What is it?

Volume 5 of Richard Stark’s Parker series of crime novels. This volume arguably features the greatest single heist Parker ever gets involved with. He and an unusually large team of accomplices robs an entire town, all in one night.

It’s also the first time in the series s a heist is not just a side story but the main point of the entire book, from the planning and the execution to the complication and the aftermath. We see a bit of that with the armored car robbery in The Man with the Getaway Face, but that’s the plot of only the first half of that book, and it’s nothing quite like the scale on display here.

Quick and Dirty Summary

Parker is recruited into a group of crooks planning to rob an entire town, somewhere out west. Predictably, he soon takes over the operation, more or less, as the guy who came up with the idea has two liabilities: One, he’s an amateur and has no real knowledge of how to pull something like this off; and two, it turns out he has personal ties to the town, which of course lead to complications later.

We follow the team as they draw up their plans, recruit more members, obtain lots of firearms, and prepare to go into action.

When one of the members of the string goes rogue near the end, and another gets extra nervous, Parker has to salvage what he can from the operation while getting out in one piece, and at least one step ahead of the law.

The Objective

The western town of Copper Canyon lies entirely within a box canyon, with only one way in or out. Parker and his team plan to take over the police station and fire station, seize control of all communications to and from and within the town, and then spend the night robbing every bank and business, while the inhabitants sleep.

The Adversary

The town never produces anyone remotely capable of standing up to or resisting Parker and his team. The heisters take control of Copper Canyon immediately upon arrival, and precisely as they had planned to. Up to a certain point, the heist is going right according to plan; just perfectly. Almost too perfectly.

The adversary that eventually emerges is one of the members of the heist team. Edgars, the man who originally suggested the heist to Parker and the others, has his own personal reasons for wanting to rob the town, and those reasons quite literally explode once the heist is underway.

Killtown, the retitled edition of The Score (Berkley Medallion, 1973)

The String

After four books in which the string is limited to just Parker alone, or working with one other partner (usually Handy McKay), this book probably sets a record for the largest string.

Parker’s co-conspirator in the previous novels, Handy remains at his new diner in Presque Isle, Maine. But we meet a whole truckload of criminals brought in for this complex job.

They include two colorful crooks who will remain important going forward in the series: Alan Grofield and Salsa. We briefly met Salsa in The Outfit. Grofield, with his Shakespearean performances and his own movie soundtracks constantly playing in his head, is so entertaining and so beloved, he eventually stars in four solo novels of his own.

There’s also Dan Wycza, a bodybuilder and wrestler who pops up in the series occasionally. In case you aren’t sure, he really doesn’t like that state trooper barracks outside of town.

And then there is Edgars, who becomes a serious problem as the heist unfolds, and Paulus, who’s so jittery you wonder how he got into this line of work in the first place.

Others of  Note

Not only do we first meet Grofield here, we also meet his paramour-to-be, Mary.

Parker also meets a lady named Jean. He might become interested in spending quality time with her, later on. Once the job is over.

The Complication

The man who first suggested the job, Edgars, brings a woman along. That alone is complication enough to Parker for him to consider dropping out or canceling the operation. But when Edgars’ checkered past is revealed later in the book, things in Copper Canyon become very complicated indeed.

The Score, graphic novel adaptation by Darwyn Cooke (IDW Publishing, September 26, 2017)

Adaptations

We are very fortunate that this novel was one of the few chosen by Darwyn Cooke to turn into a full graphic novel for IDW. And he absolutely nails it. Run, don’t walk, to the store to steal – I mean, purchase! — a copy.

The Score was also allegedly adapted into a movie in France, under the title Mise a Sac, but it is extremely difficult to find.

How Parker is Parker here?

(With a 1 being he bakes cookies with Claire, and a 10 being Slayground):

I am awarding this book 10 Parkers.

Parker is brought into a massive heist operation and immediately takes command of it. This is the D-Day landing of Parker heists and he’s Eisenhower.

The Score, by Richard Stark (University of Chicago Press, April 15, 2009)

He manages innocent bystanders and his fellow crooks with equal skill and aplomb. He knows when to be indulgent with them, and when to shut them down.

And, true to form, he has no interest in the ladies whatsoever, just before and during a heist. But once it’s over, and he’s away with the loot, he’s willing to take a second look at almost any of them. This novel contains a classic example.

Other Notes

Poor Eddie should’ve spent the night with Betty and not decided to try to go home, against curfew, during the heist…

Quote

The Score is the book where we first meet Parker‘s occasional accomplice in crime, and full-time actor and theater-owner, Alan Grofield. He is probably the third-most prominent character in the series after Parker and Claire.

The Score is also the book where we first discover Grofield has an issue with paying taxes. (There’s a truly hilarious scene in Butcher’s Moon that follows up on this. Be patient — we’ll get there!)

He proudly states in The Score that he never pays income tax on his ill-gotten gains. An older crook, astonished, tries to set him straight.

You’re a young man. You can still learn. Pay attention to this. You can steal in this country. You can rape and murder. You can bribe public officials. You can pollute the morals of the young. You can burn your place of business down for the insurance money. You can do almost anything you want. And if you act with just a little caution and common sense, you’ll never even be indicted. But if you don’t pay your income tax, Grofield, you will go to jail.

Subjective Rating:

10/10

Follows

Vol 4: The Mourner

Followed by:

Vol 6: The Jugger

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Van Allen Plexico is a multi-award-winning author, member of the SFWA, and a Pulp Grandmaster. Among his many novels are the Harper & Salsa crime series, set in the Sixties and carrying something of the flavor of the Parker books, beginning with the 2018 Pulp Factory Award-Winning Best Novel of the Year, VEGAS HEIST. See all of his work at www.plexico.net.