Read: "Ask the Parrot" by Richard Stark

Read: Ask the Parrot by Richard Stark (Donald Westlake), 2006, 089296068x.

Another brilliant novel by Westlake. The Parker novels use such straight forward language, and Parker is so matter of fact, that the intricacy of the plot and multiple characters' viewpoints always surprise me.

I was reading about Parker novels last week and saw this great observation about Parker:

The real attraction of the books is Parker himself, who is staking a claim to being the greatest antihero in all crime fiction. He is unquestionably the most matter-of-fact: If there are emotions in the books, we know about them only because Parker observes them. He doesn't feel them himself. He just uses them or ignores them.

Parker is a ruthless killer, calm and collected, and wickedly smart. He will not screw a partner over, and he'll only kill when necessary because "It puts the law on you like nothing else."

Parrot starts with Parker's escape at the end of Nobody Runs Forever. Parker hooks up with a guy, Tom, who was looking for Parker and his bank robbing pals because he wants to rob his old employer. Parker stays with Tom and susses out Tom's character and motivation to manipulate him and everyone else Parker encounters.