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Bezig met laden... Breakoutdoor Richard Stark
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. Parker has miraculously avoided the law until a knucklehead on a pharmaceutical warehouse job goes into the alarmed office, and the whole crew goes to the pokie. The cops are trying to get each to rat out the others, but Parker has the most to lose since his fingerprints are in the system from his previous prison sentence where there is an inmate murder so Parker needs to get out. He recruits his cellmate and another inmate, and they do what has never been done in this overcrowded facility, with the help of Ed Mackey. Then, the other inmate, Ed and his cellmate stick around to rob a wholesale jewelry shop using a secret access point, which turns into a disaster, including Brenda getting arrested. Parker and Mackey have to spring her, and get away. A bit longer than necessary, but better than the recent ones. Well, this isn't my favorite Parker novel of all time, but it is a Parker novel, so I liked it! The title says it all "Breakout", and in fact there are three breakouts in here! Out of prison, out of a botched job, and out of the whole dang thing! Parker teams up with Mackey and Williams in all 3 and they do it as only they can! If you like Parker, you'll like this book! geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
Onderdeel van de reeks(en)
Together at last. Under the pseudonym Richard Stark, Donald E. Westlake, one of the greats of crime fiction, wrote twenty-four fast-paced, hard-boiled novels featuring Parker, a shrewd career criminal with a talent for heists and a code all his own. With the publication of the last four Parker novels Westlake wrote--Breakout, Nobody Runs Forever, Ask the Parrot, and Dirty Money--the University of Chicago Press pulls the ultimate score: for the first time ever, the entire Parker series will be available from a single publisher. With Parker locked up and about to be unmasked, Breakout follows his Houdini-like escape from prison with a team of convicts. But when a new heist and new dangers--con artists, snitches, busybodies, eccentrics, and cops--loom among the dark alleys and old stone buildings of the big city to which they've fled, Parker soon learns that not all prisons have bars. Featuring new forewords by Chris Holm, Duane Swierczynski, and Laura Lippman--celebrated crime writers, all--these masterworks of noir are the capstone to an extraordinary literary run that will leave you craving more. Written over the course of fifty years, the Parker novels are pure artistry, adrenaline, and logic both brutal and brilliant. Join Parker on his jobs and read them all again or for the first time. Just don't talk to the law. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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Review of the University of Chicago Press paperback edition (May 2013) of the Mysterious Press hardcover (2002)
Richard Stark was one of the many pseudonyms of the prolific crime author Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008), who wrote over 100 books. The Stark pseudonym was used primarily for the Parker novels, an antihero criminal who is usually betrayed or ensnared in some manner and who spends each book getting revenge or escaping the circumstances.
As Breakout begins, Parker is in prison and has to assemble a crew in order to breakout. The same crew become the nucleus for an expanded crew to break into a jewellery wholesaler for a heist, but circumstances go awry as always and they find themselves having to breakout all over again. I would say that this is probably my absolute favourite Parker novel primarily because of the constant obstacles that have to be overcome whether human or physical. The actual heist is not even a major element.
These final Parker novels from #17 to #24 are stronger and more complex than the original run which was probably due to Westlake/Stark's development as a writer over the years and during the 23 year hiatus. Several of these are strong 4's to 5's (I've actually read or listened to all of them now and am just parceling out the reviews over time).
Breakout is the 5th book of 5 in a book titles arc by Richard Stark where the second syllable in each one-word title provides the first syllable of the next one as in 1) Comeback, 2) Backflash, 3) Flashfire, 4) Firebreak and 5) Breakout.
I had never previously read the Stark/Parker novels but became curious when they came up in my recent reading of The Writer's Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives (Sept. 2020) by Nancy Pearl & Jeff Schwager. Here is a (perhaps surprising) excerpt from their discussion with author Amor Towles:
The 24 Parker books are almost all available for free on Audible Plus, except for #21 & #22 which aren't available at all.
Other Reviews
There is an extremely detailed review and plot summary (in 2 parts) of Breakout (with spoilers obviously) at The Westlake Review, April 18, 2017.
Trivia and Links
The Breakout page at The Violent World of Parker website is not as complete as those for the earlier books, but does provide cover images of the different editions.
This paperback is part of the University of Chicago Press 2009-2017 series of reprints of the Parker novels and includes a new Foreword by author Chris Holm. ( )