The Outfit (Parker, #3)

Dec 29, 2011 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebooks, kings-of-badassia, audiobook, 1954-1969, crime, hardboiled-and-noir

Drip…Drip…Drip…
Drip…Drip...Drip…

…that is the sound of icy cold, 80 proof, liquid badasseliciousness seeping from every pore of Richard Stark’s mantastic anti-hero, Parker. Over the past several seasons, thanks in large part to Kemper and Dan), I have become a big fan of crime fiction. During my reading excursions, I have come across some very engaging characters with high quotients of rough and tumble nastiness.

Parker is in a mold-breaking class by himself.

He’s unlike anyone else I've stumbled...more

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Sep 05, 2010 Kemper rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery, bad-guys-rule, thieves, parker

When Parker and the Outfit had a dispute in the first book of the series, Parker warned them what he’d do if they didn’t leave him alone. But after surviving an attempt on his life, it’s time for Parker to make good on his threat.

As Parker told the bosses of the Outfit, all the professional thieves know each other, and all of them have worked out some kind of scenario for robbing one of their operations because they’re cash-rich and won’t bring any legal attention. Potential revenge by the Outfi...more When Parker and the Outfit had a dispute in the first book of the series, Parker warned them what he’d do if they didn’t leave him alone. But after surviving an attempt on his life, it’s time for Parker to make good on his threat.

As Parker told the bosses of the Outfit, all the professional thieves know each other, and all of them have worked out some kind of scenario for robbing one of their operations because they’re cash-rich and won’t bring any legal attention. Potential revenge by the Outfit is the only thing stopping anyone from acting on their plans. But if someone fired a starting gun and they all hit at the roughly the same time, the confusion would greatly increase the chances that they’d be able to get away with no payback.

Parker writes a series of letters asking his fellow thieves to go ahead and hit any syndicate operation they’ve had their eye on. Many jump at the chance, not out of any friendship or loyalty to Parker (Parker doesn’t have friends.) but because someone gave them an excuse. As the Outfit reels from the shock of multiple robberies and the loss of a small fortune, Parker is going to find the head man and settle his problem once and for all.

This is one of the few Parker books that wouldn’t use the plot of him planning a job, carrying it out and dealing with complications, and it gives Stark (a/k/a Westlake) a chance to spin several mini-stories in the middle of the book as he deftly describes some of the different robberies that Parker’s fellow thieves carry out against the Outfit.

This one really solidifies Parker’s no-nonsense nature. With no patience for polite chit-chat or other social niceties, Parker’s encounters with other people can be hilarious. When he recruits Handy McKay to join him on his attempt to get to the top Outfit man, Parker offers money and a chance at picking up more along the way. When McKay indicates that he doesn’t really care about the money, that he’s going along because of their relationship, Parker is baffled and uncomfortable about it. He doesn’t understand sentimentality and doesn’t like that McKay is showing it about him.

Another solid Parker outing that wraps up a lot of the overall plot arcs from the first couple of books but leaves one nice dangling thread for Parker to pick up in the next one.(less)

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Apr 15, 2013 Jane Stewart rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: noir-crime-fiction

The Outfit (mafia) sends a hitman to kill Parker. Parker makes the Outfit sorry it ever tangled with him.

I’m enjoying these stories and find myself wanting to read one right after the other. Like potato chips, you can’t eat just one. These are about bad guys. They rob. They kill. They don’t go to jail. They’re smart. It’s fun to be in this world for a change. A few times I’m delighted or surprised with something. I liked the plot in this one.

The narrator John Chancer was ok.

This is book 3 in the...more

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Jan 14, 2011 brian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

in the hunter, parker warned the Outfit that if he were to instruct all his contacts to hit Outfit run businesses across the nation, they could put some serious hurting on the organization. it never comes to that. in this book it does. and it's glorious. not only do we track parker's moves against high-ranking members of the Outfit, but individual chapters are devoted to heists and jobs by various transient criminals directed at the Outfit. good stuff.

i've always loved stories which feature an...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Dan Schwent rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-and-mystery, hardcase-writers, 2010, westlake

After a hit man tries to kill Parker while he's in bed with a ladyfriend, Parker decides it's time to settle his score with The Outfit once and for all. While his various criminal acquaintances begin hitting Outfit-owned targets, Parker makes plans to take out the head of the Outfit. But will even taking out the top guy get the Outfit off his back?

As usual, Stark delivers the goods in fast-paced, stripped down style. Parker and Handy do what they do best. The plotting and action, as always, were...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Charles Dee Mitchell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime

And that night, in the California house, the double-crossing began.

That is a big mistake made by the crew of thieves Parker assembled for a profitable drug money heist on an island off the coast of Central America. Parker is not a man you want to double cross. Obviously these guys have never read any other RIchard Stark novels.

Blood is shed and money is lost. Parker is out $45,000. He wants it back from the Outfit, a mid-sized crime syndicate that is getting soft in the belly. Mr. Bronson, presi...more And that night, in the California house, the double-crossing began.

That is a big mistake made by the crew of thieves Parker assembled for a profitable drug money heist on an island off the coast of Central America. Parker is not a man you want to double cross. Obviously these guys have never read any other RIchard Stark novels.

Blood is shed and money is lost. Parker is out $45,000. He wants it back from the Outfit, a mid-sized crime syndicate that is getting soft in the belly. Mr. Bronson, president of the Outfit, makes the next mistake. Ensconced is his ridiculous pile-of-stone mansion in Buffalo, NY, he orders a hit on Parker in Florida. Parker declares war.

Parker begins writing letters to a select group of professional thieves. They have all had their fill of Outift, they all know its weaknesses, but they have never acted on them since they might someday want to work for them again. But Parker says the time is now.

Much of The Outfit involves entertaining, chapter-length accounts of various heists. This gives it
an episodic character that lacks some of the relentless momentum of other Parker novels, but readers know we are headed toward a confrontation between Parker and Bronson.

Bronson is a slightly buffoonish but not totally unlikable character. His lives is his outmoded Buffalo mansion because the ex-nightclub singer he married, who is now a matronly figure he despises, craved respectability. Bronson knows the mansion is shit. His neighbors are a school for the blind and a fraternal organization with a neon sign over the door. A blue neon sign. The bodyguards he keeps on hand play monopoly all night and might as well wear t-shirts with "goon" logos.

In the past month the Outfit has lost over a million dollars to robberies of its core businesses --gambling joints, whorehouses, numbers rackets, and bookies. Bronson is facing a challenge from the West Coast. One of the bright young men who now work for him, one who wears nice clothes and carries a briefcase, has analyzed the situation and says the problem is that Outfit employees no longer think of themselves as crooks. Bronson bridles at this. Since he pays income taxes and supports selected civic causes, he also no longer things of himself as a crook.

To Bronson it all boils down to Parker.

"...What about this Parker? What about his background? Where's he from? Where's he live? What kind of family? He's got to have a family somewhere."

"He had a wife, but she's dead. He killed her himself."

You can guess who wins.(less)

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Feb 01, 2011 Matthew rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Single minded. Parker is a single minded and unsettling creation. God forbid you cross a man like him. Parker has the leanness. No friends, no possessions, no wife, no home. Just a routine of laying low in resort towns before the next score, and relentless, methodical pursuit of those that do him wrong. Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake) starts this novel, like the previous Parker novels, in the thick of the action. A woman screams just before a hired killer is about to pull the trigger on Park...more Single minded. Parker is a single minded and unsettling creation. God forbid you cross a man like him. Parker has the leanness. No friends, no possessions, no wife, no home. Just a routine of laying low in resort towns before the next score, and relentless, methodical pursuit of those that do him wrong. Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake) starts this novel, like the previous Parker novels, in the thick of the action. A woman screams just before a hired killer is about to pull the trigger on Parker while he sleeps... and we're off! Parker warned the syndicate in The Hunter that he'd do some damage if they came after him and he makes good on that promise. He sends letters to dozens of professional thieves waiting for an excuse to take advantage of a mob that's gone soft and complacent over the years, filled with working stiffs instead of hardened criminals. Each chapter outline a new heist, doubling back at the end to catch up with Parker before he deals with Bronson, the angry and much maligned head of the Outfit. It's Parker's single mindedness that makes this structure necessary, he's too focused, efficient, and direct to spend an entire novel inside his head. There's a great scene where Bronson and his neglected wife play cards to kill time while Bronson hides out in his upstate New York mansion. It's made clear that they rarely spend time together, yet love and sort of respect one another - a short and strange inside view of a gangster's marriage. The heists are interesting and filled with ephemeral details of the 1960's underground: how bookies layoff bets, how narcotics were purchased pre-aviation security, how to plot a perfect escape route (no one will suspect a souped up Volkswagon). The problem with the book is it lacks a real sense of danger other than the opening scene where Parker deals with the shooter as well as the masochistic woman he's bedded with at the time. How do you get to a man, who lives only for himself? There's a brief chink in Parker's armor when he comes to the realization that this is the first time he's ever done a job for anything, but the money... it makes him nervous. The Outfit is not my favorite so far, but I'll certainly continue reading Richard Stark's economical prose to find out how Parker evolves over time.(less)

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Feb 26, 2010 Loren rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From ISawLightningFall.com

What is it that makes an individual human to you? Bear with me, I’m not trying to get existential here. What is it about a person that inspires affection? It probably isn’t incredible talent. The gifted can draw your interest or admiration, but their proficiency doesn’t give us warm fuzzies when we bump into them at a party and have to make small talk. If anything, it’s a bit intimidating. No, what binds soul to soul is a touch of imperfection, the knowledge that no mat...more From ISawLightningFall.com

What is it that makes an individual human to you? Bear with me, I’m not trying to get existential here. What is it about a person that inspires affection? It probably isn’t incredible talent. The gifted can draw your interest or admiration, but their proficiency doesn’t give us warm fuzzies when we bump into them at a party and have to make small talk. If anything, it’s a bit intimidating. No, what binds soul to soul is a touch of imperfection, the knowledge that no matter how skilled this person may be, he hasn’t washed his car in three months, his computer breaks out in the blue screen of death whenever he enters the room and he loves reading about sparkly vampires. Flaws foment caring -- no less in narratives than in real life. It’s a technique Richard Stark puts to good use in The Outfit, the third in his series of novels about the near-superhuman thief Parker.

Parker didn’t think the Outfit would call his bluff. He knew he’d irritated the national crime syndicate when he’d forcibly recovered some cash one of their associates stole from him. Still, he’d believed his penchant for mercilessness (and the resultant growing body count) would’ve served as a deterrent. But a late-night visit from an incompetent hit man with a silenced .25 proved it hadn’t. Now Parker’s got an idea. Independent types such as himself don’t typically rip off racetracks or casinos or drug dens, anything the Outfit might have its fingers in. And without interference, the Outfit’s gotten soft. The way Parker figures, it’s up to him and his friends to take advantage of that fact -- and to do it fast.

Stark turns this installment of Parker’s adventures into an ensemble show, trotting out all sorts of quirky criminal types. There’s Clemy, the Georgia chop-shop man on a quixotic quest to turn a tiny Volkswagen into an uber-speedy getaway car. Klee, a purveyor of semi-legitimate firearms, displays the sort of affection for his wares that’s usually reserved for members of the opposite sex. Salsa is an illegal immigrant who once subscribed to collectivist philosophy but has now awakened to “the Truth of Self-interest” (which he seeks with a loaded firearm and a well-charted getaway route). They’re a delightfully oddball bunch, a far cry from the calm competence of Parker. But even he gets humanized a little. While writing a letter explaining his plan, he complains that the Outfit “thinks it has a greevance on me.” And in reading that, you realize you realize this unstoppable criminal possesses only the most rudimentary formal education. An unexpectedly poignant touch.(less)

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Aug 18, 2009 Tim Niland rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-reads

The mob never should have messed with Parker. Before it was business, but when they sent the hit man to his hotel, it became personal. Can the master thief and ultimate anti-hero take down the entire Syndicate? Loners like Parker and his underworld associates had previously honored an uneasy peace with organized crime, but now all deals are off. Parker spreads the word - hit them and hit them hard. Soon, Outfit fronts for gambling and loan sharking are being hit all across the country, but Parke...more

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Apr 13, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Parker is at it again, and is ready to settle scores with the mafia once and for all. This plot line was introduced, actually, in the very first book of the series. The Parker books are best read in order, since each book of the first three, at least, picks up where the last left off. zthere is an opening scene with a femme fatale that gets the book off to a great start, and then Stark is off to the races.

Missing from this first book are the great characters that Stark introduced in the first tw...more

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Apr 11, 2009 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-badness-noir, fiction

The weakest in the series that I've read so far. But that's not to say it isn't worth a look. On the down side, The Outfit is simply unbelievable, with its notion that Parker only has to sit down and write some letters to his fellow professional robbers to take down a nationwide criminal organization. Westlake (Stark) is trying to say something about corporate America -- and corporate criminals, than runs along the lines of Who can tell the difference anymore? (That was probably a cliche even in...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Aaron Schmidt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The best Parker novel thus far. In "The Outfit," Westlake's meticulous style is on full display. In the previous two novels, the protagonist's economy is something of a challenge to the narrative: Parker only spends the time he absolutely needs on a subject. Here, several robberies unfold, and each heist is encapsulated in its own chapter, complete with background and details that previously go unmentioned. One chapter follows a single dime from the time it's wagered on an illegal numbers game u...more

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Jan 24, 2011 Greg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-fiction

I feel like an asshole giving this book five stars while only giving four stars to a much superior book like The Melancholy of Resistance. And then to rub in my shame goodreads goes and makes a new section on our profile pages where our favorite books are shown, and this is one of them, sitting right there in between Gravity's Rainbow and Infinite Jest. Horrors!

I hate the new favorites area on the profiles. Wasn't it enough to have a section in your profile you could list favorite books if you w...more I feel like an asshole giving this book five stars while only giving four stars to a much superior book like The Melancholy of Resistance. And then to rub in my shame goodreads goes and makes a new section on our profile pages where our favorite books are shown, and this is one of them, sitting right there in between Gravity's Rainbow and Infinite Jest. Horrors!

I hate the new favorites area on the profiles. Wasn't it enough to have a section in your profile you could list favorite books if you were so inclined. I wasn't. And now I have to have them picking which books are my favorites or instead I need to go create a favorites shelf and then put books on it and I since I didn't want to list my favorite books to begin with I have no desire to do this. Instead I found I could just make a favorites shelf and put nothing on it, a solution that leads to me feeling admonished by goodreads when I see them telling me to add something to the shelf and slightly annoyed at having a shelf now with nothing on it. But I'm a very razor thin bit happier with my empty shelf than feeling forced to either display favorites that they pick or wasting my precious time that could be better spent writing about not wanting to waste my time and picking books to show off there.

Partly the five star rating on this book is a reaction to David's three star review for a later Parker novel that I haven't read yet. But I also gave it five stars because it was a lot of fun to read. But the rating for this book is different than my ratings for other types of books. I have lower expectations for certain things in a crime novel, but I also have high expectations to be amused than I do than when reading some existentially bleak novel. This is like the original Dawn of the Dead to me, it's really awesome and great but I know it's not 'great', but for the genre that it is in it is really good and it satisfies a base urge to be entertained. And it does this really well, which I would imagine should be rather easy to do, but when I think of most other 'popular action based' books I've read I realize that it's not actually the norm for the books to be very good at all, and for them to fail at be anymore engaging than the fourth or fifth movie in a Superhero movie franchise. But to return to Dawn of the Dead, I would give the original five stars. I love the fucking movie, and I would rate it higher on a penta-star system than some Bergman movies, but that's because they are being judged differently. Hour of the Wolf is a superior movie than Romero's mall-based zombie flick, but I'd give it four stars, but they aren't really being rated against each other in any way, the only similarity is that they are both originally a celluloid based media but they would be watched for very different reasons.

I was going to write some stuff about the book, but now I'm not. It's a fun read that has a bunch of little heists in it. Heists are fun to read about and watch in movies. If you agree with me on that point then you will probably really enjoy this book too.(less)

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Feb 16, 2010 Eric Kibler rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From the early sixties comes this Parker novel by Donald E. Westlake, writing as Richard Stark. This one's the third in the series, and probably the most inventive one thus far in the series. Parker (a coldly logical criminal) decides he's done being stalked by The Outfit, and resolves to show them he's not to be fooled with. He sends out word to professional heist men across the country asking them to hit Outfit targets. What follows is a suspenseful vengeance tale as well as a detailed descrip...more

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Apr 04, 2010 Eric_W rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries-and-thrillers

What is it that makes us (me) find the bad guy so intriguing? Why do we root for Parker? His sense of independence? Is it the David v Goliath theme? Probably all of the above.

This story is dated: no cell phones or other little technological marvels that surround us today, but it's a good story. Parker, our favorite bad guy, is annoyed after the syndicate hires a hitman to take him out. Parker had stolen back some money he was owed and the "outfit" was pissed. Realizing that they won't give up,...more

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Jun 10, 2009 Wyma rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's a good read, short, to the point, objective, lots of dialog and bears the marks of its time, 1963. The hero is a thief, broken out of prison with a new face. He writes letters, lots of them as he invites his fellows to join him in taking on the mob. The law doesn't even enter into it. The plot is believable only because of the bare bones style in which it is told.

I met Donald Westlake as he autographed his latest Richard Stark at Bouchercon, Monterey, about 1998. He was polite and shy, with...more

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Jul 30, 2011 Chris added it · review of another edition

This is a book you could underestimate fast. Don't do it. It's a sparely written book with one of the most smoothly feline characters you'd come across. Parker is a professional criminal who doesn't mind taking you down if you get in his way. He has no feelings, hates sentimentality, and prefers distance. He's an original anti-hero.

In this beginning of the series, we're seeing him outwit a Mafia outfit whose refused to give him money he's earned. It's kind of hilarious that he's essentially an...more

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Aug 28, 2011 JD rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: next-level

"THE OUTFIT" is the book where Stark kicks the crime novel's door down and tears the roof off the sucker! The first two books were solid, but for me, THIS is where Parker really hits his stride. Stark sets up an incendiary plot--an all-out war between the independent criminals and the mob--and proceeds to blow it up with caper after caper, heist after heist. Stark keeps building the momentum by shifting his focus between different criminals and their hits on the mob. What's most impressive is ho...more

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Dec 06, 2009 Jake rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

Another solid roman noir from Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark. In this one, Parker and his gang of thieves take revenge on the mob. There's a back-story here (it'd be useful to read "The Hunter", the first book of the Parker series,) but that's not required. Long story short, the mob tried to kill Parker, and he's decided to make them pay. Most of the book is a fun series of chapters detailing various heists— Westlake is at his best describing the detailed mechanics of robberies (and so...more

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Apr 28, 2009 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the original hard boiled tough guy. Stark (Westlake writing as Stark) boils the essence of a smart no-nonsense tough guy down from the work of the greats that wrote detective and crime fiction before him, and created Parker. Forget the movies you may have seen - be they timeless classics or modern dreck - and do yourself a favor and read these. If you like crime fiction you have to check these books out. The Chicago Press has re-released them in sharp stylish new paperbacks that are inex...more

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Mar 29, 2009 Commodore Tiberius Q. Handsome is currently reading it · review of another edition

just picked this up as well. after reading "Dandy Dan" Simmons's hard-boiled nutbuster "Hardcase" i've been sucked into a hard-boiled noir crime fiction bender. stark's (aka Donald Westlake's) anti-hero Parker is, apparently, the sort of archetypal good-badguy criminal hero protagonist as far as noir crime fiction goes. i'm still in the beginning of this one but if you're saying to yourself "hmm i want to read some crime fiction that's hard, sure, but i also want it boiled like pork shoulder or...more

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Jun 23, 2010 Tony Gleeson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For the moment I skipped the second entry in Stark/Westlake's Parker series, "The Man with the Getaway Face," and moved on to "The Outfit." Simple premise. The Mob has decided to come after Parker-- a bad mistake since that results in Parker coming after them. Again the plot runs like a well-designed machine: nobody and nothing stands in the way of the callous and unrelenting criminal. There are few surprises and the end is never really in doubt-- but the story remains captivating throughout. A...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thriller, audio, action

My edition was a download from the library produced by Audio Go, read by John Chancer. It's about 300 minutes long & fantastic, again. Occasionally the job setups dragged a bit, came across as pedantic, but they were interesting for all that. As usual, Parker's acquaintances cause him issues, but this time they helped out, too. Great idea & very well done.

A thread from the beginning leads me in to the next book, too. On to read the next, The Mourner. I just have to know...

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Feb 15, 2012 Alejandro rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-detective, westlake-stark

Stark is at it again in his third Parker outing that completes a sort of mini-trilogy that began with "The Hunter," the first novel in the series. "The Outfit" details Parker's last battle in his 3-book war against a nationwide crime syndicate simply known as (you guessed it) the Outfit. In typical Stark fashion, the prose is (you guessed it again!) beautifully stark. The plot hits like a sledgehammer between the eyes, the pacing is quicker than a cat on speed, and the dialogue is wonderfully te...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Andy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, adult-mystery, ebook

The third novel in the Parker series, and yes, you do need to read the first two novels in order (The Hunter followed by The Man with the Getaway Face). The Outfit is a revenge novel and much it is spent on the set-up: how Parker goes about getting his revenge, planning it, staging it, all the nuts and bolts behind it. If you're not into procedure, you'll probably be bored and won't appreciate the payoff, but if you're into the details of crime fiction, you've come to the right place. Next: The...more

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Jan 05, 2012 Randy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

This is my first Parker novel and my first Westlake novel. After hearing such great things about both, I was somewhat disappointed. I don't know if it was intentional, but the prose was sparse in the Parker scenes but more robust in the heist scenes. This isn't to say it was dense during those scenes. It was still minimal but a better description is probably "brisk".

The plot itself is fairly simple, but holds the readers attention. As written the Parker you read about in reviews simply isn't pre...more

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Jun 15, 2012 Heath Lowrance rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There’s hard-boiled tough guy, and then there’s Richard Stark’s Parker. This guy is beyond tough; really, he’s a full-on sociopath. A professional thief, he’s cold, remorseless, humorless, and efficient. And he’s one of the most compelling characters in all of suspense fiction.
In the previous adventure, Parker went under the knife and got plastic surgery to avoid the wrath of “The Organization”, but the plan didn’t take. Now, after yet another hit man takes a stab at wiping him out, Parker deci...more

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Sep 07, 2012 David Nelson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A solid Parker book--with heists to spare!--and an absorbing read, but what's really got me about Westlake/Stark's Parker novels is the sudden realization, via comparison with Parker's own egalitarian, cold logic, is that my own notion of "egalitarianism" might be slanted noticeably sexist. But that's more a Big Picture argument about the greater social utility of Parker and his ilk (in literature, not in my local bank branch). More specifically to this book, it's a great heist novel with *lots*...more

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May 13, 2011 Toggedout rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Good old hard-boiled revenge. Even though it was written in the 1960's, The Outfit reminded me of Dashiell Hammet's books (even though the protagonist of The Outfit was on the wrong side of the law). Well paced, beautifully depicted "scores," but sadly a lack of dames and/or molls other than a few pages devoted to a voluptuous sadist at the very beginning and then a floozy housewife when Parker is trying to pick up a clean car. This book was good Friday afternoon fare.

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Feb 21, 2009 Bryce Wilson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Having read The Hunter I figured I'd know what to expect from the Parker books. But both The Man With The Getaway Face and The Outfit have surprised me by being quite experimental. TMWTGF was basically two novellas brundleflied together, while a good third of The Outfit could be passed off as a book a short stories as Parker's cohorts put the hurting on the mob. Three books in and it's already clear that Stark likes to use a couple of tricks over and over again, but with Parker such a mean son o...more

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The Outfit (Parker #3)

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