DIRTY MONEY

Parker, the world’s most ruthless noir anti-hero, engineers a bank withdrawal.

Parker is determined to collect the millions he transferred from an armored bank car into an abandoned Massachusetts church in Ask the Parrot (2006). The problem now? One of his cronies, Dalesia, wants the swag all for himself. Another, McWhitney, has made his own deal with a middleman to launder the money. And PI Sandra Loscalzo demands either a cut or the reward money offered on the gang. As usual, Parker tackles the problem by putting some serious mileage on his car, driving this time from Long Island to New England to New Jersey with a few spins on an auto ferry to boot. Forced to keep his friends close and his enemies closer, and to involve his gal pal Claire more than she’d like, Parker manages to outwit most everybody—and the ones he can’t outwit, he kills.

Stark, Donald E. Westlake’s more bad-tempered alter ego, breaks his usual rule and gives women—ballsy Sandra and dispassionate Claire—major roles. Not that Parker takes a back seat for a minute. The man is fiercely conceived, one mean piece of work.