Ask The Parrot – Richard Stark
Richard Stark is one of the pen names used by the master story teller Donald E Westlake. It should be noted that Westlake is often named as the favourite crime author of the top crime authors – high praise indeed.
This novel begins at the end of the 2004 Parker novel “Nobody Runs Forever”. Parker is on the run after a botched bank robbery and the police are closing in. He is met by one of the locals who needs Parker’s help with a robbery. Since Parker’s need for a hideout and the local’s need for help with his robbery coincide, Parker agrees.
Parker is a bad man. He is a professional thief, sometimes violent and prepared to kill as a last resort. We are not given a picture of an angel with a dirty face, we are told over and over that this is a bad man. And yet, he is a likable character. Parker is always on the run from a botched robbery or is being forced into a bungled robbery or is taking revenge on someone for something to do with a robbery.
As we have come to expect from this author, this a very fast moving, well plotted story. There are no sub-plots to divert us from the main story and, as such, this means that we can stay with Parker until the job is done.
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hi! good to see you on my blog, thanks for the comment. i hope to see more of you as i write more. i always like finding new book lovers.