Order THE SCORE here
(also reviewed)
Order THE HUNTER here
Order THE MAN WITH THE GETAWAY FACE here
Order THE OUTFIT here
Order THE MOURNER here
Ambition and bravura are two qualities I've learned to respect from an author. Even more so from authors writing a series, because it's easy to get lulled into a false sense of comfort and write the novel that first pleased your fans over and over again. So having long term plans and constantly seeking to one-up yourself and everybody else writing similar material is crucial to keep things fresh. It's not the first time Richard Stark's Parker series impresses me, but he might've outdone himself with THE SCORE. It barely is a novel on its own, but you can rarely find a piece of action so pure in literature. It's more than a piece of candy to those reading the series in order like me, it's the entire freakin' candy store!
Parker is enjoying life in a restort after THE MOURNER's job when his contact man Joe Scheer calls. A man named Paulus is looking to secure his professional services for a job he's about to pull, but he is scarce on the details. Parker agrees to meet him and finds out a man named Edgars is behind everything and he wants to rob an entire town! At first, Parker laughs it off, but he can quite shake the idea to pull off such a spectacular score. The job will require more than a couple guys, so Parker calls a couple contacts he made in the business of robbing people, including Grofield. There will be many sharks treading the same waters on the night of the score and it has every chance in the world to go sideways. But none of the boys want to back from the possibility of pulling a potentially legendary score.
I've read a couple heist novels, but nothing that could compare to THE SCORE. Not in a million years. THE SCORE is actually THE SCORE, from the first meeting to its glorious, Wagnerian ending that puts most endings in literature to shame. About 100 pages into THE SCORE, I've heard the magic ''click'' of transcendant reading and finished the damned thing in one sitting. It's visceral, but it's understated. It's quiet, yet eerie and atmospheric. Richard Stark writes the heist of THE SCORE like Salvador Dali would depict surrealism in a painting : with love, patience and vision. I have possibly never read action sequences that were so engrossing and inspired. The book does one thing extremely well, but that one thing swept me off my feet.
As portrayed by Darwyn Cooke, Parker is not convinced at first.
Can you read THE SCORE without having previously read a Parker novel? I guess you could, but I don't know if you could enjoy is as hard as I did, though. It basically is a grand finale without a story to build on. It has only one piece of the puzzle of what I would call a Great novel * (intense character-revealing action), but Parker novels have their own intrinstic logic and build off one another. I believe my enjoyment of THE SCORE was heightened by my familiarity with Parker's streetwise and work ethic. I knew he was the man before even going in, so it's very special to see the metaphorial man shine while facing his toughest challenge yet. Heist novels usually build pathos around the protagonists, feeds the reader reasons to like them before jumping into action, but not here. THE SCORE features a bunch of professionals robbing a town blind because they can. It's the farthest thing from a traditional storytelling job.
There is a story about Kevin Smith's legendary slacker movie CLERKS that Harvey Weinstein (who ended up buying the movie) almost walked out of it and was convinced to stay until he heard the word ''thirty-seven'' **. If you had any difficulty getting into Parker novels, THE SCORE should be your number thirty-seven. You should not form a final opinion about it until you read that wonderful piece of understated action. It's about the most rewarding thing. If you're only looking for a master class in writing action scenes, I suppose you could jump straight to THE SCORE, but working your way towards such a booming piece of literature is something special. It's the closest thing to a mandatory reading for crime fiction lovers and I don't believe in mandatory readings.
BADASS
* Capital G is important here.
** You curious you.
There is a story about Kevin Smith's legendary slacker movie CLERKS that Harvey Weinstein (who ended up buying the movie) almost walked out of it and was convinced to stay until he heard the word ''thirty-seven'' **. If you had any difficulty getting into Parker novels, THE SCORE should be your number thirty-seven. You should not form a final opinion about it until you read that wonderful piece of understated action. It's about the most rewarding thing. If you're only looking for a master class in writing action scenes, I suppose you could jump straight to THE SCORE, but working your way towards such a booming piece of literature is something special. It's the closest thing to a mandatory reading for crime fiction lovers and I don't believe in mandatory readings.
BADASS
* Capital G is important here.
** You curious you.