Synopses & Reviews
On a sunny October afternoon a man is running up a hill. He's not dressed for running. Below him are barking police dogs and waiting up ahead is a stranger with a rifle, a life full of regrets, and a parrot at home who will mutely witness just how much trouble the runner, Parker, can bring into an ordinary life.
The rabbit hunter is Tom Lindahl, a small-town lonely heart nursing a big-time grudge against the racetrack that fired him. He knows from the moment he sees Parker that he's met a professional thief and a man with murder in his blood. Rescuing Parker from the chase hounds, Lindahl invites the fugitive into his secluded home. He plans to rip off his former employer and exact a deadly measure of revenge if he can get Parker to help.
But Tom doesn't know Parker and that the desperate criminal will do anything to survive no matter who has to die...
Review
"Stark...flaunts his usual wizardry as unobtrusively as if he were ordering from a fast-food menu. The plot is minimalist, the technique superb." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"In a rare detour from his starkly realistic style, Stark waves his beak at Westlake fans by giving Parker's sour sidekick a nameless parrot that finally finds a reason to speak during an explosively comic scene sure to ruffle the feathers of a few bird lovers." Booklist
Review
"If you're a fan of hard-boiled thrillers, slap in a mouth guard: This sucker's been boiled so long you might break a tooth. Ask the Parrot...is a man's book, dammit, and so the focus is largely on cars and guns. (Grade: C-)" Entertainment Weekly
Review
"We got us a new Parker novel; now let's hope there are many more to come. Please, Mr. Westlake er, I mean, Mr. Stark continue with one of crime fiction's all-time greatest badasses." Bruce Grossman, Bookgasm.com
Synopsis
Fleeing the authorities after a diastrous bank heist, Parker is rescued from the law enforcement pursuit by Tom Lindahl, an angry recluse and one-time whistleblower tossed aside by the corrupt political establishment, who has a daring scheme to seek revenge and a plan to use Parker to accomplish his goal. By the author of Nobody Runs Forever.
Synopsis
In this follow-up to his acclaimed Nobody Runs Forever, Stark brings back master criminal Parker, who's now on the run from a heist gone terribly wrong.
Synopsis
Sometimes mystery master Donald E. Westlake is the author of uproarious crime capers. Sometimes he has a mean streak-and its name is Parker. From his noir classic The Man with the Getaway Face to his recent novel Nobody Runs Forever, whenever Westlake writes as Stark, he lets Parker run loose-a ruthless criminal in a world of vulnerable "straights."
On a sunny October afternoon a man is running up a hill. He's not dressed for running. Below him are barking police dogs and waiting up ahead is a stranger-with a rifle, a life full of regrets, and a parrot at home who will mutely witness just how much trouble the runner, Parker, can bring into an ordinary life.
The rabbit hunter is Tom Lindahl, a small-town lonely heart nursing a big-time grudge against the racetrack that fired him. He knows from the moment he sees Parker that he's met a professional thief-and a man with murder in his blood. Rescuing Parker from the chase hounds, Lindahl invites the fugitive into his secluded home. He plans to rip off his former employer and exact a deadly measure of revenge-if he can get Parker to help.
But Tom doesn't know Parker and that the desperate criminal will do anything to survive-no matter who has to die...
About the Author
Richard Stark is one of the preeminent authors and inventors of noir crime fiction. Stark's recent Parker novels
Comeback and
Backflash were selected as
New York Times Notable Books of the Year. His first novel,
The Hunter, became the classic 1967 movie
Point Blank. Thirty years later
The Hunter was adapted again by Hollywood, in the hit Mel Gibson movie
Payback.
Richard Stark is also, at times, mystery Grand Master Donald E. Westlake.