Comeback, title of the novel under review, takes its place as number 17 of 24 in the Parker series. As for the story behind the book's title, please see below. Richard Stark is the pen name for Donald E. Westlake, crime fiction author par excellence. Fellow novelist Charles Ardai likens Westlake to a virtuoso jazz musician who can take a familiar melody and spin off multiple stunning improvisational riffs.Sure, the scaffolding remains the same for the Parker novels - planning the heist, assembli...

After Butcher’s Moon (1974), which in a way seemed like a series-ending #16 Parker book, bringing together many characters from previous books, with a slam bang finish, Stark stopped writing Parker novels. His buddy Lawrence Block in his introduction tells us that Stark attempted various novels over the years, and they never worked. But get this: After 23 years he got an idea and it gradually came together, resulting in Comeback (1997)—yup, that’s the only acknowledgement that Parker had gone aw...

When Richard Stark (a/k/a Donald Westlake) wrote a new Parker novel for the first time in over twenty years, he also resumed using the gimmick of starting each novel with the word ‘When’ again. So I guess I gotta follow suit in my reviews of them.Parker doesn’t seem to have aged a bit when he hooks up with a couple of other heisters to steal the cash collected by a big time evangelist at one of his stadium appearances. Despite their inside man being shaky the job goes off without a hitch and the...

Damn, this book was good. Finishing it, I just went and had the brilliant idea to request the first five Parker novels from library. My brilliant idea was a little flawed by finding out that they only have four of the first five (The Mourner not being in the Queens Library system) and finding out that I think I just maxed out my requests (I went a little nuts on library website Thursday night, ordering tons of, half of which seem to be on their way to me now, opps, I guess I'll have to pick up m...

When George Liss told Parker and Mackey about the job, it sounded too good to be true; four hundred thousand dollars cash, in the hands of a televangelist. Things go south when their inside man spills his guts to a woman and she tells her no good brother. With another gang gunning for the money and George Liss wanting it all, can Parker get the money and get out alive?Here we are, the first Parker book Richard Stark wrote after 25 Parker-less years. As usual, the caper was well planned. I almost...

If you like crime fiction, it is a guarantee that you will go bonkers over “Comeback,” the 17th Parker novel, published in 1997 after a 23 year hiatus following “Butcher’s Moon” in 1974. It is tightly written, professionally engineered masterpiece of crime fiction. Whatever rough edges could be found in the original Parker novels written in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, those edges are gone. This is a smoothly-written, master-crafted work of art. If you have not read any Parker novels before, be

Parker is unlike anything else I've ever readAfter spending a year with my eyes peeled for my first Richard Stark book, I finally stumbled across this one in a local secondhand shop. I don't think people like parting with these books, to read Parker is to love Parker it seems. It might be the seventeenth instalment in the criminal career of Parker but there was no way I was going to wait any longer for the first book to turn up.Parker is brought in to a three man job, stealing money from a TV ev...

I'd say by now it's pretty obvious I'm a "Parker fan". I always "feel" obligated to mention that it surprises me somewhat that this violent antihero (possibly even a psychopath) is one of the characters who's story I've followed...So the book before this came out in 1974...this one was published in the 1990s (around 1997). So for 20+ years it seemed that our favorite thief had shuffled off this mortal coil...or had at least been relegated by "Richard Stark" ( Donald E. Westlake) to some form of

Parker has not been written about since 1974's Hunters Moon and returns 23 years later in this apt called novel "Comeback".Another age another heist, this time the score is the dosh scored by some Evangelist preacher, and to be honest anybody would like those characters seen robbed time after time. And enter the double cross after the heist. Parker has to go and hide while being on the hide from the police and the Evangelists stormtroopers.But nobody has such an audacious streak in his character...

The 17th entry in the Parker series by Richard Stark aka Donald E. Westlake. It's been 3 or 4 years since I read that last entry in the original 16-book run and picking this up, it's like nothing changed.It's every bit as good as every other entry in the series.Parker and his crew target a television preacher who is holding a mega-church rally being held in a stadium.The heist goes off as planned but as usual, the going gets a little complicated.I give this my highest recommendation.If you're ne...

Once Donald Westlake decided to bring back Richard Stark and Parker after twenty some-odd years, he wisely also brought back everything that made the series so beloved--all of it, in one outing. A unique theft and its planning & execution, interesting cohorts, a betrayal, the avoiding and conning of the police, the recovery of stolen (restolen?) loot, and the dealing (permanently) with those still foolish enough to cross Parker. Sometimes it works to give the reader exactly what they expect. A f...

Notes:Currently on Audible PlusComeback is the return of the Parker series after a long hiatus. It was good. Though, I did want a bit more from the ending. There's a narrator change coming up and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Hmmm!Good book to start off 2021!

Parker Returns After 23 YearsReview of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (April, 2013) of the Warner Books / Mysterious Press hardcover (1997)Richard Stark was one of the many pseudonyms of the prolific crime author Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008), who wrote over 100 books. The Stark pseudonym was used primarily for the Parker novels, an antihero criminal who is usually betrayed or ensnared in some manner and who spends each book getting revenge or escaping the circumstances.Comeback fi...

After a 23-year hiatus, author Richard Stark continued his Parker series without missing a beat. Approached by George Liss, a man he has worked with previously, Stark agrees to steal the $400,000 cash proceeds of an evangelist preacher's show. However, the inside man, who is angry that the preacher uses the money for a lavish lifestyle and not to help the needy, tells one person too many. Double cross, triple cross, the preacher's security man, and a vindictive police detective investigating the...

Parker is definitely a bad boy and so I confess, I love bad boys, at least this bad boy, Parker. Although only my second Parker book, I just love the crook. How can I love a crook you ask? Well, he's loyal and he hates disloyalty. He's trusting of those he trusts. He's...oh forget it, I don't know why I love him. Because he kicks ass? I know, not a good reason. Because he's got brass balls? Okay, that's not a good reason either. Because the character is so well drawn by Richard Stark AKA Donald

The University of Chicago Press has been reissuing all(?) of the Donald Westlake’s Richard Stark books. Comeback was written in 1997 and the title puns on the fact that Westlake was bringing back his anti-hero Parker. This is one of the best.Parker teams up with Brenda and MacKey to rob the cash proceeds of Archibald’s Crusade, about half-a-million dollars. The weak link is George Liss who had brought them the inside man, Tom Carbody, a disenchanted member of the Crusade. Liss tries to kill Park...

Stark was back on track with this Parker novel. As usual, a well planned, seemingly easy job goes sideways & Parker has to be tough & quick on his feet to work it out. It jumped around a bit too much at some points trying to cover all the characters & what they were doing, but when the action got hot, he stuck with Parker, thankfully.Very well read. I spend about 1.5 hours commuting daily, 4 hours mowing weekly (just the lawn) & many other hours weeding. Absolutely mindless chores & audio books

This one was a good return for Parker books and i enjoyed every page with Parker, the crooks he was working with. Maybe it lost some energy in the middle just before the last stretch but it still was a well written Richard Stark, Parker book. Parker is as emotional cold, mean as always and that what i read these books for.

Parker is hot on another score. This time he intends to knock off a televangelist's kitty. The stadium where the preacher is scheduled to share the good word is supposed to bring in over $400,000 of donations from those seeking guidance and salvation. With an inside man and a competent crew, this is too good for Parker to pass up. But, as always... one thing leads to another and our antihero finds himself in a struggle to reclaim lost booty while getting even with those who have done him wrong.

The coolest thing about Parker's comeback is its lack of fanfare--when it appeared, this was the first Parker novel in 23 years, but that fact is referenced only in the novel's title. Other than that, it's a completely ordinary Parker novel (which is to say, a very good Parker novel) that could just as easily have been published in 1967 as 1997, a few contemporary cultural references notwithstanding. Comeback drags only in its final act, as Parker novels sometimes do, when it becomes a cat-and-m...

SPOILER: In the Parker novel Comeback, Parker comes back.

Probably not one of the best Parker titles, this one concerns the heist of an evangelist's pot of money collected during a stadium show. Several gangs, including Parker's, take a shine to the stolen money and chaos ensues. This title has a claustrophobic feel to it. The same dry wit and doggedness make Parker one of my favorite hard-boiled series. I'll continue reading in the series.

"When the angel opened the door, Parker stepped first past the threshold into the darkness of the cinder block corridor beneath the stage.”

For an author to return to a series character after a 20+ year hiatus and make that character hit stride on page one — well, to me, that proves him a master of his craft. Richard Stark (Westlake) brings Parker back to life in the familiar tale of a robbery and its aftermath, and we're off on another dance of death. Entertaining and tense, it's good to have Parker back.

Still raced through it. Still enjoyed it immensely. Not as good as the 1962-74 books; you can feel the writer's block being wrestled down. But it brings a great series back to life, and that's more than enough.

Parker's Return After a twenty-three-year hiatus, Parker is back and he hasn't changed a bit or missed a step. The score is the loot from a televangelist meeting. The jackpot is up for grabs when a member of the heist crew decides to cut everyone else out.

Funny, well-paced, thrilling/gripping and all - but too many incredibly stupid moves by the supposedly master criminal Parker make this a cowboys-and-Indians boy's book. A let-down after The Outfit, which was far more realistic and believable.

My first Parker book. A ruthless crim who gets away with it, just, through great planning and anticipation. I liked the detailed description of how he does it.

Westlake (aka Stark) took a break between books 16 and 17 and I think it was much needed. He ended up writing the more comedic Dortmunder heist novels (or some of them anyway) during that period. Here he comes roaring back with a revitalized and re-centered Parker. He once again feels like a dangerous bad guy (he was getting a little soft in some of the last books of the first run).

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...