Ask the Parrot
by Richard Stark
Published by Mysterious Press
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Reviewed by Vanessa Lee
Parker has $4,000 in his pocket. Behind him are police--with dogs--determined to take him down for the bank robbery he recently committed. Ahead is a man with a gun...and a proposition.
Tom Lindhal can save Parker from the police, but he needs Parker's help with a plan of his own. Lindhal wants revenge against his former employer, and with Parker's assistance, he thinks he can get it. It looks like a win-win situation--Lindhal gets his revenge and Parker gets away clean, but such things rarely go according to plan.
It is the deviations from plan that provide the most entertainment in Ask the Parrot. The characters of Parker and Lindhal are unique and the interaction between them would be an interesting novel in itself, but twists like Parker becoming involved in his own manhunt in order to stay hidden provide just the right amount of wry humor.
Stark makes it enjoyable to root for the "bad guy" even as we know he's doing the wrong thing and deserves to be caught and punished. Parker is a marvelous protagonist, completely unapologetic for who he is and what he does, and yet readers will still be on his side.
Ask the Parrot is gritty and hard and feels real even in the funny parts. It's not gory or full of unnecessary jokes or gratuitous anything, just hard, tight storytelling that grabs the reader and doesn't let go.
Armchair Interviews says: Every bit is interesting; every bit leaves you wanting more--even the last page.