4.0 stars. After settling a vendetta against his former crew and starting a big, juicy new one against the entire Outfit in the The Hunter....PARKER (aka Mr. Badass MoFo)....IS …..BACK!! He has a brand new face thanks to some nifty plastic surgery performed by an “off the books” doctor and is now in need of some quick cash to tide him over while he looks for his next big score. In order to solve his fiscal crisis, Parker reluctantly agrees to team up with an old associate and his new woman i

Parker leaves Nebraska with a new face and a distinct lack of funds. He gets involved in a scheme to rob an armored car but there are complications. The plastic surgeon who operated on Parker winds up dead and people think Parker pulled the trigger. The armored car scheme is dodgy at best and one of the partners is planning a double cross. Can Parker figure out who the trigger man was and clear his name,pull off the armored car robbery, and avoid the double cross?Westlake does it again. Parker i...

The Man with the Getaway Face - Second Parker book but the first time Donald E. Westlake writing as Richard Stark sat down to write a Parker novel knowing he'd be writing a series of Parker novels.Here's the scoop: Bucklin Moon at Pocket Books told Mr. Westlake he wanted to buy The Hunter (the first and only Parker novel at the time back in 1962) on the condition Parker would live, not die, at the end, and Pocket Books would be given more Parker novels. Mr. Westlake signed the contract and the P...

When Parker gets plastic surgery from a crooked doctor to change his appearance, he hopes that it will help hide him from the Outfit since they‘re still slightly peeved at him after the last book. With funds running low, Parker has to quickly sign on for a job robbing an armored car. However, the set-up involves a grouchy waitress named Alma, and she’s showing every sign of wanting to pull something cute and keep the money for herself. Plus, the doctor who did Parker’s surgery has been murdered

Parker novels are unapologetic pulpy goodness. The lingo alone makes the read worthwhile. I’m not sure how I’m going to work a line like Who’s the bird dog on this one? into casual conversation. Nor will I be 100% sure what I’m saying if I call someone a frill and/or a busher, but by god, by the end of the work week I intend to find out. Parker has simple rules for life (he’d be pretty easy to program as far as artificial intelligence goes: if whore responsive, proceed; else, choke). He doesn’t

The second in the Parker series from Richard Stark, a pseudonym for Donald Westlake. In the first, The Hunter, Parker makes The Outfit mad, thus creating the condition for the title. He gets plastic surgery to make a “getaway face” though a few people realize this new guy is actually Parker, including one principal one, a guy named Stubbs whom Parker keeps in a cellar until a job is done. Why not just kill him?“It was dangerous to kill when there wasn't enough reason, because after a while killi...

In this sequel our amoral protagonist goes through another plastic surgery to start fresh and anew , the death of the plastic surgeon creates a series of unfortunate albeit funny events that ultimately fucks things up for Parker and will potentially expose him to the "outfit" .

This is the second book in Richard Stark's series about the amoral criminal, Parker. At the end of the first, The Hunter, Parker is on the run from the organized crime syndicate, the Outfit. At the opening of this book, he has made his way to Nebraska, where he successfully undergoes surgery to change his face to such an extent that even his old associates don't recognize him.At the conclusion of the operation, Parker returns to the East, desperately in need of a score. An old acquaintance propo...

parker offers something very attractive to the reader: a proxy by which she can exact revenge on this world in a logical, sensible manner; one in which the brain totally overpowers the heart; one in which he can charge forward with the cool determination of an animal on the hunt. the clerk at the DMV won't renew your license? wait till she's alone, shiv her in the chest, drop the body in a dumpster, and get back in line. the drunken frat boy ain't moving outta the way and you really have to pee?...

Nov2019 Review: Gibson's "Payback" & Mitchum's "Point Blank" are based the first book, The Hunter & the third book, The Outfit. They're great, but so is this one in the middle. It's actually the first one where Parker is in the series groove. The first was written as a standalone & then edited quickly to make a series at the insistence of the editor. (Thank you, editor!!!) That means starting with this book is a good idea. It & the next one fill in the story for the first without some of the dis...

Parker is a bad man. So, shouldn't I feel bad for rooting for him?.....NAH!Cold-blooded crook in the first degree, Parker has just undergone a necessary face change when he is drawn into a heist for the quick cash prospect. Of course, once he gets the real details of the job he discovers his take won't be a fraction of what he thought it was. And that's not even the bad part about it! But hell, he goes along with it anyway, and I'm glad he did. Otherwise it wouldn't have been much of a book...In...

*3.5 Stars*This takes up shortly after The Hunter left off, and Parker has just gotten a new face from a plastic surgeon so he can hide from the Outfit and do his dirty deeds in peace. But because he is still low on dough, he reluctantly agrees to a shakily-planned armored car hold up that might not be worth it. This might sound like a generic plot for your run-of-the-mill crime thriller, but what makes this one unique is that Parker knows from the get-go that a member of the crew will try to p...

I don't have much for this one. The story was a lot stronger than for the first Parker novel. In a lot of ways this might be the best of the Parker novels I've read so far, as a coherent story it surpasses The Outfit, which I gave an extra star for being more over the top and appealing to imaginary bad-ass that I would probably want to be if I had no morals or inhibitions or whatever you want to call it. This story involves Parker getting a plastic surgery to hide from the Mob, robbing and armor...

After his dust-up with the syndicate, Parker heads to Nebraska to see a doctor about a new face. After his features are flip-flopped, Parker heads north and falls in with a few felons planning an armoured truck robbery. Being a perfectionist, Parker doesn’t like the plan and after making a few adjustments, he comes to suspect one of the players isn’t on the level.On top of all this, the doctor who played Mr. Potato Head with Parker’s mug winds up taking a dirt nap and Parker is the prime suspect...

I liked this book much better than the first one: in retrospect, I am not sure why I gave The Hunter 4 stars. Anyway, I digress. Book #2 opens with Parker having had plastic surgery to escape the clutches of the Outfit. He immediately is contacted about a armored car robbery, and heads off to New Jersey. After his due diligence, he approves the plan, but worries about one of the partners. Meanwhile, the plastic surgeon is killed and his aide de camp comes looking for Parker, not realizing Parker...

So this is a Goodreads re-read, as opposed to ‘The Hunter’ which I last read when I was still young and innocent of book-review related social-networks. But glancing back over my thoughts from the halcyon, long ago days of 2008, I find that I basically still agree with what I said. ‘The Man with the Getaway Face’ is a fantastic title, but merely a good book and a distinct drop off in quality from its predecessor. But reading it again with a greater appreciation of its place in the cycle, one can...

Stark's writing style is as methodical as a police procedural, but this crime novel is a sharp and thrilling read. I was anticipating a lot of violence after the first book, but the reporterly writing deemphasizes it. It happens of course, but it's dispassionate and understated. I'm going to burn through this series in a flash.....and I just discovered my local library has graphic novel renditions of Parker 1 and 3. I feel like I've got treasure waiting for me at the library.

Many unnecessary complications that didn't sound believable and pointless details that just stretched out the story. The robbery part was good but after that the story slows down and hobbles to the end.

My second Parker book. This was a detailed crime procedural about the planning and execution of a heist. That is after Parker gets a new face through plastic surgery to escape The Outfit, the criminal organization from which he took money. He might have a new face, but Parker is as cold and calculating as he was in The Hunter. No swell criminals in this one. All very working class and even ex-communist, except for one Florida land developer guy who kills the doctor who did the surgery on Parker....

"He was a big man, flat and squared-off, with boxy shoulders and a narrow waist. He had big hands, corrugated with veins, and long hard arms. He looked like a man who'd made money, but who'd made it without sitting behind a desk."This is my second reading of The Man With The Getaway Face (Parker, #2). The first time i read it was about 10 years ago and at that time i read all the 'Parker' books. But because i was borrowing them from my library, i read them as they became available, rather than i...

You know...I think Parker may be mellowing. There were a few cases here where he didn't kill someone I was sure he would.What's gotten into the man. This is no way for a self respecting completely self absorbed, totally selfish homicidal psychopath to behave.Well anyway another disturbing (because I liked the book) outing with our premier, "look out for #1" non-hero Parker.having just gotten a new face from a plastic surgeon recommended by one of the people Parker trusts he's all set.Until he ge...

I wish I could explain why I like this guy. It’s complicated. He’s not nice, get in his way and he’ll kill you without giving it a second thought. He slaps women around, sometimes because they like it, sometimes because they need it. (His sentiments, not mine.) i think it’s a real testiment to Stark’s writing skills that he is able to have Parker walk this really thin line between what’s okay and what’s not, all the while with the reader rooting him on. (view spoiler)[ Even after he cuts off som...

our anti-hero Parker becomes embroiled in a scheme to rob an armored car. After running afoul of the crime syndicate previously, he travels to Nebraska to get a new face. Written in '63, the action is pervasive, as Parker nonchalantly carries on with the plan.

An improvement on the first in that the story moves quicker, which is to be expected as a series goes along.

This is a very "straight-ahead" type of story. The protagonist, Parker is an accomplished criminal who gets a new face from a Doctor in Nebraska. Why he needs it gets revealed in bits and pieces throughout the book. The majority of the plot involves Parker running down a lead for a "job" in New Jersey. Ever the professional, he determines that the heist is doable, but not in the way and with the crew that the originator and his girlfriend have proposed.He and the girlfriend don't and won't get a...

The 2nd installment of Parkers' adventures and it tells us of Parker getting some plastic surgery to alter his well known looks especially for that crime outfit he hurt so much in the 1st novel (FYI: the Hunter). Parker being low on finances decides to take up a heist in order to replenish his depleted financial reserves. The heist and the planning does not go off as ideally planned but Parker walks away with enough dough.The second story line is about Stubbs the former chauffeur of the plastic

Given the very well regarded reputation of this series, I'm disappointed in this second installment and not likely to continue. The armored car heist plot is fairly well put together, but there's not much to really distinguish the story. Dialogue, action sequences, characterizations (including Parker), writing and style all fall fairly flat. I enjoyed Dan Marlowe's The Name of the Game Is Death much more, and will be continuing with his "Drake - The Man With Nobody's Face" series instead. The se...

This is better than the comic, is far easier to follow and we see the content that was cut in the comic in this one is all about the work he has to do after he got his new face it is explained slow and methodically and I've gotta say in this one Parker seems a little more deep and less one notey, he still has the characteristic of the Parker we met in the first book but he seems to have taken to heart the lessons he learned in the first book, the writing is well-paced and flow very well and the

Donald Westlake, under his alter ego, Richard Stark has penned 24 Parker novels, beginning with 1962's the Hunter, continuing with The Man With The Getaway Face (1963), The Outfit (1963), The Mourner (1963), and up until 2008's Dirty Money. Parker is a thief, pure and simple, but he is not a gentleman burglar. He is not a frustrated ordinary man on the run from the law. Rather, he is a ruthless thug, who has little warmth for anyone and simply wants to get the job done. It is not necessary to re...

Parker and the Plastic SurgeryReview of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (2010) of the Pocket Books paperback (1963)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 in some manner and who spends each book getting revenge.The Man with the Getaway Face carries on immediately from the first book in th...