Parker, McWhitney, and Sandra Loscalzo make a plan to get the money Parker, McWhitney, and Dalesia left behind in Nobody Runs Forever. Things go without a hitch until Nick Dalesia escapes the cops and goes looking for the money himself. And what about the man McWhitney was going to use to launder the money? Can Parker and company get the money out of the church and get out alive?Here we are. The last Parker book. Was it a fitting swan song for one of the best crime fiction series ever written? N...

Dirty Money by Donald E. Westlake writing as Richard Stark is Parker novel #24 and the last published novel (published in 2008) of the Parker series. Dirty Money is also the third book within the three novel saga beginning with Nobody Runs Forever (#22) and Ask the Parrot (#23).At the end of Ask the Parrot, Parker drives off in a black Infiniti from a race track heist out in the boonies east of Albany, New York. Dirty Money begins with Parker watching the Infiniti sink to the bottom of a river t...

This is the twenty-fourth and final volume in Richard Stark's excellent long-running series featuring Parker, a cold, amoral, methodical criminal. Parker was almost always involved in a gang of crooks that had been pulled together for some specific job, usually a robbery of some sort. In each of these capers, it always turned out that some of the gang members were more dependable than others; there was usually a weak link or a turn of bad luck somewhere along the way, and Parker would have to sc...

“If you leave me here," the guy on the floor said, "he'll kill me tomorrow morning."Parker looked at him. "So you've still got tonight," he said.Thus ends the 24-book Parker series by Richard Stark, one of the pseudonyms for Donald Westlake. Westlake was prolific, with more than 100 novels to his credit, and more than 20 screenplays, and he knew how to create rollicking crime stories with lots of laughs. When he was feeling mean, however, the name of the game was Parker, one of the best characte...

Dear Mr. Parker.I was saddened to hear of the death of your chronicler Mr Stark. Over the years I’ve become a big fan of your exploits and so now feel bereaved that there will be no more. Of course another writer might pick up the mantle, but we both know it just wouldn’t be the same.What I’ve enjoyed most about your work is your professionalism and adaptability. The first one goes without saying, you’ve always prided yourself on how professional you are. But I like how in any given situation, n...

[Read in May 2020; Reviewed May 2022]Dirty Money is the final entry in a series novels about a professional thief named Parker that Donald E. Westlake wrote as Richard Stark. It also wraps up the trilogy that started with Nobody Runs Forever and continued in Ask the Parrot. Perhaps. I seem to be the one who sees these books as a trilogy. Certainly it’s never been advertised as such. Maybe Part 2 was simply picking up where the last book left off, and by the time Westlake realized it would lead t...

Perfect ending to an amazing series.I've pretty much reviewed this final entry in the Parker series as I read it.As most crime-thriller fans familiar with the Richard Stark "Parker" series know, Donald E. Westlake writing as Richard Stark originally wrote 16 Parker novels. Slim entries that ran about 200 pages each. Each entry concerned Parker going in with cronies to commit a major heist.Parker is a "professional" thief. There isn't a bad read in that original lot of 16 titles. The last entry w...

Richard Stark's final Parker book (#24) and also the end of what was really a trilogy: Nobody Runs Forever, an armored car robbery, Ask The Parrot, Parker's narrow escape from the robbery, and Dirty Money, trying to recover the stolen loot. Nick Dalesia is arrested trying to spend some of the identified money, but manages to escape by killing a U.S. marshal. This motivates Parker and McWhitney to head back to the site of the crime, and recover the money stashed in an abandoned church mixed in wi...

Parker and the Loot LaundryReview of the University of Chicago Press paperback edition (September 2017) of the original Mysterious Press hardcover (2008)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.Dirty Mone...

I LOVED (just about) EVERY BOOK IN THIS DAMN SERIES AND I AM SUPER BUMMED IT HAS COME TO AN END!! BLURG!! RIP RICHARD STARK!! 5 Stupendously Shinning Starky Stars

Another good Parker, better than the last. I was surprised by how good it was because the newer ones have taken a beating by us older fans. I'm really happy with my library for getting it. I see they've finally gotten #15, too. I'll be listening to that next.The reader was good EXCEPT in conversations. The lowered voices were far too low. I couldn't hear them properly at times. I guess that's actually the mixer who does that. Who ever, it sucked.

For me, this lagged in the middle but this guy Parker, excuse me, this crook Parker, is so easy to love.I love this series although I'm not reading the books in the order. Just reading them when I can find them. Stark, of course, is Donald Westlake and what a writer in any name he wants to use. Five stars for Westlake and four stars for this book, only because it lagged. The storyline was great...what an imagination.

Final ParkerReview of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (2008) of the original Mysterious Press hardcover (2008)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 either getting revenge or escaping the circumstances.Dirty Money was the final Parker b...

I'm sad this was the last in the Parker series. It was 18 months of adventure to read these books every couple of weeks. I don't imagine there's much to compare with this series, but I'll keep reading for a stoic, professional bad guy to replace him.

The final Parker novel, Dirty Money, is good in the ways that all Parker novels are good, but there is nothing otherwise remarkable about it. It picks up right where the previous Parker novel leaves off: Our antihero wants to retrieve the $2 million dollars that his gang left hidden at the end of Ask the Parrot. He wants this money even though he knows that it is marked and therefore useless in the United States. This is a desperate Parker, running low on cash and working without I.D. Thus, his

Wow! I'm sorry to get to the end of this series. It had me totally hooked. Literally anytime I interrupted my reading of Parker I itched to get back. I've read the last 19 books since the first of the year. I don't think I've ever done that before. that's how good they are. I gave them a uniform 4 stars but as much as I enjoyed them perhaps five would be more accurate.

Follow up to "Ask the Parrot" Must read before "Dirty Money" The last book in the 24 book series and definitely a 5 star book!

2 ½ stars. It was hard to stay interested. My mind wandered. The ending was good for Parker but abrupt.Prior to this book three guys rob an armored car and hide the money in a church. That story is told in “Nobody Runs Forever” Bk #22. I did not read that book but others say it’s important to this story. The guys can’t spend the money because the serial numbers are known. This story is about how to get the money out of the church and launder it. The authorities have roadblocks and pictures of th...

"When the silver Toyota Avalon bumped down the dirt road out of the woods and across the railroad tracks, Parker put the Infiniti into low and stepped out onto the gravel."

Parker and his partners had to leave the money from a heist behind because there was too much "heat" in the area. This is one of the later Parker novels and includes modernizations such as cell phones and Lexus get away cars. Still, it's the cold and logical (for a criminal) way that Parker and the gang go about retrieving the money that holds your attention. The very end was a little abrupt and disappointing or it would have been four stars.

This is sadly the last Parker book. There's no closure at the end of the book or sense of finality, but perhaps that's apt as Parker's not one for sentimentality. This has been a highly enjoyable series and would very much recommend it to anyone who enjoys a no-nonsense thief as their main protagonist.

Great Parker book and sadly his last

Notes:Currently on Audible PlusThe wrap up knocked the rating down to 3.5 for this one. Still, it was a good story. =)

Dirty Money concludes the 'trilogy' started in 'Nobody Runs Forever', continued through 'Ask the Parrot' and of course concluding with Dirty Money, the final Parker instalment and the finale to the wonderful Parker series. Parker and his cohorts knock off an armoured car, one in a convoy of four, transferring funds from one bank to another. The heist itself is successful, but one of their number gets himself arrested when he attempts to spend a twenty dollar note from the proceeds. All the note

"A deal is what people say is gonna happen. It isn't always what happens."That line from Dirty Money sums up Richard Stark's entire Parker series, now at 26 books. Plans are made, plans go awry, and only Parker the thief (and murderer when necessary) seems to understand that this is the nature of life. He's a direct descendant of Sam Spade, only he works the other side of the law and has no code other than pragmatism. Parker steals because he can, and deals with the complications that invariably...

Concluding the three-part story begun in Nobody Runs Forever and continued in Ask The Parrot, Dirty Money is a fitting end to a great 24-book series. Is there a happy ending? If you've read any other Parker book, you already know the answer.Nowhere near the blowout that was Butcher's Moon, or the heist fests that were The Outfit and Flashfire, this book was nonetheless significant (along with the two preceding ones) because for the first time Richard Stark had a storyline spread out over three b...

I've reached the end of the line. Westlake planned to keep writing forever, but his line ended here, setting up new stories, even as ending this one. Going out with neither a bang nor a whimper, this is an average tale, with some interesting prose that elevates it a bit above average, as well as some more memorable characters. If I'm being honest, probably 3.5. Not as good as Slayground or Butcher's Moon, or even the best of the current lot. (Parrot and Comeback probably better)I really enjoyed

And with that I’ve read all the Parker books. Do I go back to book 1 again? Or maybe it’s time to read some Dortmunder?A fun finish. The most Claire we’ve seen since she was introduced and she is written better. This book ties up a lot of stuff (not easily, but nothing is easy in a Parker book). But in this book he’s less lucky then I’ve complained about in the last few. Lots of beats in this one. Leads to it almost feeling like three smaller related tales. Still good. I wish there were more. Th...

Interesting book about a bank robber and his crew after robbing an armored car and what they do to recover the cash they have stashed. Written from the robber’s perspective, it is a different twist from most crime novels.

Dirty Money is number twenty four of Richard Stark's Parker series. It is the final Parker novel since Donald Westlake (aka Richard Stark) is gone and won't be writing any more.Parker is a thief. Together with other professionals, he robs banks, armored cars, and casinos. He is ruthless, but not casually cruel. He kills when he has to, but doesn't like the extra heat that will draw.In this novel, the story began in Nobody Runs Forever and continued in Ask the Parrot draws to a conclusion. It's n...