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Parker #5
The Score
It was an impossible crime: knock off a huge plant payroll, all the banks, and all the stores in one entire city in one night. But there was one thief good enough to try � Parker. All he needed was the right men, the right plan, and the right kind of help from Lady Luck. The men and the plan were easy; Lady Luck was another story. She turned out to be a good-looking blonde with a taste for booze and eyes for Parker. And Parker knew this chilling caper could either be the perfect crime� or a set-up that would land him in jail � for life.
213 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 332 reviews
October 9, 2015
When Parker first hears about the plan to loot all of Copper Canyon, he thinks it’s insane. How can you rob an entire city? However, when he sees the details and realizes that this is an isolated town that could be completely cut off and it’s police force neutralized, Parker starts thinking that it just might be possible if he can find the right men for the job.
A solid crew is put together, a plan developed, and even the amateur who came up with the idea, Edgars, seems smart and willing to let Parker call the shots. Parker is about to pull off one of the boldest heists of his career. Of course, it’s never that easy.
Stark (a/k/a Westlake) makes what seems like an over-the-top plot of a gang of thieves taking over a town to crack multiple safes in one night seem feasible. I loved the plotting and preparations for this job, and the complications thrown at Parker in this one are surprising.
This book also introduced another thief, Grofield, who would star in several other Stark novels. Where Parker is the emotionless professional, Grofield is a chatty actor who funds his career with his robberies. An increasingly exasperated Parker is always telling Grofield to shut up, and his character adds a fresh and fun dynamic to the caper.
A solid crew is put together, a plan developed, and even the amateur who came up with the idea, Edgars, seems smart and willing to let Parker call the shots. Parker is about to pull off one of the boldest heists of his career. Of course, it’s never that easy.
Stark (a/k/a Westlake) makes what seems like an over-the-top plot of a gang of thieves taking over a town to crack multiple safes in one night seem feasible. I loved the plotting and preparations for this job, and the complications thrown at Parker in this one are surprising.
This book also introduced another thief, Grofield, who would star in several other Stark novels. Where Parker is the emotionless professional, Grofield is a chatty actor who funds his career with his robberies. An increasingly exasperated Parker is always telling Grofield to shut up, and his character adds a fresh and fun dynamic to the caper.
December 18, 2020
This is Parker #5, and a good one. For 3/4 of the story this is a pretty straightforward story of a group of men who decide to "take" (i.e., steal all the money from) a small isolated North Dakota town. Parker decides that it is just a crazy enough plan to work, though he also becomes the lead architect of this meticulous plan. He's worried about a couple aspects of it, but it works like clockwork. Most of the way. But not quite all the way. What did you expect, a heist that just works perfectly?! Part of the beauty of this carefully crafted tale is anticipating just when it is the double-cross will come down.
But "score" the boys do, in spite of a few cogs in the machine. That's one reason to read this, that this is just a carefully crafted story to persuade you that this outlandish crime could actually work, very lean and straightforward, with a mean, tough, unsentimental guy, Parker, at the helm.
From a writer's perspective, it is hard to sell a book where a guy just hates small talk. Or any talk, really. So you need some foil. Most characters are less polished than Parker, less disciplined, but they are capable, even if they are mostly variously "colorful characters," and he really does trust the steady and no-nonsense Handy McKay. But with Handy out of the picture for this book--he's retired, maybe, but don't you believe it--Stark introduces one of his best supporting characters, part-time (and perpetually broke) actor Alan Grofield, who quotes Shakespeare (on the job! comparing the heist to Shakespearean drama: "all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players") and is very talkative and humorous. He supports his acting career by doing these pretty lucrative jobs. Grofield is one of the best aspects of this story and has his own spin-off mini-series from Stark.
And in the end, another score, for Parker, with a woman, of course:
"Parker, are you gonna be nice to me?
"Why should I? What would happen if I did that?"
"I don't know. Maybe I'll turn into a butterfly."
"Hmm, let's see."
[Things ensue, but this is a family social media site, sorry]
"Hmm. A butterfly!"
:)
Here's another version of The Score I liked, #3 of 4 comics adaptations of Parker books, by Darwyn Cooke, my review here:
/review/show...
But "score" the boys do, in spite of a few cogs in the machine. That's one reason to read this, that this is just a carefully crafted story to persuade you that this outlandish crime could actually work, very lean and straightforward, with a mean, tough, unsentimental guy, Parker, at the helm.
From a writer's perspective, it is hard to sell a book where a guy just hates small talk. Or any talk, really. So you need some foil. Most characters are less polished than Parker, less disciplined, but they are capable, even if they are mostly variously "colorful characters," and he really does trust the steady and no-nonsense Handy McKay. But with Handy out of the picture for this book--he's retired, maybe, but don't you believe it--Stark introduces one of his best supporting characters, part-time (and perpetually broke) actor Alan Grofield, who quotes Shakespeare (on the job! comparing the heist to Shakespearean drama: "all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players") and is very talkative and humorous. He supports his acting career by doing these pretty lucrative jobs. Grofield is one of the best aspects of this story and has his own spin-off mini-series from Stark.
And in the end, another score, for Parker, with a woman, of course:
"Parker, are you gonna be nice to me?
"Why should I? What would happen if I did that?"
"I don't know. Maybe I'll turn into a butterfly."
"Hmm, let's see."
[Things ensue, but this is a family social media site, sorry]
"Hmm. A butterfly!"
:)
Here's another version of The Score I liked, #3 of 4 comics adaptations of Parker books, by Darwyn Cooke, my review here:
/review/show...
June 3, 2023
04/2023
1964
Amazing. This started out as a big heist involving multiple thieves working together. Then of course character perspectives shift all around. It is suspenseful and interesting.
I like how the plastic surgery he had in the second book still comes up a lot. It would.
1964
Amazing. This started out as a big heist involving multiple thieves working together. Then of course character perspectives shift all around. It is suspenseful and interesting.
I like how the plastic surgery he had in the second book still comes up a lot. It would.
January 24, 2011
Well, let's see here. There's been a lot of Richard Stark hoopla around our little corner of Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ lately, and I am proud to offer this review as minor corrective to the unbridled enthusiasms unleashed herein. Despite whatever I may say in the course of this review that might lead you to believe otherwise, I did actually enjoy this book. But it is slight, insubstantial, and clunky at times. I'd like to say, with some slippage in the analogy, that it's the equivalent of watching one of those women-in-peril television movies that Lifetime rebroadcasts. They're kind of dumb and pointless and obvious, but the fact of the matter is that at the end of the two hours you've somehow sat on your ass and watched the whole damn thing, so it must have been successful in some important sense. (This is an especially noteworthy success—for me, at least—since not even the big-budget, much-loved Inception achieved it.) Despite the fact that the TV movies are often poorly-executed and have all their plot points transmitted via smoke signals from miles off, I stick around to see if psychotic stalker Jack Wagner manages to rape Judith Light in an empty hockey arena or to find out if the vindictive blonde sex-kitten in Shannen Doherty's college rock band murders her in retaliation for Doherty beating her in a talent contest when they were kids.
Richard Stark—at least in The Score—is not really what I would call a very good writer. And Richard Stark's editor is not what I would call a very good editor. Witness this passage:
I don't know about you, but I am kind of disappointed that Stark didn't tell us whether the upholstery was contrast stitched or whether the heater vents were set to floor or bi-level. (Before you start second-guessing, none of the details Stark reports RE: the police car is relevant to anything in the book. For instance, the small red dot of light does not later blind a would-be assassin—or some other comparable hijinks. These used car ads are just written up by Stark, inserted into the text, and never referred to again.)
There is really no psychological depth in this book whatsoever. People merely do things and say things. Occasionally things they say allude to a hypothetical human emotion or a living, breathing subjectivity, but more often than not these allusions are of the explicitly useless varieties. (In one scene, for example, two accomplished safe 'juggers' argue about whether to blow up the safes or drill them. The fact that preferences exist seems to indicate that they are not wholly automatons. This is encouraging.) There is one character—named Grofield—who likes to quote Shakespeare and has a lot more personality than the rest, but still... it's only a relative difference and wouldn't count for much in any other book.
Another problem with Stark's writing style (at least in this outing) is that he doesn't have much sense of pacing and narrative momentum. In the first half of the novel, we hear the characters discuss their plans for a heist in specific detail. And in the second half of the novel, we see the characters actually execute this same plan, for the most part successfully and in keeping with the plan (until near the end). This redundancy seems to violate a commandment of Writing 101 to me. If I were Stark's teacher, I would have told him merely to explain the big picture of the heist at the beginning and then allow us to see the plan as it unfolds. (Again, a good editor probably should have edified him. But I keep forgetting that this is genre fiction; devoted fans probably find these tropes and weaknesses essential to the 'comfort food' quality of the books.)
Anyway... would you believe I still kind of enjoyed the book? It was pretty dumb, but I enjoyed it. It would be ideal for a short plane ride or a long wait in the doctor's office where the other reading options are Parenting and Golf Digest magazines.
Richard Stark—at least in The Score—is not really what I would call a very good writer. And Richard Stark's editor is not what I would call a very good editor. Witness this passage:
The prowl car was a Ford, two years old, painted light green and white, with Police written in large letters on the doors and hood and trunk. The dashboard lights were green, and there was a small red dot of light, like a ruby, on the radio.
I don't know about you, but I am kind of disappointed that Stark didn't tell us whether the upholstery was contrast stitched or whether the heater vents were set to floor or bi-level. (Before you start second-guessing, none of the details Stark reports RE: the police car is relevant to anything in the book. For instance, the small red dot of light does not later blind a would-be assassin—or some other comparable hijinks. These used car ads are just written up by Stark, inserted into the text, and never referred to again.)
There is really no psychological depth in this book whatsoever. People merely do things and say things. Occasionally things they say allude to a hypothetical human emotion or a living, breathing subjectivity, but more often than not these allusions are of the explicitly useless varieties. (In one scene, for example, two accomplished safe 'juggers' argue about whether to blow up the safes or drill them. The fact that preferences exist seems to indicate that they are not wholly automatons. This is encouraging.) There is one character—named Grofield—who likes to quote Shakespeare and has a lot more personality than the rest, but still... it's only a relative difference and wouldn't count for much in any other book.
Another problem with Stark's writing style (at least in this outing) is that he doesn't have much sense of pacing and narrative momentum. In the first half of the novel, we hear the characters discuss their plans for a heist in specific detail. And in the second half of the novel, we see the characters actually execute this same plan, for the most part successfully and in keeping with the plan (until near the end). This redundancy seems to violate a commandment of Writing 101 to me. If I were Stark's teacher, I would have told him merely to explain the big picture of the heist at the beginning and then allow us to see the plan as it unfolds. (Again, a good editor probably should have edified him. But I keep forgetting that this is genre fiction; devoted fans probably find these tropes and weaknesses essential to the 'comfort food' quality of the books.)
Anyway... would you believe I still kind of enjoyed the book? It was pretty dumb, but I enjoyed it. It would be ideal for a short plane ride or a long wait in the doctor's office where the other reading options are Parenting and Golf Digest magazines.
February 19, 2024
"Counter-attack should be at least as strong as attack. If someone wants to hit you, you hit him. If someone wants to rough you up, you rough him up. If someone wants to kill you, you kill him . . . [but Parker] couldn't get any answers now. That clown shouldn't have reached for a knife." -- Parker's brusque reflections after swiftly dispatching a hired killer to the promised land, page 8
Lying low in Jersey City, NJ soon after the events of The Mourner, the master thief known only as 'Parker' is offered the chance by a skittish cohort to participate in an audacious caper. A newcomer named Edgars has devised a bold multi-business heist in some podunk North Dakota industrial town called Copper Canyon (literally in a box canyon, with only a single road leading in and out). The goal? Since said burg has a strictly enforced curfew, they'll take the night-shift police officers, firefighters, and telephone operators hostage and then proceed to rip off the factory's payroll, the vaults of the two banks, and the merchandise from the jewelry store. Parker takes point on devising a solid plan and then assembling the required hired hands - including safecrackers, getaway drivers, and lookouts - and of course it appears to go completely by the numbers . . . until it suddenly doesn't. (I would joke it's "mo' money, mo' problems," but it's mo' like there's ALWAYS a ****ing psycho in the mix to cause an issue.) Author Stark - a.k.a. the late crime writer extraordinaire Donald E. Westlake - has fashioned yet another fiercely hard-boiled winner in this series, which surprisingly has moments of sadistic violence for a book written in 1964. As for me, I also got a peculiar kick with the mention of Parker procuring a stolen sedan in a small Pennsylvanian city a mere hour's drive from where I live.
Lying low in Jersey City, NJ soon after the events of The Mourner, the master thief known only as 'Parker' is offered the chance by a skittish cohort to participate in an audacious caper. A newcomer named Edgars has devised a bold multi-business heist in some podunk North Dakota industrial town called Copper Canyon (literally in a box canyon, with only a single road leading in and out). The goal? Since said burg has a strictly enforced curfew, they'll take the night-shift police officers, firefighters, and telephone operators hostage and then proceed to rip off the factory's payroll, the vaults of the two banks, and the merchandise from the jewelry store. Parker takes point on devising a solid plan and then assembling the required hired hands - including safecrackers, getaway drivers, and lookouts - and of course it appears to go completely by the numbers . . . until it suddenly doesn't. (I would joke it's "mo' money, mo' problems," but it's mo' like there's ALWAYS a ****ing psycho in the mix to cause an issue.) Author Stark - a.k.a. the late crime writer extraordinaire Donald E. Westlake - has fashioned yet another fiercely hard-boiled winner in this series, which surprisingly has moments of sadistic violence for a book written in 1964. As for me, I also got a peculiar kick with the mention of Parker procuring a stolen sedan in a small Pennsylvanian city a mere hour's drive from where I live.
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November 17, 2020
The Ballad of Copper Canyon � You can bet a batch of ballads and songs were written and sung following the notorious robbery of an entire town. And the bandits made a smooth getaway - the true American frontier spirit in action.
The Score takes its place as #5 in the Parker series written by Donald E. Westlake under the name of Richard Stark. If you're after excitement, The Score scores a slam dunk.
Here's the skinny: Ever since the last heist months ago, Parker has been on a spending splurge. Parker is living at a swank luxury hotel in Miami, having had sex with a long list of different women. But Parker’s intense sex cycle is wearing thin, that is, Parker is always supercharged for sex following a heist but when the randy energy lessens, he knows it’s time for another job.
Fast forward a few scenes. Parker is in Jersey City listening to a guy named Edgars outline a plan for a job in Copper Canyon, North Dakota. Edgars says it will take twenty-five or thirty men, to which, Parker tells him that he’s out since any job that needs an army will go sour and, besides which, Edgars is only an amateur planning a job for personal reasons � bad, bad, bad all round.
But Edgars insists Parker hear him out. Not having any other job offers at the moment and since he has come this far, Parker agrees to at least listen. Parker sits at the dining room table with three other guys as Edgars sketches his plan, pointing at a large map of Copper Canyon.
The gears in Parker’s mind begin spinning. Parker points out all the obvious flaws. Edgars can see he finally has his man; Edgars gladly hands over the meeting to Parker. Parker outlines how the job can be done.
And we’re off.
In his previous Parker novels, Westlake/Stark included his standard four part heist structure - 1) planning the heist, 2) assembling the crew, 3) the heist itself, 4) the escape � as part of the fuller story but The Score is nothing but the story of one heist, Copper Canyon, each section of the book devoted to each of the four parts of the heist.
What makes The Score a special treat is watching Parker, forever the heister mastermind, at each step - how Parker thinks things through, how Parker judges people, how Parker speaks and acts when faced with crisis.
Of course, Parker gets out alive at the end (hardly a spoiler since Parker has to be around for the series to continue) but I'll save the excitement and details for each reader. Thus, I''ll shift to a handful of Score highlights:
The Merry Band
Step by step, pointing at Edgar's map, Parker shaves the number from twenty-five or thirty down to twelve. Two of the other guys at the table include Wycza and Grofield, heisters who will team up with Parker on future jobs, as will other men who join the crew and travel out to Copper Canyon. This to say, Mr. Westlake takes The Score as a prime opportunity to introduce readers to key characters in the Parker series.
And all these men enjoy their work and take tremendous pride in their work, formidable skills such as safe cracking, explosives, weaponry. True, they're working outside the law but that doesn't diminish their enjoyment and pride one iota, reminding me of a quote from the great Jacob Bronowski: “The most powerful drive in the ascent of man is his pleasure in his own skill. He loves to do what he does well and, having done it well, he loves to do it better.�
Machine Gun Alley
Among the equipment the boys will need in Copper Canyon - three machine guns. Parker drives to Albany, to a filthy hobby shop where Scofe the blind man sells machine guns under the table, in the back room. At one point in their dealings, Parker hands a box to Scofe who puts it on the table then opens it. "Scofe's hands touched the parts, his long fingers moving like worms in a garden. Parker watched him as he put the parts together, feeling the bottom of the box for screws, using a small metal screwdriver he took from his hip pocket. He put the parts together and when he was done there was a burp gun on the table."
I insert the above quote to note how Mr. Westlake adds realistic color and detail in each and every scene. With a few masterful strokes, characters are filled out, setting given vividness, the feel and tone of action, verbal exchanges, even the inner workings of the mind pop with aliveness.
Lover Boy
Eddie Wheeler, age nineteen, lives in Copper Canyon and is worried he might be caught outside after curfew walking home at one o'clock a.m. after a round of premarital intercourse with his fiancé, Betty Campbell. As he makes his way down the town's main street, Eddie catches sight of something mighty strange. What is that I'm seeing? Am I dreaming? There's a bank robbery taking place! Oh, Eddie, my boy - you just might be in for the experience of a lifetime.
Grofield and his Gal
Grofield loves acting in theater. Actually, Grofield started his life in crime as a means to further his acting career (so tough earning a living by acting and performing live theater). One thing leads to another and here he is, in Copper Canyon. And wouldn't you know it, one of the gals who works as a local telephone operator just so happens to be a looker and available. Grofield and his gal - one of the more charming parts of the novel.
Fake North Dakota Farmer
Is it all clear for the bandits to leave their hideout? To find out, they send old Phillips to scout the highways for any cops or roadblocks. "He put on an old black-and-red check hunting jacket and a gray cap, and then he looked exactly like a dairy farmer getting ready to go out and milk the cows. He stuck a pipe in his mouth to complete the picture and went out to get the station wagon, which was dirty enough by now to add to the general picture. He drove off in the wagon, and the rest settled down to wait. Phillips was the best man to try this because he looked the least like a desperado."
The Score scores a ten. Highly recommended!
American author Donald E. Westlake, 1933-2008
August 9, 2011
An amateur named Edgars hires Parker, Grofield, and ten others to help him with an outlandish plan: to rob an entire North Dakota town! Things go smoothly until it turns out Edgars has ideas of his own...
After reading five of the Parker novels, I figured out why love them so much. It's two aspects: Parker's superb ability to plan heists and trying to figure out how the inevitable double cross is going to go when it happens. The Score illustrates this nicely. As usual, Parker's cruel professionalism drives the story. Even though you know Edgars is going to be a problem, you have no idea how big of a problem he'll be until the big reveal.
Yet another home run from Richard Stark and Parker.
After reading five of the Parker novels, I figured out why love them so much. It's two aspects: Parker's superb ability to plan heists and trying to figure out how the inevitable double cross is going to go when it happens. The Score illustrates this nicely. As usual, Parker's cruel professionalism drives the story. Even though you know Edgars is going to be a problem, you have no idea how big of a problem he'll be until the big reveal.
Yet another home run from Richard Stark and Parker.
January 14, 2016
The plan might sound completely nuts but it's too tempting for Parker to pass up. This time, he signs onto a heist to rob the entire town of Copper Canyon, North Dakota! Author Richard Stark had a real knack for conceiving really original plots for his various heist novels. As I've mentioned in other reviews, these books are so simple and although there's not really a whole to talk about, so far they've been consistently enjoyable for what they are. The omniscient POV style that is a trademark to the Parker novels works damn well here as the heist reaches its crescendo. The pace really starts to move as we jump from one point of view to another. If you're looking for a quick, dependable read, so far you can't go wrong with these Parker books, and The Score is a great example!
January 8, 2011
a small town in north dakota sits deep in a narrow valley. a single road the only way in or out. parker and eleven men head down at midnight and methodically take over the tiny police department then the fire department then the phone switchboard. once the town's defenses have been neutralized and communication is cut off from the outside world, the team knocks over the town's two banks, the jewelry store, and then robs the town's entire payroll. a heist to the extreme! forget one bank, one store, one person, one job... let's do an entire town in a single night! that's the score. and it's terrific. spare and cold and angry and intelligent -- and there are some good women in there, too: one trashy, one sweet, both willing to toss it all away for a life of adventure and crime and hard-as-rocks men.
fleshy asked, after my review of slayground, why, with such a rapturous review, did i only slap it with four stars? well, i think it is a 4 star book but the score might very well be a 5. but i'm still giving it 4. lemme explain.
charles ardai, in his introduction, writes:
"Reading the Parker novels is a little like watching a jazz musician at work. The performance begins with a familiar melody, the unadorned restatement of a theme, but then the performer cuts loose, interpreting, elaborating, inverting, transforming, improvising.
At a certain level of abstraction, of course, the Parker novels are all the same... and yet, Stark somehow manages to assemble these elements into a thoroughly new book. Bix Biederbecke famously said he never played a solo the same way twice, and neither did Stark. It may be the same song each time, but all the notes are different."
yup. stark works off a familiar template and it's great: he usually begins with the second act, as the action is already moving along, and then explains all we really need to know from the first act along the way. we then watch parker create and interact with his team, intellectually figure out how best to do 'the job', and then it all goes into effect and we watch parker improvise as shit falls apart and/or goes wrong.
now i believe the score to be, on one level, a perfect little crime book. but it definitely feels a part of something larger: as if this individual book is just one chapter in 'the life of parker' -- analogous to, say, updike's rabbit stories in which the individual novels might deserve 3 or 4 stars, but taken as a whole, it's an undeniable fiver. so, maybe i judge too harshly. maybe a five star book doesn't need to be a giant epic encompassing and totaling much more than the sum of its parts... who knows? who cares? i know parker wouldn't. he'd grunt and walk away.
next up: the hunter
fleshy asked, after my review of slayground, why, with such a rapturous review, did i only slap it with four stars? well, i think it is a 4 star book but the score might very well be a 5. but i'm still giving it 4. lemme explain.
charles ardai, in his introduction, writes:
"Reading the Parker novels is a little like watching a jazz musician at work. The performance begins with a familiar melody, the unadorned restatement of a theme, but then the performer cuts loose, interpreting, elaborating, inverting, transforming, improvising.
At a certain level of abstraction, of course, the Parker novels are all the same... and yet, Stark somehow manages to assemble these elements into a thoroughly new book. Bix Biederbecke famously said he never played a solo the same way twice, and neither did Stark. It may be the same song each time, but all the notes are different."
yup. stark works off a familiar template and it's great: he usually begins with the second act, as the action is already moving along, and then explains all we really need to know from the first act along the way. we then watch parker create and interact with his team, intellectually figure out how best to do 'the job', and then it all goes into effect and we watch parker improvise as shit falls apart and/or goes wrong.
now i believe the score to be, on one level, a perfect little crime book. but it definitely feels a part of something larger: as if this individual book is just one chapter in 'the life of parker' -- analogous to, say, updike's rabbit stories in which the individual novels might deserve 3 or 4 stars, but taken as a whole, it's an undeniable fiver. so, maybe i judge too harshly. maybe a five star book doesn't need to be a giant epic encompassing and totaling much more than the sum of its parts... who knows? who cares? i know parker wouldn't. he'd grunt and walk away.
next up: the hunter
November 20, 2024
Published in 1964, this is the fifth novel in Richard Stark's (Donald Westlake's) excellent series featuring Parker, an amoral master thief who, when on the job, is the consummate professional criminal.
As the book opens, Parker is asked to join an operation that is proposed by an amateur he's never met. While Parker knows a couple of the other members of the initial crew, something about the amateur, a guy named Edgars, sets off his radar and he initially declines to participate in the job.
Edgars pleads with Parker to hear him out and so Parker agrees to at least listen to the proposal, and it's an audacious one. Edgar proposes that they put together a crew, which will be headed by Parker, to clean out an entire small North Dakota mining town over the course of one night--the mining company, the banks, the jewelry stores, in short, everything of any value.
The plan sounds preposterous, but Edgars obviously knows the town well and has outlined everything that would need to be done. Listening, Parker realizes that the job could be done, and at a great profit.
Much of the book is consumed with the planning and preparation for the attack on the town and the story really kicks into high gear once the big night arrives. Inevitably, as always happens in these novels, things will not go as planned and Parker is going to have to be very quick on his feet if he's going to get away from this job alive. As always, one of the great pleasures of the Parker novels is watching Parker adjust on the fly as he tries to save both the plan and his crew. The Score is a quick read and a whole lot of fun.
James L. Thane
As the book opens, Parker is asked to join an operation that is proposed by an amateur he's never met. While Parker knows a couple of the other members of the initial crew, something about the amateur, a guy named Edgars, sets off his radar and he initially declines to participate in the job.
Edgars pleads with Parker to hear him out and so Parker agrees to at least listen to the proposal, and it's an audacious one. Edgar proposes that they put together a crew, which will be headed by Parker, to clean out an entire small North Dakota mining town over the course of one night--the mining company, the banks, the jewelry stores, in short, everything of any value.
The plan sounds preposterous, but Edgars obviously knows the town well and has outlined everything that would need to be done. Listening, Parker realizes that the job could be done, and at a great profit.
Much of the book is consumed with the planning and preparation for the attack on the town and the story really kicks into high gear once the big night arrives. Inevitably, as always happens in these novels, things will not go as planned and Parker is going to have to be very quick on his feet if he's going to get away from this job alive. As always, one of the great pleasures of the Parker novels is watching Parker adjust on the fly as he tries to save both the plan and his crew. The Score is a quick read and a whole lot of fun.
James L. Thane
January 18, 2021
One of the best Parker stories I've yet read. Despite adhering to a similar formula, Westlake manages to keep them fresh and interesting. The heist plots are inventive and full of suspense, and in this case incredibly audacious. But most compelling is Parker's cadre of fellow thieves and love interests, each with their own very visible foibles, that makes for some tense and gritty interpersonal dynamics, often coming, as they do, into conflict with his strict professional code and highly regimented style.
January 23, 2025
Very clean and mean Parker novel by Stark, this time centered on a heist, and what a heist! Parker, running low on funds, gets a call from a middle man (a career criminal, now retired and 'passing the word', acting as a conduit) about a job, and at first he balks. The guy, an unknown, has an idea for knocking off an entire mining town in North Dakota, but it will take several people. Parker knows the more people on a job, the more chances for things to go wrong (like double crosses, something he is intimately familiar with!), but he is a professional, and gradually comes around to the idea...
What I like best about the Parker series is Parker-- the cool, not quite sociopathic, professional thief. He we get to read about him planning a major job, involving about a dozen people. It looks doable; none of his acquaintances wants to do any time, and careful planning sees to that. Yet, there is something hinky about the job, or at least with the guy, a novice, who thought up the job in the first place. Of all the Parker novels so far, this is the cleanest and meanest, with Parker now quite leading the planning of the job, and then executing it.
I bought the book used, and the one comment someone penned in concerned the truck on the cover of my edition. In the heist, a Mack truck was in the text, but the previous reader noted that the truck on the cover is actually a Diamond Red-- Good eye! The prose is dispassionate, as is Parker's musings along the way. Good stuff! 4 lean stars!
What I like best about the Parker series is Parker-- the cool, not quite sociopathic, professional thief. He we get to read about him planning a major job, involving about a dozen people. It looks doable; none of his acquaintances wants to do any time, and careful planning sees to that. Yet, there is something hinky about the job, or at least with the guy, a novice, who thought up the job in the first place. Of all the Parker novels so far, this is the cleanest and meanest, with Parker now quite leading the planning of the job, and then executing it.
I bought the book used, and the one comment someone penned in concerned the truck on the cover of my edition. In the heist, a Mack truck was in the text, but the previous reader noted that the truck on the cover is actually a Diamond Red-- Good eye! The prose is dispassionate, as is Parker's musings along the way. Good stuff! 4 lean stars!
June 28, 2017
The Score� is number five with a bullet of the twenty-four Parker novels provided to us by Mr. Donald Westlake, writing as Richard Stark. It was first published in 1964, but doesn’t feel dated. Parker, who by now is almost the king of thieves, is asked to run an operation that requires twenty-four men. Although Parker knocks it down to a dozen men, it still is quite an operation. Nothing like this has ever been done before. They are going to take over a small North Dakota mining town, Copper Canyon, a town with only one road in or out and one railroad in or out. In order to pull this off and pilfer the banks on the main street and the plant, they have to take over the police station, the fire station, and the telephone exchange. They also have to have a hideout nearby. Luckily, the guy who came to Parker with the idea, although a bit of an amateur, is familiar with the town and the setup.
A large portion of the book is consumed with getting all the players in motion and setting up the heist. By the middle of the book, one wonders if it will be contained in one volume or spread out over successive volumes, but Stark (Westlake) fits it all in. Somehow his writing, which is sparse and careful, takes the reader on this journey very aptly and even the long set-up of the operation is not dull. Once the operation gets underway, all kinds of excitement breaks out and, despite the number of players involved, it is not hard to follow or to understand who is who. Of course, even the smoothest of operations has a few wrinkles and this one, despite how well-planned and well-executed, nearly blows up in Parker’s face.
Grofield, one of Parker’s accomplices, who is a Shakespearean actor on the side, is introduced to the reader in this volume. Grofield later goes no to star in four novels of his own (The Dame, The Damsel, The Blackbird, and Lemons Never Lie). The suave, cultured, ladies� man is quite a character and does a few unexpected things.
All in all, another terrific novel in the Parker series. The smooth, professional style that these books are written in makes it almost seem as if it were effortless by the writer (Stark/Westlake).
A large portion of the book is consumed with getting all the players in motion and setting up the heist. By the middle of the book, one wonders if it will be contained in one volume or spread out over successive volumes, but Stark (Westlake) fits it all in. Somehow his writing, which is sparse and careful, takes the reader on this journey very aptly and even the long set-up of the operation is not dull. Once the operation gets underway, all kinds of excitement breaks out and, despite the number of players involved, it is not hard to follow or to understand who is who. Of course, even the smoothest of operations has a few wrinkles and this one, despite how well-planned and well-executed, nearly blows up in Parker’s face.
Grofield, one of Parker’s accomplices, who is a Shakespearean actor on the side, is introduced to the reader in this volume. Grofield later goes no to star in four novels of his own (The Dame, The Damsel, The Blackbird, and Lemons Never Lie). The suave, cultured, ladies� man is quite a character and does a few unexpected things.
All in all, another terrific novel in the Parker series. The smooth, professional style that these books are written in makes it almost seem as if it were effortless by the writer (Stark/Westlake).
January 29, 2011
The first place Parker heads to in The Hunter when he gets to New York City to seek revenge on being double-crossed and beginning Stark's series of novels is the Wall Street area. The Score's basic premise is a group of criminals go to a small factory town in North Dakota with the purpose of robbing every business in town of all it's money during one night. Nowhere in the book is it ever mentioned what will be left of the town after Parker and his friends steal all of the payroll money from the factory, make off with all the money from the vaults of the town's two banks and steal all the money on hand from every other store on the town's main street. One could get the idea that insurance companies will ante up for the losses, or one could see this as Parker orchestrating a job that leaves one small town destroyed.
I kind of like to think that the latter is what happened. And in that case I like the reading of this book as an analogy to Wall Street fucking over Main Street (to borrow simple minded contemporary slogans), or as a no less criminal or unethical version of a Wall Street's Gordan Gecko dismantling of large groups of peoples lives in order to feed his greed (which is always good, but in Parker's world Gecko-ian greed would probably led to the early death of the man whose eyes are bigger than his stomach). This can be seen as the coast (because all the major players on Parkers side seem to come from the East Coast) pissing all over the poor little fly-over states.
I loved the idea of a whole town being robbed. One of the problems with the book was that it got a little clunky with so many characters moving around in so short of a book, and a lot of the characters kind of blended into a blob of a cookie-cutter professional criminal who is good at his job but doesn't have any other defining characteristics. But, I think Stark might have been using this book to populate Parker's criminal world with some names and faces that he will be able to use in future books, sort of like he did in some of the side stories of The Outfit. This book was almost as much fun as The Outfit but with not nearly as many crimes and heists being pulled in the Score it just doesn't quite live up to book number 3.
Next up, The Jugger, where I'll probably write more about Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina than the actual book.
I kind of like to think that the latter is what happened. And in that case I like the reading of this book as an analogy to Wall Street fucking over Main Street (to borrow simple minded contemporary slogans), or as a no less criminal or unethical version of a Wall Street's Gordan Gecko dismantling of large groups of peoples lives in order to feed his greed (which is always good, but in Parker's world Gecko-ian greed would probably led to the early death of the man whose eyes are bigger than his stomach). This can be seen as the coast (because all the major players on Parkers side seem to come from the East Coast) pissing all over the poor little fly-over states.
I loved the idea of a whole town being robbed. One of the problems with the book was that it got a little clunky with so many characters moving around in so short of a book, and a lot of the characters kind of blended into a blob of a cookie-cutter professional criminal who is good at his job but doesn't have any other defining characteristics. But, I think Stark might have been using this book to populate Parker's criminal world with some names and faces that he will be able to use in future books, sort of like he did in some of the side stories of The Outfit. This book was almost as much fun as The Outfit but with not nearly as many crimes and heists being pulled in the Score it just doesn't quite live up to book number 3.
Next up, The Jugger, where I'll probably write more about Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina than the actual book.
December 22, 2024
The last book (the Mourner), was by no means a bad novel, but after reading the Score, I can say that this is miles ahead of the Mourner.
Here, we are introduced to a robbery of an entire town. I thought reading about it would be a mess to piece together in my head, but Richard Stark wrote this really well, and I wasn't at all confused by the dozen people taking over the town and who was doing what.
What started out in planning with twenty or so men, Parker steps in and cuts the team down to just twelve. Are they able to pull it off? Professionals or not, robbing an entire town in one night is quite the challenge for our man Parker.
This entry also sees the introduction of Grofield, who gets his own spinoff series later on. Looking forward to checking that out, along with the next book in this series.
Highly recommended.
Here, we are introduced to a robbery of an entire town. I thought reading about it would be a mess to piece together in my head, but Richard Stark wrote this really well, and I wasn't at all confused by the dozen people taking over the town and who was doing what.
What started out in planning with twenty or so men, Parker steps in and cuts the team down to just twelve. Are they able to pull it off? Professionals or not, robbing an entire town in one night is quite the challenge for our man Parker.
This entry also sees the introduction of Grofield, who gets his own spinoff series later on. Looking forward to checking that out, along with the next book in this series.
Highly recommended.
February 3, 2018
A superb caper. An amateur gets in touch with Parker, who is getting antsy from inactivity and a dwindling bank account. Eventually, he is convinced that a small town in North Dakota, Copper Canyon, can be robbed, even though it is accessible by only one highway, and is completely isolated with a state police station just outside of town. Lots of targets for a big payday: a mine payroll, two banks and several stores with large daily receipts, a small cadre of defenders, few conduits with the outside world, and a enforced nighttime curfew. Great planning until the amateur's agenda is revealed and all hell breaks loose. Very enjoyable.
February 8, 2016
So, Parker...you knew better than to get involved in this cluster......errr, flop. We all hope you learned from this experience that when your instincts tell you to pass a job by, pass it by.
Lots of action in this somewhat convoluted overly complicated heist...and Parker knew it was too complicated. he almost walked away, and I'll bet by the time it was over he was wishing he had.
Okay so I like the series it's good full of action...and makes me feel a little creepy about liking them. I mean Parker is a pretty nasty customer.
Still the books are good reads.
Enjoy.
Lots of action in this somewhat convoluted overly complicated heist...and Parker knew it was too complicated. he almost walked away, and I'll bet by the time it was over he was wishing he had.
Okay so I like the series it's good full of action...and makes me feel a little creepy about liking them. I mean Parker is a pretty nasty customer.
Still the books are good reads.
Enjoy.
January 20, 2016
Even though ‘The Score� is a short novel � my copy runs to a distinctly svelte 158 pages � this is clearly Richard Stark going for epic. The idea of robbing not just a bank, or a factory pay-roll, but an entire city is just genius. It’s a big idea, but one Stark puts across with a beautiful economy. Of course a raid like this needs a sizeable crew and each of the gang of rogues who are pulled together for this heist is beautifully and efficiently sketched in just a few sentences. (What’s more for fans of the series this is the very first appearance of Alan Grofield, Shakespearean actor, thief and the other character the Richard Stark name would write books about. ) It’s a fantastic concept and the actual heist is terrifically executed, so it’s just a shame that it all falls flat towards the end, with the final quarter being a lacklustre tying together of loose ends. Yes, it fits Stark/Westlake’s view that these are books about professionals as that last section is about the downtime and bickering for a gang of professionals after such a crime, but � as other Parker novels expertly prove � you can marry that professionalism to drama and suspense. Here Stark fails to do that, so ends with a damp squib rather than more explosions.
I read a remark the other day about the existential nature of the Parker books, and there is a definite lack of a God, be it either the religious kind or the omnipotent god of crime fiction who generally makes sure that the rules of basic morality are upheld and bad people get their comeuppance. Instead these books are about men who make their own rules and carve out their own kind of chaotic order from the void. But for all their shaping of their own world, since they only really come alive when they’re working and committing these crimes, they are essentially like Sisyphus just pushing a rock up a hill again and again and again. The money always runs out and a fresh scheme � or is it always just variations on the same scheme? � always starts up.
It’s a theory I’ll think over more as I re-read the rest of these books, but what certainly struck me about this one is that it has a kind of gleeful nihilism. The city that’s raided � Copper Canyon � is small town Americana at its finest: a sleepy police department; teenagers who are a bit rebellious but respectful; a place where everybody knows everybody else. It’s a town that should have its own Jessica Fletcher, the kind of city David Lynch would love. And here it’s blown apart. It’s peace and serenity destroyed, and there’s no authority figure who can make it right, no Jessica Fletcher who can solve the crime. From being a sleepy berg its suddenly dragged to the edge of the abyss for seemingly no reason whatsoever. The book revels in this destruction, but then forgets about it � the men who cause this chaos walk away with a shrug of their shoulders and scarcely a glance back. There is no authority, no rules, no moral God � this is Parker’s world and you better get used to it.
I read a remark the other day about the existential nature of the Parker books, and there is a definite lack of a God, be it either the religious kind or the omnipotent god of crime fiction who generally makes sure that the rules of basic morality are upheld and bad people get their comeuppance. Instead these books are about men who make their own rules and carve out their own kind of chaotic order from the void. But for all their shaping of their own world, since they only really come alive when they’re working and committing these crimes, they are essentially like Sisyphus just pushing a rock up a hill again and again and again. The money always runs out and a fresh scheme � or is it always just variations on the same scheme? � always starts up.
It’s a theory I’ll think over more as I re-read the rest of these books, but what certainly struck me about this one is that it has a kind of gleeful nihilism. The city that’s raided � Copper Canyon � is small town Americana at its finest: a sleepy police department; teenagers who are a bit rebellious but respectful; a place where everybody knows everybody else. It’s a town that should have its own Jessica Fletcher, the kind of city David Lynch would love. And here it’s blown apart. It’s peace and serenity destroyed, and there’s no authority figure who can make it right, no Jessica Fletcher who can solve the crime. From being a sleepy berg its suddenly dragged to the edge of the abyss for seemingly no reason whatsoever. The book revels in this destruction, but then forgets about it � the men who cause this chaos walk away with a shrug of their shoulders and scarcely a glance back. There is no authority, no rules, no moral God � this is Parker’s world and you better get used to it.
April 18, 2013
Parker, bored with hanging around at the beach, decides to check out Ìýanother larcenous job opportunity, but there's something hinky about the guy organizing the whole thing. Against his better judgement, Parker deals in because the payoff could be big. This time Parker and the gang knock off a whole town! But you know what happens when things seem to go too smoothly...
I've read Parker #1, #3 and now #5. You'd think I was hitting all the odd ones first. Nah. That's just what my local library has readily available without placing a reservation for a specific copy. Doesn't matter, though. I'll catch up on them all, but I am really digging this series now and even get a real sense of continuity, even though I skipped a couple. Salsa, whom I last saw in The Outfit (and for some reason I imagine as looking like Henry Silva) is in on this job. Handy, also appearing in The Outfit has a brief mention. So I am getting the sense of continuity and world-building that makes me feel very comfortable and looking forward to each next volume. ÌýOther new-to-me characters are introduced as well, each with a distinct and amusing personality.
Stark's (Westlake's) writing is as crisp as a freshly printed hundred-dollar bill, making these novel eminently readable. Like Parker himself, there is nothing unnecessary or extraneous. This is something of a rarity, I find, among many of the novels of today that are often five or six-hundred pages long. I sometimes wonder if the art of economical language has been lost. Ìý
And Parker, of course, is a great character. He is completely, uncompromisingly amoral; the epitome of the practical man. There was a moment when I thought Parker was getting a little soft, but later learned that he was just being practical. While he is goal-oriented when a job is on, afterward he's sexually ravenous and never seems to have any trouble finding someone to release some tension with. He is totally independent, outside the system. No ties, no obligations. It occurred to me that this is perfect material for my mid-life crisis. I don't have enough money to buy a red sports car. I'm not successful enough to mess around with an age-inappropriate girlfriend. I don't need a toupee (yet). If one is going to hit a mid-life crisis one could certainly do worse than a Parker novel.
I've read Parker #1, #3 and now #5. You'd think I was hitting all the odd ones first. Nah. That's just what my local library has readily available without placing a reservation for a specific copy. Doesn't matter, though. I'll catch up on them all, but I am really digging this series now and even get a real sense of continuity, even though I skipped a couple. Salsa, whom I last saw in The Outfit (and for some reason I imagine as looking like Henry Silva) is in on this job. Handy, also appearing in The Outfit has a brief mention. So I am getting the sense of continuity and world-building that makes me feel very comfortable and looking forward to each next volume. ÌýOther new-to-me characters are introduced as well, each with a distinct and amusing personality.
Stark's (Westlake's) writing is as crisp as a freshly printed hundred-dollar bill, making these novel eminently readable. Like Parker himself, there is nothing unnecessary or extraneous. This is something of a rarity, I find, among many of the novels of today that are often five or six-hundred pages long. I sometimes wonder if the art of economical language has been lost. Ìý
And Parker, of course, is a great character. He is completely, uncompromisingly amoral; the epitome of the practical man. There was a moment when I thought Parker was getting a little soft, but later learned that he was just being practical. While he is goal-oriented when a job is on, afterward he's sexually ravenous and never seems to have any trouble finding someone to release some tension with. He is totally independent, outside the system. No ties, no obligations. It occurred to me that this is perfect material for my mid-life crisis. I don't have enough money to buy a red sports car. I'm not successful enough to mess around with an age-inappropriate girlfriend. I don't need a toupee (yet). If one is going to hit a mid-life crisis one could certainly do worse than a Parker novel.
September 19, 2022
What's most vivid about this adventure is the canyon town that Westlake creates. Surrounded on three sides by rock and only accessible by one road in or out. Does such a town exist or has it ever existed? He then slaps a midnight curfew on the town making it empty at night. Parker doesn't love the setup. Does he ever? And the man what brings the plan is a definite amateur. He wants 25 guys in on it. And yet, if the man will listen there is a way to do this heist with fewer people and less danger.
Parker is mostly a problem-solver. This is easy when it comes to logistics. He knows where to buy untraceable guns or getaway cars that look clean to passing police. It gets more complicated when his partners bring him human problems. Why can't they put away their lifestyles for a few weeks and concentrate on their work? This is probably why Parker survives when so many others do not.
For those who know the series, Alan Grofield is introduced in this book. He'll show up on future Parker robberies and will even get a short series of his own.
Parker is mostly a problem-solver. This is easy when it comes to logistics. He knows where to buy untraceable guns or getaway cars that look clean to passing police. It gets more complicated when his partners bring him human problems. Why can't they put away their lifestyles for a few weeks and concentrate on their work? This is probably why Parker survives when so many others do not.
For those who know the series, Alan Grofield is introduced in this book. He'll show up on future Parker robberies and will even get a short series of his own.
October 23, 2014
I think I've hit my limit of Parker books for now. The formula was a bit too predictable, although this was his most ambitious job yet. Unfortunately, I guessed most of the high points pretty much from the beginning. Still, the details were fun to follow & Parker is a wonderful anti-hero. While I have #6, I'm missing the odd numbers after that through #12. I'll see if I can't get them for another Parker marathon at another time.
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November 8, 2018
60th book read in 2018.
Number 63 out of 720 on my all time book list.
A surprise. Great characters. Can be read as a stand alone.
Number 63 out of 720 on my all time book list.
A surprise. Great characters. Can be read as a stand alone.
July 9, 2021
Did anybody write better heist novels than Richard Stark (Donald Westlake)? Well, maybe Dan J. Marlowe - One Endless Hour and Four for the Money are good examples. Seriously, though, it's hard to top these Parker novels for their depiction of heists. And this one is all about the extreme caper - to rob an entire town in rural North Dakota. In the previous Parker novels he'd been trying to clear himself from the Outfit or dispensing with unfinished business. In this one he is free and clear and all about the job. The first half of the book is all setup: describing the job, finding the crew, procuring the guns and the vehicles. Need a movie reference? Think Ocean's Eleven. Second half? They do the heist. Expect some monkey wrenches, but this one is all about the crew pulling off the take down of an entire town. Grofield also makes his appearance in this novel, so that is kind of cool, as he will get his own four book series later: The Damsel, The Dame, The Blackbird, and Lemons Never Lie, which was reprinted by Hard Case Crime.
August 25, 2022
Maybe the best book in this series that I've read to date. A lean, mean thrill machine wherein Parker and a crew of similarly blackhearted bastards conspire to take off an entire town in North Dakota. I was hooked from the first page and looked forward to picking up the book every day. If I was the kind of person who read on planes, I can imagine ripping through it during a long flight. The casual cruelty and systemic ruthlessness on display here are much more realistic than the contrived "emotions" and garden-variety psychology peddled in most fiction, and as far as writing goes, there are lessons to be learned from this novel about how to set a story in motion and then stay out of the way. Keep it simple, stupid.
May 26, 2018
Good semi-noir entry, with Parker pulled into a heist unlike any he's been involved with before - an entire town ripe for the plucking.
March 7, 2016
This is my favorite Parker yet. We get a sliver of insight into Parker's character and a very exciting heist story.
February 23, 2021
Parker and eleven of his fellow thieves make plans to rob every establishment in a small one-horse town on a single night. What could possibly go wrong?!?! Oh yeah- plenty!!!
3 1/2 Stars for this crazy smile inducing caper!!!
3 1/2 Stars for this crazy smile inducing caper!!!
June 10, 2018
Parker is lollygagging in Miami in-between jobs when he gets a tip on a big score. The job is loaded with red flags, but the take is too tempting; rob an entire town in North Dakota. It will take loads of coordination, a team of thieves, an insider, and more than a little luck. The story is a straightforward account of the set-up, execution and aftermath, but the sparse writing keeps it clipping along. A little far-fetched at times (still not sure why the entire town is under a night curfew), and a little predictable, but I enjoyed it. The changing narrative let's us get into other character's heads, and although this book doesn't really advance Parker as a character, I feel like I know him a little better. That's actually an interesting aspect of this story, as Parker is not the lead, but simply part of the cast. The Score doesn't pack the punch of the first three books but I like where things are headed.
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