Parker, McWhitney, and Sandra Loscalzo make a plan to get the money Parker, McWhitney, and Dalesia left behind in Nobody Runs Forever. Things go without a hitch until Nick Dalesia escapes the cops and goes looking for the money himself. And what about the man McWhitney was going to use to launder the money? Can Parker and company get the money out of the church and get out alive?

Here we are. The last Parker book. Was it a fitting swan song for one of the best crime fiction series ever written? Not really, but we can chalk that up to Richard Stark's untimely demise.

Dirty Money is a pretty standard Parker book. You've got the crew, namely McWhitney and Sandra, you've got the complications, Dalesia, Oscar, and the manhunt still going on for Parker and McWhitney, and you've got the man himself, Parker, going after the money like a shark.

Of all the post-Butcher's Moon Parkers, this one is in the top two. I won't say it's padded but it feels like it could have been split into two books the size of The Hunter. The first half of the book deals with getting the money and dealing with Dalesia, and the second half deals with getting rid of the dirty money and acquiring clean money.

That's pretty much all I can say. Parker's plan worked out well, as always, and he dealt with the complications as he always does. It didn't feel like a series ender, but I can't imagine Parker retiring any way other than in the grave. Maybe the widow Stark will contract someone else to write further Parker capers but I hope she doesn't, unless she acquires a time machine and gets the Richard Stark of the early 70's.

It's a sad day, really. No more Parker, no more Grofield, no more Claire, etc. Parker went out on top. I envy people who have the chance to read the series for the first time. If you're into crime fiction, this series, along with the Matthew Scudder series by Lawrence Block, are the books against which the rest of the genre should be measured.

So long, Parker. I wouldn't want to meet you in a dark alley but it's been fun reading about you.

Ah, man, the Parker books end on SUCH a high note. This one's more breakneck than any I can think of in a while. Parker, McWhitney, and Sandra Loscalzo are after the money that was left behind at the end of Nobody Runs Forever, Dalesia's on the loose, and it seems like everybody and their mother is getting a better idea of how to find Parker every minute. Just intensely excellent stuff, especially at the end. I mean...Cosmopolitan Beverages comes back! That's just awesome.

After such a brilliant series of books I so wanted Parker to go out with a bang but instead we got 2 lacklustre books to close our the great man's career. This was still pretty good, just a bit disappointing.

Little on the boring side but a good conclusion to the 3 book arc of the last robbery. Little bit of an abrupt ending but good overall. Guess there's no more Parker, unless he shows up in the Grofield books which I have yet to start.

Lesser Parker. A bit disjointed. But definitely the latest one I’ve read. 2008? Why, someone has a cell phone! And an excuse why it won’t work, to justify another thing!

Great conclusion to this fantastic series. I just wish there were more Parker novels.

Master thief Parker is back and events continue from the events in the last Parker outing, [b:Ask The Parrot|209198|Ask the Parrot|Richard Stark|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172699196s/209198.jpg|3847]. From that story, Parker and the surviving accomplices had to leave two million in marked bills stashed in an abandoned church in Western Massachusetts. Now one of those accomplices has escaped from police custody and Parker wants to get that money before he does. But the town is crawling with cops and wanted posters are cropping up with Parker's likeness on them. Of course, that's not the only complications.

This is my twelfth Parker novel and they're short, briskly paced tales with a body count. Richard Stark is the name Donald Westlake uses for his lean, mean Parker tales. This one is the latest one published and it's a good one.

I think this was the last Parker novel that Westlake wrote. Other reviews seem to indicate it’s not one of the better books in the series, but I think that’s like saying a .45 doesn’t have the stopping power of a .50 caliber Desert Eagle. They both still get the job done and this book is better than 90% of the crime/action books out there.

I've been reading Richard Stark for the best part of 20 years. In the early days it was a struggle tracking down the books. I found them online and in odd second-hand shops and bought a bunch from someone selling his collection who sent them to my parents' house with a copy of the book he had published. The books themselves were written over an even longer period with a break of decades in the middle. And throughout them all, Parker never changed. He is the great criminal monolith. I tracked down every last book, including the Grofields and now I've read the last one. I will miss Parker.

This is sadly the last Parker book. There's no closure at the end of the book or sense of finality, but perhaps that's apt as Parker's not one for sentimentality. This has been a highly enjoyable series and would very much recommend it to anyone who enjoys a no-nonsense thief as their main protagonist.