A master thief must build a team to escape a correctional center in this fast-paced, hard-boiled crime novel by the author of Firebreak. With Parker locked up and about to be unmasked, Breakout follows his Houdini-like escape from prison with a team of convicts. But when a new heist and new dangers-con artists, snitches, busybodies, eccentrics, and cops-loom among the dark alleys and old stone buildings of the big city to which they've fled, Parker soon learns that not all prisons have bars. Praise for Breakout "Fiercely distracting.... Westlake is an expert plotter; and while Parker is a blunt instrument of a human being depicted in rudimentary short grunts of sentences, his take on other characters reveals a writer of great humor and human understanding." -John Hodgman "Stark... applies his great wit and dexterous mental skills to a series of... ingenious exits and entrances in (what else?) Breakout.... Jampacked.... He writes with ruthless efficiency." -Marilyn Stasio, New York Times "Stark invites readers to project themselves onto the always-assured Parker, making him a frighteningly easy sociopath to root for. And watching knowledgeable bad guys ply their shadowy trade under pressure is always fun. An immensely pleasurable entry in the Parker series.... Simply put, Breakout is great escapist fiction." - Booklist, starred review
Autorentext
Richard Stark was one of the many pseudonyms of Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008), a prolific author of crime fiction. In 1993, the Mystery Writers of America bestowed the society's highest honor on Westlake, naming him a Grand Master.
Zusammenfassung
Together at last. Under the pseudonym Richard Stark, Donald E. Westlake, one of the greats of crime fiction, wrote twenty-four fast-paced, hard-boiled novels featuring Parker, a shrewd career criminal with a talent for heists and a code all his own. With the publication of the last four Parker novels Westlake wrote-Breakout, Nobody Runs Forever, Ask the Parrot, and Dirty Money-the University of Chicago Press pulls the ultimate score: for the first time ever, the entire Parker series will be available from a single publisher.With Parker locked up and about to be unmasked, Breakout follows his Houdini-like escape from prison with a team of convicts. But when a new heist and new dangers-con artists, snitches, busybodies, eccentrics, and cops-loom among the dark alleys and old stone buildings of the big city to which they've fled, Parker soon learns that not all prisons have bars.Featuring new forewords by Chris Holm, Duane Swierczynski, and Laura Lippman-celebrated crime writers, all-these masterworks of noir are the capstone to an extraordinary literary run that will leave you craving more. Written over the course of fifty years, the Parker novels are pure artistry, adrenaline, and logic both brutal and brilliant. Join Parker on his jobs and read them all again or for the first time. But don't talk to the law.