Firebreak

A Parker Novel, Book 20

By: Richard Stark

Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne

Between Parker’s 1961 debut and his return in the late 1990s, the world of crime changed considerably. Now fake IDs and credit cards had to be purchased from specialists; increasingly sophisticated policing made escape and evasion tougher; and, worst of all, money had gone digital - the days of cash-stuffed payroll trucks were long gone. Firebreak takes 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.

©2011 Richard Stark (P)2013 AudioGO

Critic reviews

"Parker…lumbers through the pages of Richard Stark’s noir novels scattering dead bodies like peanut shells…In a complex world [he] makes things simple." ( New York Times)

"Whatever Stark writes, I read. He’s a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude." (Elmore Leonard, New York Times best-selling author)

"Parker is a true treasure…The master thief is back, along with Richard Stark." ( New York Times Book Review)

Another Parker Novel Masterpiece

If you’re a fan of the Parker series you’ll love Firebreak. I’ve been reading the series in order and after 17 or 18 books, you figure “there’s no way” he can keep the plots fresh: WRONG!!!! How does he keep coming up with new and novel ways to chronicle the robberies of Parker?? Bravo!

Tense and engrossing

The action begins immediately and doesn’t let up until the last page. A whirlwind of intrigue and danger. A few complaints, minor ones though. The foreword seems missing from the recording (usually they have some great insights on Stark, his writing process, or the history behind the series). The second is plot related, and I can only assume Stark did this for brevity and pacing. The returning villains who are behind Parker’s personal troubles are revealed slowly then dispatched “off-screen” suddenly. It’s makes sense but it would have been nice to hear Parker’s reaction to their current state, or how he plans to break into their lair. Even their preparation for his arrival seems cartoonishly lax. Those aside, another cracker of a story.

Red Ball Express!

We join Parker in the process of killing a hitman, Victor Charov in his garage. No one else around. Parker took the dead man and his car, dumping it in a flooded ravine. Via the man’s wallet, Parker checked the man’s apartment, finding money, guns, and potential clues to the client. Parker had Claire go to New York. Silently returning to Claire’s home, he found it bugged with cameras. No idea why, or who was behind this and the hitman. Meanwhile, Parker receives a call from Frank Elkins for a job if he’s interested. They met; there’s Frank, his partner Ralph Witt, and a new man Larry Lloyd, an electronics expert. The job is some dot.com billionaire’s home who has a stash of great masters paintings in a not-so-secret room. There was pressure on Elkins and Witt to get the job done quickly. They knew the setup; blueprints, maps, alarms, the works, but were unsure if additional security had been added lately. They met in Havre, Montana to recon the house and surrounding grounds. Lloyd inspected the underground cables coming into a guard shack, stating he could hack the security. So much for the setup of this dual plot story. The hitman story was quite interesting with some very tense moments. Parker playing detective to find who was behind it. The proposed art heist story included much background and detail on Lloyd. It also revealed a connection to the hitman involving Matt Rosenstein and Paul Brock, characters from a prior novel, “The Sour Lemon Score”. They say that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. In this case, it was a roller coaster of anxiety, chaos, and adrenaline. Will our boys end the series on a high note?

Parker never gets old

I dig these books so much and this is one of the best. Steady Parker with a cast of recurring characters and new ones to see later. They also brought back one of the good narrators Stephen R Thorne.

Another fine Parker book

it's hard for me to imagine Parker operating in the Internet era after following him through the 60s with his cold-blooded style and machismo.