“After a dramatic armor car robbery goes south (the first chapter opens with the events -with minor variations- from Stark’s Parker novel, Slayground), Grofield, while recovering from his injuries, becomes the man who knows too much (though this book seemly plays out like another Hitchcock thriller, Notorious), as unnamed federal agents will make his robbery charges go away is he agrees infiltrate a dangerous group attempting to influence a newly independent African nation.”
Long before John Dortmunder (some variations on the plot in this book will pop up in The Hot Rock) showed up, it appears that Westlake was using Alan Grofield to test out some other ways to tell his tales -still somewhat violent, but also with additional humor not seen in the Parker novels. So we get Grofield as the reluctant adventurer in The Damsel, and a reluctant detective stuck in a locked-room mystery in The Dame, while here in The Blackbird, we get a reluctant spy. The reason Grofield was picked for this mission is because he knows both General Pozos, dictator of the South American banana republic Guerrero (who he met in The Damsel), and Onum Marba, a powerful politician from the African country Undurwa (who he met in The Dame), both of whom will be at the conference, representing their countries.
It’s also been well established that Grofield has an overwhelming sense of self-preservation and has a contemptuous attitude every-man-for-himself. This may be the characters only drawback, because while he sort of becomes a cut-rate James Bond here, his relationship with one Undurwan aide Vivian Kamdela (the blackbird of the title) becomes a battle of what Grofield will do for his country (nothing much) and the beliefs of the ultra-patriot Miss Kamdela. Throughout the book, they have a back and forth philosophical dialogue about what a patriot means, what loyalty means. She clearly believes in being a good soldier, while Grofield only believes in being Grofield.
There is a lot more smart-assery and wisecracks going on here, as well, which (as mentioned) is out of place in a Richard Stark tale, but the book does return to violence you expect in the Parker tales in the end, though Alan seems pragmatic about it, and less ruthless (but, in its own way it can be sold as being ruthless. It’s a fine line, from my POV. Like Parker, he is a thief, but will cross the line to save his own hide, even at the expense of four idiotic Americans playing a game that is so far out of their league).
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