Firebreak

By: Richard Stark

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Firebreak takes ruthless career criminal Parker to a palatial Montana “hunting lodge” where a dot-com millionaire hides a gallery of stolen old masters—which will fetch Parker a pretty penny if his team can just get it past the mansion’s tight security. The forests of Montana are an inhospitable place for a heister when well-laid plans fall apart, but no matter how untamed the wilderness, Parker’s guaranteed to be the most dangerous predator around.
 
“Like all of Stark’s Parker novels, Firebreak is a brutal yet compelling glimpse into the amoral world of crime and revenge.”—Booklist
 
“Parker is a true treasure. . . . The master thief is back, along with Richard Stark.”—New York Times Book Review©2000 Richard Stark; (P)2000 Books on Tape, Inc.

Parker's A Mean Dude.

Stark under whatever name he writes is to mystery as a millionaire's cabinet maker is to wood. He just makes everything fit, every joint flush, every veneer glimmer... if under this name... darkly. Like a potato chip, Stark's novels dare you to read just one. Betcha' can't. Oh, and Michael Kramer's voices fit every character like a pinup's bathing suit. Heh heh... Stark gets you thinking like that. Fun!

Can't miss...

These new Stark novels provide some fine entertainment. Modern touches like computers, internet, and cell phones bring this character into the present day. Parker is one cool cucumber. Robert Forster would be an ideal narrator for these books. He's the guy that did Block's <i>Hitman</i> so well. Nothing against Michael Kramer, he does a fine job. I just think Forster would elevate these audiobooks to award winning status.

I'm glad Audible is getting these new Stark titles. Gravy for the brain!

Decent except for the technobabble

I’ve read all the Parker novels up to the one after this, and they’ve all ranged from good to great. This one is OK.

The characterization and action are still generally good, and most of the elements directly connected to Parker are good.

But Stark/Westlake regrettably tried to make this particular entry in the series “tech savvy,” steeped in the all-new “Internet.” The result is ridiculous, and cringey.

This was written in 2001, but that’s no excuse. It reads like someone described the internet to an author who’d never seen or used it, and then he didn’t bother to fill in the blanks with anyone who knew better.

The upshot is that readers are treated to such inanities as one character slangily referring to an email as “an e” (give me a break), and at another point, a character is able to find a private file on a personal hard drive simply by doing an internet search. There’s just no looking past such silliness; even in 2001 it would have stood out as inane.

Most of the technobabble is connected to one specific character who basically ends up being a magical wizard that just innately knows how to solve every technical problem that comes up, from hacking to rigging up a radio jammer out of spare parts to defusing bombs. Hah.

Oh yeah — and he got rich in the dot-com boom because he made a “killer database app” based on researching a molecule.

What??

If you can block out this nonsense, the rest of the book is the Parker fun you’ve come to expect, with some notable callbacks to the George Uhl plot-line.

It’s also notable that Stark/Westlake goes back to avoiding technology in the next book. Thank goodness.

A satisfying staple in the Parker series.

This was not the best of the series, but it was fun to listen to. As is often the case, Parker needs to outwit not only the cops but also other crooks. It is not deep; just another portrayal of my favorite thief surrounded by interesting comrades and antagonists. The plot was somewhat less believable than most of Stark's tales.

thank you donald westlake!

I was so happy when I found out that Westlake wrote under another name! Great story and descriptive characters. I ordered all his others.