime ball and has some very dirty secrets. The secondary characters in this series all help her out. I am back to reading these in order so Jesse Stone has yet to make an appearance.
Canadian reference - mention of a Leonard Cohen song playing in the background.
No pharmacy references.

[candace andrews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very slow

This book was very boring and slow. This was the third book in this series and honestly if Sunny doesn't get together with Richie soon I won't be reading the entire series. She is absolutely the most childish and ridiculous woman I have ever seen. She definitely needs counseling along with Richie if he doesn't dump her soon. Other than those two and her half brained sister and friend, Julie, there isn't much of a story.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of self discovery for Sunny in this one. Independence doesn't mean you can't ask for help, a lesson Sunny learns as she sorts out yet another damsel in distress. Sunny has an interesting assortment of men in her life that are always happy to aide and protect. With her street smarts, her professional past and witty personality she earns the trust and respect of those she meets or makes enemies of those that cross her.