Breakout - by Richard Stark (Paperback)

About the Book

BREAKOUT follows Firebreak and precedes Ask the Parrot. It is one of the final four in the Parker series that we have been republishing since 2007. We had to pause for six years after Fall, 2011; publication of these last volumes is a wonderful way to remind booksellers and Westlake fans of the whole series (and their colorful covers by Drummond). BREAKOUT details the teamwork and mechanics of the Houdini-like escape of Parker from prison into a big Midwestern city whose alleys, shopping malls, and old stone buildings quickly become a prison of a different sort. A colorful cast of small-time con artists, snitches, busy-bodies, eccentrics and cops fill out this fast-paced installment in the Parker series. Chris Holm, author of award-winning The Killing Kind and Red Right Hand, has written a terrific new foreword.

Book Synopsis

An action-packed crime novel starring Parker, the heister starring in the forthcoming Shane Black film Play Dirty!

Richard Stark's Parker novels are the hardest of hard-boiled, classic crime novels where the heists are huge, the body counts are high, and the bad guys usually win.

The Parker novels have been a huge influence on countless writers and filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino, Stephen King, George Pelecanos, Colson Whitehead, Lucy Sante, John Banville, and many more. Their stripped-down language and hard-as-nails amorality create an unforgettable world where the next score could be the big one, but your next mistake could also be your last. There's nothing else like them.

With Parker locked up and about to be unmasked, Breakout follows his Houdini-like escape from prison with a team of convicts. But when a new heist and new dangers-con artists, snitches, busybodies, eccentrics, and cops-loom among the dark alleys and old stone buildings of the big city to which they've fled, Parker soon learns that not all prisons have bars.

The Parker novels are pure artistry, adrenaline, and logic both brutal and brilliant. Join Parker on his jobs and read them all again or for the first time. Just don't talk to the law.

Review Quotes

"Parker is refreshingly amoral, a thief who always gets away with the swag."

--Stephen King

"The Parker novels were very influential to [Reservoir Dogs]."--Quentin Tarantino

"Whatever Stark writes, I read. He's a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude."--Elmore Leonard

"Richard Stark's Parker crime novels are the ultimate page-turners."--Jonathan Ames "The Boston Globe"

"Another splendid noir thriller."-- "San Diego Union-Tribune"

"If nothing else, Breakout proves that it's hard to get good help nowadays. . . . With help at such a premium, fans will thank Stark/Westlake for assisting them in making it through another night of guaranteed spare, straight-ahead action and dark humor."-- "Library Journal"

"Marvelous. . . . Westlake, nearly half a century into his writing career, remains frequently superb."-- "Entertainment Weekly"

"Packed so tightly with the painstaking details of everything from the dank tedium of prison life to the architecture and construction of a Midwestern shopping complex that it comes as a shock to realize the volume isn't bigger than it is. Stark, the nom de crime adopted for this series by MWA Grand Master Donald Westlake, is an artist of compression, with the ability to create a complex, frightening character in very few words. . . . Exhilarating. Watching artists like Stark and Parker at work is a great pleasure, which an increasing audience will be delighted to share."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"Stark invites readers to project themselves onto the always-assured Parker, making him a frighteningly easy sociopath to root for. And watching knowledgeable bad guys ply their shadowy trade under pressure is always fun. An immensely pleasurable entry in the Parker series. . . . Simply put, Breakout is great escapist fiction."-- "Booklist, starred review"

"Suspenseful . . . snarling and tough. . . . As always, Stark/Westlake writes like the consummate pro he is."-- "Cleveland Plain Dealer"

"Stark . . . applies his great wit and dexterous mental skills to a series of . . . ingenious exits and entrances in (what else?) Breakout. . . . Jampacked. . . . He writes with ruthless efficiency."--Marilyn Stasio "New York Times"

"Fiercely distracting . . . . Westlake is an expert plotter; and while Parker is a blunt instrument of a human being depicted in rudimentary short grunts of sentences, his take on other characters reveals a writer of great humor and human understanding."--John Hodgman

About the Author

Richard Stark was one of the many pseudonyms of Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008), a prolific author of crime fiction. In 1993, the Mystery Writers of America bestowed the society's highest honor on Westlake, naming him a Grand Master. For a Parker character guide and infographics, visit Fifty Years of Parker, http: //parkerseries.uchicago.edu/.