Comeback

Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Example of Pulp-noir Professionalism
Review: "When the angel opened the door," reads the first line of this novel, "Parker stepped first past the threshold into the darkness...." It's a wonderful beginning, plunging us into the fast-paced and dangerous underworld of "mechanics": professional criminals whose honor extends only as far as it's useful.

The set-up is simple: four crooks team up to rob a televangelist whose travelling crusade is playing the stadium of a small midwestern city. With the help of an inside man, the job's a cinch, and it nearly goes off without a hitch, netting these mechanics over $400,000 in small, unmarked bills. But as soon as this criminal team makes its ingenious getaway, the betrayals begin.

Donald E. Westlake, a prolific writer, is best known for his comic caper novels featuring Dortmunder, the ever-beset thief whose plans always go awry. But Comeback is written under an old nom-de-plume, Richard Stark, and its hero is Parker, a gunmetal-cold operator whose pragmatism doesn't flinch from murder.

As the crooks maneuver to see who can get away both alive and flush with loot, the police circle ever closer to nabbing them. And the plot thickens when some hapless punks decide to elbow in on the score while the televangelist's own ex-military "security chief" begins to follow some leads of his own. Throw in a definitely on-edge detective and a libidinous and buxom choir-leader, and you've got one hell of a hard-boiled stew. And just when you think Parker's soup is cooked, the pot is tipped and our hero is spilled into the fire.

But Parker is no shrinking violet. At one point in the novel, as he is surrounded and unarmed, a character even says to him, "By God, you're sure of yourself." Parker's response is non-verbal but refreshingly direct. In an age where the flawed and self-doubting hero has become such a cliche, it's a kick to follow the exploits of a man whose only reservations regard his chances of survival, not his motives.

Westlake (or Stark, if you prefer) has constructed a taut and entertaining piece of pulp that manages to utilize the conventions of crime fiction without becoming wholly conventional. And the setting for the book's climactic confrontation between Parker and his nemesis is, literally, a cliffhanger.

True, it ain't Joyce or Faulkner, but, on its own pulpy terms, Comeback is just as masterful. And we all need a little roughage in our diets.

Rating:
Summary: Rob Peter to Pay Parker
Review: After a very long hiatus, arch criminal Parker is back. This time he is involoved in the robbery of a Jim Baker-like tele evangelist's revival. After he steals the money, one of his partners tries to double cross him and steal the money from Parker, but he fails. Now Parker must find and nutralize the traitor, find his other partners who are lost, and avoid the law and the evangelist's head of security. Like all the other Parker books, "Comeback" is fast paced, action packed and contains ingenious capers I myself wouldn't stake my life on. But in Richard Stark's world, the cops aren't that bright, most of the crooks aren't either, and Parker is nearly omnipitant. It is still a lot of fun to read, and for some reason, these robbery thrillers never get old.

Rating:
Summary: Rob Peter to Pay Parker
Review: After a very long hiatus, arch criminal Parker is back. This time he is involoved in the robbery of a Jim Baker-like tele evangelist's revival. After he steals the money, one of his partners tries to double cross him and steal the money from Parker, but he fails. Now Parker must find and nutralize the traitor, find his other partners who are lost, and avoid the law and the evangelist's head of security. Like all the other Parker books, "Comeback" is fast paced, action packed and contains ingenious capers I myself wouldn't stake my life on. But in Richard Stark's world, the cops aren't that bright, most of the crooks aren't either, and Parker is nearly omnipitant. It is still a lot of fun to read, and for some reason, these robbery thrillers never get old.

Rating:
Summary: Parker: A Bad Guy Who's a Helluva Good Read
Review: Hey Parker, long time no see. Damn good to hear from you again. I know you have no use for this friendly banter so I'll shut up. But really man, hope you stick around plenty.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Parker - Stark/Westlake, But.....
Review: I enjoyed the story, have been reading Westlake since I was a kid and read The Spy in the Ointment. The Parker books by Stark were (are) more edgy and well written, good solid stories. Other reviewers here have done a much better job than I can discussing the merits of the story and the characters, etc.

I found Comeback to be a bit disappointing, however - it was too easy a read. Amazon so helpfully shows the books dimensions (slightly larger than your typical paperback) and it's page count (304), but when it arrived and I opened it, I was dismayed to see that the book had huge margins and very generous line spacing - I had to doubletake and be sure I had not ordered the "large print" version!

Overall, a good story, there just wasn't quite as much of it as I had expected.

Rating:
Summary: Criminal adventure, intricate heists, fun read.
Review: Parker is a heister, a man who plans and carries out major thefts with the help of other heisters, chosen for the job at hand. He is unabashedly a crook. The stakes are real -- if you are hurt on a job, you will likely be killed by your partners who want to ensure their safety.

In this book, Parker is ripping off a televangelist, at a stadium prayer revival. Things start going wrong after his team gets the money. The story is gripping, and a fast read. The author stays true to the characters and situation.

There is an entire genre of fiction -- Block's hitman series, Max Allan Collins' Quarry novels, and these fine novels about Parker -- that involve criminal men acting within their criminal impulses in adventurous situations. For some reason I am drawn to these stories -- they offer no moral redemption, but have a hard boiled honesty about the human condition. And they are fun to read. probably because your average white bread suburbanite loves to imagine a transgressive life of adventurous crime.

Rating:
Summary: kick a** numero uno
Review: Parker is the real thing.If u r tired of the make believe heroes of the late 80's and the 90's,take a trip to memory lane,25 to 30 years ago.Check out Stark's novels and go home happy.The characters are real,everyday people,there is no good and evil.It's in the eye of the beholder,not beautified or politically correct.Hail to Parker.Enough said.