by Richard Stark
(Author), Luc Sante (Foreword)
Publisher : University of Chicago Press; Reprint
edition (August 15, 2009)
Softcover, 168 pages
“It was as convoluted and twisted as a Chinese puzzle.
The police were looking for the Canaday killer. A group of professional bandits
was also looking for the Canaday killer. And the police, to round it off, were
looking for the professional bandits. If the Canaday killer were looking for
either the police or the bandits, then everything would be tied in the ultimate
knot. Well, they all had to start bumping into each other pretty soon. Too many
people were milling around in the same restricted area; sooner or later they
had to start making contact.”
I came to the Parker series late, never even having
heard of the series until the Darwin Cooke (RIP) graphic novel adaptations
started to come out. After devouring those in a gulp, I was curious about more
of them. Now that the good Mr. Cooke has passed beyond, I decided to read the
actual source itself - GASP!, I know- the unthinkable. Luckily, the University
of Chicago Press has recently - more or less - republished all twenty four
volumes of this series.
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| Author Richard Stark |
The
Seventh, also the seventh novel of a series, follows the
aftermath of a perfect score, where Parker and six others rob the proceeds from
a college football game. Only afterwards is Parker robbed and the woman he was
shacked up with is killed. This begins Parker’s savage hunt to regain his
seventh of the split and find out who was behind it all. One of his own crew?
Or a random stranger.
This is a pretty straightforward slam-bang novel. The
plot is the center of the story, and the idea of character development is
laughable - except in the sense when they go from alive to dead. You do get a
sense of each member of the crew, but very briefly. Parker is still the same
stone-wall brutal killer as in all the other novels. There are no real twists
or turns, the plot has revelations, but not gimmicky ones. If you’re looking for a quick crime novel,
then take a gander at the Seventh.
For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst
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| Original Paperback Cover |
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