The Hunter by Richard Stark
Blurb
You probably haven’t ever noticed them. But they’ve noticed you. They notice everything. That’s their job. Sitting quietly in a nondescript car outside a bank making note of the tellers’ work habits, the positions of the security guards. Lagging a few car lengths behind the Brinks truck on its daily rounds. Surreptitiously jiggling the handle of an unmarked service door at the racetrack.
They’re thieves. Heisters, to be precise. They’re pros, and Parker is far and away the best of them. If you’re planning a job, you want him in. Tough, smart, hardworking, and relentlessly focused on his trade. You don’t want to cross him, and you don’t want to get in his way, because he’ll stop at nothing to get what he’s after.
Double-crossed, shot, and left for dead. The thriller that introduces Parker. “A brilliant invention”. “The funnies call it the syndicate. The goons and hustlers call it the Outfit. You call it the Organization. But I don’t care if you call yourselves the Red Cross, you owe me forty-five thousand dollars and you’ll pay me back whether you like it or not.”
One of the best noir series about a heister that has been written in my opinion. This book is worth getting just to be introduced to the main character.
I have to say that Richard Stark (pseudonym of Donald E Westlake) is probably my favorite author. This is not my first re-read of this book, but it has been a few years and so I had to get back into the Parker series. There have been several films made that are based on the character in this book, Point Blank (Lee Marvin), Payback (Mel Gibson), Parker (Jason Statham) The Outfit (Robert Duvall) and several others. I don't think any of them really do the book justice, the closest is probably the Lee Marvin effort.
Anyways, onto the book itself. Not a wasted word, the book jumps straight into the action. You find yourself rooting for the hero in the tale even though he is someone that you would avoid in your real life at all costs. Great characters, fast action, the only gripe I have is the backstory of the double-cross seems rather weak. But apart from that small issue, there isn't much to criticize at all. I wouldn't say it is the best book in the series, but it is far from the worst, and as an introduction to the main character it does a very good job. Some elements will seem dated, but that is only natural considering it is set (and written) in the 60's.
I think fans of Elmore Leonard would enjoy this one. I read somewhere a few years ago, that in one of the American Prison Libraries, this was their most requested work of fiction and had roughly a two-year waiting list to get it.
Reviews
1. It’d been a while since I’d read any of the early Parker novels, and I was a little worried about how they’d hold up. Thankfully, they‘ve aged with style. With Parker, we’d get the prototype to the anti-hero professional thief, and there are countless fictional characters that owe a debt to him. Since this initial book has Parker seeking revenge for a very personal double-cross, he’s more angry than he’d be for most of the series, but he’d always have that blunt and no-nonsense nature. On some levels, Parker seems completely amoral, but he’s a ruthless pragmatist, not a psychopath. He doesn't hurt anyone unless it's necessary, but if he needs to kill someone to get away with the loot, he doesn't hesitate for a second.
2. Four men collaborate on a heist and everything goes well until one man decides he can't share and tries to off the others. But Parker doesn't die and comes looking for revenge! But will revenge be enough for Parker ...? Wow. I'd been looking forward to reading Richard Stark's Parker books for quite some time and I'd say I'm hooked with the first one. Parker's a relentless force of nature with few redeeming qualities. The plot isn't revolutionary but the writing and the execution make it a home run. The viewpoints shift back and forth from Parker and his intended victim. It could have been a simple revenge story but it escalated into new levels. The book itself is a little thin but that's because it's all meat and no filler. If you're into crime books and are looking for something great, give The Hunter a try. You won't be disappointed
3. Without a doubt it’s a triumph. It’s over fifty years old and it still feels modern, it still has a vibrancy. You can see exactly why it had such an effect and why people were crying out for sequels. It’s tense, smart, darkly funny and terrifically entertaining. What I really noticed on this re-read was how grounded it is, how real it all feels. There’s no way I can check, of course, but this seems like a novel that has a great sense of living geography. The prose is never less than beautifully economical and yet even though they’re quick pencil sketches, the streets he visits and the places he goes seem to have verisimilitude. It reads like a travel guide to the less salubrious parts of New York; so if you wanted to in 1962, you could have walked the very same streets, gone to the same cab-stands and hidden in the same scrublands as Parker. In Parker himself we may have the ultimate anti-hero: one who follows his own rules, who always takes his own path. It isn’t just that he’s a thief and a law-breaker – there’s barely a character we meet here who isn’t on the wrong side of the law – it’s the uncompromising efficiency with which he operates.
4. One of the most thrilling debut noir crime series i ever read, it introduced me to one of my favorite characters of all time : Parker. A man of very few words and of great accomplishments ... The synopsis is crazy , the writing is light , fast and to the point our hero doesn't know the meaning of wasting time, he has one goal and one purpose only : get revenge on those who betrayed him , cheated him of his score and left him for dead unwillingly and incompetently ...
Price
£7.19 for the Kindle, £17 for the hardback.
So for a story that is 50 years old you need to be intrigued enough by the above reviews to make the purchase as it is slightly higher ebook cost than other books of its ilk. However, if you do have the funds then it is well worth getting imo.
This is the beginning of a series that spans nearly 40 years and approximately 24 books, and I am fairly confident that anyone who likes this book will for sure be working through the rest of them, as I am now doing again.
As always YMMV
