Nobody Runs Forever [Paperback]

Richard Stark (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Mysterious Press (2004)
• ASIN: B001ATK37A
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Could this be the final Parker book?, November 28, 2007

By 

Gunner (Smyrna, Georgia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nobody Runs Forever (Hardcover)

Nobody Runs Forever

When he saw the one called Harbin was wearing a wire, Parker said, "Deal me out". They were playing seven card stud. Parker should have walked away right then. It didn't get any better. This was one capper that was snake-bit from the get go.

Could this be Parker's Waterloo?

I think Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark is just playing with us. Maybe he'll get a jury from Los Angeles and get off all together.

As usual Stark is very entertaining with his fast paced tough guy. This time robbing a bank's vault's contents as it is being moved to another larger bank via armored cars.

Highly recommended for Parker fans.


As far as I can tell the other Parker books are:

1) The Hunter (1963; AKA Point Blank, Payback; Parker, by Richard Stark).
2) The Man With the Getaway Face (1963; AKA The Steel Hit; Parker,
3) The Outfit (1963; Parker, by Richard Stark)
4) The Mourner (1963; Parker, by Richard Stark)
5) The Score (1964; AKA Killtown; Parker, by Richard Stark)
6) The Jugger (1965; Parker, by Richard Stark)
7) The Seventh (1966; AKA The Split; Parker, by Richard Stark)
8) The Handle (1966; AKA Run Lethal; Parker, by Richard Stark)
9) The Rare Coin Score (1967; Parker, by Richard Stark)
10) The Green Eagle Score (1967; Parker, by Richard Stark)
11) The Black Ice Score (1968; Parker, by Richard Stark)
12) The Sour Lemon Score (1969; Parker, by Richard Stark)
13) Slayground (1971; Parker, by Richard Stark)
14) Deadly Edge (1971; Parker, by Richard Stark)
15) Plunder Squad (1972; Parker, by Richard Stark)
16) Butcher's Moon (1974; Parker, by Richard Stark)
17) Comeback (1997;
18) Backflash (1998; Parker)..
19) Nobody Runs Forever (2004; Parker)


Gunner November 2007

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great Parker thriller, October 31, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nobody Runs Forever (Hardcover)

In a Cincinnati hotel room, seven buddies play poker intending to discuss a heist. Parker, sitting out the hand, gets up, takes off his tie, and wraps it around the throat of Harbin who is wearing a wire. Dalesia and Mott pretend the game is still on as Parker kills Harbin. McWhitney, who brought Harbin to the game, disposes of the body. The game breaks up with Fletcher pretending to be Harbin informing the others he will clean up. Stratton thanks "Harbin" as they all leave.

However, Dalesia and Parker, who have a bit of history together, talk about being out of work. Dalesia says he has a somewhat risky idea for a heist of over a million dollars being transported by four armored trucks guarded by twelve security agents. Parker wants in though he understands that the prime risk comes from two key "rookies", the banker's wife and a former bank employee, neither of which can keep their enthusiasm nor fears quiet. Meanwhile Harbin's partners hunt for him by tracking the poker players. Now the gang, Harbin's partners, and Police Detective Gwen Reversa rendezvous with four armored-cars.

NOBODY RUNS FOREVER is a typical exhilarating Parker tale that leaves no prisoners from start to finish. Parker displays his professionalism from the onset as he calmly kills the informant in the opening scene and continues on that criminal path that makes him a popular antihero. Though his partners are so tyro and unprofessional that long term fans would doubt he would try the caper with them, all things considered readers will appreciate Richard Stark's latest Parker thriller.

Harriet Klausner

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So many books, and this series hasn't lost a thing, March 16, 2005

By 

Matt Hetling "Matt" (Bethel, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nobody Runs Forever (Hardcover)

Consummate professional thief Parker is at it again.

He's been drawn into a bank heist that seems irresistible, despite his initial misgivings about the involvement of civilians who have a web of emotional attachments that could affect the plan at any time.

This is one of the most complex of the Parker novels I've read, with many competing interests and motivations. Besides Parker and his three partners, there's a suicidal doctor, a shaky ex-con on probation, the ex-con's sister, a bank manager's wife, a pair of bounty hunters, and a female police detective, who is both unusually attractive and unusually sharp.

With all of these elements rattling around (and a few others that I haven't mentioned), it's hard to imagine that everything will go smoothly, and the final fifty pages or so are steeped in tension and foreboding that will keep you turning pages until you hit the end.

As for the ending itself, it's kind of a cliffhanger. I've only read a handful of Parker novels, and didn't expect to be left hanging like that, but I'll withhold my criticism on the assumption that the next book will pick up where this one leaves off. If it doesn't, I'll be sorely disappointed (and a little confused as to why Stark would fail to wrap things up).

As always, the main attraction is the character of Parker, who is the ultimate practical-minded thief. He's driven by logic, but is still able to think creatively to solve the problems the plot throws at him, and keeps moving like the shark that he is.

Don't make this your first Parker novel, but definitely consider it worthy of the series, which keeps us coming back for more.