3.5 stars. The final Parker novel before Stark would resurrect him in the 1990s was clearly meant to be a kind of swan song. It’s the longest Parker novel by far and isn’t structured in four parts like the previous fifteen. The novel also deviates in a few other ways: Parker goes out for revenge rather than just to take what’s his, Parker tries to save a colleague (perhaps the closest thing he has to a friend), and Parker assembles a team of more than five. But for all these differences, we get so many references to previous Parker novels: characters appear from heists that go all the way back to the first novel, Grofield is there, and we get a sequel to [b:Slayground|447175|Slayground (Parker, #14)|Richard Stark|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1174855051l/447175._SY75_.jpg|3854] to boot. But I also found all these attempts at closure to be much like the final episode of a beloved series that tries too hard to bring back popular characters and subplots (think the finale of Seinfeld, in particular). In trying to create the ultimate Parker send-off, Stark just manages to bog down the narrative. Gone are the tight plotting and intricate set-ups. Gone also is a key part of Parker’s personality, which is put aside for a rather un-Parker-like rescue operation. I’m not sure how I felt about where all these characters ended up (I’m being vague so as not to include spoilers) considering I invested about seven years in making my way through these sixteen novels. All I can say is that I’m glad Stark eventually returned to the world of Parker in the '90s so that this wasn’t the final novel of the series. I know it’s quite popular and seems to have the highest rating on Goodreads, but I thought it was mostly an odd aberration from so many of the previous novels.