The Mourner (Parker Series #4)

by Richard Stark, John Banville (Foreword by)

Overview

An action-packed crime novel starring Parker, the heister starring in the forthcoming Shane Black film Play Dirty!

Richard Stark's Parker novels are the hardest of hard-boiled, classic crime novels where the heists are huge, the body counts are high, and the bad guys usually win. 

The Parker novels have been a huge influence on countless writers and filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino, Stephen King, George Pelecanos, Colson Whitehead, Lucy Sante, John Banville, and many more. Their stripped-down language and hard-as-nails amorality create an unforgettable world where the next score could be the big one, but your next mistake could also be your last. There's nothing else like them.

The Mourner is a story of convergence—of cultures and of guys with guns. Hot on the trail of a statue stolen from a fifteenth-century French tomb, Parker enters a world of eccentric art collectors, greedy foreign officials, and shady KGB agents. Hired by a shifty dame who has something he needs, Parker will find out just who intends to bury whom—and who he needs to kill to finish the job.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226771038
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	04/15/2009
Series:	Parker Series , #4
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Richard Stark was one of the many pseudonyms of Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008), a prolific author of noir crime fiction. In 1993 the Mystery Writers of America bestowed the society’s highest honor on Westlake, naming him a Grand Master.

What People are Saying About This

Martin Cruz Smith

To me, Richard Stark is the Prince of Noir.

Editorial Reviews

"The University of Chicago Press has recently undertaken a campaign to get Parker back in print in affordable and handsome editions, and I dove in. And now I get it."

Vue Weekly - Josef Braun

Perhaps this, more than anything else, is what I admire about these novels: the consistent ruthlessness of an unapologetic bastard.  And so if you’re a fan of noir novels and haven’t yet read Richard Stark, you may want to give these books a try.  Who knows?  Parker may just be the son of a bitch you’ve been searching for.”

Virginia Quarterly Review - John McNally

Elmore Leonard wouldn’t write what he does if Stark hadn’t been there before. And Quentin Tarantino wouldn’t write what he does without Leonard. . . . Old master that he is, Stark does all of them one better.”

|Los Angeles Times

Parker is refreshingly amoral, a thief who always gets away with the swag.”

Entertainment Weekly - Stephen King

"Parker is a brilliant invention. . . . What chiefly distinguishes Westlake, under whatever name, is his passion for process and mechanics. . . . Parker appears to have eliminated everything from his program but machine logic, but this is merely protective coloration. He is a romantic vestige, a free-market anarchist whose independent status is becoming a thing of the past."

New York Times Book Review - Luc Sante

"I wouldn't care to speculate about what it is in Westlake's psyche that makes him so good at writing about Parker, much less what it is that makes me like the Parker novels so much. Suffice it to say that Stark/Westlake is the cleanest of all noir novelists, a styleless stylist who gets to the point with stupendous economy, hustling you down the path of plot so briskly that you have to read his books a second time to appreciate the elegance and sober wit with which they are written."

Commentary - Terry Teachout

Richard Stark’s Parker novels . . . are among the most poised and polished fictions of their time and, in fact, of any time.”

Bookforum - John Banville

Whatever Stark writes, I read. He’s a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude."

Elmore Leonard

The UC Press mission, to reprint the 1960s Parker novels of Richard Stark (the late Donald Westlake), is wholly admirable. The books have been out of print for decades, and the fast-paced, hard-boiled thrillers featuring the thief Parker are brilliant.”

Globe and Mail - H. J. Kirchoff

The Parker novels were very influential to [Reservoir Dogs].

Quentin Tarantino

Parker is a true treasure. . . . The master thief is back, along with Richard Stark.”

New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio

Parker . . . lumbers through the pages of Richard Stark’s noir novels scattering dead bodies like peanut shells. . . . In a complex world [he] makes things simple.”

New York Times - William Grimes

"...a classic type of crime story...The Parker books meditate with surprising profundity on human desire and attachment at their fantastic extremes..."

Barnes and Noble Review - Leonard Cassuto

Fiercely distracting . . . . Westlake is an expert plotter; and while Parker is a blunt instrument of a human being depicted in rudimentary short grunts of sentences, his take on other characters reveals a writer of great humor and human understanding.

"Parade" - John Hodgman

Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible.”

Washington Post

Donald Westlake’s Parker novels are among the small number of books I read over and over. Forget all that crap you’ve been telling yourself about War and Peace and Proust—these are the books you’ll want on that desert island.”

Lawrence Block

If you’re looking for crime novels with a lot of punch, try the very, very tough novels featuring Parker. . . . The Hunter, The Outfit, The Mourner, and The Man with the Getaway Face are all beautifully paced, tautly composed, and originally published in the early 1960s."

Christian Science Monitor

Richard Stark writes a harsh and frightening story of criminal warfare and vengeance with economy, understatement and a deadly amoral objectivity—a remarkable addition to the list of the shockers that the French call roman noirs.”

New York Times Book Review - Anthony Boucher

“Elmore Leonard wouldn’t write what he does if Stark hadn’t been there before. And Quentin Tarantino wouldn’t write what he does without Leonard. . . . Old master that he is, Stark does all of them one better.”

Los Angeles Times

“Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible.”

Washington Post

"Perhaps this, more than anything else, is what I admire about these novels: the consistent ruthlessness of an unapologetic bastard. And so if you're a fan of noir novels and haven't yet read Richard Stark, you may want to give these books a try. Who knows? Parker may just be the son of a bitch you've been searching for."-John McNally, Virginia Quarterly Review

— John McNally

Virginia Quarterly Review

"The UC Press mission, to reprint the 1960s Parker novels of Richard Stark (the late Donald Westlake), is wholly admirable. The books have been out of print for decades, and the fast-paced, hard-boiled thrillers featuring the thief Parker are brilliant."-H. J. Kirchoff, Globe and Mail (Canada)

— H. J. Kirchoff

Globe and Mail