It's wonderful to discover a new "old" author and--even better yet--find there's a wealth of material by him.
Last year I finally discovered he great Richard Stark (AKA Donald Westlake) and his amazing Parker novels. The impetus for discovery lie in a couple of my favorite comics creators--Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke--professing their undying devotion to the author. (In fact, Cooke has begun adapting Stark's Parker novels to graphic novel form. See this preview from IDW's upcoming graphic novel The Hunter by Cooke, debuting in July.) Started in the early 1960s by the incredibly prolific Westlake--so prolific he wrote under various pen names to get everything out there--the Parker novels center around a bad guy, a professional thief who goes by the name of Parker. Just Parker. No first name. He's a bad ass, too, a man who would just as soon slug you as talk to you.
There are 23 Parker novels, and the University of Chicago Press is currently reprinting them in an attractive trade paperback cover with matching "trade dress," a fancy way of saying they look alike. They've just released their second set of three, and they're doing them--thankfully!--in chronological order. While you don't HAVE TO read them in the order they came out, it sure helps a bit, as Stark did carry over some characters and plotlines. The new set includes novels 4, 5, and 6: The Mourner, The Score, and The Jugger.
The Mourner is the weakest of the books I've read so far, but still a fascinting read. Parker gets involved in stealing a rare statue, but also gets embrolied in a Soviet plot to kill a errant agent working in the U.S. Originally published in 1963, Stark may have been caving to some of the popularlity of Ian Fleming's James Bond by introducing an espionage element (I'm guessing here).
The Score involves Parker teaming up with a dozen other thieves to pull the ultimate heist: robbing an entire isolated small town. It's probably my personal fave of the 6 Parker novels I've read so far.
The Jugger concerns Parker's associate Joe Sheer, a retired safecracker, who moves to a small town only to be harrassed by the local sheriff. Parker goes in to investigate his colleague's death and comes out with a whole passle of his own troubles. This is one of the few books--so far--that kind of ends on a cliffhanger.
The great thing about all these books--besides Stark's spare, hardboiled--and yes, stark--style of writing--is the general theme. Parker is a meticulous criminal, a planner and a doer, but no matter what he does there's always that human element of surprise, and something ALWAYS goes wrong. It's that surprising little bit of business in each book that makes them a cut above. That monkey wrench that Stark throws into Parker's finely-tuned business machine is always enjoyable. These are quick, pulpy reads, and you can devour one after the other--like I did last weekend--or set them aside for a rainy afternoon (if you live somewhere where rainy afternoons are common).
The University of Chicago Press promises more in the future from Stark and Parker. I can't wait.
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