Customer Reviews

Nobody Runs Forever

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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

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.

I've read only a couple of the original Parker novels but all of the ones since Richard Stark resurrected the series with "Comeback" in the late 1990s. I'd say this is the best of the lot -- and by a fair margin. "Nobody Runs Forever" is a pitch-perfect gem of a noir crime novel.

From the opening scene (it takes Stark less than a page before Parker is choking a man to death) to the novel's final sentence, Stark crafts tension onto every page. Stark (Mystery Writer of America Grand Master Donald Westlake's most notable pen name) has never written more powerfully. He can accomplish so much with so few words, and no one -- save perhaps Elmore Leonard -- writes better dialogue.

What sets this novel apart from even the high standard of his earlier work is the beautifully realized complexity of the secondary characters. Stark paints the whole "heister" milieu superbly, as you would expect. But there's a richer atmosphere on these pages, a certain mood that arises from the desperate motivations of several characters: the ex-con and his amateur insider who help set up the armored car robbery that's at the heart of the plot; the bounty hunter and his beautiful backup who want to find the man killed by Parker in the first chapter; the doctor and his lover who want a piece of the heist; the arms expert, who's shaken from an earlier job gone bad, who Parker enlists to supply the weapons for the robbery. That the story plays out in a relatively short crime novel is a tribute to Stark's superior writing ability. The ending doesn't resolve things in a tidy bundle, but then Parker novels never end that way. You can bet there'll be another installment forthcoming, and you can bet it'll be a dandy.

Longtime readers of this excellent crime series know two things: 1) the author aggressively avoids debating the moral issues related to his crook protagonists' activities, and just worries about telling a good story, and 2) in the end sometimes the featured caper or "job" works out, sometimes it doesn't, and (as is most often the case) aspects of the job work out while other aspects don't. This time, the main "fly in the ointment" is increased security. In the wake of September 11 and the overall war on terror, every institution in the U.S. (banks, hotels, airlines, law enforcement, etc., etc.) is so much better and so much more conscious of security and surveillance issues that your regular, garden-variety, non-terrorist crook is really finding it hard to make a living. So, the bank job depicted here- which wouldn't have been exactly easy before- is really a challenge in today's "everyone's always looking over his shoulder" atmosphere. But, what makes for an especially tough caper for Parker and his team of criminal experts, makes for an especially good read for us. As usual, strong characterizations and tense situations abound. And, as usual, the author once again has the otherwise upstanding citizens reading his books rooting for the crooks to get away with it.

Richard Stark is the alter ego of Donald E. Westlake and this 'Parker' thriller hits the mark. The characters are fresh, intelligent and interesting. Stark keeps you turning the pages hungry for the next ripple in the lake to change the course in the story. The ending is open for discussion, but if you think it leaves you hanging, then you don't appreciate Stark-Westlake and his sense of humor.

The first line opens your eyes and keeps you guessing through the ending. All your questions are not answered, but the trip is more interesting than 99% of the high profile dribble pushed on the consummer in the last 4 months.

Enjoy the read for the shear fun of it. The book is excellent, period.

Donald E. Westlake's alter ego Richard Stark's Parker character is back in another extremely enjoyable fast paced easy read. In Nobody Runs Forever Parker is told of a plan for an armoured car heist by a criminal partner he formerly worked with. The Deer Hill Bank is being sold to a much bigger consortium and the wife of the seller who is so annoyed that her father's legacy is being destroyed, she has asked her ex jail bird lover to hijack the bank's money when it is transferred by armoured cars to the purchasing banks vaults. She can provide the information on the dates and which car the money will be in but Parker can see a lot of problems with the plan. Of course he is still interested but the wife and the ex con are not the only problems his team will come across.

Nobody Runs Forever is a novel both fans of and new readers to Westlake under his or his pen name Stark will read over and over again. Short chapters make putting it down when you reluctantly have to a breeze as well. As well as other Parker adventures 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 novels which are also short chaptered and simple but enjoyable reads to those who have read everything Westlake has written so far but want more of this sort of reading.

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Nobody Runs Forever is a well written crime story with a complex suspenseful plot. The story is a heart stopping adventure with continuing complications for Parker and his friends.

The story begins with a game of seven card stud. Each participant has been invited but knows few of the other members. The concept is to get them acquainted over poker so they are comfortable doing a job together. Unfortunately one of the people is found with a "wire". The offender is removed and the party breaks up and everyone goes home.

Later Parker is invited by one of the former card players to join a crew for a different and special job. Parker is reluctant. The plan originated with the wife of a rich banker who has sold his business to a larger institution. The smaller bank must transfer its records and assets to the larger bank many miles away. The transfer is to be accomplished using four armored trucks and a fleet of police.

Parker's reluctance comes from the involvement of amateurs. The wife and her boyfriend, neither having experience, devised the plan and expect to be involved. Parker joins the team, against his better judgment, on the condition that the wife and boyfriend obtain air-tight alibis and not directly participate in the robbery. They can both get their share of the loot, but must be above suspicion for the safety of the entire team.
Several complications plague the action. First, a bounty hunter surfaces hoping to find the informer from the earlier card game. Second, a very clever female police officer becomes suspicious of Parker and begins to hound him. Third, the bankers wife and boyfriend begin second guessing Parker's plan. Parker continues with the plan but becomes wary. He wonders if he can escape with his hide, let alone profit.

Nobody Runs Forever is an excellent novel. In this story Parker almost appears to be in over his head, from being hunted by a bounty hunter to being tracked by police dogs,
the reader wonders if he can survive. This book is full of suspense, intrigue, detailed action and precise descriptions. It is well written, with fast paced excitement. Richard Stark's novels just keep getting better.

Another fine addition to the recent string of Parker novels from Stark (Westlake). Great ending that leaves the reader on edge.

It's great that Westlake/Stark revived the Parker books a few years back. Parker's the same, and still has Claire at the lake. Parker doesn't age, though he's been heisting since the '50s- I'm glad of that.
This is good Parker but a little more convoluted than some earlier ones. The opening is right there with the best Parker of all time. Parker lets this job get a little more complicated than he likes, and the book ends with the hounds in pursuit, which means there must be a sequel coming. Stark has done this before, with Slayground followed by the very hard-to-find Butcher's Moon. I'm ready for the next one.