Customer Reviews

Firebreak

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

When asked why he had ceased writing Parker novels after "Butcher's Moon", Donald E. Westlake was quoted as saying he had "lost the voice." Since the publication of "Comeback", Westlake/Stark has been steadily, if somewhat unevenly, getting the voice back. I personally feel he has triumphantly returned to full strength in "Firebreak".
"Firebreak", for me, represents the best of Parker. There's a job to be done, but there are also problems, first distinct from the job, then directly concerned with the job. This latest novel presents some of the longest-distance action since "The Sour Lemon Score", and, in fact, revisits three characters from that story. Plus, Elkins and Wiss, the "specialty promotions" guys from previous books and fond memory are back. PLUS: check me on this, but "Firebreak" may just be the first mention of the web in the Stark repetoire.
If you're a Parker fan, and particularly if you have resisted returning to the fold (OK, yes, in the beginning I thought the revived series was strictly to make bucks off the Mel Gibson PAYBACK), then it's time to check in.
Just one egregious mistake by Stark. Keep in mind, Parker is the guy, in "The Rare Coin Score", who had to ask Claire what year a Roman numeral represented ("I'm no good with that stuff"). Indeed, in this very book, Parker frowns at the abbreviation PR. And yet, on pages 32 and 51, Parker correctly identifies Cyrillic letters (the writing on the note he found on page 28). Richard, we love you, but, BE CAREFUL!

Parker has two jobs both critical to his well being. One is more along the line of his normal work. Parker is employed to steal stolen art treasures stored in a remote area of Montana. The "owner" Paxton Marino is a computer whiz billionaire so Parker knows he can expect anything and needs an electronic expert along for the ride.

The other job is a bit more personal. Someone hired a pro to kill Parker. He needs to know who and why so he can concentrate on the art theft. The problem is over the years in his line of work Parker has made many enemies who would gladly urinate on his grave. As Parker makes inquiries through his underground connections, he soon realizes the art job resurfaced his name to some nasty people who simply detest him. Still Big Sky is calling and with the help of an electronic genius lunatic, Parker goes to work on purloining the art treasures.

FIREBREAK is the typical Parker tale as the exciting story line is loaded with twists and turns yet the stark plot uses no unnecessary baggage. The tale belongs to Parker who seems relatively mellow compared to his maniacal sidekick (why trust this psychopath is beyond this reviewer). Still, this wild ride across the Northern Plains is an effective anti-hero thriller that proves Richard Stark under that name or as Donald Westlake can still be counted on for top-notch modern day noir.

Harriet Klausner

"When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man." From the opening line of this sly, nihilist novel, Richard Stark takes the reader on another 50 cent tour through the grit and grime that make up the world of professional thief Parker. Hired assassins, mob enforcers, elaborate heists, and double crosses are the meat and potatoes of the hard-boiled genre and Stark has served up another feast with "Firebreak."

The books in the Parker series (this is number twenty-four!) are not profound or deep, nor are they meant to be. They are quick and intense reads, filled with a focused, manic energy. Nearly every one of them has been a winner and "Firebreak" is no exception.

Parker narrowly escapes a Russian hit man who came to the cabin he shares with Claire. In the midst of disposal of the body he is contacted about a potential job with huge rewards involving stolen paintings in an isolated Montana mansion. The time frame on the Montana job is very tight so Parker has no time to put closure into those who put the price on his head. Of course they aren't prepared to wait.

As well as other Parker adventures written as Richard Stark also check out under Westlake's own name his masterpiece solution to being unemployed, The Ax. His novels Corkscrew and the Scared Stiff are also brilliant!

I would also recommend James Pattinson (Pattinson not Patterson), a British author who writes very similar style novels which are also short chaptered and simple but enjoyable reads for those who have read everything Westlake has written so far but want more of this sort of reading. Feast of the Scorpion, Wild Justice, A Car for Mr Bradley, The Time of Your Life, Homecoming The Animal Gang and Crane all have criminal characters very similar to Stark's Parker character. Check them out.

Parker is back, and this time he is the target of a hit. This was a very enjoyable Parker novel. Not only is the typical plot turned on its head, by Parker being the target, but even the grand theft is totally undone. This is a great story that demonstrates the ad lib abilities of Parker.

Like always, the writing is terse and quick. Details are for the dead men. This was a very quick read, and I recommend it to anyone with a taste for hard-boiled writing.

I love the Parker series, and this brand new novel maintains the series quality. (How long has it been since the first one? 40-50 years?) Parker goes directly for what he wants or needs, totally ruthlessly, but with no anger.

Try one of the paperbacks in the series (Payback, The Outfit, and Comeback are all good) if you don't want to invest in a hardback sight unseen. If you like any of them, you'll like this one, too.

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.

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.

ok it says four but it's 3.5. i can't believe i just rated a stark book that! all of his 24 books are 5 except comeback which was 4.5. he is amazing but this book just dwindles and goes on... too many side stories and missions that take away from the plot which makes little sense anyway. they are robbing a place, for the second time? that's just weird and asking to get caught! blah, i was disappointed. and there's this annoying dorky hacker character (yeah he's a dork, not that hackers are dorks but this guy is a weenie boy) that in the older parker books would have been killed or ditched by parker because he is an absurd liability. he's on house arrest, the police check up on him and know where he lives, and he screws things up multiple times. it still has cool parts so it's not a waste of time but compared to other parker books... then there's a part that belongs in a comedy where they *spoiler alert* get picked up by a friend as they're escaping the cop filled scene of the robbery and the friend wants to go back into the scene because he didn't get what he wanted. *end spoiler* really? wtf? that's a joke. no criminal would ever say that and if they did, the other criminals in the car would probably kill them or knock them out and take the wheel.

the end is super cool but *spoiler alert* then instead of escaping from the place that's crawling with law, they wait at the bottom of the hill in a security shack? like the author didn't think the police would go down the hill they just ran down??? *end spoiler* stark in the past was always so believable and made things work the way they would, i don't know what this is all about. this type of over sight i would expect from ludlum but stark always seemed knowledgeable with police methods, human actions and such.

anyway, excellent writing overall though i guess. only a few pages have problems like i just mentioned and the other problems are just simply dwindling story. it is good but it is flawed.