Comeback

Comeback Comeback is significant because Donald Westlake, writing as Richard Stark came back to writing Parker novels after a hiatus of some twenty years or so. I say welcome back. Thiis story is ripped from today's headlines. A TV evangelist who uses a stadium to preach from has an "Angel" who is unhappy with all the money being raised and spent on the preacher himself. Can you say Altanta Mega churches? Any how, as usual the heist doesn't go exactly as planned. I particularly like the part where the preacher pays Parker a thousand dollars to find and recover his money. As far as I can tell the other Parker books are: 1) The Hunter (1963; AKA Point Blank, Payback; Parker, by Richard Stark). 2) The Man With the Getaway Face (1963; AKA The Steel Hit; Parker, 3) The Outfit (1963; Parker, by Richard Stark) 4) The Mourner (1963; Parker, by Richard Stark) 5) The Score (1964; AKA Killtown; Parker, by Richard Stark) 6) The Jugger (1965; Parker, by Richard Stark) 7) The Seventh (1966; AKA The Split; Parker, by Richard Stark) 8) The Handle (1966; AKA Run Lethal; Parker, by Richard Stark) 9) The Rare Coin Score (1967; Parker, by Richard Stark) 10) The Green Eagle Score (1967; Parker, by Richard Stark) 11) The Black Ice Score (1968; Parker, by Richard Stark) 12) The Sour Lemon Score (1969; Parker, by Richard Stark) 13) Slayground (1971; Parker, by Richard Stark) 14) Deadly Edge (1971; Parker, by Richard Stark) 15) Plunder Squad (1972; Parker, by Richard Stark) 16) Butcher's Moon (1974; Parker, by Richard Stark) 17) Comeback (1997; 18) Backflash (1998; Parker).. 19) Flashfire (2000; Parker, by Richard Stark).. 20) Firebreak (2001; Parker, by Richard Stark) .. 21) Nobody Runs Forever (2004) Parker, by Richard Stark Highly recommended for Parker fans and fans of action adventure stories. Gunner November, 2007

Professional thief Parker returns in this suspenseful tale of a caper gone wrong. Parker, with fellow thieves Liss and Mackey, conspires to rob the coffers of the Christian Crusade, part of the ministry of the Reverend William Archibald. Despite some last minute nerves on the part of their inside man, the robbery proceeds smoothly, and the trio makes off with nearly half a million dollars in cash. After the crooks go to ground, one of their number tries to rob the rest. An ever wary Parker foils this attempt but fails to subdue his former ally. Parker and the remaining gang member must evade the traitor, the police, and Reverend Archibald's minions to escape with their lives and the money. Comeback, Richard Stark's (aka Donald E. Westlake's) first Parker novel after an almost unendurable twenty three year hiatus, is a hard boiled novel of suspense comparable to the other highly entertaining entries in this series. Told using Stark's trademark framework--three quarters of the novel is from Parker's point of view, one quarter from the individual points of view of all the other principal characters--the novel delivers all the action, violence and surprises fans of this series have come to expect. Stark and Parker--perfect together!

Donald E. Westlake's alter ego Richard Stark's Parker character is back along with Mackey and Brenda from other Parker classics. Comeback is another can't put down until the final page easy to read action packed thriller. Comeback is a novel both fans of and new readers to Westlake under his or his pen name Stark will read over and over again. Short chapters make putting it down when you reluctantly have to a breeze as well. As well as other Parker adventures also check out under Westlake's own name his masterpiece solution to being unemployed, The Ax. His novels Corkscrew and the Scared Stiff are also brilliant! In Comeback Parker, Mackey and Brenda team up with a villain named Liss whose parol officer Tom Carmody dresses up as an angel as part of a Christian con artist Evangelist stadium show. Carmody is disillusioned that the reverend is not giving the money to the needy but spending it on himself and wants to rob the production of its $400 000 in gate takings to give to the poor. Of course Liss, Parker, Mackey and Brenda have no intention of splitting the money with Carmody, in fact Liss has no intention of letting his colleagues live which of course Parker can not let him get away with. Further complicating the matter are a group of low intelligent young guys who think they can just take the money from the gang. Ex marine but equally low intelligence head of security for the Christian Festival also makes this great novel even more exciting!

Parker is a heister, a man who plans and carries out major thefts with the help of other heisters, chosen for the job at hand. He is unabashedly a crook. The stakes are real -- if you are hurt on a job, you will likely be killed by your partners who want to ensure their safety. In this book, Parker is ripping off a televangelist, at a stadium prayer revival. Things start going wrong after his team gets the money. The story is gripping, and a fast read. The author stays true to the characters and situation. There is an entire genre of fiction -- Block's hitman series, Max Allan Collins' Quarry novels, and these fine novels about Parker -- that involve criminal men acting within their criminal impulses in adventurous situations. For some reason I am drawn to these stories -- they offer no moral redemption, but have a hard boiled honesty about the human condition. And they are fun to read. probably because your average white bread suburbanite loves to imagine a transgressive life of adventurous crime.

I just finished COMEBACK by Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark. It was a heist novel starring "Parker" , the thief from Stark's novels written in the 1970's. It was great to see Parker back in this updated adventure. I hope Westlake writes more of them. In this book, Parker and his crew rip off a TV Preacher during his stadium show. Doublecrosses, violence, and cat-and-mouse games ensue. Westlake never gives the name of the city that 99% of the action takes place, but he seems to be dropping many clues. Its not California, the Midwest, Memphis or Baltimore. Can anyone tell me the setting for this novel? My guess is Philadelphia, although I can't be certain. Anyway, go out and read this book. Make some noise about it, too, so Westlake writes some more. This wasn't the best Parker novel ever, but it was head and shoulders above most of the crime novels written today. Also, if you are intersted in seeing where Quentin Tarantino got many of his ideas, read other Parker novels.