Comeback

A Parker Novel

By: Richard Stark

Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka

Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

After the bloodbath of Butcher’s Moon, the action-filled blowout Parker adventure, Donald Westlake said, “Richard Stark proved to me that he had a life of his own by simply disappearing. He was gone.” And for nearly 25 years, he stayed away, while readers waited.

But nothing bad is truly gone forever, and Parker’s as bad as they come. According to Westlake, one day in 1997, “suddenly, he came back from the dead, with a chalky prison pallor” - and the resulting novel, Comeback, showed that neither Stark nor Parker had lost a single step. Knocking over a highly lucrative religious revival show, Parker reminds us that not all criminals don ski masks - some prefer to hide behind the wings of fallen angels.

©2011 Richard Stark; Foreword Lawrence Block (P)2013 AudioGO

Knuckleheads!

Parker is back after a twenty-three-year hiatus. We join Parker, Makee, George Liss the setup man, and Tom Carmendy the inside man as they’re about to stick up a religious revival hosted by evangelist William Archibald and his Christian Crusade. The heist went off smooth and quiet, but late that night Liss tried to pull a double-cross, including eliminating Parker and Makee. In the scuffle, in the darkness, Liss got away. So much for the setup of the story. Zach, Woody, and Ralph are three knuckleheads that know just enough information to ruin everything for Parker. They think they can rob the robbers but they’re in way over their heads. George Liss was still out there somewhere trying to figure out how to get his hands on that money. Knuckleheads and double-crossers, all in a normal day for Parker. Thank goodness for Brenda, she’s a stand-up woman.

Great narration of a crazy story

Boy the Parker stories are a perverse pleasure. Rootin’ for the hard boiled, melancholy, manly, morally pure detective, except he’s a violent psychopath. An amazing feat of storytelling!

GreT listen

cool alwaysa good listen. Im assuming Parker was the motivation for zJack Reacher. love his style

Parker is my hero

Dig these Parker books so much. They are well written. There is always a surprise and Parker always lives. He might get away with the loot or maybe not. The narrator is also awesome.

underwhelming

nothing new the regurgitated trope that's in all the parker books. Stark did not need to resurrect Parker for this trite book.

3 ½ stars. This was ok,

but not as good as some of the others. A few memorable scenes.

The robbery is successful, but there is a double cross and others are trying to get the money. A fun part was when Parker was surrounded by three cops or security guards with guns (can’t remember exactly). Parker grabs a metal desk drawer. He swings it hard, hitting two of the guys, does some other things, and gets away.

The narrator Keith Szarabajka is my favorite narrator for the Parker series. He does a great Parker voice - menacing.

THE SERIES:
This is book 17 in the 24 book series. These stories are about bad guys. They rob. They kill. They’re smart. Most don’t go to jail. Parker is the main bad guy, a brilliant strategist. He partners with different guys for different jobs in each book.

If you are new to the series, I suggest reading the first three and then choose among the rest. A few should be read in order since characters continue in a sequel fashion. Those are listed below (with my star ratings). The rest can be read as stand alones.

The first three books in order:
4 stars. The Hunter (Point Blank movie with Lee Marvin 1967) (Payback movie with Mel Gibson)
3 ½ stars. The Man with the Getaway Face (The Steel Hit)
4 stars. The Outfit.

Read these two in order:
5 stars. Slayground (Bk #14)
5 stars. Butcher’s Moon (Bk #16)

Read these four in order:
4 ½ stars. The Sour Lemon Score (Bk #12)
2 ½ stars. Firebreak (Bk #20)
(not read) Nobody Runs Forever (Bk #22)
2 ½ stars. Dirty Money (Bk #24)

Others that I gave 4 or more stars to:
The Jugger (Bk #6), The Seventh (Bk#7), The Handle (Bk #8), Deadly Edge (Bk#13), Flashfire (Bk#19)

GENRE: noir crime fiction