Firebreak

Rating:
Summary: Stark Never Misses
Review: Did Richard Stark (Donald Westlake) start the convention of having his lead character only go by his last name? In any event, it fits Parker better than the sensitive Spenser. Parker is a kind of sociopath. He is totally immoral -- his decision whether to kill someone is based solely on whether it will benefit him or not -- if it will, he has no hesitation. As this book makes clear, he also is not a romantic version of a criminal who believes in honor among thieves -- when two crooks who worked with his present conspirators threaten to turn them in, he expresses no surprise that they may betray their friends to stay out of jail.

Firebreak is made more interesting by a character who is a kind of anti-Parker, Larry. Parker is totally controlled; even when he takes revenge, he does so carefully and cooly. Larry, on the other hand, is a crook out of control. Their interaction makes this somewhat different than the typical Parker novel. This is hardboiled fiction at its best.

Rating:
Summary: Parker is an entertaining sociopath:
Review: Did Richard Stark (Donald Westlake) start the convention of having his lead character only go by his last name? In any event, it fits Parker better than the sensitive Spenser. Parker is a kind of sociopath. He is totally immoral -- his decision whether to kill someone is based solely on whether it will benefit him or not -- if it will, he has no hesitation. As this book makes clear, he also is not a romantic version of a criminal who believes in honor among thieves -- when two crooks who worked with his present conspirators threaten to turn them in, he expresses no surprise that they may betray their friends to stay out of jail.

Firebreak is made more interesting by a character who is a kind of anti-Parker, Larry. Parker is totally controlled; even when he takes revenge, he does so carefully and cooly. Larry, on the other hand, is a crook out of control. Their interaction makes this somewhat different than the typical Parker novel. This is hardboiled fiction at its best.

Rating:
Summary: A Rose By Any Other Name...
Review: No matter which name Donald Westlake uses, he's the best! The Richard Stark nom de plume is one of my favorites and this one doesn't disappoint. FIREBREAK is terrific. It's tense and taut and edge of the seat exciting. Parker is so much fun and the troubles he endures are worth ten times what you get from most mystery/suspense writers. It is such a pleasure and joy to see the master has a new book...do yourselves a favor and buy this book.

Rating:
Summary: A popular noir series
Review: Parker is a thief. That is the basis for this very popular noir series. He goes on a different caper with each book. In most cases the plots are straightforward. Parker is approached by some unsavory characters about a job. He usually accepts. They plan the job, something goes wrong. It is corrected and Parker moves on. The books are all short and quick to the point. They are also quite insightful concerning the human character of greed and what it can do to the individual and those around them.
In FLASHFIRE, our antihero is faced with the problem that somebody wants him dead. He must try to find out who and eliminate the threat. At the same time, he is asked to help out on a job stealing paintings from a remote house. As usual, things go wrong and Parker must overcome them on the way to the usual satisfying conclusion.
The Parker series is one of my favorites. The books might be a bit repetitive and I wouldn't suggest reading several of them one after the other. However, they are a lot of fun. Besides the clever plots, one of the major strengths of this work are the characters. They are each so unique and full of their own personal failures, that meeting each one of them makes this series especially worthwhile. Start with any book of the series. Just start.

Rating:
Summary: A popular noir series
Review: Parker is a thief. That is the basis for this very popular noir series. He goes on a different caper with each book. In most cases the plots are straightforward. Parker is approached by some unsavory characters about a job. He usually accepts. They plan the job, something goes wrong. It is corrected and Parker moves on. The books are all short and quick to the point. They are also quite insightful concerning the human character of greed and what it can do to the individual and those around them.
In FLASHFIRE, our antihero is faced with the problem that somebody wants him dead. He must try to find out who and eliminate the threat. At the same time, he is asked to help out on a job stealing paintings from a remote house. As usual, things go wrong and Parker must overcome them on the way to the usual satisfying conclusion.
The Parker series is one of my favorites. The books might be a bit repetitive and I wouldn't suggest reading several of them one after the other. However, they are a lot of fun. Besides the clever plots, one of the major strengths of this work are the characters. They are each so unique and full of their own personal failures, that meeting each one of them makes this series especially worthwhile. Start with any book of the series. Just start.

Rating:
Summary: Solidly entertaining light reading
Review: Parker is caught between two ongoing storylines that demand a lot of time. But time organization is one of the many, many things that the ever-practical Parker is good at, and he neatly balances ferreting out the source of a contract on his life with pulling a heist at an isolated, but immensely well-guarded, estate near that Canadian border. Once again, Parker has to work with other thieves in order to accomplish both goals, and his interactions with the underworld are fascinating as always.
The Good and the Bad:
This is only my second Parker novel (and my second Stark novel), but I'm already beginning to appreciate the elements and rhythm that make up the series. Even though Parker's actions would be detestable in the real world, the fact that he is fiction allows us to take joy in watching a tough-guy who means what he says, says what he means, and has the guns and the wits to enforce his rigid moral code on those around him. Stark has captured an underworld that lacks the relentless glamour and gravitas of The Godfather (or any of a million-and-one crime movies out there), and yet avoids the complicated realism of The Sopranos. Stark's criminals are like those in the movie The Usual Suspects, or maybe a Tarantino film. Crime is a profession, an exciting profession with real drama, and the man who excels in it is the ultimate professional. He's like the Sherlock Holmes of shooting people and stealing stuff; he is so highly specialized that he can be an apex criminal, but probably doesn't know a blog from a boo-bah.
If I had a criticism of Firebreak, it would be that, at times, the characters are a little too talkative, and their conversations can be a little too neat. I can accept Parker as an exceptional man who imposes order and logic on a messy world, but when other characters pick up that black-and-white clarity, it seems insincere.


Rating:
Summary: Noir
Review: See storyline above.

If you like your fiction somewhat noirish, you'll simply enjoy this latest offer from Richard Stark. Parker returns. This time, with an assortment of criminals chasing him, he's trying to help put together a plan to steal some valuable paintings from a billionaire's lodge in the mountains of Montana. Parker has a tendency to get what he wants. He's smart and fast and he makes for entertaining reading. This rather short novel provides a perfect day's reading, and with Stark's writing style, one day is what you'll probably do it in.

Recommended

Rating:
Summary: Robbing From the Rich
Review: The Parker series from Richard Stark (the pseudonym of Donald E. Westlake) is the flip side from the author's comedic Dortmunder series. Parker is tough, no nonsense, and kills when necessary. His latest job teams him up with a gang of crooks looking to resteal some masterpiece paintings from a nouveau riche com-type billionaire who is less than honest. The paintings are secreted in a hidden location in the billionaire's luxurious hunting lodge. This book follows a familiar Parker plot outline: the crooks get together to plan a heist; Parker gets involved in some side business; plans go awry; things get improvised. In this book Parker's side business builds to a climax, but then ends too quickly. The final heist sequence packs suspense and action.

One reads a Parker book knowing that one cuts straight to the action, with little of the fat and detours found in too many crime books these days. Parker is not someone you would want to meet in a dark alley, but you do enjoy reading about.

Rating:
Summary: Vintage Parker
Review: This latest Parker novel is entertaining, but the two plots that make up the book are a bit scrawny and the focus of the book wanders just a bit too much from Parker to the less intriguing Larry Lloyd. There is a sense, as the Amazon review notes, that Lloyd wandered in from a Westlake book and stayed around. The result is a rather jarring mix of characters.

Parker is still very much himself, thankfully, but even the caper is a bit flat. At times, Parker seems to be a bystander. I wonder if perhaps after reviving Parker and the Stark name, Westlake has again begun to tire of the noir world.

Still, you can do a lot worse. This should make fine beach reading.

Rating:
Summary: Great fun
Review: To a casual observer, Parker should be a thoroughly unenjoyable character: he is a thief with no qualms about killing, he doesn't have any real depth or past, and he doesn't even have a first name. But those familiar with this series know that Parker is one of the great characters in crime fiction; through Richard Stark's (Donald Westlake's) writing, Parker is a cool, methodical criminal whose adventures never cease to entertain.

From the very first line of this story, we are drawn in to this latest caper. Parker is recruited to participate in stealing some art from an internet billionaire. Having botched the theft previously, his recruiters are eager for a second chance, even with heightened security. The art in question is very valuable and already stolen material, so there are legal authorities involved also.

Meanwhile, some old adversaries of Parker's from an earlier book, are out for revenge and have hired killers to dispose of the thief. Parker's recruiters also have ex-partners to deal with. This makes for a complex but never overly-complicated story that is fun from beginning to end.

Who lives? Who dies? Will Parker get the loot? Fans of previous novels know that nothing is certain in one of these books; Parker doesn't win them all. As a reader, however, you can continue a winning streak of great books by reading this one.