Dirty Money

April 21, 2008
Master thief Parker wraps up some unfinished business in this entertaining if relatively lackluster entry in this long-running crime series from the pseudonymous Stark (aka MWA Grand Master Donald Westlake). Lots went wrong after Parker and two partners robbed an armored car in rural Massachusetts of $2.2 million in 2004's Nobody Runs Forever. The money was \x93poisoned\x94 (i.e., marked); one of his partners was captured before killing a marshal and escaping; and bounty-hunter Sandra Loscalzo wants to cut herself in on the take. The pragmatic, quick-thinking Parker must find a way to retrieve the stashed haul he and his confederates left in Massachusetts without getting caught by the law or nibbled to death by other crooks. Stark handles the criminal aspects of his tale with his usual panache, but some fans will find Parker's trademark sharp edge less in evidence this outing.

March 1, 2008
In Nobody Runs Forever (2004), Starks intrepid thief Parker and two accomplices waylay a caravan of armored cars carrying a banks entire cash assets. But a fast police response forces them to hide the money and hope to recover it later, when the heat dies down. The problems that plagued the heist continue in Dirty Money. One of the crooks is captured but escapes by killing a federal marshal, and Parker and his remaining accomplice, abetted by a female bounty hunter who deals herself in, must return to the scene of a crime crawling with local, state, and federal cops to recover the money before their former ally is recaptured and rats them out. Even worse, every serial number on the stolen bills is recorded, and if they succeed, they might net a dollar for every 10. Stark, aka Donald Westlake, seems to be drawing from his delightful criminal-caper-gone-wrong Dortmunder novels here, but the hard-edged Parker is as resolute and dangerous as ever, and the faithful will stand beside him through every step of this typically involved and entertaining novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)