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    The Score: A Parker Novel
    The Score: A Parker Novel
    The Score: A Parker Novel
    Ebook196 pages2 hours

    The Score: A Parker Novel

    By Richard Stark and John Banville

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    About this ebook

    It was an impossible crime: knock off an entire town—a huge plant payroll, all the banks, and all the stores—in one night. But there was one thief good enough to try—Parker. In The Score, Parker takes on his biggest job yet. All he needs are the right men, the right plan, and the right kind of help from Lady Luck. But as everyone knows, you can never count on that last one. This chilling caper could either be the perfect crime… or a set-up that would land him in jail — for life.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
    Release dateJun 15, 2010
    ISBN9780226772936
    The Score: A Parker Novel

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    Reviews for The Score

    4/5

    17 ratings9 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This is about another of Parker's wildly improbable adventures. This time he becomes involved in a plot to rob an entire town, Copper Canyon the local plant's payroll, the two banks, jewelry stores, everything. The plan is proposed by a rather suspicious character and Parker is at first reluctant, but the plan seems workable. Soon, however, his reservations prove founded and Edgars, creator the the plan, is discovered to harbor personal vendettas against the town members for reasons of his own. Before long events are almost out of control. Great story for a short six-hour drive somewhere or if stuck in bed with a fever some Thanksgiving.
    • 3/5
      I know I'm not supposed to have liked this book, but I liked it. I liked it so much I bought #1 in the series, and I'm liking that too. The language is plain, there are no good guys, and the details from the past that no longer exist (like pay phones) fascinate me. It's light, easy reading, and enjoyable.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      "Knock over a city. A whole goddam city. It was so stupid it might even work."Well, that's the premise of "The Score". I'm a big Parker fan, and a newly revealed Grofield fan, so to have them both in on this caper is super sweet! But Parker is the main man in this, and he doesn't disappoint! And neither does Stark! He just gets straight to it, down and dirty, and let the bullets fly where they may! And the town of Copper Canyon takes it right on the chin! Bring on "The Jugger"!
    • 5/5
      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).
    • 3/5
      This was my least favorite so far of the Parker novels. Once the premise is set up (Parker and his gang rob an entire North Dakota town, yet the originator of the scheme has unknown motives), it plays out like clockwork, with no surprises. Well, what the scheme's originator does is supposed to be a surprise, but I saw that one coming down sixth avenue. (You ever think you've read TOO MANY books? That you're too practiced to fool?) The most interesting part of the book comes post-heist, where Parker must cold-bloodedly decide what to do with the potential squeaky wheels.
    • 4/5
      Good stuff. The Score follows Parker, a career criminal, on yet another job. Parker ignores his gut instincts about the man setting up the job and agrees to come along. All is going smoothly when Parkers concerns come to fruition and all hell breaks loose. Lots of action, good characters and this book of the series is free. If you like the genre, I'd definitely recommend The Score.
    • 3/5
      Enjoyable but implausible heist caper by Donald Westlake writing under his Richard Stark pseudonym. A gang of a dozen or so criminals plans and carries out an overnight raid on an entire small town in North Dakota--with only one road out! Westlake seems more concerned with getting the whole thing over with than with adding enough details to make it authentic. The only character he really cares about is his anti-hero, Parker. Still, good fun, although it gets even less believable as it goes along.
    • 2/5
      Perfectly adequate heist novel, perfect for the beach or an airplane. Cleanly written and fast moving. I read it in 90 minutes while sitting downstairs in the Harvard Coop.

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