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Here's Parker-planning to steal the entire payroll of an Air Force base in upstate New York, with help from Marty Fusco-whose fresh out of the pen-and a smart aleck finance clerk named Devers. Holed up with family in a scrappy little town, the hoisters prepare for the risky job by trying to shorten the odds. But the ice is thinner than Parker likes to think-and Marty's ex-wife is much more complicated.Tags
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Member Reviews
How big a fan of this Parker series of novals am I? Wrong question.
How addicted to this Parker series am I? Try this: When I finally reached the first double digit Parker novel, the first copy I found of The Green Eagle Score, the 10th book in the series, was via inter-library loan. No local library had it, nor did any local bookstore. And when it showed up -- it did so in "large print" edition.
I was finishing up an Elmore Leonard book, and some non-fiction books for work, when it arrived, and I wondered, "Man, would I read this on the bus?" That is, would I read it in public?
Answer: Apparently, yes.
The Green Eagle Score is a milestone not just because it gets the series, authored by Donald Westlake under then name Richard Stark, show more into the double digits, but because it's the first book after Parker hooks up with an actual long-term girlfriend, Claire.
In the very first book, we met Parker's soon-to-be-dead ex-wife. Then came eight books of the same ritual: post-crime lust, followed by a waning interest, followed by the celibate build-up to the crime, followed again by lust. With the new girlfriend, that cycle has been broken for Parker, but otherwise the novel follows the familiar, and no less compelling for its familiarity, storyline. There's a heist. Parker gets together a crew. It goes well, until it doesn't. And then things have to get cleaned up.
In this case, the crime is a big one, reminiscent of the "rob an island" gig of The Handle or the "rob a town" plot of The Seventh. Parker and crew rob an Air Force base. Perhaps the most interesting secondary character is Stan Devers, whom we've never met before, but it's suggested we will again. Devers is a young Air Force employee who sets up the crime. As always, the novel watches a well put together plan fall apart, and a highlight, as always, is a sudden, Rashomon-ish dive into the back story of a tertiary character.
Really solid. show less
How addicted to this Parker series am I? Try this: When I finally reached the first double digit Parker novel, the first copy I found of The Green Eagle Score, the 10th book in the series, was via inter-library loan. No local library had it, nor did any local bookstore. And when it showed up -- it did so in "large print" edition.
I was finishing up an Elmore Leonard book, and some non-fiction books for work, when it arrived, and I wondered, "Man, would I read this on the bus?" That is, would I read it in public?
Answer: Apparently, yes.
The Green Eagle Score is a milestone not just because it gets the series, authored by Donald Westlake under then name Richard Stark, show more into the double digits, but because it's the first book after Parker hooks up with an actual long-term girlfriend, Claire.
In the very first book, we met Parker's soon-to-be-dead ex-wife. Then came eight books of the same ritual: post-crime lust, followed by a waning interest, followed by the celibate build-up to the crime, followed again by lust. With the new girlfriend, that cycle has been broken for Parker, but otherwise the novel follows the familiar, and no less compelling for its familiarity, storyline. There's a heist. Parker gets together a crew. It goes well, until it doesn't. And then things have to get cleaned up.
In this case, the crime is a big one, reminiscent of the "rob an island" gig of The Handle or the "rob a town" plot of The Seventh. Parker and crew rob an Air Force base. Perhaps the most interesting secondary character is Stan Devers, whom we've never met before, but it's suggested we will again. Devers is a young Air Force employee who sets up the crime. As always, the novel watches a well put together plan fall apart, and a highlight, as always, is a sudden, Rashomon-ish dive into the back story of a tertiary character.
Really solid. show less
“This is the job you came down here to offer me? Go steal an army payroll right off the post?”
Yea Parker, that’s the job. Right out from under the noses of five thousand armed men! Good luck! However, it is four hundred thousand dollars, so…
Another great Parker book! And I believe, the first appearance of Stan Devers! This one has just about everything I like in a Parker story! Mostly, just Parker himself, "The greatest antihero in American noir." Yes sir!
p.s. - Sergeant Novato? I live in Novato, California!
Yea Parker, that’s the job. Right out from under the noses of five thousand armed men! Good luck! However, it is four hundred thousand dollars, so…
Another great Parker book! And I believe, the first appearance of Stan Devers! This one has just about everything I like in a Parker story! Mostly, just Parker himself, "The greatest antihero in American noir." Yes sir!
p.s. - Sergeant Novato? I live in Novato, California!
It appears that as Stark (aka Westlake) went forward with the Parker series, his ideas about heists got wilder and crazier. Bank robberies and mansion robberies were one thing, but Stark had Parker go on to pull jobs on entire towns (“The Score”) and entire islands (“The Handle”) before deciding that it was time for Parker to take on the U.S. Air Force itself. Well, not exactly take on the air force, more like, take on the payroll of a large air force base. Apparently, in those crazy days, the payroll was in cash and it was big: $400,000 of big. It’s a crazy scheme that only a madman would think he could pull off and that’s before one stopped to think of all the problems that might crop up such as armed air police, one show more partner dating another partner’s ex- wife, the ex-wife spilling the scheme to her psychiatrist, make that her monetarily-desperate psychiatrist who has a deep fascination with all the details of the caper and knows people who might also be interested.
It is a well-written story that moves quickly as do all of the Parker novels. You really can’t go wrong picking up any of the 24 Parker novels or the 4 related Grofield novels by Richard Stark.
If you want insight into Parker’s character, you get it in the very first scenes he is with his girlfriend, Claire, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they are vacationing at a beachfront resort, her in her bikini, him upstairs talking to a pal who came by to talk about a scheme: the air force base scheme. Parker and Claire have a deal, she doesn’t ask him about his work and he doesn’t volunteer any information. Parker tells Claire that he is going for a few days to check things out and will probably be back soon, but, if the thing works out, if it looks good, then it might be a week or two. Parker also tells her that the rent on the hotel room is paid up for a month and, if he is not back by then, take what’s in the hotel safe, and go on to wherever. She understands, but doesn’t like it.
A lot of the book, as in many of the Parker novels, is concerned with planning the caper and how Parker assesses the others involved in the operation and whether the amateur involved (the inside man) is up to the task. show less
It is a well-written story that moves quickly as do all of the Parker novels. You really can’t go wrong picking up any of the 24 Parker novels or the 4 related Grofield novels by Richard Stark.
If you want insight into Parker’s character, you get it in the very first scenes he is with his girlfriend, Claire, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they are vacationing at a beachfront resort, her in her bikini, him upstairs talking to a pal who came by to talk about a scheme: the air force base scheme. Parker and Claire have a deal, she doesn’t ask him about his work and he doesn’t volunteer any information. Parker tells Claire that he is going for a few days to check things out and will probably be back soon, but, if the thing works out, if it looks good, then it might be a week or two. Parker also tells her that the rent on the hotel room is paid up for a month and, if he is not back by then, take what’s in the hotel safe, and go on to wherever. She understands, but doesn’t like it.
A lot of the book, as in many of the Parker novels, is concerned with planning the caper and how Parker assesses the others involved in the operation and whether the amateur involved (the inside man) is up to the task. show less
Parker is chilling in Puerto Rico with Claire, when Marty Fusco shows up, seeking Parker's help to steal the payroll of an Air Force base in upstate NY. His inside man (Devers) is the new beau of Marty's ex-wife, Ellen, and the mother of their young daughter. Parker agrees to check it out, only to find that Devers has been skimming already; but, he decides that the job is doable, and they devise a great way onto and off of the base. Everything goes well until ... it doesn't. Turns out that Ellen has been seeing a shrink, trusts him completely with all her and their secrets.
The Richard Stark books are perfect for reading while being self-quarantined. They are light, fun reads. I've read about two-thirds of the series, not in order as most stand alone very nicely, although I would suggest reading the early ones in order to set the stage, as it were.
The Green Eagle Store is typical. Parker is enlisted to help plan an Air Force payroll heist. As nothing ever goes the way it's planned, something completely unforeseen happens and Parker has to scramble to make it away with any money.
If you like caper books, these will please for sure. Then you can move on to Westlake's (Stark is a pseudonym for the Parker series) other books. Enjoy.
The Green Eagle Store is typical. Parker is enlisted to help plan an Air Force payroll heist. As nothing ever goes the way it's planned, something completely unforeseen happens and Parker has to scramble to make it away with any money.
If you like caper books, these will please for sure. Then you can move on to Westlake's (Stark is a pseudonym for the Parker series) other books. Enjoy.
Parker and the Air Force Payroll
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (May, 2010) of the Fawcett Gold Medal paperback (1967)
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.
The Green Eagle Score finds Parker mentoring a novice criminal Stan Devers who is the inside man at an Air Force Base with a cash payroll. Of course the heist is betrayed, but through an odd twist that doesn't involve the gang members themselves. Devers is forced to go show more on the run afterwards and Parker sends him on to Handy McKay for further mentoring. Both Devers and McKay will return with a host of others in The Butcher's Moon (Parker #16).
Narrator Stephen Thorne does a good job in all voices in this audiobook edition.
I had never previously read the Stark/Parker novels but became curious when they came up in my recent reading of The Writer's Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives (Sept. 2020) by Nancy Pearl & Jeff Schwager. Here is a (perhaps surprising) excerpt from their discussion with author Amor Towles:
The 24 Parker books are almost all available for free on Audible Plus, except for #21 & #22 which aren't available at all.
Trivia and Links
There is a brief plot summary of The Green Eagle Score and of all the Parker books and adaptations at The Violent World of Parker website.
Like many of the 2010-2013 Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook editions which share the same cover art as the University of Chicago Press 2009-2010 reprints, this audiobook DOES NOT include the Foreword by author Dennis Lehane. show less
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (May, 2010) of the Fawcett Gold Medal paperback (1967)
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.
The Green Eagle Score finds Parker mentoring a novice criminal Stan Devers who is the inside man at an Air Force Base with a cash payroll. Of course the heist is betrayed, but through an odd twist that doesn't involve the gang members themselves. Devers is forced to go show more on the run afterwards and Parker sends him on to Handy McKay for further mentoring. Both Devers and McKay will return with a host of others in The Butcher's Moon (Parker #16).
Narrator Stephen Thorne does a good job in all voices in this audiobook edition.
I had never previously read the Stark/Parker novels but became curious when they came up in my recent reading of The Writer's Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives (Sept. 2020) by Nancy Pearl & Jeff Schwager. Here is a (perhaps surprising) excerpt from their discussion with author Amor Towles:
Nancy: Do you read Lee Child?
Amor: I know Lee. I had never read his books until I met him, but now I read them whenever they come out. I think some of the decisions he makes are ingenious.
Jeff: Have you read the Parker books by Donald Westlake [writing as Richard Stark]?
Amor: I think the Parker books are an extraordinary series.
Jeff: They feel like a big influence on Reacher, right down to the name. Both Reacher and Parker have a singular focus on the task in front of them.
Amor: But Parker is amoral. Reacher is just dangerous.
Jeff: Right. Reacher doesn't have a conventional morality, but he has his own morality. Parker will do anything he has to do to achieve his goal.
Amor: But to your point, Westlake's staccato style with its great twists at the end the end of the paragraphs, and his mesmerizing central character - these attributes are clearly shared by the Reacher books.
The 24 Parker books are almost all available for free on Audible Plus, except for #21 & #22 which aren't available at all.
Trivia and Links
There is a brief plot summary of The Green Eagle Score and of all the Parker books and adaptations at The Violent World of Parker website.
Like many of the 2010-2013 Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook editions which share the same cover art as the University of Chicago Press 2009-2010 reprints, this audiobook DOES NOT include the Foreword by author Dennis Lehane. show less
If you've already read the first nine, you know what to expect. This wasn't my favorite so far, but it did its job. I just don't know why it's called The Green Eagle Score.
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Author Information
Author Donald E. Westlake was born in Brooklyn, New York on July 12, 1933. He attended colleges in New York, but did not graduate. He wrote more than 100 novels and 5 screenplays throughout his lifetime. He also wrote under numerous pseudonyms including Richard Stark, Tucker Coe, and Samuel Holt. Almost 20 of his novels were adapted into films and show more he created the television series, The Father Dowling Mysteries. He is a three-time winner of the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America and was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay for The Grifters. He was also named a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master in 1993. He died of a heart attack on December 31, 2008 at the age of 75. (Bowker Author Biography) Donald E. Westlake has won three Edgar Awards & was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for "The Grifters". He lives in upstate New York. (Publisher Provided) show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Green Eagle Score
- Original publication date
- 1967
- People/Characters
- Parker
- First words
- Parker looked in at the beach and there was a guy in a black suit standing there, surrounded by all the bodies in bathing suits.
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- Reviews
- 10
- Rating
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- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
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- ASINs
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