The Blackbird: An Alan Grofield Novel (The Alan Grofield Novels Book 3)

As virtually all crime fiction fans know, "Richard Stark" was one of the several pseudonyms used by the prolific author, Donald Westlake. Writing as Stark, he was best known for his series featuring the amoral criminal known as Parker which ultimately ran to twenty-four novels. As Stark, Westlake also wrote four novels featuring Alan Grofield who appeared in several of the Parker novels as Parker's sidekick.The Blackbird is the third of the Grofield novels and, in an interesting move, shares a first chapter with the Parker novel Slayground. In the chapter, Parker, Grofield and a third man are racing away from an armored car robbery when their car flips over with the cops in hot pursuit. In Slayground, Parker manages to get away and we watch what happens with him in the aftermath of his escape.Grofield is not so lucky, and in this book we see what happens to him. He's captured by the police and is in the hospital recovering from the minor injuries he suffered in the crash. He's been caught red-handed and is staring at a long prison sentence. But then some mysterious government agents appear and offer him a way out.A group of third-world leaders has gathered for a mysterious meeting and the G-men would like to know what they're up to. As it happens, Grofield is acquainted with two of the men who will be at the meeting and the agents want him to infiltrate the meeting and report back. This is a highly dangerous task, but if he completes it, the government will give him a pass on the armored car robbery.Grofield is not remotely attracted by the idea of becoming a spy, but he's also not very enthused about spending the next several years in prison. So he agrees to go along, figuring that he'll devise a way to escape and worm his way out of the situation. The story that follows strains credulity beyond any reasonable or even unreasonable limits, but that doesn't really matter. Grofield is a much lighter and more amusing character than Parker, and it's a lot of fun just watching him maneuver his way through this mess. This is a light and very entertaining read that should appeal to anyone who has met Alan Grofield through the Parker novels and would like to see him working on his own.

Publication date: 1969Chapter one of The Blackbird is similar to chapter one of  Slayground: A Parker Novel (Parker Novels) - the same heist told from Grofield's point-of-view. Grofield is a professional, but he is not like Parker, as soon becomes apparent:"You've got a small army here, you don't need me. What your problem is, you don't want the rest of the team to know one of their number's been bumped off. You get little morale problems like that often?""I hope you screw up, Grofield," Ken said. "I hope you screw up so bad I get the order to take you right back and turn you in for that armored car job.""And let the Third World capture Peoria? Move over, Ken, I'm off to save my country from the pygmies."Ken moved over. "You cynical b*stard," he said.Grofield stopped with his hand on the knob. "If I don't come back from this mission," he said dramatically, "I want you to tell the folks back home. Tell them to be on their guard. Tell them to--tell them to--watch the skies!" He went out chuckling, and Ken slammed the door behind him.This Richard Stark is not in the 'quartet' form- there is no shift in the middle to other points of view. It is a very creditable parody or pastiche of a Bond adventure, with a stark twist in one chapter (nobody does it better), and Westlake's dry humor on display quite often. He seems willing in this outting to blow 'Stark's' cover:... He sat up, stiff and aching and bruised all over. He called, "Vivian?"Somebody groaned. He got to hands and knees."Groan again," he called.She groaned again. He crawled in that direction, and touched wet cloth. He slid his hand along the cloth and said, "Vivian?"A weak voice said, "Watch that hand, there.""Why? What have I got?""So far, leg."He patted it. "You sound like you're all right," he said.

...,with which it shares a first chapter, The Blackbird tells of story of thespian/crook Alan Grofield, part of Parker's gang of resourceful thieves. Fleeing from a heist, their car crashes. Parker goes on to escape into an amusement park, the story told in the novel Slayground, one of the very best in the Parker series of almost two dozen books. Grofield is not so lucky. He wakes up in a hospital surrounded by government intelligence officers who offer him the opportunity to work a dangerous case for them, or to go straight to jail.Grofield takes the case, although that doesn't mean he won't try to double cross everyone around him. This case involves an intelligence operation in Canada, where things quickly get out of hand, as they always do in a Parker book, just after the action starts. At the end, after snowmobile chases across the frozen tundra and lots of violence, the good guys win, largely due to Grofield.The pluses of the book are the always crackling dialogue, the smooth pacing, and the way the reader is always sucked up for a ride by Stark's prose. I still don't find Grofield as intriguing as Parker, but then Parker is an iconic figure in crime fiction. If you've read the Parker novels and want more, this book is for you. Be sure to read this series in order.

Grofield showed a much more violent side of himself. He killed lots of people. But only because he had to. Stark’s imagination ran wilder than usual.

I bought this book because I am a fan of Stark's Parker novels and Alan Grofield was a character in several of them. It was interesting to see some of the same situations from a different perspective. However, I didn't find this book as compelling as the Parker novels but if you want a look at the crime scene from an alternate viewpoint,give it a try.

i enjoyed the ironic humour. pretty good characters. light reading... recommend for someone interested in irony, mystery & light violence. lynne from sellersville

Great storyshould be read in conjunction with the Parker books