I've been reading the works of Richard Stark (a pseudonym for Donald Westlake) and I'm finding them mildly enjoyable. I'm not going to purchase the series, I don't think. The first couple novels were used as a basis for the Mel Gibson flick Payback that came out a decade or so ago.
They're kind of noir novels with a bit of a twist. As the tagline for the movie says, you're supposed to root for the bad guy. Parker (Porter in the film) is a professional armed robber who steals infrequently and very deliberately as his way of life. The novels do a fine job of bringing to life a very amoral man who lives his life in an extremely selfish way. He's very Nietzschean, I suppose.
In the movie they change things up so that you don't feel too badly about cheering for him. He did steal money at the beginning, but it was from the Chinese Triads. And then he's double-crossed and he's just trying to get back the money he's owed. In the books he's much more of a bad guy and is motivated by revenge and is not at all scrupulous about from whom he steals. I find that I enjoy the inherent morality of the detective story more, but I'll read through this series once.
No comments:
Post a Comment