The Score

by Richard Stark

Book Overview

It was an impossible crime: knock off an entire town-a huge plant payroll, all the banks, and all the stores-in one night. But there was one thief good enough to try-Parker. In The Score, Parker takes on his biggest job yet. All he needs are the right men, the right plan, and the right kind of help from Lady Luck. But as everyone knows, you can never count on that last one. This chilling caper could either be the perfect crime... or a set-up...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226771040
• ISBN13: 9780226771045
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

a whole town!

parker and a large group of thieves take an entire town! grofield's first appearance! twists, turns, great characters. very exciting. makes most heist movies and books seem simple by comparison!

You Always Score a Great Read With a Westlake (Richard Stark) Novel!

You could argue that there are other Parker novels which beat this at being the best but you'd be pushing it to find a crime caper Parker did that was better than the one in The Score. This novel has also previously been published in some markets under the title Killtown. You don't need to have read the previous novels to enjoy The Score as a standalone read but this book gives away the ending of the previous Parker novel The Mourner and that book gave away plots from the first three, which incidentally are in order - The Hunter, The Man with the Getaway Face (aka The Steel Hit) and The Outfit. So it's a good idea to start with the Hunter. In The Score Parker is brought into a plan suggested by an amateur named Edgars. Edgars has a plan involving about 30 men to rob the payroll of a major business, banks, jewellery stores and everything else in a small North Dakotan town. The town has only one road in, has a night curfew and if they can secure the telephone exchange, police and fire stations then there shouldn't be anyone else around to even see, let alone stop them. Parker immediately sees the foolishness of Edgar's plan dismisses it, but something inside his professional criminal mind can't help but think about it and eventually point out to the others how it could work. He's also bored so eventually decides to take control of the caper and actually do this, rob the entire town of Copper Canyon! Only he doesn't need or want 30 men, he'll do it with twelve! Of course it wouldn't be much fun, if unforseen events, didn't pop up. It's great to see publishers such as University of Chicago Press republishing old classics such as Westlake's originally published in 1964 Parker novel The Score. They've actually republished quite a number of his novels from the start of his under Richard Stark pen name Parker novels, all have a similar gun silhouette and a couple of images in front, with of a different colour background for each book which incidentally all look quite good together on a shelf. I wasn't even alive back when this originally came out so am quite grateful to be able to read these now without having to pay a small fortune for them. Just in case you were wondering the next Parker adventure in order for this series is The Jugger.

It's Parker's time to do the town

In this tale, Parker and associates are going to knock over an entire town. They plan how to plug town entrances and exits, take over police and fire stations, and control the town while they can rob every commercial enterprise within city limits. Things seem to be going according to plan until Edgars loses his mind. This is an excellent caper. The pressure cooker environment when the dozen or so robbers are trapped in a shed for several days shows real insight into group dynamics. If you're a Stark (aka Donald E. Westlake) fan, then you'll enjoy The Score.

Robbery of a Town

Donald Westlake is probably best known for his humorous crime novels. His books featuring John Dortmunder, a fatalistic thief, are hilarious capers making light of the world of criminals. The series that he writes under the pseudonym Richard Stark is probably a little less well known. This series features an anti-hero protagonist by the name of Parker and is very much in the hardboiled category and the world of criminals is portrayed as a dark, dangerous underground of professionals. THE SCORE is the 5th book in the Parker series, a series that is a little bit unusual in that it takes the role of the professional criminal and, to a certain extent, glamorises it. As THE SCORE opens, Parker is in New York for a meeting to consider the prospects of an upcoming job. On the way to the meeting he notices he is being followed. The ruthless way in which he deals with his pursuer and then the way he is completely unaffected by the encounter is an early indication of the kind of cold-hearted guy he is.A plot has been hatched to knock over an entire town and Parker is asked to run the show. The proposition appears ludicrous at first glance. The fact that the man presenting the plan is an amateur sets off all sorts of alarm bells in Parker's head. But the lucrative nature of the proposed heist lures Parker in to make a few adjustments to the plans before he agrees that the job can be done.Parker decides that it will take 12 men to go into the North Dakota mining town of Copper Canyon, open the safes of the town's businesses including the mining company safe which will be holding that week's payroll. They will also be opening the vault of the town's only bank for good measure.The one-night crime spree in the town of Copper Canyon takes place with the whole operation running like clockwork...almost. It wouldn't be much fun if Parker and his crew didn't encounter any problems and the way in which Parker handles these problems speaks volumes for the `ice in the blood' way he approaches ay crisis.The Parker books all tend to follow the same general template of plan, prepare, execute and getaway. Add to that the required plan changes due to unforeseen circumstances, such as a gang member going postal for instance, and another Parker story is complete. The style of Richard Stark is abrupt, like Parker himself. If it doesn't pertain directly to the job at hand, it isn't mentioned in the book. This lack of detail holds true when talking about such things as the background of the characters, although they are each given a thumbnail sketch, but when it comes to the planning and actually carrying out of the robbery, the detail is incredibly complete. I find that this is the strength of the Parker books and the reason that I keep coming back for more.Parker is not the hero of this series. I mentioned in the opening that he is the anti-hero and I believe this is the most appropriate way to describe him. He is a cold, calculating criminal who would not hesitate to shoot yo

Parker's Ultimate Caper

Richard Stark ( Donald E Westake) gives us the ultimate in heists with this terrific early Parker novel. When Parker hears of a plan to rob an entire town, he's leery of the inside man and the number of thieves needed to pull off the caper. Nevertheless he is brought into the scheme and together with 11 other fellow thieves, they pull off the dream caper until the double cross inevitable in a Parker novel. In the meantime, the inside man acts on the plan that he formed for vengeance. Grofield (Stark's actor/thief) falls for a hostage and a teen leaving a night of passion at his girlfriend's after curfew also throw monkey wrenches into the story. When the team makes it to their hideout after several deaths and an inferno, it further unravels as the group waits out the police search. This is Stark at his finest. Granted it's a little dated and the plan wouldn't work today. The townfolk have to place out-of-town calls through operators at a central switchboard and the switchboard operators are covered by the team. Imagine the problems in today's cellular world. Nevertheless, this pulls together several of Parker's cronies from previous capers and introduces new ones. We get the usual scenes of plan, payoff,doublecross and Parker's efforts to escape the consequences of the doublecross. These are set pieces in any Parker novel and Stark works them like a pro. If you're just discovering Parker through his new capers, this is a must have from the original series.