Firebreak

Parker #20

by Richard Stark, Stephen R. Thorne (Narrator)

Penzler Pick, December 2001: You'd have to hammer apart an armored tank to find a surface harder than that of Richard Stark's antihero Parker. A thief and a killer, Parker is the protagonist of a contemporary series that has the legendary status of vintage noir. The films Point Blank (with Lee Marvin) and Payback (with Mel Gibson) were both made from the first Parker novel, The Hunter. After an absence from print of over two decades, Parker began breaking all the commandments again in 1997's Comeback.

However, since Stark is, as the dust jacket informs readers, also at times the mystery Grand Master Donald E. Westlake, there's a curious phenomenon worth noting in the pages of this, the 21st Parker novel. Larry Lloyd, a crook by virtue of his (bad) temper if not his temperament, seems to be a second-banana character who's strolled out of a Westlake comic caper into a Stark scenario and can't quite figure out what he's doing here. Practically a textbook definition of a loose cannon, he comes on board the team planning to rob a billionaire techno-geek's remote mountain hideaway because of his own electronics expertise. OK, so he has a violent streak and is willing to put a bullet through a guy's eyeball, but he's still more Walter Mitty than James Cagney.

As he's about to help get the heist back on track at the last minute, Parker asks him if he thinks he's 007. "Are you kidding?" he says. "The last few weeks, I've been scaling cliffs, shooting people, getting rid of bodies, stealing ambulances, I am James Bond."

Since this comes from the hugely fertile mind of Westlake/Stark, this is not the story's only plotline. There is another, more twisty one running on a track parallel to the one with Parker and his robbery-minded pals on it. Revenge may be a dish best eaten cold, but when it's a matter of kill or be killed, Parker is not likely to be one of the leftovers.

Sometimes, a series loses some of its freshness and originality after it reaches a certain number. Amazingly, after 39 years and 21 books, this novel is as good as any in the series, which should be taken as the highest praise it's possible to give without seeming to be sycophantic. --Otto Penzler

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Noir, Thriller, Audiobook, Suspense

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

A pseudonym used by Donald E. Westlake.

Reviews

[Kemper · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Parker’s in the middle of killing somebody you’d think he’d be too busy to take a phone call about a potential job, but a man’s gotta eat.

The score is a bunch of valuable paintings that a rich d-bag had stolen for himself and are now hidden away in a remote hunting lodge he owns. However, security is very high due to a previous botched robbery attempt, there’s a very tight clock on when this has to get done, and one of the crew is a high-strung computer nerd fresh out of prison. Parker also needs to track down whoever sent a hit man after him so there’s no shortage of complications to this one.

This series started in the ‘60s, and I think it works best as retro old school crime stories. However, Richard Stark (a/k/a Donald Westlake) came up with some good modern variations on his usual stories when he brought Parker back in the ‘90s. Here, the rich guy made his money as part of the dot-com boom back when those guys were just wealthy assholes rather than evil billionaires bent on destroying democracy and/or the working class. Ah, the good old days….

So between that and all the Internet and communication angles to the heist you can tell that Stark was figuring out a way to make Parker still viable in the digital age. And it works. They may be using computers to help pull of this heist, but somebody still has to go in and get the stuff which also means having a tough guy who can think on his feet.

I also liked the angle to the hit man story and the brutally efficient way that Parker backtracks the guy to the people who have an old grudge against him. There’s a lot going on in this one, but Stark makes it all fit together and hum along right along to its conclusion.

[Glenn Russell]

"When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man. His knees pressed down on the interloper’s back, his hands were clasped around his forehead."

How's that for an opening of a novel? With Firebreak, Donald E. Westlake writing as Richard Stark has created a crime noir lollapalooza.

Here's a prime reason: published in 2001, Firebreak features two separate plotlines intersecting as a consequence of that distinctive feature of our postmodern society - the internet.

Oh, yes, Stark fans, on top of all his other challenges and concerns while living the life of an outlaw, Parker must now deal with the reality of a world connected by highly sophisticated technologies, the internet at its core.

Again, twin plots fuel Firebreak:

1) Parker meets with Wiss and Elkins, two heisters he has worked with previously. They talk of a job involving famous stolen artworks currently in a secret room at a billionaire's private mansion out in rural Montana. There's a sophisticated security system but they tell Parker they can handle any technology no matter how sophisticated since the other man in the room who's part of their team, a nerdy looking guy Parker hasn't met before, is a computer/electronics wiz by the name of Larry Lloyd.

2) Before Parker joins this trio on the Montana art heist, other business must be dealt with - specifically, the guy Parker killed in his garage turns out to be a hit man from Russia. Who sent this killer? Parker has to find out and deal with it.

Both plots contains multiple subplots. Several of my personal favorites from the highlight reel:

Time Sensitive
Usually a heist doesn't come with a deadline. But the Montana job has a deadline since Elkins and Wiss need cash for Corbett and Dolan, two of their partners from a past heist (Elkins and Wiss escaped but Corbett and Dolan were caught and have to pay money for lawyers and bail). If Elkins and Wiss don't come up with the dough fast, Corbett and Dolan will rat on them to lessen their own time behind bars. To pile on additional complication to an already complex equation: Corbett and Dolan are not the kind of guys who like to sit on the sideline and watch; nope, this pair is action all the way.

Super Geek, One
Parker is taken by surprise by Larry Lloyd, a bland looking man in his early thirties with thinning sandy hair and prominent horn-rimmed glasses and wearing a blue button-down shirt with a row of pens in his pocket. Parker is even more surprised when Larry says he's spent time in prison. Welcome to the 21st century, Parker, a world where criminals need not look like, well, hardened criminals. The inclusion of Larry Lloyd marks a shift in the underworld of crime, where seasoned lockpickers and safecrackers are replaced by computer hackers and dorky looking MIT science eggheads.

Odd Couple
Taking the needed steps to solve his problem regarding that Russian hitman, Parker teams up with a most unlikely partner: retired oldster Arthur who never owned or fired a gun in his life. As the two drive to an office in Bayonne, New Jersey, Parker tells Arthur, "If it turns bad, drop flat and roll into the corner." Arthur says, "And consign my soul to Jesus." Parker replies, "If you want."

Dastardly Duo
Stark fans will remember two scoundrels from The Sour Lemon Score: Paul Brock and Matt Rosenstein. These gents make a return appearance here. One of the many weaknesses of effete Paul Brock is his blind love for Matt Rosenstein. A dedicated Westlake fan writes, "To call Matt Rosenstein an animal would be doing a disservice to animals, predatory or not. He's the worst person ever to appear in a Parker novel." I concur. Rosenstein, who is now confined to a wheelchair after Parker crippled him ten years prior, spends his hours fuming at the world like some sadistic, spoiled adolescent. Pathetic.

The inclusion of these swinish bastards underscores the Westlake/Starkian morality that runs through the entire Parker series: if you don't know who you are or if you make a blunder in judgement, you will definitely pay the price, usually a monumental price, odds are you'll even have to pay with your very life.

Dot Com Billionaire
Paxton Marino owns that mansion in Montana, an arrogant, obnoxious chap, for sure. Here's what one detective thinks of mister moneybags: "A jumpted-up johnny-come-lately, Marino acted with such smug arrogance it made Hayes want to punch him in the mouth. Marino strolled through life with the self-satisfaction of someone who comes from a long line of rulers of the universe, and goddam it, he did not."

Nerdy in Montana
Westlake/Stark recognizes our worldwide computerized culture spawns millions of people at the opposite end of the spectrum from creative, innovative Larry Lloyd. One such is Dave Rappleyea. "Rappleyea had some sort of handheld computer game he was playing, pausing only to order his dinner, then eating one-handed so he could continue to play with the other." Is Dave R playing his computer game or is the computer game playing Dave, turning him into a passive, solipsistic dope addicted to his computer screen? If you read a Donald E. Westlake novel carefully, you'll detect caustic social commentary lacing the pages.

Super Geek, Two
In many ways, the most dramatic episodes in Firebreak relate to wishy-washy Larry Lloyd transforming into an outlaw on the run. And Larry can become quite emotional and inclined to fits of rage (Larry spent time in prison for attempting to murder his former partner in computer technology). The closing chapters of the novel where Larry Lloyd outlines a risky plan and initiates action are (at least by this reviewer's judgement) among the most moving and memorable in the entire Parker series. I never, ever thought I'd be close to tears while reading a Richard Stark novel, but I was toward the end of Firebreak.

Firebreak is an ace in the deck of Parker novels. I give it ten stars. Read it.


American author Donald E. Westlake, 1933-2008

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The first line sort of catches your attention: "When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man."

This is an opening that the Parker reader hopes will return him to his harder, tougher self, and Stark/Westlake to his earlier, leaner approach, but it is not to be. One feature of this novel, #20 in the Parker series, is that Parker has to deal with two situations simultaneously. The first, connected to the above killing, is his dealing with guys (Paul and Max from The Sour Lemon Score, Book 12) trying to kill him regarding a past heist, and the second scene takes Parker to a Montana hunting lodge where a dot-com millionaire hides stolen paintings. The first story is more satisfying than the second.

The novel is solid, better than most mysteries, but for a Parker book, it is really just average. It (again) has Stark taking too long to get to the heist, compared to his earliest books. Parker in those books such as Butcher’s Moon or The Hunter have never joked around with a computer nerd, Larry Lloyd, as he does, when Lloyd messes up. In earlier books, such as Butcher’s Moon, he simply would have shot the guy and saved us fifty pages. The nods to the internet, the need to break through electronic protections (vs. just breaking a window), to the focus on the dot.com instant rich slimeballs, eh, I’ll take a seventies Parker any time. But 3 stars for me still means it is a good story. Stark is one of the best.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parker hooks up with some other criminals to steal art from an internet millionaire's hunting lodge. But can Parker and the gang complete the heist with someone sending hitmen to kill Parker?

I loved the beginning of Firebreak. Parker's in the process of killing a man sent to kill him and makes Claire answer the phone. As for the rest of it...?

Like most of the Parker books released after Butcher's Moon, Firebreak seemed really padded. While I liked the idea of some people Parker shouldn't have left alive gunning for him, the whole art heist part of the plot seemed excessively complex and not like something Parker would have gotten involved with or stayed involved with as complication after complication arose. It took forever to get to the actual heist.

Another thing I don't like is that Parker didn't do away with Larry Lloyd at the first sign of trouble. The Parker of the first ten or fifteen books would have put a bullet in Lloyd at the first sign of trouble. Is it just me or does Parker seem a little soft in the post Butcher's Moon books?

That being said, Parker still does what he does best in Firebreak. If you liked the rest of the Parker books, you'll like this one. Just don't expect the magic of the pre-Butcher's Moon era.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Parker novel does mean another heist and indeed so it does.

But.

This movie is less than the earlier books about a heist, it is mostly what happens when stuff goes wrong. The heist seemed a good idea and then life catches up and a sweet score of illegally obtained art seems to become an impossible score when it comes to actually trying to steal it from a billionaires home.
At the same time the book opens with Parker killing a man who is visiting Parker & Claire's home with the sole intention of ending Parker's life. And Parker does not take kindly to such behaviour as he sets on a trail back to the ones ordering the hit. And he does so with a single-minded approach that leaves the people doing the job shaken and a little more than disturbed.

An excellent Parker novel albeit a tad more amusing than I was used. Perhaps Westlake was more in control than Stark. It still is a very good and well written crime thriller that leaves you with an urge to read more Parker material.

[John Culuris · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the very first line of Firebreak I had to laugh, though there is nothing funny about Richard Stark’s Parker books. If you want that, read the misadventures of John Dortmunder written under the author’s real name of Donald E. Westlake. But that opening sentence: “When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man.” It tells you everything you need to know about Parker. The rest are details. Like that he’s a professional thief; professional meaning that it is how he makes his living and the attitude with which he goes about his work. An attitude that carries with it some hard and near-unbreakable rules. A major one is, because it brings more heat from the police, you avoid killing whenever possible. That Parker usually leaves a long line of bodies in his wake, it tells you everything you need to know about the series.

It’s about the complications. It may well be possible to write a story where the planning and execution of a robbery plays out perfectly--it probably has been done--but that does not a series make. When the setup and/or completion of a job encounters what seems to be unending interference and obstacles, that’s when Parker is at his most ruthlessly efficient. Everything that does not pertain to success is expendable. And everyone. And that’s what we paid to see.

The man being killed in the garage was a hit man sent to kill Parker. The phone call concerns liberating some priceless but illegal paintings from their current owner. Initially Parker has to trace and eliminate the source of the first so he is free to concentrate on the second. More complications ensue.

As they had to.

As Parker backtracks the trail of the assassin; as we meet and learn the lives of his current colleagues and what complications their personal situations bring to the equation; and, of course, how far Parker will have to go to clear each obstruction. Otherwise what’s the point? Westlake had always meant these books to be quick, clean reads and, despite all the bodies, light entertainment. Since there are no deeper meanings or serious introspection to be found, individual success depends on each set of complications. Are they interesting? And is Parker’s response as they begin to pile up equally engaging? It’s not always the case. Firebreak is an example of when it is. Quick, clean entertainment.

[Piker7977 · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot going on in Firebreak. Loose ends from an old caper taint new prospects for Parker. He'll have to tie things up in order to come out ahead, as usual.

But, that's what makes this series wonderful. While reading these books, in my head, I dare the other characters to try and cross the biggest badass in all of fiction.

This one is middle of the pack for Parker which puts it above most other books and guarantees an entertaining read.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 starts, better than the last, but Parker still isn't back to his norm. He's timeless & the last job isn't mentioned. That should have earned him $800,000, enough that I can't see him sticking with this job after all that went wrong up front.

Nor do I understand the people he left alive. He left Larry alive after the guy goes off the rails a couple of times & gets hacked for Parker's info. He also left the cripple alive. OK, the guy was probably going to prison, but this was shot 2. Neither is typical of Parker.

I tried hard to forget about the old Parker & just concentrated on the present. As an action novel, it was pretty good. There were a couple of practical details that didn't seem quite right, but most were OK.

[Amos · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the strongest tales in this crime riddled series staring our favorite professional thief: Parker. Said tale comes stuffed with crime capers, double crosses, bikers, gamblers, guns, hostages and heavies for all those who so desire. Oh yeah- this one gets more than a little bit messy!!

Four Fiery Stars!!!

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donald Westlake was a very talented and prolific author of crime fiction who passed away in 2008. He wrote under his own name as well as the pen name Richard Stark. I have read several of his novels including some in the Dortmunder series which I really enjoy. The Dortmunder novels are about a thief and his gang and include a lot of humor thrown in. On the other hand, the Parker novels written under the name Richard Stark are a lot more gritty and hard core.

FIREBREAK is the first Parker novel that I have read and I thought it was a really good action noir novel. The novel starts out with Parker killing a man in his garage who was a hired assassin out to do away with Parker. The story actually has Parker dealing with two jobs. First, he has to find out who sent the hit man to kill him and why. Then he gets a call from a cohort who has a plan to rob a remote lodge owned by a billionaire in Montana. The lodge contains a fortune in gold fixtures including toilets and sinks but also contains a secret room housing stolen art treasures. Parker teams up with a crew to do the heist in Montana which includes an ex-con named Lloyd who is a computer whiz and who can crack the lodge's alarm system. But Lloyd also seems to be a loose cannon who could blow up at any minute.

I really enjoyed this one and will be looking to read more in this series if I can find them. The Parker character has also been featured in a few movies including Point Blank starring Lee Marvin which was based on the first Parker novel and the 2013 movie Parker which starred Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez. I recently saw and enjoyed the Parker movie and I remember seeing Point Blank years ago and will be looking forward to seeing it again.

[Skip · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little different than Stark's usual plot, where Parker assembles a team for a heist and then something goes wrong, often betrayal by a greedy partner. The book opens with Parker killing someone sent to kill him, which sidetracks the heist as Parker toodles off to track down who hired the assassin. I admired his restraint in not killing the elderly couple sent to monitor his home as he figures out they too were duped. The heist is stealing stolen art masterpieces back from a dot-com billionaire. When the team is finally ready to strike, the ATF, FBI and local police all converge on the billionaire's Montana mansion, making the score look impossible until a highly motivated, but unstable member of the team provides some real ingenuity.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second Parker novel that I have read. The first was “The Man with the Getaway Face” (the second in the series) and now I have read on of the last (written in 2001). Apparently a lot has gone on in Mr. Parker’s life since that prior book.

As I began reading this one I thought that the author had completely worked over the concept of the character, not just “adjusted” him over the decades. After all, the book starts out in a thoroughly domestic scene: Parker is at home, on a quiet lake (in a “resort” town), with his wife. Wife? WIFE?? WIFE??? This is the man who unhesitatingly kills those who double-cross him or may be just thinking of doing so? Talk about “culture shock”.

But in the next few pages, the action ramps up: Parker finds and eliminates an assassin. That begins one major plot twist. Then we begin to enter the main plot (begun by having the phone ring while Parker is performing his assassin-removal magic). From that point on the novel reads like it belongs to the same series as the earlier one, but things have changed. There is a slower “feel” to this story.

While the pacing is still crisp and the action plentiful, there are more details and material that occurs in the story. I don’t want to use the word, nor do I think of it as “filler”. It isn’t (although I won't argue the point if someone who has read more of the series feels passionately about his.) Instead think of it as a maturation of the way we interact with Parker and his associates. The edges are a little less rough-hewn. There are occasional touches of domestication and civility.

For example, he visits his wife in the story in a very reasonable and useful way (she has gone to New York while there is till danger at home). Later on, he treats fallible characters with a degree of equanimity that I did not see in the previous book. I’m not saying that Parker trusts anyone more. Nor could it be called “compassion”. Rather, he has a certain understanding of human nature and when possible gives people an even break. When I read “The Man with the Getaway Face” I believed that Parker would have just eliminated any of these characters in order to prevent his own potential capture or death.

I will say that the book takes a long time to arrive at the actual heist. It didn't feel that wrong to me (again I only have two books to compare so far) as the intervening pages develop the second plot and characters associated with both.

While the writing and Parker’s personality have grown or evolved, he does not seem to have aged much, if at all. He had sufficient experience in the second book that he had to have been in his thirties and here he is still in excellent physical shape. Perhaps he has aged in the manner of Jack Palance or Jack LaLanne? Jack Palance could have pulled off Parker’s dark and menacing presence with ease even in his 70s. (Jack LaLanne never menaced anyone in his life that I am aware of, but he could tow freighters in a harbor by holding a rope in his teeth!) But we never know as there are no hard facts about this.

I’m not sure why I chose to read at almost the extreme ends of this series. I know how it happened, though. I got the first because of good reviews and comments about the Parker books here on goodreads. I grabbed this book on impulse from a shelf in the library (obviously not checking the date of publication). So, now I have a few questions about how, when & where he met Claire. And what capers has he been involved in over the 30-odd years that I've missed. But that’s a good thing because this book, like the other, is a quick and rewarding read. Now I have a ready-made list of things I want to read and if you like American-style crime/mystery/action books, then this series is for you, too.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Firebreak" is the 20th of the 24 Parker novels written by Westlake disguised as Richard Stark. It brings Parker into the modern age of the internet. An internet tycoon has a collection of rare Masters hidden in a secret vault under a hunting lodge in Montana. There's some real money there if you can break through all the electronic protections.

But to get there, Parker has to contend with teams of would-be assassins, one of whom makes it into Parker's home on the lake, the one he shares with Claire. He has to contend with a partner who is a computer genius but is hellbent on getting even with those who betrayed him. And, the guys who brought him into this caper, they tried and failed and the guys who were working with them got caught and are thinking of turning State's evidence. By the time all this is resolved, the resolution of the actual caper doesn't seem so important.

It's a typical Parker novel, taut, sardonic, tough-nosed, gripping. Not the best of the lot as there's a little too much going on, but still a Parker novel and this series has no peers.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like these, I've said that before. AND this one is a good one...or " is a good one". If you've followed these by now you know Parker as well as I do. This one does not disappoint at all.

You get Parker being introduced to another job and then pulling together a crew. Also Parker is moving into the...modern(?), current(?) present(?) world. He has to bring a techie into the said crew. This requires a lot of, adaption and patience on Parker's part. It also leads to (another) job with lots of action and lots of problems.

Yeah, I like it. Recommended, enjoy.

[Still · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the Parker series best entries.
Highest recommendation!

This one concerns a brilliantly conceived heist delayed by a few weeks due to unknown villain or villains having hired several different hit-men to kill Parker for a perceived past transgression.

This is seriously up there with the very best Parker novels ever.

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Opening line: "When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man."

The man in the garage is an unknown hitman hired to kill Parker. The phone call is from his old heister colleague Elkins. So then, after killing the hitman, while Parker is trying to hunt down the hitman's employer, he's also setting up Elkins' robbery of a dot-com billionaire who has a mansion in Montana stuffed with gold and stolen artwork.

Some loose ends from "The Sour Lemon Score" (1969) turn up in "Firebreak" (2001) so you'll want to make sure you read at least that prior installment of the Parker series before picking up this one.

Verdict: Kind of a ho-hum crime mystery, to be honest, and maybe the least interesting of the Parker series so far. The heist is an uncomplicated afterthought, the side-characters are uninteresting, the bad guys are stupid, and the ending, keeping it spoiler-free I'll say that Parker allows something he's never allowed before, like a personal growth and learning thing, and it falls completely flat.

Jeff's Rating: 2 / 5 (Okay)
movie rating if made into a movie: R

[Alan (the Lone Librarian rides again) Teder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parker and the Dot Com Paintings
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (May 2013) of the Mysterious Press hardcover (2001)

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.

In Firebreak, Parker is part of a heist of a dot com billionaire's secret stash of rare paintings hidden at his rural retreat. This also requires the involvement of a computer hacker to circumvent the security systems, and the hacker brings with him his own amateur complications. Meanwhile, Parker is being hunted by hitmen as a result of a revenge plan by villains still around after The Sour Lemon Score (Parker #12 - 1969) just to add to the problems.

These final Parker novels from #17 to #24 seem 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).

Firebreak is the 4th book of 5 in a book titles arc by Richard Stark where the second syllable in each one-word title provides the first syllable of the next one as in 1) Comeback, 2) Backflash, 3) Flashfire, 4) Firebreak and 5) Breakout.

Narrator Stephen Thorne does an excellent job in all voices in this audiobook edition. The narration does not include the Foreword by Terry Teachout as included in the paperback.

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 of Firebreak (with spoilers obviously) at The Westlake Review, February 7, 2017.

Trivia and Links
The Firebreak page at The Violent World of Parker website is not as complete as those for the earlier books, but does provide cover images of the different editions.

Like many of the 2010-2013 Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook editions which share the same cover art as the University of Chicago Press 2009-2011 reprints, this audiobook DOES NOT include the Foreword by author Terry Teachout.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A computer nerd and two professional thieves who plan to steal priceless stolen art from a secret room in a dot-com billionaire's Montana hunting lodge call Parker in on the job. He's happy to participate, but not until he's taken care of a very dangerous personal matter.

Firebreak is another great, terse, hard-boiled crime novel from Richard Stark, the nom de guerre of Donald E. Westlake, and for my money, it's the best Parker novel since the paperback-original heyday of the 1960s. (Perhaps not coincidentally, some old friends from the last Fawcett Gold Medal novel featuring Parker, The Sour Lemon Score , make an appearance.) Recommended for new fans and old fans alike, although longtime fans of the series are more likely to enjoy all the references to Parker's previous exploits.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man." Unbeatable opening sentence. I rest my case.

[Edward Champion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, this is bravura writing. From the opening line (the best in the Parker series, "When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man."), Westlake sustains a narrative momentum that is among his career-best. Utterly taut prose. A return to Parker as an instinctively scheming man. A wild plot involving Montana. This makes up for the flaws of FLASHFIRE big time. It's also a lot of fun to see Parker contending with dot com douchebags in the '90s. A shoutout to the sinister Otto Mainzer from THE RARE COIN SCORE. I also loved how Westlake buried the art heist story beneath many other elements. It is the character that comes before the plot, although Westlake has taken care of both. Lean, mean, and great.

[James Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sour Lemon Score Sequel

This book is what drew me to the series. The greatest starting sentence that was ever written for a crime novel. The two guys left for dead with Saugherty's wife put a hit out on Parker. It brings back memories of the first three Parker novels.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second half has too many plot threads, and a concentration on Lloyd that is not as interesting (to me), but the first half is solid Parker: cathartic, violent, fair, deadly. Thrillers should all be this way.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it better than the English language version.

Merged review:

A quick thrill with many moving parts.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

“That’s all there is, there isn’t any more.”
- Ethel Barrymore

I finished the whole thing, bring up the house lights - 24 Parker novels done and dusted. It took me about ten years.

As you can probably tell, I read the series badly out of order and ended with Firebreak. Not the strongest entry, but it’s entertaining enough and picks up speed as it goes.

I don’t usually feel what other people describe as sense of loss at a series end. Too fickle, too likely to abandon a book half way through and move on. My To Read pile is big, but my Half Read and Abandoned pile might be even bigger. With this series, I think I get it - there’ll never be another new one, not really, and something feels a bit off.

I suppose, though, since Parker himself is ageless, we can imagine him going on forever. Past Westlake and all his contemporaries, past you and me and everyone else: Parker is and always will be about 38, tough and competent, and looking for a score.

[Neil Fulwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parker vol 20 and the franchise fully embraces the twenty-first century with a plot involving a dot-com billionaire’s illegally acquired art collection and the nervy computer expert Parker and his team have to rely on to gain access to his remote Montana lodge. The heist is complicated at every twist and turn, whether via a head-stunningly unexpected loose end from ‘Plunder Squad’ or the computer geek’s unfortunate talent for losing his shit at the crucial moment. There comes a point where the narrative has splintered off in so many possible directions that you start to doubt if Stark can hold it all together. But of course he can. And then some.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast, high body-count Parker thriller with a more convoluted plot than usual. Published in 2001, Stark/Westlake makes free and fanciful use of computer/RF hacking as a plot device. I don't want to be the surly nerd on the internet that bickers about was/wasn't possible. It was just fun! Crooked tech robber barons get roasted. Their more technically savvy but less socially adept/less sociopathic underlings get their shot. Two and a half decades later, with Trump in office again on Elroy's dime, the robber barons deserve that roasting even more.

[Joseph Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic read. Parker books are phenomenal, and I miss Donald Westlake more with every page.

[Soo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes:

Currently on Audible Plus

This one was more action packed than the last. Paybacks thwarted and heist completed.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

RATING: 3.25