RARA-AVIS: FLASHFIRE

From: William Denton ( buff@pobox.com)
Date: 27 Nov 2000


I read FLASHFIRE over the weekend, and enjoyed it very much. One particular highlight:

| "If we were hijackers, we'd kill you now."
| The only thing to do, Parker thought, and waited.
| Carlson said, "But that isn't our style."
| Then you're dead, Parker thought, and waited.

Once again, I liked Parker's professionalism, the way he's prepared for anything, and his single-mindedness and how he's always pushing to get what he's after. I can't abide those bloated, braided, multi-narrative thrillers where things happen by coincidence or accidentally or are manipulated by secret, sinister forces. Here the narrative moves away from Parker every now and then, but he's at the core and it's all about what he wants. He goes after it and won't let anything stand in his way.

Some spoilers ahead:

I like watching Parker prepare for his jobs, and it was interesting watching him build up his stake and create the Parmitt identity. Things got going when he hit Palm Beach and met Leslie Mackenzie, who I liked. Has Parker ever worked with an amateur like that before? Has he ever been so badly injured? He's left for dead in THE HUNTER, isn't he? This is just the sixth Parker book I've read, and I haven't found the first yet.

Bill

-- 
William Denton : Toronto, Canada : http://www.miskatonic.org/ : Caveat lector.

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