Parker steals. Parker kills. It's a living.

books:

	• Flashfire Richard Stark Mysterious Press, 2000 - 278 pages average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Parker Classic!

Donald E. Westlake's alter ego Richard Stark's Parker character has one of his greatest adventures in Flashfire. Whilst not the most realistic of adventures Flashfire is a book both fans of and new readers to Westlake under his own or his pen name will not want to put down until the end. Short chapters make putting it down when you reluctantly have to do so a breeze as well. Also check out under Westlake's own name his masterpiece The Ax. His novels Corkscrew and the Scared Stiff are also brilliant!

In Flashfire Parker is ripped off after a successful bank robbery by his new partners who insist on using the proceeds as a deposit on a Palm Beach mansion which is essential for a massive jewellery robbery. Infuriated Parker sets out to get enough money and to make a false identity so that he can blend into the elite Palm Beach community, wait out the robbery then kill his betrayers and take it all for himself. A real estate agent wanting a more exciting and richer life, a contract on Parker's head and a rural cop who has his sights on Parker all make what should be a simple task a lot more complicated for Parker but a more exciting read for all of us!

for more information click here

On-target, stripped-down noir

Flashfire is wonderful noir, stripped of purple prose and affectation.

The protagonist may be cold, but he's tough and smart, and he adheres at least to some criminals' code of honor. (Basically: Don't screw your partners.)

The dialogue and the propulsive plot are smart, too. Stark writes with economy and accuracy, like a boxer throwing stinging jabs or crisp combinations.

For the most part Stark avoids stereotypes like kinky serial killers, moronic small-time criminals and renegade detectives who argue with their superiors. His minor characters, like the real estate saleswoman, the small-town lawman and the Palm Beach socialites, are briefly drawn, but well-limned.

I also enjoyed Stark's matter-of-fact use of criminal tradecraft, and the leavening, on-target humor he aims at the wealthy menagerie that occupies Palm Beach.

for more information click here

A brilliant anti-hero

This book served as my introduction to Richard Stark's cold-blooded master thief Parker, and I loved every minute of it. Stark (the pen name of crime writer Donald E. Westlake) has brilliantly crafted a character who you'd despise if you were to meet in real life, but with whom you come to completely sympathize through his experiences. His calculating ruthlessness and masterful ability to avoid capture make him great, but my favorite attribute of Parker is that he is completely amoral. Here is a man who, unlike modern-day protagonists that authors feel obligated to make ethically upright, has no qualms whatsoever about killing a man that has wronged him in some way, or who he feels is a "loose end." He doesn't go out of his way to be offensive and crude, but he doesn't care if he happens to be that way either. He is not a good person because of his complete indifference to stealing other people's money to make a living, but at the same time you love him because he only harms those who have it coming to them.

In this installment, Parker tags along with three men he has never worked with on a bank robbery job, only to discover that they plan on using his share as a deposit on a house in Palm Beach so that they can make an even bigger score in Florida. Parker is naturally none too pleased, and begins making his own plans to sweep his former partners' score out from under their feet and exact his revenge.

This was a great book in an amazing series that I plan to read much more of. I would highly recommend it.

for more information click here

Parker steals. Parker kills. It's a living.

This was my first Parker novel and it sold me on the series. I've since devoured some 8 to 10 others and am trying to get my hands on the rest.

I agree pretty much with all the other positive reviews of this book and of the series in general but wanted to add that the sexual dynamic between Parker and his girlfriend is so convincing and so adroitly written that I had to go back and reread the less-than-a-page scene where Parker in his Palm Beach disguise walks up to the chaise longue on which Claire is lolling in her bikini and greets her. They haven't seen each other in some time, and this is the first time she's seen him in this guise. They exchange a couple of remarks and without stage directions or emotional commentary or any access to what's going on in the mind of either character, Stark manages to create an absolutely convincing and even titillating sexual chemistry between them. It's amazing. Truly.

BTW, the "Parker steals. Parker kills. It's a living." comes from the cover advertisement for a Gold Medal edition of the Parker books.

for more information click here

An enjoyable anti-hero.

You have to admire Parker, the central character of Richard Stark's eponymous series. Parker is an "honest" robber. This time around, his colleagues on a job do him a bad turn. Left alone in the middle of nowhere, Parker plans his revenge - and proceeds to execute it brilliantly with the aid of slightly dimwitted realtor with a taste for adventure.

This is a character driven story. Just a plain fun read.

Jerry

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

Melander likes to do things flashy. When Parker finds himself working with Melander on a bank heist in a mid-sized midwestern city, his job is throwing a Molotov cocktail into a gas station. The resulting explosion sends the cops and fire trucks to the east side of town, while Melander and his gang plunder the bank on the west side. But Parker doesn't care for Melander's plan for a new heist, one that will clean out Palm Beach of a lot of very expensive jewelry. What Parker really dislikes is Melander's intention to use the proceeds from the bank job to capitalize the Palm Beach job...including Parker's cut. Melander is very polite about Parker's disinterest, and very sincere about paying him his share....with interest...after the jewelry job goes down. But that's not the way Parker works. Now he's tailing the gang down South, with a plan for getting his own back...and the entire swag of gems besides.

for more information click here

hot

not?

What's your opinion?

Write a review and share your thoughts!

recommendations

Five Star Mysteries
Chuckley Cheese

search for books
flashfire

Impressum / about us