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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Let’s keep the train rolling. My dad had lots of pulpy crime novels when I was growing up. Really fun stuff.
Great follow up to #1. I read somewhere that #1, the Hunter, was planned to be a stand alone, but Stark (really Donald Westlake), decided to make Parker a reoccurring character. That's hard to imagine, since this book picks up so seamlessly from #1. After getting his revenge and fleecing The Outfit of some dough, Parker is cautious, and travels to Nebraska to have shifty Dr. Adler alter his face through plastic surgery. Then it's back to business as usual, joining a heist to knock off an armored car. Except Parker immediately smells a double-cross, and the job becomes a little more work than he planned. In the meantime, Adler is murdered. May and Stubbs, Adler's cook and chauffeur, suspect it's one of Adler's most recent patients, and suddenly Parker is hunted once again.
That's a nice shift in the plot. I expected the story to focus on the armored car heist, and Parker's way of turning the tables on the double-crosser. That gets resolved, and the focus shifts to Stubbs, and his pursuit of Adler's killer. Stubbs is an interesting supporting character, hopefully just one of many to come in the next installments of this series. This part of the book also defines Parker's character even more that the heist. I'm officially hooked after this one.
That's a nice shift in the plot. I expected the story to focus on the armored car heist, and Parker's way of turning the tables on the double-crosser. That gets resolved, and the focus shifts to Stubbs, and his pursuit of Adler's killer. Stubbs is an interesting supporting character, hopefully just one of many to come in the next installments of this series. This part of the book also defines Parker's character even more that the heist. I'm officially hooked after this one.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Dated at times, but man are these books fun! Lean and mean.
Parker and the Plastic Surgery
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (2010) of the Pocket Books paperback (1963)
Richard Stark was one of the many pseudonyms of the prolific crime author [a:Donald E. Westlake|30953|Donald E. Westlake|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1336863543p2/30953.jpg] (1933-2008), who wrote over 100 books. The Stark pseudonym was used primarily for the Parker novels, an antihero criminal who is usually betrayed in some manner and who spends each book getting revenge.
The Man with the Getaway Face carries on immediately from the first book in the series The Hunter, with Parker requiring plastic surgery so that he can no longer be traced by The Outfit, the nationwide criminal organization that he had attacked previously. The need for new funds leads him into another heist where the partners plan to betray each other. Things become complicated when an associate of the plastic surgeon shows up seeking revenge for a killing of the doctor by an unknown previous client. Parker has to juggle all these twists and prevent his new identity from becoming known to the Outfit.
I had never previously read the Stark/Parker novels but became curious when they came up in my recent reading of [b:The Writer's Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives|49203398|The Writer's Library The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives|Nancy Pearl|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1588038545l/49203398._SX50_.jpg|73236167] (Sept. 2020) by Nancy Pearl & Jeff Schwager. Here is a (perhaps surprising) excerpt from their discussion with [a:Amor Towles|4536964|Amor Towles|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1472937967p2/4536964.jpg]:
The 24 Parker books are almost all available for free on Audible Plus, except for #21 & #22 which aren't available at all.
Trivia and Link
There is a brief plot summary of The Man with the Getaway Face and of all the Parker books and adaptations at The Violent World of Parker website.
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (2010) of the Pocket Books paperback (1963)
Richard Stark was one of the many pseudonyms of the prolific crime author [a:Donald E. Westlake|30953|Donald E. Westlake|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1336863543p2/30953.jpg] (1933-2008), who wrote over 100 books. The Stark pseudonym was used primarily for the Parker novels, an antihero criminal who is usually betrayed in some manner and who spends each book getting revenge.
The Man with the Getaway Face carries on immediately from the first book in the series The Hunter, with Parker requiring plastic surgery so that he can no longer be traced by The Outfit, the nationwide criminal organization that he had attacked previously. The need for new funds leads him into another heist where the partners plan to betray each other. Things become complicated when an associate of the plastic surgeon shows up seeking revenge for a killing of the doctor by an unknown previous client. Parker has to juggle all these twists and prevent his new identity from becoming known to the Outfit.
I had never previously read the Stark/Parker novels but became curious when they came up in my recent reading of [b:The Writer's Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives|49203398|The Writer's Library The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives|Nancy Pearl|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1588038545l/49203398._SX50_.jpg|73236167] (Sept. 2020) by Nancy Pearl & Jeff Schwager. Here is a (perhaps surprising) excerpt from their discussion with [a:Amor Towles|4536964|Amor Towles|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1472937967p2/4536964.jpg]:
Nancy: Do you read Lee Child?
Amor: I know Lee. I had never read his books until I met him, but now I read them whenever they come out. I think some of the decisions he makes are ingenious.
Jeff: Have you read the Parker books by Donald Westlake [writing as Richard Stark]?
Amor: I think the Parker books are an extraordinary series.
Jeff: They feel like a big influence on Reacher, right down to the name. Both Reacher and Parker have a singular focus on the task in front of them.
Amor: But Parker is amoral. Reacher is just dangerous.
Jeff: Right. Reacher doesn't have a conventional morality, but he has his own morality. Parker will do anything he has to do to achieve his goal.
Amor: But to your point, Westlake's staccato style with its great twists at the end the end of the paragraphs, and his mesmerizing central character - these attributes are clearly shared by the Reacher books.
The 24 Parker books are almost all available for free on Audible Plus, except for #21 & #22 which aren't available at all.
Trivia and Link
There is a brief plot summary of The Man with the Getaway Face and of all the Parker books and adaptations at The Violent World of Parker website.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated