I am a fan of Claire. Her relationship with Parker one of the few relationships that feels realistic. While we never see Parker express his attachment to her, we know he is from the small things like how cleans up and disposes of those hippies in the Deadly edge after he realizes she will not live the house she has turned into a home.
In the first book Westlake originally had Parker caught and sentenced. His publisher told him to rewrite the last chapter having Parker escape justice and become a series character. In the first 15 books (Hunter - Plunder Squad) the story format never deviated from a four part narrative. In all those books parts 1, 2 & 4 are told from Parker's point of view, except one time when the viewpoint shift occurs in part 2 (I forget which book). Butcher's Moon, book 16, deviates from that telling the full linear story without being broken into four sections. Westlake started a 17th manuscript but abandoned it claiming he'd lost Parker's voice and turned his attention to a bumbling Parker-esque series featuring Dortmunder as the lead. The first book in that series The Hot Rock began life as a Parker novel but devolved into severe silliness. This, and the other 13 of that series, were meant to be comedic novels but none of them are funny, whereas Parker and the Grofield books can be hilarious. I started reading Parker in 1968 when The Split appeared; Fawcett Gold Medal changed title of The Seventh and made it a movie tie-in book for the upcoming film The Split with football player Jim Brown (?) starring as Parker, renamed McClain. Like most movies featuring Parker (Westlake wisely never let Hollywood have the Parker name) it was awful. Back in the literary world in 1997 Westake claimed he'd found Parker's voice again, but he hadn't. To justify the high price tags on books 35 years after Parker began at 40 and 50 cents a book, Westlake had to make the books longer which killed all the suspense of the original series (too bad, the same thing happened to Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm when he brought him back after just a 5-year hiatus). Westlake claimed he hated The Jugger---for what it's worth I never liked it either and think the series died after Slayground, possibly the best book of all the Parkers. The new overlapping titles Comeback, Backflash, Flashfire, Firebreak & Breakout were clever, unfortunately not clever enough to revive the initial brilliance of the Parker character, an idea that ran aground too soon.
You misremembered. Parker goes after the Outfit because they sent a hitter after him. He got his money from Bronson at the end of the Hunter. But they were still messing with him after he got his new face. So that's why he declared war on the Outfit.
Hi i read Slay Ground a novel intitled Luna Parker in Italy ,in this novel Parker is in a luna park ,edited in italy by giallomondadori,Richard Stark Slay ground
VEGAS HEIST -- my own crime/caper novel, that won "Best Pulp Novel of the Year" at the Windy City Pulp Factory Awards in Chicago: www.amazon.com/VEGAS-HEIST-Van-Allen-Plexico-ebook/dp/B07B7FT9SD It is in paperback, on Kindle, and a great Audible audiobook edition, performed by Pete Milan!
MIAMI HEIST is the second book in the series, and it won "Thriller Novel of the Year" at the Imadjinn Awards in Louisville: www.amazon.com/Miami-Heist-Harper-Salsa-Book-ebook/dp/B089LTJZ24 It is also in paperback, on Kindle, and on Audible audiobook, also performed by the great Pete Milan!
this was fantastic - so glad i found this video
I am a fan of Claire. Her relationship with Parker one of the few relationships that feels realistic. While we never see Parker express his attachment to her, we know he is from the small things like how cleans up and disposes of those hippies in the Deadly edge after he realizes she will not live the house she has turned into a home.
I bough #9 Rare Coin Job and forgot how cool Claire is as a character. I'm only a third of the way through and I really love this lady.
I'm always on the lookout for a good heist story, so I added your Vegas and Miami books to my list.
In the first book Westlake originally had Parker caught and sentenced. His publisher told him to rewrite the last chapter having Parker escape justice and become a series character. In the first 15 books (Hunter - Plunder Squad) the story format never deviated from a four part narrative. In all those books parts 1, 2 & 4 are told from Parker's point of view, except one time when the viewpoint shift occurs in part 2 (I forget which book). Butcher's Moon, book 16, deviates from that telling the full linear story without being broken into four sections. Westlake started a 17th manuscript but abandoned it claiming he'd lost Parker's voice and turned his attention to a bumbling Parker-esque series featuring Dortmunder as the lead. The first book in that series The Hot Rock began life as a Parker novel but devolved into severe silliness. This, and the other 13 of that series, were meant to be comedic novels but none of them are funny, whereas Parker and the Grofield books can be hilarious. I started reading Parker in 1968 when The Split appeared; Fawcett Gold Medal changed title of The Seventh and made it a movie tie-in book for the upcoming film The Split with football player Jim Brown (?) starring as Parker, renamed McClain. Like most movies featuring Parker (Westlake wisely never let Hollywood have the Parker name) it was awful. Back in the literary world in 1997 Westake claimed he'd found Parker's voice again, but he hadn't. To justify the high price tags on books 35 years after Parker began at 40 and 50 cents a book, Westlake had to make the books longer which killed all the suspense of the original series (too bad, the same thing happened to Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm when he brought him back after just a 5-year hiatus). Westlake claimed he hated The Jugger---for what it's worth I never liked it either and think the series died after Slayground, possibly the best book of all the Parkers. The new overlapping titles Comeback, Backflash, Flashfire, Firebreak & Breakout were clever, unfortunately not clever enough to revive the initial brilliance of the Parker character, an idea that ran aground too soon.
You misremembered. Parker goes after the Outfit because they sent a hitter after him. He got his money from Bronson at the end of the Hunter. But they were still messing with him after he got his new face. So that's why he declared war on the Outfit.
Loved the review but what about the Grofield run? It's such a breezy blast imo! What's your take on them?
Hi i read Slay Ground a novel intitled Luna Parker in Italy ,in this novel Parker is in a luna park ,edited in italy by giallomondadori,Richard Stark Slay ground
VEGAS HEIST -- my own crime/caper novel, that won "Best Pulp Novel of the Year" at the Windy City Pulp Factory Awards in Chicago: www.amazon.com/VEGAS-HEIST-Van-Allen-Plexico-ebook/dp/B07B7FT9SD
It is in paperback, on Kindle, and a great Audible audiobook edition, performed by Pete Milan!
MIAMI HEIST is the second book in the series, and it won "Thriller Novel of the Year" at the Imadjinn Awards in Louisville:
www.amazon.com/Miami-Heist-Harper-Salsa-Book-ebook/dp/B089LTJZ24
It is also in paperback, on Kindle, and on Audible audiobook, also performed by the great Pete Milan!