A novel from Donald E. Westlake, under the pen-name of Richard Stark, featuring Parker, the shrewd, cold, methodical anti-hero and professional thief. When Parker gets involved in a bank robbery, one of his cohorts decides to quadruple his share of the profits by killing his partners.
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The Sour Lemon Score: A Parker Novel
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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.
                                                                                         
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Nobody comes close to matching Donald Westlake's skill when writing as Richard Stark. The series of novels about Parker, a career criminal, are unmatched in crime fiction. Simply the best, if what you are looking for is hard boiled, ingenious, pared down, thrilling writing. Get all of them.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.6 out of 5 stars
14 reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great Parker score
1 Mar 2006
By D. Rahmel
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
The robbery of an armored truck goes fine, but the loot is less than expected. One of the robbers decides that he wants the whole pot and tries to kill his partners -- but Parker gets away. Since he had never worked with the heister before, Parker has to chase down many loose ends to locate his money and gain his revenge.
Parker is not at his most ruthless in this one. In fact, he even demonstrates some compassion in one excellent, interesting scene. This Parker story really kept me going. It's brief and the pages speed by. There is more sex in the story than usual, but it's tasteful and very well written. Be sure to add this one to your Parker collection.
Parker is not at his most ruthless in this one. In fact, he even demonstrates some compassion in one excellent, interesting scene. This Parker story really kept me going. It's brief and the pages speed by. There is more sex in the story than usual, but it's tasteful and very well written. Be sure to add this one to your Parker collection.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Parker Gets Bitter Toward Those Who Try and Kill Him and Steal or Want to His Money
11 Nov 2010
By James N Simpson
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Twelfth novel in Donald E Westlake's (a.k.a. Richard Stark) sensational Parker series, The Sour Lemon Score is pure vengeance novel. Parker's part of a four man criminal gang who rob a crate of money being carried from a bank's vault to an armoured car outside. Heist goes smoothly, even with a panicking member. Unfortunately that panicking member of the group, George Uhl, brought along his own plans to murder the other three at the isolated farmhouse where they were to lay low until the heat died down, and take all the cash for himself. Of course as the main character of this series Parker narrowly escapes with his life, but he's in for a long hungry wait and walk until he can escape the area and likelihood of arrest. This of course contributes to the anger and desire for revenge on Uhl, and to get his money back. Problem for Parker though is that since Uhl was pretty much a rookie, and brought in by a dead member of the group, it's not going to be easy to track him down, so Parker's going to have to do a lot of legwork, and make a few people unhappy along the way.
The Sour Lemon Score has a lot of action, and lot of inside the head reasoning and thought patterns of Parker and also uses a lot of nice nostalgia references to really illustrate the time it is set in (it was originally published 1969). Such as a radio voice saying the old "this just in" line before reporting on the robbery. A gun dealer asking Parker if he'd like string put around the boxes containing guns he'd bought (like we're asked if you'd like a bag today). During the initial robbery one of the criminals yelling 'stick em up" and the victims not even laughing one bit at the line. Parker makes a few stupid mistakes that maybe he wouldn't make in other books in this series, a lot coming from him being rather impatient at times such as not wanting to wait a few hours for a go between to return to his store. You do also wonder why he wasn't just shot and killed in one scene as later in the book that character admits he has no qualms with murder and the alternative is a lot less convenient than simple murder, plus they'd know Parker will just come back for revenge. Without these things the enjoyable plot wouldn't work though.
Next novel in the series is Deadly Edge.
The Sour Lemon Score has a lot of action, and lot of inside the head reasoning and thought patterns of Parker and also uses a lot of nice nostalgia references to really illustrate the time it is set in (it was originally published 1969). Such as a radio voice saying the old "this just in" line before reporting on the robbery. A gun dealer asking Parker if he'd like string put around the boxes containing guns he'd bought (like we're asked if you'd like a bag today). During the initial robbery one of the criminals yelling 'stick em up" and the victims not even laughing one bit at the line. Parker makes a few stupid mistakes that maybe he wouldn't make in other books in this series, a lot coming from him being rather impatient at times such as not wanting to wait a few hours for a go between to return to his store. You do also wonder why he wasn't just shot and killed in one scene as later in the book that character admits he has no qualms with murder and the alternative is a lot less convenient than simple murder, plus they'd know Parker will just come back for revenge. Without these things the enjoyable plot wouldn't work though.
Next novel in the series is Deadly Edge.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Manhunt
3 Jun 2011
By W. Easley
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Richard Stark (a.k.a. Donald Westlake) wrote a different Parker in the Sour Lemon Score. Usually in a Parker novel, we read about the idea for a job, the gathering of a team, and the plan for accomplishing a dangerous task. Sour Lemon Score, begins with the execution of a robbery of an armored car and bank, and follows the adventures of team members in post robbery activities.
The bank robbery goes off without a hitch, except the newest team member, Uhl, became nervous. The escape to a safe house is flawless. Then all hell breaks loose.
Uhl wants the entire catch and attempts to kill the other members of the team and get away with all the loot. Parker, avoids Uhl long enough to escape the trap. Then a fascinating manhunt begins with Parker the hunter and Uhl the game.
Parker is one of the best anti heroes in literature. He is a criminal and sometimes violent. He steals and kills and appears self centered. Somehow we cheer for him anyway. Parker is a master planner and an extraordinary leader of crime teams. Parker's plans are brilliant and his execution effective. Something, however, always goes wrong and Parker frequently needs to clean up after some person or random event interferes. In The Sour Lemon Score, the unexpected problem is Uhl, and Parker knows he must put things right.
The Sour Lemon Score is an excellent novel. For me. this is not the best of the Parker series as I prefer those where we observe Parker building a plan. But this text is still a superior book I recommend this story for anyone who likes crime drama.
The bank robbery goes off without a hitch, except the newest team member, Uhl, became nervous. The escape to a safe house is flawless. Then all hell breaks loose.
Uhl wants the entire catch and attempts to kill the other members of the team and get away with all the loot. Parker, avoids Uhl long enough to escape the trap. Then a fascinating manhunt begins with Parker the hunter and Uhl the game.
Parker is one of the best anti heroes in literature. He is a criminal and sometimes violent. He steals and kills and appears self centered. Somehow we cheer for him anyway. Parker is a master planner and an extraordinary leader of crime teams. Parker's plans are brilliant and his execution effective. Something, however, always goes wrong and Parker frequently needs to clean up after some person or random event interferes. In The Sour Lemon Score, the unexpected problem is Uhl, and Parker knows he must put things right.
The Sour Lemon Score is an excellent novel. For me. this is not the best of the Parker series as I prefer those where we observe Parker building a plan. But this text is still a superior book I recommend this story for anyone who likes crime drama.
›
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4.6 out of 5 stars
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