From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. You just can't get good criminal help these days. That's what Stark's heist-meister Parker quickly discovers as he tries to make a score to repair his sagging finances—no doubt wounded by recent economic ills. First, the plan of would-be hijackers of dental gold in Cincinnati turns to rubbish when one of the conspirators is found wearing a wire. Then a genial idiot with a workable plan for a robbery during a bank merger is found to be carrying too much emotional baggage, especially in his sexual connection to the wife of one of the bankers. And finally, a coldhearted bounty hunter who's almost as good at his job as Parker is threatens everything when he stumbles across the bank robbery scheme while looking for the wire-wearer. Stark (aka MWA Grandmaster Donald Westlake) offers lots of bleak fun as well as intriguing physical details of the illegal variety and righteously sharp descriptions of people we pass every day on the street. A sentence like "She wasn't slender; she was bone thin, and inside the stylish clothes she walked with a graceless jitteriness, like someone whose medicine had been cut off too soon" nails the banker's wife in an instant. This stellar series just gets better and better. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
He reaps fortunes in his heists, but fortune rarely smiles on taciturn tough guy Parker--and this might be his toughest-luck caper yet. Instead of just throwing obstacles into his antihero's path to a clean getaway, Stark (aka Donald E. Westlake) springs a series of booby traps on Parker and his ad hoc crew well before the job goes down. From jittery ex-cons and vindictive wives to dogged bounty hunters and meddlesome sisters, the rotten eggs keep multiplying. But they fail to throw Parker off the scent of the lucrative score: a line of armored cars transferring assets of a bought-out bank into the vaults of its victorious competitor. By the time Parker gets his hands on the loot, it looks like he's covered too many bad bets to walk away from the table flush. But only a fool would count out the shrewdest sociopath this side of Tom Ripley. Is this a fitting coda to a great hard-boiled series, or just the latest in an entertaining string of impossible escapes? Only Parker knows for sure and, as usual, he ain't talking. Frank Sennett
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
Master criminal Parker is back--and this time hes in deeper, darker trouble than ever before. When a clandestine meeting of shady friends and shadier strangers ends with the death of a stool pigeon and Parker on the run, Richard Starks classic anti-hero is forced to reconsider his lifes work. But when he finds that his expertise is called for in the heist of a lifetime, money problems and sheer boredom override several glaring warning signs. Teamed with a crew of undesirables and incompetents, Parker heads to Smalltown, USA, to pull a bank job based on shaky inside information and an even shakier plan of action. A booze-addled and disgruntled bank heiress with a philandering social climber of a husband wants her money to herself. Parker and his posse need to keep her happy just long enough to make off with the loot, but an overzealous sheriff and a bounty hunter in search of the dead pigeon conspire to make life difficult. With Starks master craftsmanship at its peak, Parker will need every trick in his dubious arsenal to avoid having to pay the ultimate price for his questionable line of work.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Seven men came to a meeting in Cincinnati. One wore a wire, and another didn't hesitate to kill him - fast and hard. Now Parker has left that meeting and the murder behind, and gotten involved in a scheme that is stuffed with money and trouble." "In the rural northwestern corner of Massachusetts, Parker and a pal plan to steal an armored car. But the human element gets in the way. From a nervous ex-con and his well-intentioned sister to a bank manager's two-timing wife and a beautiful, relentless cop, too many people have their hands too close to Parker's pie. Then a bounty hunter, who just happens to be hunting the man who never left the Cincinnati meeting, joins the fray." Parker can see this job turning bad, yet he can't let go of the score. And when guns go off and the heist goes down, the perfect plan will explode with a sound and fury all its own. For Parker, there's always the choice of turning from fight to flight - even if there's nowhere to run.

FROM THE CRITICS

Paula Woods - The Washington Post

Add to the mix of sharply drawn characters Roy Keenan, a bounty hunter tracking the missing poker player, and his equally determined partner, Sandra, and the reader is off on an adventure that is mordantly funny as well as intricately plotted, with more turns than the New England back roads the gang takes to avoid the cops. Is the title of this latest installment a portent of things to come for the perversely likable Parker? Until that question is answered, do yourself a favor and read (or re-read) the other titles in this most excellent series.

Publishers Weekly

You just can't get good criminal help these days. That's what Stark's heist-meister Parker quickly discovers as he tries to make a score to repair his sagging finances-no doubt wounded by recent economic ills. First, the plan of would-be hijackers of dental gold in Cincinnati turns to rubbish when one of the conspirators is found wearing a wire. Then a genial idiot with a workable plan for a robbery during a bank merger is found to be carrying too much emotional baggage, especially in his sexual connection to the wife of one of the bankers. And finally, a coldhearted bounty hunter who's almost as good at his job as Parker is threatens everything when he stumbles across the bank robbery scheme while looking for the wire-wearer. Stark (aka MWA Grandmaster Donald Westlake) offers lots of bleak fun as well as intriguing physical details of the illegal variety and righteously sharp descriptions of people we pass every day on the street. A sentence like "She wasn't slender; she was bone thin, and inside the stylish clothes she walked with a graceless jitteriness, like someone whose medicine had been cut off too soon" nails the banker's wife in an instant. This stellar series just gets better and better. (Nov. 23) Forecast: The author has published six Parker novels since restarting the series in 1997 (after a 20-year hiatus) with Comeback. A blurb from Stephen King will remind readers that Westlake/Stark remains one of the best writers in the genre. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Anti-hero and criminal mastermind Parker is in for the "heist of a lifetime" and a whole lot of trouble. Stark (who is also Donald E. Westlake) lives in upstate New York.-Ann Kim Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Adult/High School-When a game of seven-card stud among a group of criminals produces a potential police informer with a communications device taped to his chest, Parker loses no time in strangling him. The group cancels its heist plans and breaks up, but Parker and three others soon reconvene. With inside information from the wife of a local bank president, they plan on robbing an armored car. Parker and his cohorts manage to pull off the job and stash the cash, but the cops are hot on their trail. Action scenes provide motion and movement. Characters often seem sketchy at first, but they round out as the story unfolds. Even the secondary figures stand out as clearly defined individuals, and their roles, which may be small, remain key elements in the plot. The tension builds with the thieves' reactions as the story winds tightly toward the ending. Stark's careful control over every element results in a fascinating novel, a look at the true price of crime, and an opportunity to enjoy another book by this master writer (aka Donald Westlake).-Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews