Westlake gives Readers' closure for Parker's Adventures Two Novels Ago

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	• Dirty Money Richard Stark Grand Central Publishing, 2008 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Murphy's Law

Parker--he of one name--spends his time in this novel correcting one snafu after another. If something can go wrong, it does, in keeping with his (and his partners') experience in the earlier novel, Nobody Runs Forever. In that adventure, they stole $2.5 million from a Massachusetts bank. There were only two problems: (1) They couldn't take the money with them and had to hide it nearby; and (2) the serial numbers were recorded and the money can't be spent--thus the title of this follow-up.

The plot is simple: how to escape capture, recover the money from the hiding place and convert it somehow to spendable cash. Each step along the way another impediment crops up for Parker to overcome. And he is inventive in each instance.

Fast reading and amusing, the novel progresses effortlessly. Like its predecessor, the writing is excellent and the tale smoothly told and underplayed. Highly recommended.

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Dirty Money

This is the third in a series after Nobody Runs Forever and Ask the Parrot. Vintage Stark: lots of violence, clever moves and counter-moves. Always a pleasure to read.

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Parker Is Back For The Loot

Parker (one name only) is a professional thief. He's been played in the movies by Lee Marvin and Mel Gibson. He's always tough, always a real hardcase, and he doesn't give up on anything. In short, he's my kind of anti-hero.

I first made his acquaintance when I was a kid haunting the long book aisles of Conda's Swap Shop, a place where you could find books, hub caps, tools, and car parts. It was the kind of noir place with wooden floors and big sweeping fans. I always thought it was the kind of place where you'd find a man like Parker when he was trying to hide out. For fifteen cents, I picked up Parker novels. It was a steal at that price, and I read those books often.

The books carry the byline, Richard Stark. But that's just a pseudonym for Donald Westlake, who's known more for his comedic novels than the rough-and-tumble lifestyle of Parker. If you read books under Westlake's name, you may be surprised to see the difference in the writing styles. Somewhere deep inside, Westlake has the soul of a professional thief. I'm glad that he's starting letting Parker out to play again.

DIRTY MONEY picks up with Parker trying to get money from a past armored car robbery that he didn't quite get away with in NOBODY RUNS FOREVER. The last few Parker books have been tied tightly together but spaced two years apart. It's an interesting take, but I like seeing new faces in the Parker books.

The way a Parker novel normally works is this: The reader meets Parker and some of the people he's going to be using on the job, almost like a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE scenario. Then the job gets explained. Then the opposition shows up. Invariably, something goes haywire in the job. An unexpected threat shows up or - as happens most of the time - some of the thieves Parker has allied himself with turn out to be too greedy for their own good. Or at least, Parker's own good.

DIRTY MONEY is a tad slower-paced than most of the other Parker novels, but the author spends some time exposing the world of money laundering, one of the biggest white collar crimes currently going on. I found it interesting, but I missed the gunplay and the tension. I like the books most when Parker is up against the wall, trying to figure out how to keep himself from getting killed by "partners" or captured by the police or other bad guys.

The money from the armored car job has been marked. Parker knows it's not worth recovering. However, there's a money launderer willing to give him a cut on the cash and he'll move it overseas where the marked money won't get found out as easily.

From that point on, the book turns into a chess match between Parker, his partners, an FBI agent, and the local police. Maybe the action isn't quite up to par, but this is Parker. I still like watching him work, and Stark/Westlake's pared-down prose reads so easily I was done before I knew it. It's a great book for fans, but I'd recommend reading some of the earlier novels to readers that haven't met Parker before.

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Westlake gives Readers' closure for Parker's Adventures Two Novels Ago

Westlake writing under his most successful pseudonym Richard Stark, wraps up the robbery readers have been left hanging out for closure for since they got to the last page in his novel Nobody Runs Forever. Ask the Parrot took up with Parker on the run from that previous novel but took readers on a good, but sidetrack storyline. We haven't gotten back to wrap up the story from Nobody Runs Forever until story timeline wise two years later and one novel later here with Dirty Money. I strongly recommend you purchase and read before at the very least Nobody Runs Forever to truly enjoy this adventure and more importantly not ruin the full enjoyment of this or that one by knowing what happens. Parts of Ask the Parrot's storyline are also mentioned so it is best to get that one as well and finish reading it before starting on Dirty Money. All other novels in the post Comeback novel modern era Parker adventures can be read in any order as standalone reads.

In Dirty Money, Parker learns that Nick, one of his partners from the armoured car robbery has been captured and subsequently escaped, killed a cop and is on the run. Parker knows how hard it will be to survive with an intense man hunt and having to use cash to keep from being tracked down so knows Nick will be tempted to take the stash they had all hidden away. He also knows if Nick is captured, the money is his only playing card so decides to recruit one of his former partners from that robbery, bar owner McWhitney to retrieve the loot. With a freshly killed cop though the remote area is once again a hot zone of roadblocks and police activity so Parker is going to need the help of Claire his girlfriend who's the only person he can truly trust. He's also going to need all his intelligence and criminal knowledge to pull this off and come out alive, especially since there are others who also want a cut of the bounty.

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Time for another visit with the criminal element

Detailed yet fast-moving crime tale delivers the goods, satisfyingly and often violently wrapping up the loose ends from the last two "Parker" books, "Nobody Runs Forever" (which ends in a great cliff hanger) and "Ask the Parrot".

The "Parker" novels only reveal characters' traits and personalities through their responses to plot developments (there are no breaks in the plot to show what characters do during a quiet night at home, for instance), and this novel is no exception. Having said that, we do get a few new chords in the song this time out, to keep things interesting. For one thing, we get to see a lot more of Parker's girlfriend (or possibly wife, for all we know) Claire, who actually helps out with the caper in progress. And there's also an entertaining female bounty hunter, Sandra Loscalzo, who's part of the gang this time. Sandra's amusing banter (which even makes the stoic Parker crack a small smile from time to time) adds another layer to the book, but not to the point of softening the hardboiled nature of the proceedings (thankfully).

I did like the fact that Parker is actually allowed an outright laugh line this time out, positioned as the last line in the book, no less. But don't worry; though very funny, it's an edgy, noir-ish bit of humor very much in tone with the dark flavor of this excellent crime series.

Note to fellow Amazon Kindle users: The book reads excellently on the Kindle, which is also offering the previously mentioned "Nobody Runs Forever" and "Ask the Parrot". So you're all set to enjoy the entire three-book epic. And by the time you're finished, maybe a few other "Parker" novels will make their way onto Kindle (right now, "Firebreak" is the only other one available). But, really, you don't need to read these books in order. Even among the closely-related entries (like the ones covered in this review), you can just pick up any "Parker" book and start reading. It's just more fun to experience things as the main character does. If fun is the right word for a series where a happy ending is the crooks evading the cops and getting away with the cash.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

"[One] of the greatest writers of the twentieth century...Richard Stark, real name Donald Westlake...His Parker books form a genre all their own."
--John Banville, Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea

Master criminal Parker takes another turn for the worse as he tries to recover loot from a heist gone terribly wrong. In Nobody Runs Forever, Parker and two cohorts stole the assets of a bank in transit, but the police heat was so great they could only escape if they left the money behind. In this follow-up novel, Parker and his associates plot to reclaim the loot, which they hid in the choir loft of an unused country church. As they implement the plan, people on both sides of the law use the forces at their command to stop Parker and grab the goods for themselves. Though Parker's new getaway van is an old Ford Econoline with "Holy Redeemer Choir" on its doors, his gang is anything but holy, and Parker will do whatever it takes to redeem his prize, no matter who gets hurt in the process.

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