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Parker #18
Backflash
Following on the heels of Comeback, a New York Times Notable Book, a new Parker adventure finds the master thief deep in troubled waters when his plan to hijack a riverboat casino goes awry. 20,000 first printing.
292 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
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December 3, 2014
When a retired bureaucrat told Parker about the job, it sounded like a good score; rob a riverboat casino and take nearly half a million dollars, cash. Only other people know what's going down and want the money for themselves. And what's in it for the bureaucrat anyway? Will Parker finish the job with his money and his life intact?
Parker's back and still up to the same old tricks. I wonder how much money he's stolen and spent over the years. As always, the plan is both believable and well-executed. Dan Wicza, Noelle, Mike Carlow and Lou Sternberg all return to give Parker a hand. Cathman, the guy who tipped Parker to the job, is an odd bird and I was glad he got what was coming to him. I really liked the way Parker came up with to get the money off the boat.
But Dan, you ask. You've only given this a 3? What gives? I'll tell you, Arnold. My problem with Backflash was the same as my problem with Comeback. It read a lot more like a Donald Westlake novel than a Richard Stark. Some of the economy of the prose was gone. It felt a little watered down, like I was drinking a MGD 64 instead of a Miller Genuine Draft. I know I shouldn't expect Westlake to be the same writer he was at the time of the original Parker run but it's definitely noticeable.
Other than that, I don't have any complaints. It was a solid caper and a worthwhile entry in the Parker series.
Parker's back and still up to the same old tricks. I wonder how much money he's stolen and spent over the years. As always, the plan is both believable and well-executed. Dan Wicza, Noelle, Mike Carlow and Lou Sternberg all return to give Parker a hand. Cathman, the guy who tipped Parker to the job, is an odd bird and I was glad he got what was coming to him. I really liked the way Parker came up with to get the money off the boat.
But Dan, you ask. You've only given this a 3? What gives? I'll tell you, Arnold. My problem with Backflash was the same as my problem with Comeback. It read a lot more like a Donald Westlake novel than a Richard Stark. Some of the economy of the prose was gone. It felt a little watered down, like I was drinking a MGD 64 instead of a Miller Genuine Draft. I know I shouldn't expect Westlake to be the same writer he was at the time of the original Parker run but it's definitely noticeable.
Other than that, I don't have any complaints. It was a solid caper and a worthwhile entry in the Parker series.
December 4, 2014
When Parker takes a boating trip along a river, you know that it’s not gonna be a pleasure cruise.
After a narrow escape from his previous robbery, Parker is contacted by a retired government bureaucrat named Cathman who has a proposition. Cathman has the details on a new riverboat casino that is always loaded with cash, and while Parker doesn’t much like the idea of pulling a job on a boat, it’s too tempting a target to pass up. Parker assembles a top notch crew of thieves to pull off the heist, but he’s worried about Cathman’s real motives. As always with a Parker story, there are some other monkey wrenches lurking around just waiting to be flung into the works at the worst possible moments.
This is second Parker book that Stark (a/k/a Donald Westlake) wrote a long lay off from 1974 until 1997. While I don’t find the second phase of the books quite as strong as the early Parker novels, a weaker Stark is still better than most other crime novels, and this one was particularly fun to re-read. The riverboat heist is a nice change of pace, and as usual there are some clever gimmicks as to how the job gets pulled off. Another aspect I enjoyed was that for a while in the series most of Parker’s problems were coming from loose ends that he would leave hanging. In this one, most of the obstacles come from directions he couldn’t have reasonably anticipated so he comes across as smarter in this one as well as more ruthless in the way he deals with them.
Something that did strike me funny was the idea that there’s a riverboat casino that actually goes up and down a river. When the riverboat fad hit Kansas City in the �90s there was the usual battle between the puritans and the capitalists, and the riverboat compromise was sold as being a way to do gambling with strict limitations. But then the so-called boats were essentially just buildings along the river.
We all played along with the joke for a while. There was a brief period when you actually had to get boarding passes and could only step ‘on-board� at certain times with a time limit that meant you had to leave the ‘ship�. Most of those rules were tossed out pretty quickly so what we were left with are casinos along the rivers in areas no one goes to except to gamble which pretty much eliminated all the projections of bringing tourism in.
Anyhow, that’s why I found the idea of a riverboat casino that actually cruises on a river hilarious. (Are there parts of the country where they actually do this? Anyone got an actual cruising riverboat?) Parker should have just hit one of these KC casinos, and he wouldn’t have had to worry about any of that boat nonsense.
After a narrow escape from his previous robbery, Parker is contacted by a retired government bureaucrat named Cathman who has a proposition. Cathman has the details on a new riverboat casino that is always loaded with cash, and while Parker doesn’t much like the idea of pulling a job on a boat, it’s too tempting a target to pass up. Parker assembles a top notch crew of thieves to pull off the heist, but he’s worried about Cathman’s real motives. As always with a Parker story, there are some other monkey wrenches lurking around just waiting to be flung into the works at the worst possible moments.
This is second Parker book that Stark (a/k/a Donald Westlake) wrote a long lay off from 1974 until 1997. While I don’t find the second phase of the books quite as strong as the early Parker novels, a weaker Stark is still better than most other crime novels, and this one was particularly fun to re-read. The riverboat heist is a nice change of pace, and as usual there are some clever gimmicks as to how the job gets pulled off. Another aspect I enjoyed was that for a while in the series most of Parker’s problems were coming from loose ends that he would leave hanging. In this one, most of the obstacles come from directions he couldn’t have reasonably anticipated so he comes across as smarter in this one as well as more ruthless in the way he deals with them.
Something that did strike me funny was the idea that there’s a riverboat casino that actually goes up and down a river. When the riverboat fad hit Kansas City in the �90s there was the usual battle between the puritans and the capitalists, and the riverboat compromise was sold as being a way to do gambling with strict limitations. But then the so-called boats were essentially just buildings along the river.
We all played along with the joke for a while. There was a brief period when you actually had to get boarding passes and could only step ‘on-board� at certain times with a time limit that meant you had to leave the ‘ship�. Most of those rules were tossed out pretty quickly so what we were left with are casinos along the rivers in areas no one goes to except to gamble which pretty much eliminated all the projections of bringing tourism in.
Anyhow, that’s why I found the idea of a riverboat casino that actually cruises on a river hilarious. (Are there parts of the country where they actually do this? Anyone got an actual cruising riverboat?) Parker should have just hit one of these KC casinos, and he wouldn’t have had to worry about any of that boat nonsense.
February 25, 2021
‘’We live and learn, Ray.�
And then Parker shot him”—Stark
The second Parker book Stark wrote after a 23 year hiatus, #18 of 24, and it is better than Comeback, the previous book. Feels a bit like they are getting back in their stride, Parker and Stark. A solid entry in the series, with just the right mix of details about the planning and execution of the crime, and when things go inevitably south, the careful planner Parker improvises his way out of a couple jams. Part of the attraction to these novels is that we get to see things from the perspective of a cold-blooded criminal. We think: How would we pull this off, get guns on a boat with heavy security, how would we get the money off, and so on.
“People get used to everything but being dead”—Parker
The story is about a hired heist of a riverboat gambling casino. Some of it is a little far-fetched, but that's okay. The best part of the story is the intense car ride with Ray, Parker in handcuffs, a kind of coiled snake waiting to spring. And you know he will. But overall, Parker seems less angry or brutal than in the best of these novels: The Hunter, The Deadly Edge, Slayground, Butcher’s Moon. Now those are inspired entries! Backflash is good, don’t get me wrong. Just not among the very best of the series. 3.5.
And then Parker shot him”—Stark
The second Parker book Stark wrote after a 23 year hiatus, #18 of 24, and it is better than Comeback, the previous book. Feels a bit like they are getting back in their stride, Parker and Stark. A solid entry in the series, with just the right mix of details about the planning and execution of the crime, and when things go inevitably south, the careful planner Parker improvises his way out of a couple jams. Part of the attraction to these novels is that we get to see things from the perspective of a cold-blooded criminal. We think: How would we pull this off, get guns on a boat with heavy security, how would we get the money off, and so on.
“People get used to everything but being dead”—Parker
The story is about a hired heist of a riverboat gambling casino. Some of it is a little far-fetched, but that's okay. The best part of the story is the intense car ride with Ray, Parker in handcuffs, a kind of coiled snake waiting to spring. And you know he will. But overall, Parker seems less angry or brutal than in the best of these novels: The Hunter, The Deadly Edge, Slayground, Butcher’s Moon. Now those are inspired entries! Backflash is good, don’t get me wrong. Just not among the very best of the series. 3.5.
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October 13, 2022
Opening sentence for Blackflash: "When the car stopped rolling, Parker kicked out the rest of the windshield and crawled through onto the wrinkled hood, Glock first."
The other guy, Howell the driver, is trapped in the car, trapped but conscious. Parker can hear the trooper siren in the distance. Howell tells Parker he won't talk. Parker grabs the bag holding $140,000 in cash, says, "See you in twenty years," and heads downslope.
So ends one caper where Parker and crew cut into a deal involving rockets stolen from a military depot. Then, back with his woman Claire in their house by a lake in rural Upstate New Jersey, the unexpected: Parker receives a call from Albany, New York, from a man named Cathman. It appears Howell was next going to work with Cathman on a job but now that Howell is dead, Cathman wants to meet with Parker.
Parker travels north and discovers Hilliard Cathman is a retired state government official with instant access to reams of inside information, including a detailed blueprint of a riverboat soon to be used for gambling on the Hudson River.
Cathman gives Parker the skinny: he's adamantly opposed to gambling in his part of the state and, as a first step , wants Parker to head up a robbery - steal all the cash aboard.
Is this guy crazy? Parker knows something is off with Hilliard Cathman and needs to dig deeper...but, damn, piles and more piles of greenbacks all in one room, the "money room," on that riverboat. So enticing.
Rollin' on the river. Backflash is a thriller that thrills at every swivel, an intricately plotted, masterfully constructed tale of suspense, drama, depth, pathos.
One key for any creative writer: their use of metaphor and simile and vivid language. To serve an added helping of master of the craft Donald E. Westlake writing as Richard Stark, I'll make a special point of peppering in colorful direct quotes as part of my highlight reel:
Finicky Finger
As a way to better understand what's behind his inside man (the "finger" in outlaw parlance), Parker pays a visit to Cathman's office. Is this retired bureaucrat, sometime government consultant, all what he presents himself to be? In the outer office, behind Cathman's secretary, there's "a large framed reproduction of Ben Shahn's Sacco and Vanzetti poster. So Cathman was not a man to give up a cause just because it was dead." Parker keeps looking and looking but none of his answers proves satisfying, but then...for Richard Stark to tell.
River Rat
Parker needs to explore the Hudson River. Through one of his contacts, he's out on a boat owned by crafty older Hanzen, a river rat making his living, in part, by selling the marijuana he grows to bikers. When the boat approaches shore, Hanzen spots three bikers who deal his grass. Westlake/Stark describes this trio in several quick, incisive strokes:
"Bikers. Two were heavyset middle-aged men with heavy beards and mean eyes and round beerguts; the third was younger, thinner, clean shaven. All were in leather jackets and jeans. The two older ones sat on the ground, backs against their motorcycles, while the third, jittery, hopped-up, kept walking this way and that in the little clearing, watching the approaching boat, talking to the other two, looking back up the road they'd come down." Hint: this isn't the last we hear of the biker trio.
Assemblyman and Body Guards
One of the more intriguing parts of the riverboat heist: Parker and Dan Wycza act as armed bodyguards for a state assemblyman, a government official played by Lou Sternberg. Stark fans will recognize both Wycza and Sternberg from previous Parker novels.
Sexy Susan
"Dan Wycza thought this woman Susan Cahill would be therapeutic. She looked like somebody who liked sex without getting all bent out of shape over it, somebody who knew what it was for and all about its limitations." Susan Cahill serves as the ship's top guide and escort, a tall, slender, curvaceous looker whose specialty is using her friendly smile, her sweet words, her suggestive, subtle bump and grind to manipulate - men most especially.
Deigning to cast an eye at the Goon Patrol (Parker and Dan Wycza), Susan Cahill sees "two state cops in civvies, all muscle and gun, no brains." As Stark fans might expect, when the boys transition from body guards to heisters, Susan Cahill gets her comeuppance, as per:
Parker orders Cahill to put her hands behind her back. "I certainly will not!" She folder her arms under her breasts and glared. "If you think you'll get away with -"
He slapped her, left-handed, open-handed, but hard, the sound almost like a baseball being hit by a bat." When Parker gives Susan Cahill the choice: put your hands behind your back or I knock your teeth out, Susan dutifully puts her hands behind her back.
Wan in Wheelchair
Two other of Parker's past string are in on the riverboat heist, including hippie-type chic Noelle Braselle who night after night has been playing the part of a wealthy maiden confined to a wheelchair. Turns out, not an easy job at all, a task taking its toll. Hey, Noelle, how are you doing, honey? "For answer, she hunkered back and drew her legs up under her. Seated in the van doorway, cross-legged, slumped forward, she looked like an untrustworthy oracle."
Ray Rolls the Dice
Another key Backflash player: Ray Becker. I'll conclude with Westlake/Stark providing a bit of background for our man Ray:
"He was a fuckup, and he knew it. He'd been a fuckup all his life, third of five sons of a hardware store owner who was never any problem for any of his boys so long as they worked their ass off. Being in the middle, Ray had never been big enough, or strong enough to compete with his meaner older brothers, and never been cute enough or sly enough to compete with his guileful younger brothers, so he was just the fuckup in the middle, and grew up knowing that about himself, and had never done anything in his life to make him change his opinion of himself."
Is Ray's luck about to change? Read Backflash to find out.
American author Donald E. Westlake, 1933-2008
July 15, 2022
“Backflash� is the eighteenth novel in the Parker world. It is wedged between “Comeback� and “Flashfire� and, as Lawrence Block points out in the introduction, this is Westlake (aka Stark) having fun with his titles and connecting them. It is part of the second set of Parker novels, published from 1997 to 2008 after a 23-year hiatus from the series. These are longer novels than most of the original sixteen. In some ways, they feel smoother, more professionally finished.
This one involves what looks for most of the book more like a con game from The Sting than a simple show your guns and rob them kind of caper. The subject of the caper here is a gambling boat running a route up and down the Hudson River in upstate New York. “It looked like any small cruise ship, white and sparkly, a big oval wedding cake, except in the wrong setting. It should be in the Caribbean, with Tommy Carpenter, not steaming up the Hudson River beside gray stone cliffs, north out of New York City.�
This is a trial run for the boat and estimates of how much dough is traveling on the boat range in the neighborhood of several hundred thousand. A retired, but still well-connected state bureaucrat has got the idea for the caper and engages Parker to do it. Parker likes the money angle, but for the life of him, can’t figure out why this straight- laced career bureaucrat is even involved in such a thing. Parker himself organizes the crew in this one and it includes a number of characters from other Parker novels, including a couple from the art caper in Plunder Squad such as Noelle, whose main job there was to take off her clothes and distract the sheriff’s deputies and Mike Carlow who explains that people get used to everything, but being dead. The wonder of this book is how Parker’s crew cons their way onto the boat and then off it with the loot and I won’t spoil it by telling about it.
The great characters in this book don’t stop with Parker’s crew, but include the state bureaucrat that engages Parker on this enterprise and others that try to get in his way. Some of the descriptions are hysterically funny like the motel clerk with the “neat egg-shaped head with straight brown hair down both sides of it, like curtains at a window, and nothing much in the window� and the bartender who looked “like a retired cop who’d gone to seed the day his papers had come through.� Then there’s Susan Cahill, who is in charge of guest relations on the gambling boat, “she in low-heeled pumps, dark blue skirt and jacket� and “her smile looked metallic, something stamped out of sheet tin. The hand she extended, with its long, coral-colored nails, seemed made of plastic, not flesh.�
The book is simply another great addition to the Parker universe. It is written in Westlake’s tight prose and filled with action and planning and double-crosses.
This one involves what looks for most of the book more like a con game from The Sting than a simple show your guns and rob them kind of caper. The subject of the caper here is a gambling boat running a route up and down the Hudson River in upstate New York. “It looked like any small cruise ship, white and sparkly, a big oval wedding cake, except in the wrong setting. It should be in the Caribbean, with Tommy Carpenter, not steaming up the Hudson River beside gray stone cliffs, north out of New York City.�
This is a trial run for the boat and estimates of how much dough is traveling on the boat range in the neighborhood of several hundred thousand. A retired, but still well-connected state bureaucrat has got the idea for the caper and engages Parker to do it. Parker likes the money angle, but for the life of him, can’t figure out why this straight- laced career bureaucrat is even involved in such a thing. Parker himself organizes the crew in this one and it includes a number of characters from other Parker novels, including a couple from the art caper in Plunder Squad such as Noelle, whose main job there was to take off her clothes and distract the sheriff’s deputies and Mike Carlow who explains that people get used to everything, but being dead. The wonder of this book is how Parker’s crew cons their way onto the boat and then off it with the loot and I won’t spoil it by telling about it.
The great characters in this book don’t stop with Parker’s crew, but include the state bureaucrat that engages Parker on this enterprise and others that try to get in his way. Some of the descriptions are hysterically funny like the motel clerk with the “neat egg-shaped head with straight brown hair down both sides of it, like curtains at a window, and nothing much in the window� and the bartender who looked “like a retired cop who’d gone to seed the day his papers had come through.� Then there’s Susan Cahill, who is in charge of guest relations on the gambling boat, “she in low-heeled pumps, dark blue skirt and jacket� and “her smile looked metallic, something stamped out of sheet tin. The hand she extended, with its long, coral-colored nails, seemed made of plastic, not flesh.�
The book is simply another great addition to the Parker universe. It is written in Westlake’s tight prose and filled with action and planning and double-crosses.
March 31, 2018
As a professional thief Parker goes about his business with ruthless efficiency. In his eighteenth outing the heist involves a casino ship sailing the Hudson River in upstate New York and a fair amount of the book involves deciding whether the inside man is trustworthy, if the theft is viable, and the gathering of the crew once the decision to go ahead is made. Secrecy is compromised on several levels and Parker has a lot of cleaning up to do. Not among the best in the series but still 4 Stars because it delivers on what is expected: quick, light entertainment.
January 13, 2011
Right after finishing this book I jumped right into the first book in the Parker series, The Hunter. I don't know if it is just the twenty year hiatus that came between Butcher's Moon and Comeback or if the change comes gradually in the first sixteen Parker novels, but the amoral criminal in the later books seems like an easy-going live-and-let-live type compared to the angry man in the rumbled suit that walks over the George Washington Bridge to exact revenge on the people who fucked him over in the opening novel to the series. I thought that Parker was a 'hard-as-nails' character in the this book and Comeback but now I'm seeing he's a much mellower version of what he once was.
But, not to mix up books that I'm talking about too much I'll just focus on Backflash for now and talk about The Hunter in my future review for that book. I'll probably end up repeating things I said in my last Richard Stark review. The story is no-nosense. Parker is enlisted to rob a riverboat casino on the Hudson River in Upstate NY (518 Represent!), during what is supposed to be a trial period for New York to have some casinos of it's own that aren't run by Native Americans*. And that is the story for the book, how Parker sets up and executes the heist. I was a little disappointed that the story was told in a more traditional and linear manner than the sort of cubist manner of Comeback. But my disappointment in formal qualities was soothed by the plot itself. I really liked this book, a lot. I even thought maybe I should rate this one higher than Comeback but I don't know if where the two Parker novels I've read stand in the entire body of Stark's work, so for now I'm giving it the four stars just so that if I'm totally blown away by some of the other books I have something higher to rate them with.
Brian commented on the last review that Stark (and Parker as a character) don't waste any words and that is dead-on accurate. The book is lean as fuck, there is nothing extraneous. Every line is necessary to the story there are no words in the book or said by Parker that aren't necessary. The text, like the protagonist, is single-minded and ruthless in its goal (which actually makes the first chapter of The Hunter a little jarring since it contains so much description compared to the leaner prose that even follows in later chapters of the first book, it's like Stark had to get all those extra superfluous adjectives out of his system to get the Parker ball rolling and then could get streamlined and economical).
*side note, the basic premise of this book is wildly implausible taking into account the political climate of New York State, the massive influence of the New York Racing Association and general priggishness in the mid to late 90's regarding morality when it comes to adults risking money in different manners that don't involve horses running in a circle. Also in the logic of the book the trial run of river boat gambling would be overlapping with the start of the Saratoga racing season, something that at the time would never been allowed to happen. The very existence of a casino river boat thirty miles from the track that sits next to Yaddo would excite the ire of a majority of moral hypocrites in Albany and would have been a very different political climate from the one described by Richard Stark.... but this is fiction so ignore all of that.
But, not to mix up books that I'm talking about too much I'll just focus on Backflash for now and talk about The Hunter in my future review for that book. I'll probably end up repeating things I said in my last Richard Stark review. The story is no-nosense. Parker is enlisted to rob a riverboat casino on the Hudson River in Upstate NY (518 Represent!), during what is supposed to be a trial period for New York to have some casinos of it's own that aren't run by Native Americans*. And that is the story for the book, how Parker sets up and executes the heist. I was a little disappointed that the story was told in a more traditional and linear manner than the sort of cubist manner of Comeback. But my disappointment in formal qualities was soothed by the plot itself. I really liked this book, a lot. I even thought maybe I should rate this one higher than Comeback but I don't know if where the two Parker novels I've read stand in the entire body of Stark's work, so for now I'm giving it the four stars just so that if I'm totally blown away by some of the other books I have something higher to rate them with.
Brian commented on the last review that Stark (and Parker as a character) don't waste any words and that is dead-on accurate. The book is lean as fuck, there is nothing extraneous. Every line is necessary to the story there are no words in the book or said by Parker that aren't necessary. The text, like the protagonist, is single-minded and ruthless in its goal (which actually makes the first chapter of The Hunter a little jarring since it contains so much description compared to the leaner prose that even follows in later chapters of the first book, it's like Stark had to get all those extra superfluous adjectives out of his system to get the Parker ball rolling and then could get streamlined and economical).
*side note, the basic premise of this book is wildly implausible taking into account the political climate of New York State, the massive influence of the New York Racing Association and general priggishness in the mid to late 90's regarding morality when it comes to adults risking money in different manners that don't involve horses running in a circle. Also in the logic of the book the trial run of river boat gambling would be overlapping with the start of the Saratoga racing season, something that at the time would never been allowed to happen. The very existence of a casino river boat thirty miles from the track that sits next to Yaddo would excite the ire of a majority of moral hypocrites in Albany and would have been a very different political climate from the one described by Richard Stark.... but this is fiction so ignore all of that.
April 9, 2018
Among the best of the Parker entries.
I was spurred to rush on and read this particular Parker entry by my ŷ friend Christopher.
He recognized that much of this book takes place in my part of the universe.
As we know it.
Parker goes pirate here... plots a heist on a riverboat with the help of a shifty lobbyist.
So many twists and turns in this one the entire job almost goes into the crapper.
If I've met his crew on this gig in previous jobs, I don't recall them.
Part-timers, all of them. Like Parker - heists are means to an end.
One guy is a pro-wrestler. Another one builds race-cars and competes in racing events.
Another is an impressionist -a mimic- who just wants to live a gentleman's life back in London - his adopted home.
And we meet the lovely Noelle Braselle.
For the first time, I think.
Highest Recommendation!
I was spurred to rush on and read this particular Parker entry by my ŷ friend Christopher.
He recognized that much of this book takes place in my part of the universe.
As we know it.
Parker goes pirate here... plots a heist on a riverboat with the help of a shifty lobbyist.
So many twists and turns in this one the entire job almost goes into the crapper.
If I've met his crew on this gig in previous jobs, I don't recall them.
Part-timers, all of them. Like Parker - heists are means to an end.
One guy is a pro-wrestler. Another one builds race-cars and competes in racing events.
Another is an impressionist -a mimic- who just wants to live a gentleman's life back in London - his adopted home.
And we meet the lovely Noelle Braselle.
For the first time, I think.
Highest Recommendation!
December 22, 2018
Book #18, though #2 after a long hiatus. Parker is contacted by a man named Cathman, a retired government bureaucrat, who wants to rob a casino ship on the Hudson River between Albany and Poughkeepsie. As the inside man, Cathman has all the details, but Parker is worried about his motives and the limited escape routes from a riverboat casino, even one filled with cash. After completing his due diligence and developing a viable plan, he assembles a familiar crew of thieves to pull off the daring job. But, as always, there are competing forces, leading to the usual post-heist mayhem. I especially liked the role played by Noelle Braselle, as a sympathetic, wheelchair-bound invalid.
May 17, 2012
This is the sort of Parker novel that I like best: it focuses fairly narrowly on Parker planning and executing a heist and then dealing with the aftermath. So why didn't I like it more? Why did I actually find it a wee bit tedious? The answer, I think, is that while Starklake ably executes the Parker formula, it feels like a formula this time out. Starklake doesn't play with his own conventions as he sometimes does--he just marches through them. Of course, this wouldn't be my reaction if this were my first encounter with Parker, in which case I would probably think this was a great book. More than anything, this all suggests that I ought to take a break from Parker. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT ALERT: In Backflash, Parker laughs at a joke.
August 6, 2015
This is the first great Parker novel of the second series. Better,crisper, more hardcore Parker than in The Comeback.
Only Parker can satisfy me by thinking "do I kill that witness who might maybe be trouble with the law later "
The eternal question in the series for me is the arrogance of desperate people. Usually they are lowlifes who are too stupid, too much of a coward to trick, double cross regular people but to go after Parker who is more dangerous than a hitman.... Its fun reading it though like seeing animal documentary where the prey is too slow to outrun the lion :)
Only Parker can satisfy me by thinking "do I kill that witness who might maybe be trouble with the law later "
The eternal question in the series for me is the arrogance of desperate people. Usually they are lowlifes who are too stupid, too much of a coward to trick, double cross regular people but to go after Parker who is more dangerous than a hitman.... Its fun reading it though like seeing animal documentary where the prey is too slow to outrun the lion :)
August 13, 2021
Parker and the Riverboat Casino
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (April 2013) of the Warner Books / Mysterious Press hardcover (October 1998)
Richard Stark was one of the many pseudonyms of the prolific crime author (1933-2008), who wrote over 100 books. The Stark pseudonym was used primarily for the Parker novels, an antihero criminal who is usually betrayed or ensnared in some manner and who spends each book getting revenge or escaping the circumstances.
In Backflash, Parker is engaged by a retired state bureaucrat who is morally opposed to gambling and a new state initiative for a trial run boat casino. Parker enlists a heist crew who take on disguises for their entry onto the boat with one part of the crew doing the robbery and the others to get the loot off the boat separately. Parker is suspicious of the insider bureaucrat's motives and senses that a betrayal may be planned so he has to keep watching his back throughout. These final Parker novels from #17 to #24 seem stronger and more complex than the original run which was probably due to Westlake/Stark's development as a writer over the years and during the 23 year hiatus. Several of these are strong 4's to 5's (I've actually read or listened to all of them now and am just parceling out the reviews over time).
Backflash is the 2nd book of 5 in a title arc by Richard Stark where the second syllable in each one-word title provides the first syllable of the next one as in 1) Comeback, 2) Backflash, 3) Flashfire, 4) Firebreak and 5) Breakout.
Narrator Keith Szarabjka does an excellent job in all voices in this audiobook edition. The narration includes the Introduction by Lawrence Block as read by Szarabjka.
I had never previously read the Stark/Parker novels but became curious when they came up in my recent reading of (Sept. 2020) by Nancy Pearl & Jeff Schwager. Here is a (perhaps surprising) excerpt from their discussion with :
The 24 Parker books are almost all available for free on Audible Plus, except for #21 & #22 which aren't available at all.
Trivia and Links
The Backflash page at The Violent World of Parker is not as complete as those for the earlier books, but does provide cover images of the different editions.
Unlike many of the 2010-2013 Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook editions which share the same cover art as the University of Chicago Press 2009-2011 , this audiobook DOES include the Foreword by author .
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (April 2013) of the Warner Books / Mysterious Press hardcover (October 1998)
Richard Stark was one of the many pseudonyms of the prolific crime author (1933-2008), who wrote over 100 books. The Stark pseudonym was used primarily for the Parker novels, an antihero criminal who is usually betrayed or ensnared in some manner and who spends each book getting revenge or escaping the circumstances.
In Backflash, Parker is engaged by a retired state bureaucrat who is morally opposed to gambling and a new state initiative for a trial run boat casino. Parker enlists a heist crew who take on disguises for their entry onto the boat with one part of the crew doing the robbery and the others to get the loot off the boat separately. Parker is suspicious of the insider bureaucrat's motives and senses that a betrayal may be planned so he has to keep watching his back throughout. These final Parker novels from #17 to #24 seem stronger and more complex than the original run which was probably due to Westlake/Stark's development as a writer over the years and during the 23 year hiatus. Several of these are strong 4's to 5's (I've actually read or listened to all of them now and am just parceling out the reviews over time).
Backflash is the 2nd book of 5 in a title arc by Richard Stark where the second syllable in each one-word title provides the first syllable of the next one as in 1) Comeback, 2) Backflash, 3) Flashfire, 4) Firebreak and 5) Breakout.
Narrator Keith Szarabjka does an excellent job in all voices in this audiobook edition. The narration includes the Introduction by Lawrence Block as read by Szarabjka.
I had never previously read the Stark/Parker novels but became curious when they came up in my recent reading of (Sept. 2020) by Nancy Pearl & Jeff Schwager. Here is a (perhaps surprising) excerpt from their discussion with :
Nancy: Do you read Lee Child?
Amor: I know Lee. I had never read his books until I met him, but now I read them whenever they come out. I think some of the decisions he makes are ingenious.
Jeff: Have you read the Parker books by Donald Westlake [writing as Richard Stark]?
Amor: I think the Parker books are an extraordinary series.
Jeff: They feel like a big influence on Reacher, right down to the name. Both Reacher and Parker have a singular focus on the task in front of them.
Amor: But Parker is amoral. Reacher is just dangerous.
Jeff: Right. Reacher doesn't have a conventional morality, but he has his own morality. Parker will do anything he has to do to achieve his goal.
Amor: But to your point, Westlake's staccato style with its great twists at the end of the paragraphs, and his mesmerizing central character - these attributes are clearly shared by the Reacher books.
The 24 Parker books are almost all available for free on Audible Plus, except for #21 & #22 which aren't available at all.
Trivia and Links
The Backflash page at The Violent World of Parker is not as complete as those for the earlier books, but does provide cover images of the different editions.
Unlike many of the 2010-2013 Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook editions which share the same cover art as the University of Chicago Press 2009-2011 , this audiobook DOES include the Foreword by author .
April 4, 2018
You'd think that after a while these might sort of run together or become repetitive, but they don't. They even stand up well to re-reading. I suppose it has to do with the quality of the writing and how well we get to know Parker.
I mean (generally) the books open with Parker being introduced to a "job" or coming up with a job himself. Then he plans said job and pulls together a crew. Then however things always (somehow) go off the rails and we get a suspenseful thriller ...yeah, there is actual suspense. Stark (Westlake) is simply a good (great?) writer.
Here there is a kind of double blind set up in the job (jobs) and while you may figure it out going along it's still an absorbing read with characters you get to know (some more than others of course) set in a thrill filled plot.
Like it, recommended.
I mean (generally) the books open with Parker being introduced to a "job" or coming up with a job himself. Then he plans said job and pulls together a crew. Then however things always (somehow) go off the rails and we get a suspenseful thriller ...yeah, there is actual suspense. Stark (Westlake) is simply a good (great?) writer.
Here there is a kind of double blind set up in the job (jobs) and while you may figure it out going along it's still an absorbing read with characters you get to know (some more than others of course) set in a thrill filled plot.
Like it, recommended.
May 14, 2015
Another good addition to the Parker novels. He was at his best again. A fast, tangled adventure.
wrote the intro & it is specific to this book, different than the one he did for the last one. That's important to note since a block of earlier books all had the same intro & it contained spoilers for later books, which sucks. Block has a lot of good insights into the series.
wrote the intro & it is specific to this book, different than the one he did for the last one. That's important to note since a block of earlier books all had the same intro & it contained spoilers for later books, which sucks. Block has a lot of good insights into the series.
May 3, 2020
With the shutdown, I've been reading whatever I can get and not be on the waiting list. That's why I read this Parker so far out of order. As someone else has noted, you can't call Parker a hero, he is a criminal after all. He is a very interesting protagonist.
There has been a large gap in between Parker stories, and some things have changed that make it harder to be a crook. Cell phones, credit cards and stuff like that. One of the biggest changes was the type of car that they would steal to do a job. No longer was it a Ford, Dodge or Chevy, but now it's a Subaru, Lexus or Hyundai.
Anyway, good story, even with good planning, things can go wrong or nearly wrong.
There has been a large gap in between Parker stories, and some things have changed that make it harder to be a crook. Cell phones, credit cards and stuff like that. One of the biggest changes was the type of car that they would steal to do a job. No longer was it a Ford, Dodge or Chevy, but now it's a Subaru, Lexus or Hyundai.
Anyway, good story, even with good planning, things can go wrong or nearly wrong.
July 12, 2016
Another "fun" Parker book from Richard Stark. 3.5 stars because I felt like the set up for the heist dragged on a little too long. Once we get to the actual heist, the pace picks up. Parker's gang is the best of the bad guys. The rest are double-crossing hooligans with no respect for Parker's hard work. Think they can just swoop in and take what's his. Just one look at Parker with those dead eyes should be warning enough. Stark doesn't disappoint. Parker may not be the nicest guy, but he has his own set of ethics, and you can't help rooting for this antihero.
March 28, 2020
PROTAGONIST: Parker
SETTING: Hudson River, NY
SERIES: #18
RATING: 4.0WHY: After a successful heist, Parker goes home and finds himself with another golden opportunity. Usually, there’s some space between jobs, but this one is very tempting. New York State has approved casino boat gambling on the Hudson River, and a politician named Cathcart would like Parker to rob it while it is still testing its operations. At the moment, everything is on a cash basis which means lots of money to be had. The job seems impossible; security is extremely tight and not being land based, escaping is tough. Parker comes up with an extremely creative master plan (which made me chuckle). But that plan doesn’t include all the glitches—Parker never trusted Cathcart, with good reason; the escape boat guy with unsavory friends; a rogue cop who is a screw-up; a local reporter who is too curious. Can all of these challenges be overcome? If you know Parker, you know the answer to that. One of my favorite series.
SETTING: Hudson River, NY
SERIES: #18
RATING: 4.0WHY: After a successful heist, Parker goes home and finds himself with another golden opportunity. Usually, there’s some space between jobs, but this one is very tempting. New York State has approved casino boat gambling on the Hudson River, and a politician named Cathcart would like Parker to rob it while it is still testing its operations. At the moment, everything is on a cash basis which means lots of money to be had. The job seems impossible; security is extremely tight and not being land based, escaping is tough. Parker comes up with an extremely creative master plan (which made me chuckle). But that plan doesn’t include all the glitches—Parker never trusted Cathcart, with good reason; the escape boat guy with unsavory friends; a rogue cop who is a screw-up; a local reporter who is too curious. Can all of these challenges be overcome? If you know Parker, you know the answer to that. One of my favorite series.
October 26, 2021
Notes:
Most of the series is on Audible +
Great re-entry to the series. It doesn't feel like there was a gap between #17 and #18. =)
Most of the series is on Audible +
Great re-entry to the series. It doesn't feel like there was a gap between #17 and #18. =)
December 27, 2024
Amazing slow burn heist story... Another solid entry in the Parker books!
May 17, 2013
This one was good. It didn’t grab me like some of the others, but it was ok. I still want to read the whole series.
This is about a heist from a riverboat gambling casino. The plans are a little more intricate than normal, including getting a guy to pretend to be a politician with body guards. A woman pretends to be wheelchair bound. The main suspense is after the heist when other parties make a play for the money. The best part was when a bad cop put Parker in handcuffs. I enjoyed the way Parker got out of that one.
The narrator Keith Szarabajka is my favorite narrator for the Parker series. He does a great Parker voice - menacing.
THE SERIES:
This is book 18 in the 24 book series. These stories are about bad guys. They rob. They kill. They’re smart. Most don’t go to jail. Parker is the main bad guy, a brilliant strategist. He partners with different guys for different jobs in each book.
If you are new to the series, I suggest reading the first three and then choose among the rest. A few should be read in order since characters continue in a sequel fashion. Those are listed below (with my star ratings). The rest can be read as stand alones.
The first three books in order:
4 stars. The Hunter (Point Blank movie with Lee Marvin 1967) (Payback movie with Mel Gibson)
3 ½ stars. The Man with the Getaway Face (The Steel Hit)
4 stars. The Outfit.
Read these two in order:
5 stars. Slayground (Bk #14)
5 stars. Butcher’s Moon (Bk #16)
Read these four in order:
4 ½ stars. The Sour Lemon Score (Bk #12)
2 ½ stars. Firebreak (Bk #20)
(not read) Nobody Runs Forever (Bk #22)
2 ½ stars. Dirty Money (Bk #24)
Others that I gave 4 or more stars to:
The Jugger (Bk #6), The Seventh (Bk#7), The Handle (Bk #8), Deadly Edge (Bk#13), Flashfire (Bk#19)
DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook length: 6 hrs and 16 mins. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words but rarely used. Sexual content: none. Setting: around 1997 New York. Book copyright: 1997. Genre: noir crime fiction.
This is about a heist from a riverboat gambling casino. The plans are a little more intricate than normal, including getting a guy to pretend to be a politician with body guards. A woman pretends to be wheelchair bound. The main suspense is after the heist when other parties make a play for the money. The best part was when a bad cop put Parker in handcuffs. I enjoyed the way Parker got out of that one.
The narrator Keith Szarabajka is my favorite narrator for the Parker series. He does a great Parker voice - menacing.
THE SERIES:
This is book 18 in the 24 book series. These stories are about bad guys. They rob. They kill. They’re smart. Most don’t go to jail. Parker is the main bad guy, a brilliant strategist. He partners with different guys for different jobs in each book.
If you are new to the series, I suggest reading the first three and then choose among the rest. A few should be read in order since characters continue in a sequel fashion. Those are listed below (with my star ratings). The rest can be read as stand alones.
The first three books in order:
4 stars. The Hunter (Point Blank movie with Lee Marvin 1967) (Payback movie with Mel Gibson)
3 ½ stars. The Man with the Getaway Face (The Steel Hit)
4 stars. The Outfit.
Read these two in order:
5 stars. Slayground (Bk #14)
5 stars. Butcher’s Moon (Bk #16)
Read these four in order:
4 ½ stars. The Sour Lemon Score (Bk #12)
2 ½ stars. Firebreak (Bk #20)
(not read) Nobody Runs Forever (Bk #22)
2 ½ stars. Dirty Money (Bk #24)
Others that I gave 4 or more stars to:
The Jugger (Bk #6), The Seventh (Bk#7), The Handle (Bk #8), Deadly Edge (Bk#13), Flashfire (Bk#19)
DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook length: 6 hrs and 16 mins. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words but rarely used. Sexual content: none. Setting: around 1997 New York. Book copyright: 1997. Genre: noir crime fiction.
July 11, 2014
Another fun read while travelling to and from work.
The book opens with a robbery gone bad, at least fro some but Parker gets away with his share. And goes home to Claire.
He gets contacted by an individual who proposes a deal/robbery based upon the knowledge he got from the partner that died in Parkers last heist. Parker being suspicious does what he does best and sets forth to investigate the man and his deal/job.
Parker and friends prepare the heist and then all goes according plan, were it not for some folks who want to benefit from other peoples' labor. Parker has to use all of his wits to get out in one piece.
A great book to enjoy if you like the genre and the characters on the other side of the law. Donald E. Westlake did write another enjoyable thriller with the popular Parker. While the recent movie might not have done the character all the justice he deserved this book does him service.
The book opens with a robbery gone bad, at least fro some but Parker gets away with his share. And goes home to Claire.
He gets contacted by an individual who proposes a deal/robbery based upon the knowledge he got from the partner that died in Parkers last heist. Parker being suspicious does what he does best and sets forth to investigate the man and his deal/job.
Parker and friends prepare the heist and then all goes according plan, were it not for some folks who want to benefit from other peoples' labor. Parker has to use all of his wits to get out in one piece.
A great book to enjoy if you like the genre and the characters on the other side of the law. Donald E. Westlake did write another enjoyable thriller with the popular Parker. While the recent movie might not have done the character all the justice he deserved this book does him service.
July 5, 2012
Another classic Parker from Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake.) In this episode, Parker is approached by Cathman, a disgruntled ex-state employee who ostensibly has it in for gambling and the state wants to increase its revenue stream by allowing riverboat gambling. Cathman has blueprints of the boat and additional details, so Parker checks him out and decides it's possible to pull a heist.
As with all the Parker stories, you know there will be a glitch, there always is, so the suspense and interest come less from the planning and details of the heist (and this one is quite complicated), but as much from watching and enjoying how Parker manages to deal with the unexpected and odd difficulties.
Definitely one of the better Parker novels.
As with all the Parker stories, you know there will be a glitch, there always is, so the suspense and interest come less from the planning and details of the heist (and this one is quite complicated), but as much from watching and enjoying how Parker manages to deal with the unexpected and odd difficulties.
Definitely one of the better Parker novels.
August 9, 2016
In this masterful crime novel, Parker, Wycza, Sternberg, Carlow, and Noelle Braselle team up to rob a casino boat. The heist is daring and impeccably carried out, but would you know it, there's a few hitches right after and Parker has to tie up quite a number of loose ends. Terrific writing throughout, one of Richard Stark's best. Sad to think there are only six Parker books left.
Up next: .
Up next: .
February 13, 2016
“When the car stopped rolling, Parker kicked out the rest of the windshield and crawled through onto the wrinkled hood, Glock first.�
August 3, 2020
'Backflash' is my introduction to the work of Richard Stark, and I must say I'm impressed. This is a straightforward heist story starring Parker, the anti-hero of the very long series, and a group of career criminals. The economy of the writing is excellent and the description of the planning done by Parker and his team is wonderfully detailed.
The story begins with master criminal Parker, escaping from a car wreck during a heist with $140K in his possession, being contacted out of the blue by a guy with a proposition. He's an ex-bureaucrat with an anti-gambling bent who'd like Parker to do him a favor and rob the gambling boat from Biloxi that's making its way up the Hudson to its new home. Parker begins the process of sussing out his motivation, but ultimately accepts the job and begins to assemble his team. Finding a way to rip off what amounts to a fortress floating down a river won't be easy, but Parker develops an intricate plan that works, until it doesn't.
Rock solid, straight ahead writing, fine dialogue, violence among some tough people, and a cast of criminals who do their jobs with great skill and efficiency- I'm excited to have discovered a great series even though it's been around for ages.
The story begins with master criminal Parker, escaping from a car wreck during a heist with $140K in his possession, being contacted out of the blue by a guy with a proposition. He's an ex-bureaucrat with an anti-gambling bent who'd like Parker to do him a favor and rob the gambling boat from Biloxi that's making its way up the Hudson to its new home. Parker begins the process of sussing out his motivation, but ultimately accepts the job and begins to assemble his team. Finding a way to rip off what amounts to a fortress floating down a river won't be easy, but Parker develops an intricate plan that works, until it doesn't.
Rock solid, straight ahead writing, fine dialogue, violence among some tough people, and a cast of criminals who do their jobs with great skill and efficiency- I'm excited to have discovered a great series even though it's been around for ages.
March 3, 2019
Parker has his eyes set on robbing a gambling ship. He gets a crew together, plans the caper, and attempts to pull it off. Some unanticipated complications arise which forces Parker to do some nasty business. In other words, Parker as usual.
And there is nothing wrong with Parker as usual. It still scratches the itch.
And there is nothing wrong with Parker as usual. It still scratches the itch.
September 29, 2017
Pretty meh for a Parker.
September 26, 2021
Audio narrated well First half so boring I almost stopped ONE STAR
Second half got on-track with my expectations THREE STARS
THEREFORE, TWO STAR rating
Second half got on-track with my expectations THREE STARS
THEREFORE, TWO STAR rating
March 10, 2017
One of my favorites so far in the Parker series. I think because it's one of the few that shows a job from start to finish. Parker's partners are familiar because he is the recruiter for the job. There are complications of course. Great tension in this one.
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