No Role Model--An Introduction to Parker

When a fresh faced guy in a Chevy offered him a lift, Parker told him to go to hell.  The guy said, "Screw you, buddy," yanked his Chevy back into the stream of traffic, and roared on down to the tollbooths.  Parker spat in the right-hand lane, lit his last cigarette, and walked across the George Washington Bridge.

You've heard of the hero and the anti-hero...how about the non-hero?   That's how Parker, the main character in a series of novels by Richard Stark (AKA Donald Westlake) has been described, and it's a perfect description.  Parker is a thief, but he's no charming master thief who playfully eludes the silly authorities.  He's a ruthless thug who does whatever it takes to get what he wants (usually money), and he doesn't care about a living soul other than himself.  Some of the things he does will be repellant (I hope) to readers. 

So why read the stuff?  Because Stark is an excellent writer and the Parker books are exciting and thought provoking.  Like all great crime fiction, the Parker novels give readers not just the story of a crime, but also a detailed look at the inner workings of a fascinating and original character.  These novels are very hard to put down--don't read them before bed or you may find yourself staying up later than intended.

For further remarks on who Parker is and why so many normal and stable human beings love to read his exploits, see my remarks on the first book of the series, The Hunter.

The Parker Novels:

Below is a table with all of the Parker novels published to date.  Each page contains a cover scan as well as a brief write-up on the novel and its place within the series.  I am also (very) slowly adding detailed synopses of the novels.      

NOTE:  The Berkeley editions of these books printed them as a numbered series ("The Violent World of Parker").  Fine idea, except that they didn't bother to publish them in the correct order.  Ignore the numbers as well as the order of publication on most series printings.

The "Parker" Movies:  Parker novels have been adapted for the screen seven times, although the main character has not once been called Parker.   Read about these movies here, plus other films of interest to Parker readers.

Not Quite Parker:  Films that bear a striking resemblance, but no official relationship, to the Parker novels.

The Alan Grofield Novels: Spun off from the Parker novels, these detail the adventures of Alan Grofield, the actor and thief first seen in The Score.

Parker in Italy: Information on the Italian translations of the Parker novels and films.

Articles and Links: Articles on Parker, Westlake interviews, Mysterious Press, and other nifty stuff.

Feel free to e-mail me with help, compliments, criticisms, suggestions, love letters, or job offers. 

HELP!:   Much Parker material still eludes me.  I need the following...if you know where to get any of these things, let me know.

• The French film Mise à Sac (Pillaged)
• A Hong Kong film called Vengeance!
• The German Jimmy the Kid movie.
• Reviews, essays, interviews, etc. that you have seen on-line or off.
• Scans or photos of movie poster art for Slayground, The Outfit, and the 2 French films.
• Anything at all that you think might make a good addition to the site

ABOUT THE SITE:
This page started when I was browsing through the introduction to the recent printing of The Hunter (as Payback).  Stark mentioned that there had been seven movies based on the Parker series.  I had no idea there had been so many!  I started cruising the Internet looking for information on these movies and found none.  There was nothing of substance on the books either.  After going to the library for some serious research, I decided to be a nice guy and post the information I had dug up to the web, to help other fans.  As usual with me, this became an obsession, and the project changed scale.  I am currently planning on making this a full-service Parker page with everything I can find posted for your convenience.

Disclaimer:  As is usual for fan sites, I don't have permission for any of these images or quotes, which are copyright their respective owners.  No one will lose any money over the stuff posted on this site (for example, I have posted introductions to out-of-print Gregg Press editions, but not the in-print Warner edition of The Hunter because someone might theoretically buy the book just to get the introduction).  In fact, I am doing my best to promote the sale of all in-print Parker-related items.  If you are a copyright holder and object to anything you see here, please contact me and I will remove the offending material.