In this third Parker novel, The Outfit tries to turn The Hunter into the hunted, and the single-minded hardcase has to prove that he, at least, can follow through on his threats.

The logistics section is particularly elaborate this time, featuring multiple crews as they case various organized criminal enterprises (the numbers racket, bookmaking, and a general-purpose Den of Iniquity), following the money from the corner drugstore to the big shots in the Outfit.

Both plot and theme make this much more of a direct sequel to The Hunter than The Man with the Getaway Face was, but these novels are all heavily serialized. Despite the formula, Westlake/Stark’s prose rarely feels formulaic, with the jarring exception of the catch-up passages aimed at readers coming to the novels out of order (which in some cases seem to be literal cut-and-paste jobs).

Does anybody really know all the professional robbers all over the country? A hundred of them? Before the Internet? Probably not. But once you accept the premise, Parker is irresistible. (More than Dortmunder, where Westlake sometimes spends too much time winking at the audience for my taste.)

3.7 ( )

3.7 ( )

Excellent. Lean plot with no frills or noise. ( )