The Man with the Getaway Face

excellent, parkers expertise in setting up an armored car job while trying to protect his new identity after plastic surgery was necessary because of the events in the hunter is excellent. this is the first time you get to meet some of parkers' "friends" as he sets up a heist. mile a minute story, well written and exciting with an amazingly stylistic and cool final paragraph.

The Man With The Getaway Face This book directly follows The The Hunter(aka Payback) I said in my review of The Hunter that Sam Elliott would make a perfect Parker. Well, this is the ideal book/movie to make the switch. "When the bandages came off, Parker looked in the mirror at a stranger. He had come to the doctor with a face that the New York syndicate wanted to put a bullet in." "It costs him a lot But it would be cheap at twice the price if it kept him alive while he did what he had to do. And what he had to do was steal." Dr. Adler had done a good job. "Can someone drive me into Lincoln? May, the Dr.'s nurse said "Stubbs can drive you." Stubbs said "I dunno I've never driven a Lincoln before." I drive a Chrysler. Stubbs was some what punch drunk from getting hit in the head too many times with a 2X4 as a strikebreaker in his earlier life. REMEMBER Stubbs, you'll see him again. Because a new face couldn't keep Parker from his old life of crime and kicks...where money was there for the taking, and nobody did it better than Parker. So begins the second of the Parker books. A series that to date includes: 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) Nobody Runs Forever (2004, Parker) 20) Dirty Money (2008, Parker) The String included Skimm. Alma, a waitress out at the diner on the highway who was dreaming about all that money, Skimm's girlfriend who was also, the Finger, and my personal favorite, Handy McKay (I wonder if he's still lipping those non-filtered cigarettes? Highly recommended for Parker fans and for fans of Donald Westlake. Gunner February, 2007

Donald Westlake writes of Dortmunder, a bumbling petty criminal it's really hard to like. Then as Richard Stark he gives us Parker, a much more competent crook who will kill when he has to, and surprisingly or not, a much more likeable character.It was written in 1963 when the mob was "The Outfit", Exxon was still Esso and you took the ferry to Brooklyn, not the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Parker gets a new face from Dr. Adler, a plastic surgeon in Nebraska who was a pre 50s Commie, then goes back to New Jersey for an armored car heist. Skim and Elma, Skim's overbearing waitress girlfriend, set up the heist, develop an unworkable plan that Parker fixes and set up a doublecross that Parker anticipates. All would be fine except Dr. Adler has been killed, and a guy named Stubbs is sent to find the killer.The interaction between Parker and Stubbs and their search for a swindler named Wallenbaugh, now Wells, take up the rest of the story. Parker's reasons for getting to Wells and going back to Nebraska to square things come from logic only his mind could concoct, but it makes for a fun adventure.

Richard Stark is the master of the criminal tale. THis is the followup novel to The Hunter (AKA Point Blank, AKA Payback). After his run-in with the Outfit, Parker undergoes plastic surgery in order to avoid further complications. Parker's next job is an armored car heist. The entire operation is covered in detail from beginning to end. While planning the job, Parker is tracked by an employee of the doctor who reveals the doctor has been killed. Unless the chauffeur can find the killer, the new faces of his recent customers will be revealed to the Outfit. Parker finds himself in a vise as he goes on with the heist and then has to track the chauffeur in an effort to keep him alive while also uncovering the doctor's killer. AS always for Parker, nothing goes as easily as planned, there is a double cross on the armored car job and the chauffeur gets away from him. This book is a must for those just discovering Parker through the new novels and Mel Gibson's movie. Part 3, featuring the mental meanderings of the punch drunk chauffeur, reveals the slow methodical thought processes while still carrying the story along. The plodding lackey becomes a sympathetic character, maybe the only one in the book, as we follow him on his quest for justice. This book is quite simply a classic of the genre-but then again, aren't all of Stark's novels classics?

These jewels of 60's pulp writing richly deserve a revival. This is one of the best in the series-- but they're all models of propulsive, completely engaging narratives, full of violence and plot twists. Each takes about an hour and a half to read, but you'll be in another world the whole time: Parker's world, totally amoral and lots of fun for visitors.... May Rd. Stark live forever!