Tangled Web UK Review March 2007
Ask the Parrot by
Richard Stark
hbk out March 07
Published by Quercus
at £12.99
The third hitman book I've read in three weeks! It's all down to Richard Stark
of course, as it was he that practically invented the form back in 1962 with the
publication of The Hunter (filmed brilliantly and unmissably as Point Blank by
John Boorman in 1967) and then produced another 15 novels that feature
Walker, his "remorseless" lead character over the next twelve years. Perhaps
Mr.Stark (Donald Westlake in another life) should remember his own
commendation of mystery conventions because "if you sit around with nine
other writers and seven of them are doing serial killer novels, you may figure
'well, maybe I shouldn't'"!
The new book, one of six since the series was revived in 1998 with the
appropriately named Comeback – and the first ever I guess to come with a
commendation from a Booker Prize winner (John Banville) – starts at a clip,
and just keeps on going. Parker is on the run after an unsuccessful bank job,
his associates scattered and with just four thousand
dollars in his pocket. He is assisted in his escape by Tom Lindahl, an
embittered and lonely ex-employee of a local race-track who sees Parker
("those guys don't get slapped around") as someone to talk to apart from his
parrot, and someone who just might lend him the backbone necessary to pull
off a raid on his old employer's weekend takings.
One problem with the hitman genre, particularly for a thoughtful (and expert)
writer like Stark, is that any move away from the central figure to show the
effect of Parker's single-mindedness on those around him, slows down the
story. In Part Three (of four) Stark solves this problem, brilliantly and without
losing coherence or momentum, by introducing a series of equally short sharp
chapters, each devoted to an individual who has played some part, often
small, in the story to date. But I was a little disappointed to find that Stark had
used the same device in The Black Ice Score back in 1965.
High class stuff nevertheless, hugely enjoyable. And the fact that one of those
short sharp chapters features the point of view of the parrot of the title
probably makes the book a collector's item.
(
Bob Cornwell
)
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