Customer Reviews

The outfit (Gregg Press mystery fiction series)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The name is Parker and he's not one for making idle threats. When he talks, he follows through with brutal efficiency. And so, when he warned the organised crime boss not to cross him or he would hurt the organisation, it would have been a good idea to listen. What would not have been a good idea was to attempt to put a hit on Parker.

When the hit fails, as of course it must, Parker sets in place a devious plan to hurt the Outfit just as he promised. What follows is a highly entertaining string of crimes around the country, striking blow after blow on behalf of our anti-hero, Parker.

If you're simply after a flat out entertaining book of action sequences that aren't cluttered up with pesky character development, then this is the book for you. As a matter of fact, the entire Parker series is for you. Parker remains the true dispassionate enigma. Sure he's heartless, cruel and vindictive but you've just gotta love the rascal.

The Outfit

"When the woman screamed, Parker awoke and rolled of the bed. He heard the plop
of a silencer behind him as he rolled, and the bullet punched the pillow where his head had been."

"He landed face down on the floor. His stubby , pregnant .32 was clipped to the springs under the bed like a huge black fly standing upside down, and Parker's hand was reaching out for it before he hit the floor"

So begins the Outfit, the third of the Parker books. A series that to date includes:

1) The Hunter (Also published as, "Point Blank")(1963; AKA Point Blank, Payback; Parker, by Richard Stark).
2) The Man with the Getaway Face (Parker Novels)(1963; AKA The Steel Hit; Parker,(1963;
3) The Outfit: A Parker Novel (Parker Novels), (1963 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)
20) Dirty Money (2008, Parker)

The castle was in Buffalo and the king was in the castle. The car was in the pine woods of Georgia and Parker was on the move: slowly plotting his attack on the head of the most powerful criminal outfit that had put a contract on his life. Armed with a new face and the old iron will, Parker is declaring coast-to-coast war. And after Parker's associates pull off twelve robberies in five days against Outfit targets, the man in the castle starts to get the picture. All except one part: with a hot car and a cold tenacity, Parker is coming after him...

Highly recommended for Parker fans and fans of the writing of Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark. Some of the dollar amounts might be somewhat dated, but the action is timeless.

You really need to read the first two books to fully appreciate this one.

Gunner March, 2008

P.S. I just orderred Dirty Money his newsest book. Maybe they'll reprint some of these old ones if they get enough demand, hope so.

The Outfit, otherwise known as the Syndicate, starts this story by trying to kill Parker. The hit man attempts the action while Parker is sleeping, but Parker reverses the action and eliminates the assassin. Such begins Richard Stark's third Parker crime mystery.

Parker is one of my favorite characters. I do not like Parker for his occupation (master criminal and robber) nor for his typical methods (he often kills a few people during his heists). I like Parker's personality and discipline. Parker says little and means exactly what he says (sort of a Clint Eastwood in "spaghetti westerns"). Parker is direct, follows a strict code (targets only the rich and never hurts weak or disadvantaged people), and always acts like a gentleman.

In "The Outfit", Parker decides that he needs to handle his problem with organized crime. So our master planner attempts to cut a deal with the big bosses of crime. When he meets heavy resistence, he decides to change the leadership of the outfit. Can he do it? Can Parker actually cause a revolution within the Outfit and get a better deal from new leaders? Parker's plan is pure genius in its simplicity. Parker knows the weakness in Mob security and exploits it, Parker know what the mob usually plains and devises cleaver way to dismantle security and provide Parker and his partners excelled access to armoires .....

The Outfit is a short book with a lot of action. Richard Stark keeps us "briefed" in all the action. We observe both the planning and the execution of numerous criminal actions. The ongoing suspense continually rivets our attention.

The "Outfit" is a fine mystery filled with plots, schemes, and suspenseful action. I recommend this book.

After his new face has failed to keep him hidden from the Outfit (see "The man with the getaway face"), Parker decides to take the problem by the roots, and directly "persuade" the Outfit to leave him alone.

One of the good Parker books, for those who like the genre. High points: Parker's strategy involves telling all his friends that the Outfit's organization are not open hunting grounds, so we have a lot of descriptions of successful robberies. Low points: the hunt for the head of the Outfit himself isn't all that great, and he is surprisingly easy to get to.

All in all a good read.

If you cut out the non-Parker material in the middle of this novel, this book would be Westlake's shortest Parker novel. But the parts in the middle, where he details other thieves' hits against the Outfit, is the reason I gave this an extra star. I like the smaller, self-contained stories that contribute to the greater whole of this book's plot.

Also, keep in mind that this is the 3rd book in a small series. You don't have to read them in order, but the arc is more enjoyable if you do. The first book is 'Hunter'. The second book is 'The Man With The Getaway Face'. 'The Outfit' is the finale.

Parker, the tough, take-it-to-them man from Richard Stark/Don Westlake, is trying to enjoy some r-n-r down south when a bumbling assassing tries to make it permenant. He learns that the Outfit is still trying to recover from an earlier embarrassment and wants him dead.

This leads to a pretty thin plot about Parker calling on all his professional buddies to put a hurt on the Outfit by ignoring an unwritten rule and knocking over Outfit rackets.

The writing is tight, as you'd expect, but a bit dated (originally published in 1963)and doesn't cover any new ground. Still, its enjoyable and worth a quick read (its only 215 pages or so). Bottom line: Don't expect to be spellbound, but you'll enjoy the experience.

When I saw the movie Payback, then learned it was the third or so go around, I started digging. I have always liked the older type writing style and stories. Well, the Hunter led me to the Outfit. I do not understand why Directors and Producers have to change so much storyline when they make a movie from a book. The Outfit continues Parker's travails and successes although every once in awhile you have to let your imagination loose a little. I noticed some really good coincidences.

This is the first novel I have read by Richard Stark. I chose it after recently discovering that Richard Stark was in actuality one of my favorite mystery writers, Donald Westlake. Westlake is a master at detailing the sometimes absurd and always humorous details of bank heists or kidnappings gone terribly wrong, all the while providing intricate plots and terrific characters in a light, readable style. Stark allows him an outlet for some far nastier type of business. The mafia, treachery, revenge and cold-blooded murder..told with great finesse and style. The action just keeps on coming in this novel. Parker, a sometime gun-for-hire to the mob, finds out someone is trying to rub him out. But he's smart, wily, and at least in this novel, has a good many associates in the field who are willing to come to his aid (for a piece of the action of course...) A supremely well-written noir novel that shows Westlake at his very best. Can't recommend this one enough.....

not only the outfit but all other parker novels written by the peerless richard stark (donald westlake) are utterly thrilling and highly entertaining. but don't start to read a novel when you don't have enough time to finish it at once! real page turner!

This is the third book in the Parker series and the one where Westlake truly grows into the series. Parker decides that the Mob owes him the money that Mal took from him in the first book (and used to pay them off), and so he just starts toying with them, as much for the sheer fun of being an anarchist and provocateur in the criminal world as for the money itself (though he'd never admit that to himself). Okay, that may not sound so much like the subsequent books in the series, in which Parker is coolly hyperlogical, the Spock of criminals. But it is the blueprint for Parker from here on out: a big set of brass ones, a clear sense of what he wants, and an analytical mind about how to get it by finding the weak points in the system and pushing them hard. And it's the blueprint for Westlake too, carefully diagramming the mundane realities of Outfit operations so we can see why Parker chooses to strike where he does.