Breakout

This is another quick and simple Parker adventure by Donald E Westlake writing under his pen name Richard Stark. Whilst there are certainly better Parker adventures where the reader gets to see Parker's skills in action, in Breakout the reader gets to see just how intelligent this criminal is. If you haven't checked out Westlake's novels under his own name definitely do so as well. His masterpiece The Ax as well as Corkscrew and the Scared Stiff are all great places to start. Short chapters make putting down Breakout when you have to a breeze. In Breakout Parker is behind bars in the overcrowded Stoneveldt, a transit prison for those awaiting trial and the probable outcome of an even worse actual jail. Although the authorities can't work out who he actually is they do know one of his alter egos killed a prison guard and escaped from a California prison so it won't be long before he's extradited there. This is not a place Parker wants to go so he must escape Stoneveldt, where no one else has ever done so before. Stoneveldt isn't the only place he will have to escape from before leaving town. If you like Westlake as Richard Stark or himself also check out James Pattinson (Pattinson not Patterson), a British author who writes very similar novels.

Reading about Stark's bad-guy protagonist Parker forces a reader to play mind games. You need to suspend the normal impulse to hope the crooks get caught and be willing to see humor in horrifying situations. And Parker himself is a complex character. Yes, he's a professional crook, but he has some admirable traits and his own form of ethics. But be assured that justice ultimately triumphs in BREAKOUT, although in unorthodox ways. And the suspense never lets up.

The latest Parker book by Richard Stark (Donald Westlake) is a series of breakouts and breakins. A bumbled robbery lands Parker in custody, but not for long. Parker assembles a small crew of fellow inmates to break out of a holding facility while awaiting arraignment. They successfully breakout, but then the real trouble begins when an attempted breakin of an former armory housing a wholesale jewelry operation goes astray and they are trapped once again in a "prison" of their own making. Parker is his usual tough and quiet self, not hesitant to kill, but still someone the reader roots for to pull off another heist, and make he getaway. Stark's writing is very straight forward, with minimal words wasted on secondary characters who are used to drive the plot.

For those who like their heroes to be above reproach, steer clear of Richard Stark. But for those who like some edge in their (anti)hero, check out Breakout. Stark's hero, Parker, is an amoral criminal mind who always seems to end up in nail-biting, fast-paced adventures.In the newest installment in this series (40 years and counting), Parker is whiling away his time in the Stoneweldt Detention Centre after a botched heist. Knowing Parker as we do, of course he will not abide captivity for very long, and he plans his escape with two of his jailmates. The only hitch is that after they break out, they plan to knock over a jewelery store. Parker's typical mayhem ensues as he and his buddies leap through both figurative and literal hoops in their quest for freedom.With each successive Parker book, Richard Stark gives his fans not just a good taste of the criminal mind, but a rollicking adventure as well. The Parker series are escapist fiction at its very best and BREAKOUT is no exception.Definitely not to be missed.

Through many twists and turns of a long and enviable career, Donald E. Westlake has always returned to two ongoing characters. Both are professional criminals, Dortmunder and Parker. As Westlake, his Dortmunder books are always hilarious. As Richard Stark, his Parker tales are always grim and filled with (cliche alert!) nail-biting suspense. What is amazing is that THEY ARE THE SAME BOOKS!!! Each tells of a crime caper that (usually) goes horribly wrong, leading to another caper necessary to straighten out the first, which leads to still another caper to straighten out what goes wrong with the second, etc.One would think that this formula would get stale... fast. But it never does, because Westlake/Stark is such a pro that each book meets, and usually exceeds, the pleasure of the previous one.So, too, with "Breakout". It never puts a foot wrong. It never delivers less than top of the line suspense. If you're a Westlake/Stark fan, you already know what I mean. If you haven't discovered him/them, what the heck are you waiting for?