Ask The Parrot

Parker #23

by Richard Stark

Sometimes mystery master Donald E. Westlake is the author of uproarious crime capers. Sometimes he has a mean streak-and its name is Parker. From his noir classic The Man with the Getaway Face to his recent novel Nobody Runs Forever , whenever Westlake writes as Stark, he lets Parker run loose-a ruthless criminal in a world of vulnerable "straights."

On a sunny October afternoon a man is running up a hill. He's not dressed for running. Below him are barking police dogs and waiting up ahead is a stranger-with a rifle, a life full of regrets, and a parrot at home who will mutely witness just how much trouble the runner, Parker, can bring into an ordinary life.

The rabbit hunter is Tom Lindahl, a small-town lonely heart nursing a big-time grudge against the racetrack that fired him. He knows from the moment he sees Parker that he's met a professional thief-and a man with murder in his blood. Rescuing Parker from the chase hounds, Lindahl invites the fugitive into his secluded home. He plans to rip off his former employer and exact a deadly measure of revenge-if he can get Parker to help.

But Tom doesn't know Parker and that the desperate criminal will do anything to survive-no matter who has to die...

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Noir, Thriller, Audiobook, Hard Boiled

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

A pseudonym used by Donald E. Westlake.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ask the Parrot, #23 of the 24 Parker novels from Richard Stark/Donald Westlake, is the continuation of the story begun in Nobody Runs Forever, to be concluded in Dirty Money, the last of 24 Parker novels Stark wrote. It begins where that last book ended, with Parker running in the woods, with bloodhounds barking in pursuit. What happens next? Parker meets a rabbit hunter, Tom Lindahl, who also happens to be a whistleblower with a grudge against the racetrack that fired him. Lindahl figures out Parker is one of the bank robbers he has seen on the news, but feels a kinship with Parker—they’re both outsiders, with no love lost for big corporations—and strikes a deal: I’ll help you get out of the state if you help me revenge my old boss by robbing their safe.

Lindahl, you’ll not be surprised, has a parrot. The title of the novel and the parrot’s very presence in the novel function in some ways like a running joke, in that the parrot doesn’t speak, until he does. On the manhunt, one guy kills a wino he mistakes for a bank robber. They agree to keep the killing a secret, but you know how secrets have their way of leaking out. Then the parrot's lifspan also becomes an issue:

“Why would anybody kill a parrot?”
“To keep him from talking!”

So someone does, of course (sorry, but you already knew this. As with the famous example of a gun, if you put a mute parrot on the stage in the first act, you will have to kill him in the last act, especially if he begins to talk). Stark even includes a section of the novel FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE PARROT. This is either a strength of the novel or a weakness, depending on your view of hard-nosed Parker novels—you either want to keep them mean and lean or you want to lighten them up, but from my perspective it is a weakness. This is not a Donald Westlake novel, Donald! This is your pseudony Richard writing!

So, right, this is not choice Parker novel material. Noir is not supposed to be comedy. And this is not noir. But if you are not a Parker purist, it’s entertaining, because Westlake is one of the funnier crime novelists in his Dortmunder series. And as Goodreads reviewer Dan reminds us, the joker Westlake (writing as Stark) may have (he agrees that it is inappropriate) included the parrot as an homage to the great Monty Python sketch about a dead parrot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vuW6...

(Now wasn’t that the best part of my review about a book that none of you will just randomly pick up?!)

Another kind of “joke” dimension of the plot is that Parker, introduced by Lindahl as his old friend Ed Smith from Chicago, participates in the county-wide manhunt for himself. This is not played for laughs, exactly, but it is an entertaining aspect of the tale. People naturally come to get suspicious about Ed Smith, which will come to complicate the planned racetrack heist.

Over all, this is a good and entertaining story that nevertheless features a still pretty consistently brutal Parker, which is what we want. That aspect of the book is no joke. And there is an actual heist, also no joke. Also, to be resolved in the last book, I suspect, there is a million bucks stashed somewhere in the vicinity from last book’s heist.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Parker was on the run from police dogs and chanced upon a rabbit hunter who unexpectedly aided him, he should have known the rabbit hunter had motives of his own. Now Parker's teaming with him to rob a racetrack. Can Parker get away with the robbery while a manhunt is going on for him?

Ask the Parrot was one of the better books of the new era Parker. Parker is his ruthless self, evident in the way he handles most of the supporting cast. Unlike some of the more recent Parker books, Parker doesn't seem soft in this one. The way he handles Thiemann after Thiemann accidentally kills a bum is vintage Parker, cold and calculating. The robbery was pretty simple but the petty crimes Parker pulled along the way were pretty good. Parker showed he was as ballsy as ever, participating in his own manhunt.

Ask the Parrot also shares many of the flaws that have marred the more recent Parker books. For one thing, the style is long winded compared to the earlier ones and the story feels padded. For another thing, there's a chapter from the damn parrot's point of view! WTF, Stark? That's okay for a Dortmunder book but not for Parker. This isn't a Monty Python sketch, though the parrot does wind up deceased.

The gripe list was shorter than usual for a post-Butcher's Moon Parker. Good, not great, the earlier ones are better, etc. I'm a little sad that I only have one Parker book left to read after this one.

[Glenn Russell]

Ask the Parrot is Parker novel #23, the second in a three part series, bookended by Nobody Runs Forever (#22) and Dirty Money (#24).

Taken together, Richard Stark's Nobody Runs Forever, Ask the Parrot and Dirty Money would be comparable to one of those 700-page doorstop novels by Tana French or Jo Nesbø - for marketing reasons, a publisher could even combine all three in one hardback edition.

This to underscore the three novels are best read in sequence. At the end of Nobody Runs Forever, Parker is in the woods up on a large hill, watching as the law brings out the bloodhounds. On the first page of Ask the Parrot, Parker continues his climb up the hill.

In my review of Nobody Runs Forever, I highlighted one of the many features of Westlake/Stark's writing that makes him an indisputable master of the craft: quick character sketches. For Ask the Parrot, I'll cast the spotlight on yet another feature: challenges/tight spots/quagmires Parker is forced to deal with. Here's the skinny on three:

Hermit's Hermitage
When Parker nears the top of the hill he's climbing, there's a man, about fifty, in a hunting jacket, blue jeans, boots and wearing a red and black hunting hat. The man is holding a rifle and asks Parker if he's one of the bank robbers he's been hearing about on the TV.

Parker knows he'll have to win this guy's confidence so he won't get shot or turned over to the law. And that's exactly what Parker does. Turns out, the man's name is Tom Lindahl and just so happens Tom could use some help from a fella in Parker's line of work. Tom has Parker ride with him in his SUV back to his place where Tom's been living as something of a hermit ever since he was fired from his job over at a race track.

When riding, Tom says: "The TV's full of the robbery, all that money gone, I couldn't stand it any more. Those guys don't get slapped around, I thought. Those guys aren't afraid of their own shadow, they go out and do what has to be done. I got so mad at myself - I'll tell you right now, I'm a coward - I just had to come out with the gun awhile...It was you brought me out."

Parker listens, watches Tom Lindahl. As readers, we're well to be fully attentive to how Parker deals with Tom at each and every step - and, in this way, we'll better appreciate the subtle levels of psychology Parker employs in order to remain in complete control.

Search Party
Did I say tight spots back there? A laugh-out-loud episode in the novel: Along with Tom, Parker (now using the name of Ed Smith) joins a few dozen older men, all locals, all beefy hunter-types, as a state trooper thanks everybody for coming out and tells the group they're searching for extremely dangerous criminals. The trooper hands out an artist's rendering of the two bank robbers now on the loose. Parker looks at the picture of himself and passes it on to the fatso next to him and is thankful none of these guys standing here in front of Grange Hall turns to say, "Ed? Isn't that you?"

Quick Trigger Finger
The makeshift posse splits up into teams of three, Parker aka Ed Smith with Tom Lindahal and a graybeard by the name of Fred Thiemann. The boys drive out in Tom's SUV to an area with an old abandoned train station.

Tom, Fred and Parker search the rickety building. Damn, blankets and a towel - someone's nearby. Parker knows it's just some guy on the skids but Fred is too excited to listen to reason, as far as Fred Thiemann is concerned, they're on the cusp of catching a bank robber.

Keep in mind, in the USA, everybody's right to bear arms translates into everybody can own a gun and shoot a gun wherever and whenever they want. Several minutes later, stalking the woods, it happens:

"A sudden loud rustle and clatter ahead of them was someone running, running desperately, through the unforgiving forest.
"Halt, goddammit!" Thiemann again.
The sound of the shot was a dead flat crack in the open air, like two blocks of wood slapped together, without echo.
"Fred, don't!"
Too late; there was one hoarse scream, and then a great turbulence on the forest floor. Parker moved forward toward that thrashing. To his left, Thiemann moved more cautiously, bent low.
Whatever had been hit was now lunging around out there, agitating the shrubbery, making a racket. Parker got to him in time to see the blood still bubble from the hole in the man's band, the color of wine, the thickness of motor oil. The man facedown on the leaves and branches, jerked his arms and legs as though swimming through the woods."

Parker faces a true quagmire - he has to convince Tom and a much shaken Fred the best thing for them to do, especially Fred who could face serious jail time for murdering an innocent man, is to simply leave the dead guy to the forest scavengers. Again, as readers we're given an opportunity to see how Parker handles this highly volatile situation.

In the aftermath of his shooting an innocent man in the back, sending him to an early grave (no! no! they didn't even bury the poor soul), Fred recognizes Ed Smith remained calm, knowing exactly what should be done. Ah! Ed Smith might really not be Ed Smith but one of those (deep breath for dramatic effect)...bank robbers!

Parker must deal with much more: two brothers who confront him directly and want a cut of all that bank cash, police officers at roadblocks, security guards, even a parrot. A parrot? Oh, yes, a parrot who finally begins to talk. But not for long!

Ask the Parrot is a masterfully constructed tale of Parker out in the boonies with neither money nor legitimate ID. The only thing Parker has going for himself is his quick wits - however, as every Parker fan know, when it comes to his own survival, that's more than enough.


American author Donald E. Westlake, 1933-2008

[Still · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In the first place," Parker said, "let's get rid of that thirty-six hour fantasy of yours. You can't go on the run, because you can't hide. Where do you figure to be, thirty-six hours later? Oregon? Where do you sleep? Do you go to a motel and pay with cash? A credit card places you, and the law by then is watching your accounts. So do you pay cash? The motel wants your license plate number. Oh, from New York State?"

"Jesus."

"Anywhere you go in this country, everybody's on the same computer. It doesn't matter if you're across the street or across the country, as soon as you make any move at all, they know where you are. You gonna try to leave the country? You got a passport?"

"No," ***** said. He sounded subdued. "I've never traveled much."

"Not a good time to start," Parker told him. "You can't run away, you don't know those ropes. So instead of being the guy that did it and you're thumbing your nose and they'll never get you, you're the guy that didn't do it, and you're staying right there where you always were, and sure, let them go ahead and search, and you were home in bed last night same as any other night, and you don't spend any of that cash for a year. You want to pull the job and not do time for it? That's how."

Advice to a first time heister-wannabe from a long-time professional mechanic.

This is one of maybe the 2nd or 3rd times in the Parker series where you have to read the book that precedes the events depicted in this novel, .
Quite a few innocents in this one that Parker has to bestow mercy on.


Parker is snake-bit from the 1st page in this entry.
Everything that could go wrong magically doesn't because he's dealing with fools.

Parker said, "You brought me the job, you went in on the job with me, that's yours."

***** giggled; a strange sound out here. "You mean," he said, "like, honor among thieves?"

"No," Parker said. "I mean a professional is a professional."

[John Culuris · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Read in Jan 2020; Reviewed May 2022]

Depending on your philosophy--and there seems to be as many as there are people who write novels--the middle appears to be the most difficult part of the process. In the beginning you have all these great characters and concepts and situation you are excited to explore, and at the end you have the thrill of seeing all your efforts come together in a satisfying conclusion. But the middle. . . . That’s where things tend to stall. Apparently the same theory also applies to trilogies. And that’s how the final three books in the Parker series read. Ask the Parrot, the second book, the middle book, manages something I never thought I’d see from Donald E. Westlake when writing as Richard Stark. It is bad.

Now, allow me to clarify a couple of things. First of all, to my knowledge I’m the only one who seems to see Nobody Runs Forever, Ask the Parrot, and Dirty Money as a trilogy. I write my reviews “blind”--and only look at other opinions afterward--but I’ve never seen it referenced that way in any of my research. So I could be wrong. Or perhaps Westlake didn’t realize it because he did not plot, though I find that theory hard to believe; he was too accomplished. Perhaps it just wasn’t advertised that way as crime novels come with the expectation of a conclusion. Regardless, that’s how these three books have always struck me.

Secondly, “Bad” is a relative term. I’m judging it against the rest of the series and the expectations that accompany its consistent quality. There’s every chance a complete outsider will enjoy this work. To me, Westlake was treading water. Most of it is about Parker avoiding capture. Now, there is nothing wrong with that in itself. In fact, Westlake built a whole novel around this very thing, Slayground, and to many it is their favorite. And to be fair, the consensus least favorite seems to be The Black Ice Score, apparently because it wandered into some serious themes not normally associated with the series, and that one is my favorite. So I’ll never be the undisputed arbiter of all things Parker.

We first encounter Parker climbing a large hill that may well turn out to be a mountain for all he knows. Or cares. He knows what he left behind. Cops swarming around the car he rented under a fake ID. Back in 2006 computers didn’t communicate with each as easily as today, and Parker thought he had time to get clear. As he hears dogs in the distance about to be released on his scent, he encounters Tom Lindahl out hunting. Lindahl , instead of going his own way or holding Parker at gunpoint, decides to drive Parker safely out of the danger zone. So far, fine. A very Parker-like situation.

It quickly goes awry. What follows are amateurish roadblocks, civilian search parties and, unfortunately, a man who plunges from normal to insanity over the course of a couple of days. It shatters credibility beyond all reason. And this is a series where Parker has repeatedly stood before cop and crook alike and fooled them into accepting him as something else. But in this effort, where I routinely had come to expect dexterous storytelling and credible characters, I found the spitting out of words and the filling up of pages.

Parker novels are generally divided into four parts, and if this particular character had been anchored strictly to Part One--along with the rest of the associated implausibilities--he would not have poisoned the rest of the story. Everything else that follows is Classic Parker: he must figure out how to pull off yet another heist while also finding ways to survive all the complications that arise before, during and after the event. Each situation is dealt with uniquely as it comes up and interest is maintained until a finale that has all the action and suspense we have come to expect.

If you can get past all the crap that immediately follows Parker’s escape from that hillside, you’ll find all the elements that make this series great. If Westlake had jumped past all that clutter, that’s what Ask the Parrot would have been.

[Skip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picking up immediately from Nobody Runs Forever, Parker is being chased by the police and dogs when he runs into a local man, Tom Lindahl, who helps Parker avoid the police. Turns out that Tom was fired from his job at a racetrack because he "outed" their illegal political contributions. Tom wants revenge, and asks Stark to help him rob the place. In the meantime, Parker does his best to blend in, but Lindahl is known as a hermit and nobody believes he has an old friend. The town is really boring, as are most of its occupants, and the book is much too long. 2.5 stars, rounded up.

[Amos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only one Parker book left!! Oh nooooooooOOOooooo!!!!!!!!!!

4 Starked Stars

[Alan (on December semi-hiatus) Teder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Redux: Parker and Backwoods Bumpkins
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (October 2008) of the original Mysterious Press hardcover (2006)

This was a "re-read" after my read of the University of Chicago paperback edition earlier this year. The audiobook was narrated by William Dufris instead of series regular Stephen Thorne and the performance was fine, if not especially voiced in a hardboiled manner. The performance of the parrot's squawky voice was especially excellent though.

Ask the Parrot is the 1st sequel to Nobody Runs Forever (2004) and finds Parker on the run after the armoured car heist of that previous novel. Parker is taken in by a backwoods hermit named Tom Lindahl, who has a heist scheme of his own into which he enlists Parker. Lindahl was laid off at a horse race betting track after being a whistleblower and now seeks revenge. Parker needs useable money as the armoured car bills are numbered and can be traced. Lindahl has an apparently non-speaking parrot as a pet, which is the subject of the title joke.

These final Parker novels from #17 to #24 are stronger and more complex than the original run which was probably due to Westlake/Stark's development as a writer over the years and during the 23 year hiatus. Several of these are strong 4's to 5's (I've actually read or listened to all of them now and am just parceling out the reviews over time). #21 and #22 are my favourites of the Parker novels now that I've read them all. Ironically, they are the only ones not available as audiobooks for some reason.

Ask the Parrot (Parker #23) is the 2nd book of the final trio of Parker novels which are all tied together by the loot, the escape & the recovery from one heist. The Parker series would conclude with Dirty Money (Parker #24). The final book was issued in 2008 and Donald Westlake (Richard Stark) passed away at the end of that year.

The 24 Parker books are almost all available for free on Audible Plus, except for #21 & #22 which aren't available at all.

Other Reviews
There is an extremely detailed review and plot summary (in 3 parts) of Ask the Parrot (with spoilers obviously) at The Westlake Review, October 2, 2017.

Trivia and Links
The Ask the Parrot page at The Violent World of Parker website is not as complete as those for the earlier books, and only shows a few of the edition covers.

This 2008 audiobook does not share a cover with the later University of Chicago Press 2009-2017 series of reprints of the Parker novels and therefore does not include the later Foreword by author Duane Swierczynski.

[James Thane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parker is on the run from a failed bank job. The money is lost; one of his partners has been caught, and the other is on the run as well. Parker is fleeing up a hill, hoping to find some avenue of escape on the other side. The cops are right behind him and the hounds are baying at his heels. He finally reaches the top of the hill and finds a man with a rifle waiting for him...

Richard Stark's Parker series has always been one of my favorites and this was a good addition to it. Like most of these books, this is a fairly quick read and very enjoyable.

[Oli Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The twenty-third and penultimate #parker novel #asktheparrot by #richardstark published in 2006.
Picking up from the cliffhanger of the last novel. Westlake is playful. Having Parker join the group of men hunting him 🤦🏻‍♂️😂. Parker is so serious and the situation is full of irony but it works well without ever becoming silly. The Parker books usually have the same 4 part structure with the third part often diverging from the main action with Parker. Westlake is so inventive, using the familiar and established structure in different and unusual ways. Same thing for heists and novels generally. Sometimes the novels are all about the planning of the heist, sometimes they are all about the action of the heist, other times they are about the aftermath of the heist, sometimes they are about all of the above. So good. Lean, fast, hard, stark. So many side characters with their own story arcs and all done in such an economical fashion. Each chapter in part 3 is from the perspective of a different supporting character. Even the parrot 🦜 gets a chapter! 😂
Sadly only one more Parker novel to go. But then I suppose I can re-read the whole series again!

[Soo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes:

Currently on Audible Plus

I've been enjoying the way Stark updated the series and moved it forward in time with the development of computers, cyber security, etc. There's one more book on AP and that'll be the end of the series for now.

This installment was a good example of fubar. Everything that can go wrong, did go wrong. LoL

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was actually happy when this ended, which is a shame. I love the Parker novels, at least the first dozen or so that I've listened to. This one lost it, though. It was long, needlessly padded out with marginal motivations from many of the characters. The money was marked yet the brothers were after Parker to get it?

Worse, this is another case where the editing team of one of the big publishers weren't any better than self-published novel. There were sloppy logical details. Electrical tape turns into duct tape a few pages further along.

I'd heard this wasn't as good as the early ones, but was surprised by how poorly it fared. Not a complete waste of time, but certainly a disappointment.

Another download from the library. They don't have the Parker audio books after The Black Ice Score until this one.

[Ben A · Rating 4 out of 5]

The penultimate Parker book is a good, but not great entry in the series that once again sees Stark playing with points of view and settings in an enjoyable way that kept me turning the pages from the start.

[Jane Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok. Not as good as some of the others, but I still enjoy reading Parker.

Parker is in the woods fleeing after a robbery. A local guy Tom sees Parker and realizes he’s one of the robbers. Tom wants Parker to help him rob a racetrack. Tom introduces Parker to other locals telling them Parker is a friend visiting. Parker joins the locals as they hunt for Parker. It’s pretty good watching Parker interact with various local people.

Minor complaint. A security guard sees car lights at an unusual time. He goes to investigate, but the author did not tell what happened as he investigated. (Or maybe I missed it.)

The narrator William Dufris was ok, but not good for this series. He made Parker sound too ordinary.

THE SERIES:
This is book 23 in the 24 book series. These stories are about bad guys. They rob. They kill. They’re smart. Most don’t go to jail. Parker is the main bad guy, a brilliant strategist. He partners with different guys for different jobs in each book.

If you are new to the series, I suggest reading the first three and then choose among the rest. A few should be read in order since characters continue in a sequel fashion. Those are listed below (with my star ratings). The rest can be read as stand alones.

The first three books in order:
4 stars. The Hunter (Point Blank movie with Lee Marvin 1967) (Payback movie with Mel Gibson)
3 ½ stars. The Man with the Getaway Face (The Steel Hit)
4 stars. The Outfit.

Read these two in order:
5 stars. Slayground (Bk #14)
5 stars. Butcher’s Moon (Bk #16)

Read these four in order:
4 ½ stars. The Sour Lemon Score (Bk #12)
2 ½ stars. Firebreak (Bk #20)
(not read) Nobody Runs Forever (Bk #22)
2 ½ stars. Dirty Money (Bk #24)

Others that I gave 4 or more stars to:
The Jugger (Bk #6), The Seventh (Bk#7), The Handle (Bk #8), Deadly Edge (Bk#13), Flashfire (Bk#19)

DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook length: 5 hrs and 53 mins. Swearing language: none. Sexual content: none. Setting: around 2006 New York. Book copyright: 2006. Genre: noir crime fiction.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Parker series heads into uncharted almost YA territory in the simplistic and surprisingly two dimensional 'Ask The Parrot'. Being a huge fan of Stark's thief amongst thieves, Parker, I was disappointed by this latest venture. Parker is on the run, his accomplices looks down and out and he's on his last legs - only to find a savior in the form of a disgruntled former race track employee who see Parker as an opportunity for payback. While I enjoyed some of the traditional man on the run elements (hiding in broad daylight, mingling with those trying to capture him - for instance), the overall feel of the novel lacked the same rough edges I've grown accustomed too in the previous installments. Parker, himself comes off a little too nice (despite some nice true-to-form acts - notably when someone ends up in the boot of a car) and the more explicit scenes which were meant to be adult rated came off as little more than PG. That being said, 'Ask The Parrot' is a very quick read with a day-time-movie feel about it which will leave fans scratching their head while others utterly entertained who are new to the popular thief - 2.5 stars.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parker is a great bad guy. He's in a tough spot running from the law, but he knows how to keep his cool. Great story.

[Alan (on December semi-hiatus) Teder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parker and Backwoods Bumpkins
Review of the University of Chicago Press paperback edition (September 2017) of the original Mysterious Press hardcover (2006)

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.

Ask the Parrot is the 1st sequel to Nobody Runs Forever (2004) and finds Parker on the run after the armoured car heist of that previous novel. Parker is taken in by a backwoods hermit named Tom Lindahl, who has a heist scheme of his own in which he enlists Parker. Lindahl was laid off at a horse race betting track after being a whistleblower and now seeks revenge. Parker needs useable money as the armoured car bills are numbered and can be traced. Lindahl has an apparently non-speaking parrot as a pet, which is the subject of the title joke. Overall, this one seems like a bit of a holding pattern until we get to the final book Dirty Money (2008) which is the real conclusion to the story, but any Parker is still good Parker.

These final Parker novels from #17 to #24 are stronger and more complex than the original run which was probably due to Westlake/Stark's development as a writer over the years and during the 23 year hiatus. Several of these are strong 4's to 5's (I've actually read or listened to all of them now and am just parceling out the reviews over time). #21 and #22 are my favourites of the Parker novels now that I've read them all. Ironically, they are the only ones not available as audiobooks for some reason.

Ask the Parrot (Parker #23) is the 2nd book of the final trio of Parker novels which are all tied together by the loot and the escape from one heist. The Parker series would conclude with Dirty Money (Parker #24). The last book was issued in 2008 and Donald Westlake (Richard Stark) passed at the end of that year.

I had never previously read the Stark/Parker novels but became curious when they came up in my recent reading of The Writer's Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives (Sept. 2020) by Nancy Pearl & Jeff Schwager. Here is a (perhaps surprising) excerpt from their discussion with Amor Towles:

Nancy: Do you read Lee Child?
Amor: I know Lee. I had never read his books until I met him, but now I read them whenever they come out. I think some of the decisions he makes are ingenious.
Jeff: Have you read the Parker books by Donald Westlake [writing as Richard Stark]?
Amor: I think the Parker books are an extraordinary series.
Jeff: They feel like a big influence on Reacher, right down to the name. Both Reacher and Parker have a singular focus on the task in front of them.
Amor: But Parker is amoral. Reacher is just dangerous.
Jeff: Right. Reacher doesn't have a conventional morality, but he has his own morality. Parker will do anything he has to do to achieve his goal.
Amor: But to your point, Westlake's staccato style with its great twists at the end of the paragraphs, and his mesmerizing central character - these attributes are clearly shared by the Reacher books.

The 24 Parker books are almost all available for free on Audible Plus, except for #21 & #22 which aren't available at all.

Other Reviews
There is an extremely detailed review and plot summary (in 3 parts) of Ask the Parrot (with spoilers obviously) at The Westlake Review, October 2, 2017.

Trivia and Links
The Ask the Parrot page at The Violent World of Parker website is not as complete as those for the earlier books, and only shows a few of the edition covers.

This paperback is part of the University of Chicago Press 2009-2017 series of reprints of the Parker novels and includes a new Foreword by author Duane Swierczynski.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. I haven’t blown through an entire book in a single sitting in quite a while. It wasn’t until I put “Ask the Parrot” down that I realized I had read it cover-to-cover without a break. I guess I liked it. This one gets a full “4”.

This is a very late Parker book (2006), coming a few years after “Firebreak” (previous entry read & reviewed.) Although it has some of the “mellowness” in "Firebreak", I thought this book was closer to the much older book I've read (“The Man With the Getaway Face”) in pacing and style. Although Parker again goes to great lengths to avoid unnecessary killing (and has a good explanations for this in multiple scenes), he quickly and efficiently wipes out those he must. He shows us a chilling calculus of who can live and who dies that makes him seem the Parker of old.

I also liked how this book starts off with Parker in a major bind. The plot starts on high speed and stays on track throughout the story. Like a great impresario, the author manages the reader by changes in pacing, plotting, and character relationships. I did not get the "wordy" sensation, although in hindsight there is a passage or two this is a shade long-winded. I thought that the book flowed very well and held my interest better than most. Granted it is written and sized to be a quick read, but I really surprised myself yesterday.

Taken by itself, this is one of the better action-driven, hardcase novels I have ever read. As part of this long-lived series, I think it stands out as a stellar offering. (Remember we are talking fun here, not "literature".)

If you had to read only one Parker novel, this one will show you the consummate skill and style of Richard Stark (Donald Westlake), but it will do very little to introduce you to Parker himself. Since I have a very small sample to go by (3 so far), I can’t tell if this is the pattern for all of the books: give out very few personal traits in each story so that Parker can always surprise the reader.

I have a couple of earlier (still from the 21st Century) entrants to read in the next couple of weeks. I’m looking forward to my next whirlwind of crime.

[Pop · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the audio book, right at 5 hours. The reader was excellent. I really like Donald Westlake, aka Richard Stark, but this one wasn’t one of his best. It did help my three days traveling a couple hours each day. There wasn’t much suspense in this one, but I had to admire Westlake’s humor in it.

[Mike French · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Donald Westlake aka Richard Stark character!

[Leonard Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s been ten years since Donald Westlake left us, and it’s a loss that’s still deeply felt for those of us with a taste for pure throwback noir novels. Westlake was the creator and author, under the pseudonym Richard Stark, of a series of novels featuring the enigmatic professional criminal known only as Parker; while the character was popular enough to spawn a huge number of imitations (and a series of loose film adaptations, none of which, with the exception of 1967’s Point Blank, really managed to capture his essence), crime fiction has moved in a very different direction, and it’s more than just nostalgia that creates a real sense of loss that we won’t see his like again.

There were an astounding 24 Parker novels produced by Westlake in his lifetime, but he took a prolonged hiatus from the character following the sixteenth (1974’s Butcher’s Moon). He felt burned out and a bit alienated from Parker, and wanted to work on other projects. It would be the last we would see of the coolly competent, implacable heist man for over twenty years. When Parker returned in 1997 with Comeback, there were concerns that he might not translate into the modern era, but such worries underestimated Westlake’s extreme proficiency with the form, and other than a few awkward moments, he picked up where he left off without a hitch. Before his death in 2008, he planned to tell his final Parker stories in a trilogy of novels: Nobody Runs Forever, Ask the Parrot, and Dirty Money.

The second of the three was published in 2006, and it’s uncharacteristic in a lot of ways. Parker is entirely out of his element: on the run and without any of his usual accomplices, he finds himself in a small town in rural New York state. He’s wanted by the law for a major bank heist, he’s flat broke, and he has no allies, no armament, and no identification. All his usual resources are out of reach, and in order to survive, he has to do the unthinkable: place his trust in one of the small-town nobodies to get out. One of the crucial elements of Parker’s character is that he trusts no one (an instinct that usually proves quite correct), and hates working with amateurs, who lack the skills, sense, and instincts necessary to stay out of trouble. By what seems to be a stroke of luck, he ends up as part of the posse that’s meant to be hunting him — and makes the acquaintance of one Tom Lindahl, an embittered and lonely man who is his only protection, and might also have the inside track on a possible big score. Taking on the vague identity of one Ed Smith, Parker puts his trust in a man who has no criminal history, no skills, and a personality that sets off one warning bell after another in the heist man’s mind. But it’s his only chance; and anyone who’s ever read a Parker novel before knows it’s just going to get more complicated from there.

Ask the Parrot (the title is drawn from Tom Lindahl’s pet bird, which can’t talk and which he never bothered to name) is one of the best of the post-Comeback Parker novels, both for what it does and for what it doesn’t do. It’s remarkably well-adapted to its era; a lot of the early Parker books, as with many examples of pre-1990s crime fiction, had plots that simply wouldn’t work in the age of high technology, the internet, the surveillance state, and the age of the mega-corporation. But Ask the Parrot‘s semi-rural setting functions as more than just local color: its lack of sophistication and resources puts Parker out of his comfort zone, and also provides a justification for the relatively low-tech nature of the racetrack heist that acts as its MacGuffin. But the spirit of the age is present, and makes Parker (and Westlake) do some heavy lifting: there are automatic cameras, digital ID cards, and instant communications between law enforcement agencies to deal with. Parker finds himself trapped not by the severity of his crimes, but by his loss of a driver’s license that could pass electronic inspection at a roadblock.

More than this, though, Westlake does a pretty amazing job of placing his story convincingly in the era of the severe national hangover of the late Bush years. The town of Pooley is very much like most of rural America in 2006: run down, decrepit, full of a graying population in the middle of realizing their American dream was not going to come true and ambitious young people trying to figure out angles to make up for its absence. We run into hangdog characters embittered by layoffs, business failures, mass incarceration, and the Iraq War. It isn’t quite the nightmare collapse the country would undergo just a few years later (when Westlake, perhaps wisely, decided to check out on us), but it’s still a real bummer of a look at small-town America, wracked by foreclosures and a lack of meaningful employment, drawn expertly by the hand of a master of lean, tight prose.

There’s also a moral dimension to Ask the Parrot that gives it some real depth. It’s almost a crime in itself to charge Parker with appearing in a novel with moral complexity; he’s infamous, after all, for his extreme pragmatism and amoral approach to his chosen profession. But, surrounded not by greedy peers or hard-ass gangsters and lawmen, Parker finds something like mercy, if not actual pity, in his behavior towards so many people entirely out of their depth. Of course, he would never admit to feeling empathy towards the likes of the small-timer who accidentally shoots a derelict during the manhunt, or to the burnt-out shell that is Tom Lindahl; he’d argue that he was merely being practical and doing what was best to extract himself from a bad situation. But some of his behavior, combined with the characters he interacts with, infuses Ask the Parrot with meaning that’s lacking in some of the earlier books.

Parker is the ultimate professional, functioning without emotion to do whatever is necessary to pull off a job with the highest reward for the lowest risk; Tom Lindahl is the ultimate amateur, overwhelmed with emotions he cannot fully understand or articulate, completely conflicted about everything including his own emotions. The fact that the two of them find a way to work together is proof that even towards the end, neither Parker nor Westlake lost a step, and may have even been getting stronger.

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the run from the cops after a heist, without a usable ID, car, or cash, Parker is rescued/kidnapped by an odd fellow who has his own grand heist designs. This guy Lindahl is an honest man holding a long grudge against a racetrack company that fired him for being a whistleblower, and Lindahl thinks he's finally ready to rob the track as an act of vengeance. He's essentially offering Parker a place to lay low if Parker helps him with his own score. Parker's current troubles came out of some prior work done with amateurs but he doesn't really have a choice if he wants to stay out of the slammer while hiding out here in back-country Massachusetts.

Verdict: A good crime caper and manhunt, "Ask the Parrot" (2006) is well-paced with some odd characters, and it nicely sets up the final episode in the series which I'm going to read now.

Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Stark (Donald Westlake) should be studied at all writing schools. To write a Parker novel is more of a math problem than a series of moments inspired by passion. The ultimate anti-hero, Parker represents a professional who will do what he has to do, to survive or excel in his line of the profession - which is being a professional criminal. Parker is in a pickle, somewhere in the backwaters of a small community, avoiding an arrest, he teams up with a hermit of sorts, who is still sore about being fired from a horse racetrack. Parker, who is quick with psychological profiles on everyone he comes upon, he acts on not emotion, but intellect. Stark is just as great as a writer as Patricia Highsmith, another narrative writer who plots with the skill of a surgeon under tense conditions. Recommending the best Richard Stark "Parker" novel is pointless. All are equally readable and addictive.

[Yigal Zur · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is a cool thriller, not the best in Parker adventures but ok. there is a funny ending like a cut, not a real ending. Parker finished the job, stealing money, see his so called partner disappear and that's is. but this is Stark style. no sentiments, cold, straights only motives.

[Alecia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always a good thing when I find a Parker novel I may have missed. It's always a quick and very enjoyable read. In this one, Parker is on the run from a bank robbery, and is being chased by barking police dogs, when he is approached by a local stranger who takes him to his secluded home. And yes, in that home is a parrot who doesn't speak. Yet. What can I say, I'm a fan.

[Christopher (Donut) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Parker novel is a quartet (except, maybe, Butcher's Moon). Ask the Parrot is Stark's C-Sharp Minor quartet. Like late Beethoven, late Stark may have developed his art beyond the appreciation of some of his admirers. At any rate, this Parker is a Parker like no other.

“I swear I don’t understand this situation,” the captain said. “One of them’s a bank robber, another of them suddenly ups and kills a man—and a parrot—and the third, an ordinary fellow his entire life, goes missing.”

“The thing is,” Harrison said, “Thiemann would have turned himself in, but Smith talked him out of it, said it was to protect Thiemann.”

“It was to protect Smith.”

“Well, sure. But Thiemann couldn’t stand it. His wife said it drove him crazy.” [...]

“This Smith,” the captain said, “robs a bank in Massachusetts, escapes, gets this far, hooks up with two other people, ordinary people, everybody starts going nuts.”

Harrison said, “You think he did it to them, somehow?”

“I truly don’t know,” the captain said, and looked out from the lighted porch at the dark road.

Never before has the emphasis been on the normies, the straights. The earliest Parker novels seemed to inhabit a 'stark' world were everyone was crooked, including doctors, funeral directors, small-town law enforcement, and jet set socialites. The world of Ask the Parrot is less 'bent,' but no less neurotic. Everyone has a story, and the story is invariably one of barely surviving deep emotional damage. To say that Stark has 'padded out' the novel detailing the point of view of minor characters, as one carping reviewer does, is missing the point, or at least, a major theme, of the book.

Not that anyone is obliged to like what the author has done here. I was once again amazed at the number of surprise developments, including an ironic reversal on a much foreshadowed final fate for a main character. For Parker, the consummate professional, all normies get what they deserve. The rank amateurs as well as those who keep it together long enough to do a job.

[Michael Compton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sequel to Nobody Runs Forever, but each book works as a stand-alone.

Parker gets wrapped up with the squares when he's on the run after a botched heist. Only he quickly learns that the locals in this particular Mayberry aren't so square after all. It starts as a simple-ish quid-pro-quo: an embittered hermit will help him escape if Parker will help rob the rural racetrack that fired the hermit years ago. On the way to the pot of gold, Westlake (writing as Stark) piles on the complications, even getting Parker involved in his own manhunt. I had one laugh-out-loud moment, but this is Westlake at his heartless best (or worst). Bird lovers beware.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another strong outing from Stark, though I did find some of the subplots in the middle of the story to be somewhat unnecessary and felt to some degree as filler. But as it's not a particularly long story even with these additional subplots, it didn't do much to dull my enjoyment.

[Mysticpt · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Harold · Rating 4 out of 5]

One to go.