“The concert box office heist had been perfectly planned and executed; Parker had handled it neat and clean. He had money for a while now; he could take some time off, join Claire in the country, plan another job at his leisure. But then the phone calls came. One by one, Parker’s associates on the heist were being brutally murdered. Parker was clearly next on the list, but he had no intention of waiting on his executioners. If they thought so, they were in for a rude surprise.”
Deadly Edge is the thirteenth Parker novel and
first one of Stark’s books I’ve read in nearly seven months. Historically, this
is also the first Parker book released as a hardcover (as Westlake moved to
Simon & Schuster) and the first one released in 1970s. While one the
longest books yet, the tale grabs you and never lets up until the end. But it’s
a bit of slog to the first half due to some choices Westlake does here.
He sort of restructures the formula, even
though the layout of Four Parts is maintained. Part One, which is usually the
most detailed part of any heist, is jettisoned for one that is already set up
and playing out. It’s basically one long prologue, sitting at almost fifty
pages (another change to the modus operandi, when typically there are short,
multiple chapters). I’ve also wrote about how Westlake is seemly taking the
edge off Parker, in particular with some of his mistakes he’s made with fellow
crooks and his relationship with Claire over the last four books. As with
Westlake’s Dortmunder tales, you got a sense that Parker is an anachronistic character
seemly living in a bubble universe where the 1930s never came to end (1970s for
John Dortmunder). It would seem for the next four books, Westlake would begin
acknowledging the rapid changes the 70s would unleash. Part of that starts here
with Parker realizing that electronic transfer of money is becoming more ubiquitous
and finding large scores of cash as described here is becoming more and more
difficult. There is also a dig at modern music, as Westlake uses some of the
dudes involved in the heist (not Parker, of course, as he could careless) to
make some social commentary on how rock and roll was dominating musical force
now and where Jazz (music beloved by Westlake) was fading away into obscurity.
All of this is interesting, but somewhat
pointless to the heist. The rest of the of the book, while following the Four Part
pattern, focuses on Claire and her attempt at bring a little real-life to
Parker’s world. She buys a house on a lake generally used as summer homes from people who live in New York and New Jersey; it’s
isolated and cut-off from a lot of world. But Parker realizes he’s being hunted
by two men (who seem to have Of Mice and Men relationship –except Manny is an
LSD addicted psychopath (another new and modern wrinkle) and sets out to find them before they find him -and Claire.
I like Claire, but Parker’s relationship with
her is weird for such a series which relies on stealth and hiding out. I’m not
sure a domesticated Parker is such a great idea. That being said, Parker may be
a man out of time, but the rest of the outside world moves on.
Most of Part Two we learn the gist of what
happened at the end of Part One: Parker rubbed up against a local mob
outfit that did not like him having fun in their territory -but in the end,
nothing really comes this. Part Three is where Claire tries to give Parker a more stable base of
operation, and while there is a great tense set piece around a kitchen table
involving Claire and some bad guys, a lot of this part seems like padding. It’s
been well established that one of the conditions of Parker (and Dortmunder)
coming out in hardcover, is Westlake having to write longer books. This padding
bleeds over into Part Four, where an overly cautious Parker does not do away
with these two mob guys in his usual expeditious ways.
It’s not a total misfire, but it lacks something that ranks it amongst the best.
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