I have to second Ron's endorsement of HARDCASE. It's
tough-as-nails from the get-go, starting with protagonist ex
P.I. Joe Kurtz "place-kicking" someone in the balls. In
addition to it being an excellent Stark homage, it's also a
nice Stark-length read--short, not a single word wasted, able
to be enjoyed in a single gulp.
Right now, I'm halfway through Michael Ledwidge's THE
NARROWBACK, about a midtown Manhattan hotel heist gone
horribly wrong. While it's not as ball-busting (and I mean
that literally) as HARDCASE, it certainly qualifies as
hard-boiled, and reminds me, too, of the Stark series.
--Duane Swierczynski
> I just last evening finished up genre-hopping author
Dan Simmons' HARDCASE,
> his self-proclaimed homage to Richard Stark and the
Parker novels (in fact,
> this novel is dedicated to Stark "...who sometimes
writes under the wussy
> pseuodonym of Donald Westlake"). It's a fabulous
homage, filled with all
> the elements that have made the Parker series a
favorite among many of us:
> lean, tough, mean, violent; a brutal and gripping
tale of sheer anti-hero
> ferocity - I can't recommend it more
highly.
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