The Score – A Parker Novel (Parker Novels)

I won’t tell you about the story but in fact the series themselves.Very cool thief. I know it’s not cool to say that but it’s a story after all. Entertaining and tough. Parker is the character that Lee Marvin portraits in the movie Point Blank. He’s a tough guy. Is Parker his first name or last? I don’t think anyone knows. The series start with Hunter very roughly and violently and it slowly matures into 24 books. I am on book 3 now and they are fast reads. If you like vintage crime or noir stories then you’d enjoy these. If you like politically correct stories look elsewhere and don’t blame me for this review.

The Parker series by Richard Stark are renown for their grittiness, realism and bleak outlook on life. Parker is someone who is the ultimate professional and knows full well the consequences of sloppiness in crimes.In this book he is asked to lead a team of criminals in robbing an entire town. The book details the planning that takes place, the night of the robbery and the aftermath.The issues that I had with the book are simple:1. Parker would not take a caper like this with so many people involved, he is more of a loner. The more people involved, the greater the likelihood that someone speaks to the police if caught.2. While the planning is going on, the guys sit around drinking beers, Parker included. Honestly think that Parker would be the one not drinking as he would want a clear head.3. The whole caper just appears to be fanciful, robbing an entire town then hiding out at a nearby cabin.4. Parker would have killed the girl or had her killed, she was a liability in the cabin.So a change of pace for the Parker series and not a good one. The book was a quick and easy read as one would expect from a quality author.

This was the first Stark novel I read, I was familiar with the Parker character from the movie Payback and our reading grou, The Sons of Literacy, picked this as the the book to read this month.Parker is a no nonsense kind of guy taken to the next level, the only thing that matters is the job, and he does what needs to be done to get the job done. No violence or destruction just for the sake of it, just what is required.This will not be the last Stark novel I read I know that much.

There is no finer name in hard-boiled thriller writing than Richard Stark, one of the many pen names used by Donald Westlake. Memorably played by Lee Marvin in "Point Blank", and forgettably by Mel Gibson in "Payback", Parker (one never learns his first name) is a criminal who is resourceful, and creative, vengeful and relentless. All the Parker books will keep you reading from first page to last with breaks only for food and sleep. The best thriller fiction there is.

I'm working my way through the reissued Parker novels in order, and just finished The Score (but I screwed up a bit and read The Jugger first).If The Jugger is a five-star book, The Score is a solid four. It's pretty much pure action, with a nice twist near the end. Unlike the other Parkers I've read, this one has a pretty large cast of characters, so all but a few are nothing but cardboard cutouts.Still, definitely a worthwhile read. With Parker, the heist planning and prep work are as entertaining as the heist itself, and that's not an easy feat to pull off.