quips and clips

just finished reading the last of three Alan Grofield vehicles by the Donald E. Westlake nom de plume, Richard Stark: The Blackbird, Grofield as a reluctant spy (they’d otherwise bust him for the armored car heist-gone wrong he’d just partnered on with Parker, whose POV of the aftermath features in Stark’s Slayground) who knows some…

finished reading on the plane Grofield novel #2 by Richard Stark The Dame. #1 was an escape, #2 is a whodunit, #3 (i’m reading now, The Blackbird) is a hapless spy novel with Grofield at its center, his brief liaison with his Banana Republic friend and Third World player figuring prominently in #3. Westlake rules

Just finished reading another of Richard Stark’s Parker series, The Sour Lemon Score in which the double cross is the whole caper. Brilliant.

just finished reading another in Richard Stark’s Parker series, The Green Eagle Score. a payroll heist and the impracticality of psychoanalysis. great.

just finished reading another in the Parker series by Richard Stark (Donald Westlake’s dark side), Slayground. Parker’s trapped with the cash from an armored car heist in a closed amusement park, unarmed. awesome.

just finished reading another in the Parker series by Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake’s darkest nom de plume), Plunder Squad. it amazes me how many different ways a job can go so wrong. lots of loose ends, jobs considered and discarded. this series never is less than astonishingly inventive and fresh, even as Parker remains…

just finished reading another in Richard Stark’s Parker series, The Score. Parker & Co. knock off a whole town. first appearance of Alan Grofield, thespian thief and lothario, who’ll have his own handful of Stark novels to himself shortly in the scheme of things. tight as a drum.

just finished reading the next in Richard Stark’s Parker series, The Black Ice Score: diamonds, the literal backstabbing politics of emerging African nations, and waay too many actors for this job to go smoothly. more double-crosses than ever. Parker’s got his hands full. brilliant.

just finished reading another great Parker novel by Donald E. Westlake’s darkest pseudonym, Richard Stark. i swear to god Parker gets pretty romantic in this one

just finished reading the next in Richard Stark’s Parker series, The Handle. an island casino job goes more sour than any of the Parker heists heretofore, this one also featuring the debonair thespian fellow crook (and star of other Stark novels) Alan Grofield. superb. no one beats Westlake