Parker got to his feet. He’d been patient a long time, he’d explained things over and over, and now he was getting itchy. Enough was enough. “I don’t care,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s like me or not. These people nailed my foot to the floor, I’m going around in circles, I’m not getting anywhere. When was it like me to take lumps and just walk away? I’d like to burn this city to the ground, I’d like to empty it right down to the basements. And I don’t want to talk about it anymore, I want to do it. You’re in, Handy, or you’re out. I told you the setup, I told you what I want, I told you what you’ll get for it. Give me a yes or a no.”
—Richard Stark, Butcher’s Moon, 1974
You’re on BUTCHER’S MOON already???? Man, screw you!!!!
Cue maniacal laughter.
I’m gonna take a short break after this, though, because the series has got me seriously weighing the idea of starting a life of crime, and that would wreak havoc with my domestic situation, among other things.
And here I only just finished THE RARE COIN SCORE.
“Whores are for people without resources.”
Just finished THE SOUR LEMON SCORE and heading for DEADLY EDGE, but unfortunately the Brooklyn Public Library is missing 6 of the Parkers so I won’t be getting those (already missed 4 of them by this point). I was already planning on going through them all when you brought them up, and it was as good a time as any to start.
And yeah, my wife and I are zooming through them, and I find us both having an odd criminality coming into our mindset.
Since Westlake/Stark took a 23 year break between Butcher’s Moon and Comeback, I think you picked an apt time for your reading break.